Media and Society Final Exam

Age of Orality

Talking to each other

• Give sounds meaning to communicate

• Dominates vast majority of human species majority

Manuscript Culture

First emergence into media communication, writing things down by hand

A culture in which books were produced by hand-copying, primarily by scribes, before the invention of the printing press

Convergence

The way that our platforms and technologies consistently converge

Platform vs Corporate

Platform Convergence

Ways in which media platforms emerge and affect each other

Phone:

• Texting, watching videos, getting information/news

Corporate Convergence

The entities that have much to gain, they try to merge companies together so they can do the merging of the platforms to gain a monopoly

Gutenberg Printing Press

Emerged from the Age of Orality

Johannes Gutenberg mid-1400s

Allowed books and other texts to be mass-produced more quickly, cheaply, and accurately than hand-copying

• More accessible + more diversification in interpretation (people get to read for themselves and develop their own opinions)

• Democratizes all information eventually

• Increasing literacy

Manuscript Culture

First emergence into media communication, writing things down by hand

A culture in which books were produced by hand-copying, primarily by scribes, before the invention of the printing press

Objectivity - Boudana

Have to set an expectation of consistency of position-taking — not middle-ground

Middle-ground creates unfairness and inaccuracy

As unbiased as possible - not neutral

William Randolph Hurst

Very popular with the working class

More people in working class than high class, age of penny papers

• Profit margin very small with high volume

Powerful newspaper publisher who built a large media empire and helped popularize yellow journalism, a style that emphasized sensational, dramatic stories to attract readers

Penny Papers

Advances in technology, such as replacement of mechanical presses with stem-powered presses, lowered cost of newspapers and led to production

• New York Sun (1833) and the New York Herald (1835)

Penny papers were innovative:

• Reported local news and crime

• Separated news and editorials

• Neutral toward advertisers

Spotlight

The Boston Globe

• Investigative team: Spotlight

• Walter Robinson - Robby: editor for Spotlight

• Rezendes - determined and emotional

True story of Boston Globe reporters who exposed the Catholic Church’s cover-up of priest sexual abuse

Gutenberg Printing Press made book first mass media

True

Written era was first mass media era

False, age of orality

When reporters try to remain neutral

Objective journalism

Boudana's main point

Truth does not always reside in the middle, sometimes there's a wrong and a right side. “middle ground = objectivity” is not true

Boudana’s goal

consistency across topics

William Randolph Hearst articles

targeted at the working class

Sold in thin margins, they printed a ton and targeted content at working class’ interests

Yellow journalism

focused on delivering violent, attention-grabbing stories and crusading for the common people

Penny press newspapers

focused on human interest stories

Spotlight

90 priests implicated

Boston Globe

The Boston Globe was implicated as partially responsible for the responsibility of failing to follow up on existing articles and information they had available (not the 9/11 answer)

Magazines

• Magazines focus on specialization, so they do not contribute to a singular national identity

• Name of magazine in Shattered Glass: The New Republic

• Michael Kelly: died in a car accident while reporting on the war in Iraq

Oral tradition passed on information through papyrus

false, it was by talking - it's the age of orality

Golden Mean is attributed to which philosopher?

Aristotle

Made the categorical imperative

Emanuel Kannt

Process of making narrative reports, gathering information, talking to people, reporting on events

news

Spiral of silence

When people who would otherwise dissent stay silent bc no one else speaks up

A study conducted over a long period of time

longitudinal study

"Why do we use media?" Captures what type of media effects theory?

Uses and gratifications

What line of research generally demonstrate that media don’t tell us what to think, but what to think about

agenda setting

T or F - Minimal effects model suggests that media reinforces our attitudes, does not necessarily tell us what to think

True

Cultivation effect theory suggests that the more time individuals spend watching television and absorbing those viewpoints, the more their reality is shaped/defined by it

True

i.e. violent video games; one session of GTA isn’t going to change your attitude on crime and stuff, but consistent playthrough will make you fear crime more

People who live in safe neighborhoods who watch the "hey, check out all this crime" news channel 24/7 would think the world is unsafe or that crime is a bigger problem in their world than it actually is

The internet started as a military and government (and academic) project

True

Facebook is an example of a

social media platform

The DoD had a research project organization which originated what we know the internet to be today

Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPANet)

Main three modern-day at-home gaming console companies

Sony (PS), Microsoft (Xbox), Nintendo (switch)

Edward Scott de Martinville is credited with creating the first recording device

True

Neil Postman writes that the best thing about television is

its junk