Mass Communication - Final

partisan press

a press typically aligned with a particular political party and presenting information to help its cause, with no sense of objectivity or balance in news coverage

media bias

a real or perceived viewpoint held by journalists and news organizations that slants news coverage unfairly, contrary to professional journalism's stated goes of balance coverage and objectivity

news leak

secret information deliberately given to journalists with the hope they will publish the item

trial balloon

leaking information to the press about a proposed plan or idea to see how the public will respond

public opinion

the notion that the public, as a group, can form shared views or ideas about topics and that these ideas guide the public's action

sound bites

the length of time a news subject is allowed to speak without editing. It also has come to refer to short, catchy or outlandish utterances designed to capture media attention

opinion polls

usually conducted by a profession polling organization, a list of questions asking members of the public their opinions on issue or political candidates

push poll

a type of advertising that appears to be a telephone poll but is actually a telemarketing campaign to sway voters by making favored candidate look good or by misrepresenting the opposition

going viral

the phenomenon in which a media items spread rapidly from the person to person via the internet

meme

a media item of cultural interest that spreads through repetition and replication via the internet

smart mobs

a term coined by Howard Rhinegold to define a group of people communication with each other via text messaging or wireless networks to coordinate their activities

Fourth Estate

the fourth branch of government

straw donor

give money to donate by someone else who has already hit their limit

PAC

political action committee; unlimited amounts of money to donate

stonewalling

a candidate refusing to speak to members about a subject or speaking to certain publications/journalists

news blackouts

not publishing information that might harm active troop actions

Communication Act of 1934 - Section 312

radio and TV stations must allow candidates to purchase "reasonable amounts of time" for ads

Communication Act of 1934 - Section 315

equal access; equal prices for all parties; cannot censor ads; only applies to ad buys

Tornillo opinion

print publications do not have to provide "equal time" in news coverage, but they do in advertising

527 Financing

independent PACs can raise unlimited funds

The Federal Trade Commission does not regulate the content of

political ads. They are not fact-checked by the government, but should be by the press, and cannot be prosecuted by the FTC for making "false claims"

propaganda

the regular dissemination of a belief, doctrine, cause or information with the intent to mold public opinion

hypodermic-needle model

a model of media effects, also called the "magic bullet", that claims media messages have a profound, direct, and uniform impact on the public

Bobo doll studies

media-effects experiments in the 1950s that showed children who watched TV episodes that rewarded a violent person were more likely to punch a bobo doll than children who saw episodes that punished a violent person

cultivation analysis

a theory of media effects that claims television cultivates in audiences a view of reality similar to the world portrayed in television program

mean-world syndrome

a syndrome in which people perceive the world as more dangerous than it actually is, the result of viewing countless acts of media violence

spiral of silence

a theoretical construct that explains why people may be unwilling to publicly express opinions they feel are in the minority

third-person effect

the tendency for people to underestimate the effect of a pervasive message on themselves while overestimating its effects on others

uses-and-gratifications research

a branch of research on media effects that examines why people use media, what they do with media rather than what media does to them

encoding/decoding

a theoretical model that states media producers encode media products with meaning, decoded in various way by various audiences

framing

the presentation and communication of a message in a particular way that influences our perception of it

cultural studies

an interdisciplinary framework for studying communication that rejects scientific approaches while investigating the role of culture in creating and maintaining social relations and systems of power

critical theory

a theoretical approach broadly influenced by Marxist notions of the role of ideology, exploitation, capitalism and the economy in understanding and eventually transforming society

cultural industry

a term coined by Frankfurt School to describe how media companies produce or "make" culture in the same way that other companies produce products

ideology

a comprehensive and normative body of ideas and standards held by an individual or group

information society

a society where information production has supplanted industrial production, dramatically transforming cultural, economic and political activity

digital divide

the gap between regions and demographics that have access to modern, digital communications technology and those that have limited or no access

political economy

an area of study inspired by Marxism that examines the relationship between politics and economics with media ownership and the influences that all have on society and perpetuating the status quo

media ecology

the study of media environments and their effects on people and society

technological determinsim

the belief that technology causes certain human behavior

agenda-setting

medias role in deciding which topics to cover and consequently which topics the public deems important and worthy of discussion

longitudinal study

a study that gathers data on subjects over a long period of time

cross-sectional study

a study that gathers data on subjects at a specific point in time

epistemology

a study or theory of the limitations and validity of knowledge; more simply, a way of, or framework for understanding the world

positivism

a view, common among scientists in the physical or natural sciences and many social sciences, that affirms an objective reality to be discovered and explained through rigorous scientific research

post positivism

a view that agrees largely with positivism but also recognizes knowledge that may not be revealed through scientific inquiry

social constructionism

a view that claims much or all of what we know and understand about the world, including scientific knowledge, is constructed through social interaction and language

postmodernism

a broad category of viewpoints that rejects grand narratives attempting to explain the world and absolute truths because truth is relative and unknowable

pragmatism

a school of thought affirming truths found in actions that work and rejecting the possibility of overarching or purely objective notions of truth

quantitative data

numerical data

qualitative data

observation

sampling error

error is statistical analysis that results from selecting a sample that does not represent the entire population

random sampling

a sample in which every person has an equally probable chance of being selected, intended to represent the entire population of study

ethnography

a variety of qualitative research techniques that involve immersion of a researcher in a particular culture to allow interaction with observation

participant-observation

a qualitative research technique in which researchers participate as members of the group they are observing

focus group

a small group of people by researchers to discuss a topic. Their interactions are closely observed, recorded, and analyzed to determine people's opinions

what are powerful effects models?

media has immediate, direct influence on audiences

what's the problem with powerful effects models?

vulnerable audiences like women, children, minorities; don't give people enough credit, direct effects have never been proven to occur

who uses powerful effects models

people with low media literacy and people who want to exploit the fears of those with low levels of media literacy

Walter Lippmann

pulitzer prize winning journalist; one of the founders of US media studies; book "Public Opinion"

Harold Lasswell

hypodermic needle model

Paul Lazarsfeld

Two-Step Flow model

Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw

agenda-setting

George Gerbner

mean world syndrome (uses cultivation analysis)

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann

spiral of silence

Jay Blumler and Elihu Katz

uses-and-gratification theory

Stuart Hall

encoding and decoding

bell hooks

feminist media scholar who examined the media through the lens of race, class and gender

Frankfurt School: Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin

believed in strong media effects

Marshall McLuhan

the medium is the message

narcotizing dysfunction

the feeling of being overwhelmed by information about world problems, so we feel we can do nothing

catalytic theory

media violence can be among other factors that cause violence

what are the possible positive effects of violence in the media?

cathartic effects: reduces aggression

what are the possible negative effects of media violence?

aggressive stimulation theory

first amendment

guarantees that Congress shall make no laws restricting freedom of speech, press or religion

chilling effect

the phenomenon that occurs when journalists or other media producers decide not to publish stories on a topic after a journalist has been punished or jailed for such a story

Alien and Sedition Acts

prohibited criticism of government

sedition

speech or action that encourages the overthrow of a government or that subverts a nation's constitution or laws

clear and present danger

a restriction of speech when it meets the following: (1) intended to incite dangerous activity, and (2) is likely to succeed in achieving that results

prior restraint

when the government prevents or blocks the publication, broadcasting, showing or distribution of media content

preferred-position balancing theory

a legal theory that says that a balance must be struck between speech and other rights, although speech has a preferred opinion

slander

a type of defamation that is spoken and that damages a persons reputation

libel

written defamation

shield laws

a law intended to protect journalists from legal challenges to their freedom to report the news

censorship

that act of prohibiting certain expressions or content

Hays Code

a code established in 1930 by the movie industry to censor itself regarding showing nudity or glorifying antisocial acts

indecent speech

language or material that depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities

Telecommunications Act of 1996

the first regulatory overhaul of telecommunications since 1934, designed to open the industry to greater competition by deregulating many aspects of it

obscenity

(1) must appeal to prurient interests as defined by community standards, (2) must show sexual conduct in an offensive manner, (3) must on the whole lack serious artistic, literary, political and scientific value

Radio Act of 1912

the act assigned frequencies and three and four-letter codes to radio stations and limited broadcasting to the 360-meter wavelength

Radio Act of 1927

created the FRC, intended to regulate the largely chaotic airwaves and ensuring that companies are using airwaves responsibly

network neutrality

the principle that broadband networks should be free of restrictions on content platforms, or equipment and that certain types of content should not get preferential treatment on the network

FCC

established in 1934, the principal communications regulatory body at the federal level in the US

Federal Trade Commission

the principle commerce regulatory body established in 1914, at the federal level in the US

equal-time rule

the requirement that broadcasters make available equal airtime to opposing candidates for election

Fairness Doctrine

adopted by the FCC in 1949, it required broadcasters to seek out and present all side of a controversial issue they were covering (ended in 1987)

Children's Television Act

created in 1990, it limits the amount of commercial content that programming can carry, forces stations to carry certain amounts of educational programming from children sixteen and under, and includes provisions to protect children

v-chip

a computer device that enables parents or any other viewer to program a TV set to block access to programs containing violent or sexual content based on programming ratings

intellectual property

ideas that have commericial value

copyright

a form of intellectual property law that protects the right to use, publish, reproduce, preform, display or distribute a literary or artistic work