COMS 1002: Media, Truth and the Social Sphere Final Exam Study Guide

COMS 1002: Media, Truth and the Social Sphere Final Exam Study Guide

How to Use This Guide

  • Focus on bolded terms, theorists, and clear examples.
  • Structure follows the 4 remaining PowerPoints.
  • Designed for 12/15 correct answers on the final.

Part 1: Truth in Media I & II (Weeks 9 & 10)

Key Themes:

  • Historical concepts of truth
  • Objectivity in journalism
  • News biases and enduring values
  • Disinformation and post-truth politics

Core Concepts:

  • Objectivity:
    • Journalistic ideal.
    • Fully achieving objectivity is deemed impossible.
  • Enduring Values (Gans, 2004): Underlying biases in U.S. news include:
    • Ethnocentrism: Preference for one's own culture.
    • Democracy: The ideal of promoting democratic values.
    • Responsible capitalism: Emphasizing the need for balance between capitalistic pursuits and societal welfare.
    • Small-town pastoralism: Idealizing rural life over urbanization.
    • Individualism: Celebrating personal achievements and independence.
    • Moderate views: Favoring compromise over extreme opinions.
    • Social order: Importance of maintaining societal stability.
    • National leadership: Deference to authority from national figures.
  • 24-hour news cycle:
    • Results in rushed reporting.
    • Less fact-checking leads to misinformation.
  • Media spectacle:
    • Sensationalism driven by profitability (e.g., coverage of OJ Simpson trial, Princess Diana's accident).
  • Disinformation:
    • Intentional false communication motivated by political or economic gain.
  • Fake news:
    • Trump’s usage: Referring to perceived bias in mainstream media.
    • Academic usage: Understanding it as deliberately fabricated stories.
  • Conspiracy theories: Defined as “Fusion paranoia” (Bratich) – thrive particularly at the political extremes.
  • Post-truth politics:
    • Prioritizes emotion over factual accuracy.
    • Includes notions like “alternative facts” and practices such as gaslighting.

Historical Views of Truth:

  • Era: Different philosophical views of truth change over time, featuring key thinkers:
    • Pre-Socratic Greeks: Concerned with what is memorable; notable philosophers include Homer and Plato.
    • Medieval to Enlightenment: Truth derived from authority (Church/King) to scientific and empirical standards (Francis Bacon).
    • Postmodern era: Views truth as relative and constructed (Foucault, Fiske).
    • Post-Truth (2016+): Understanding truth as emotional, contested, and sometimes weaponized (Keane).

Key Theorists:

  • Michel Foucault: Concept of “regime of truth” indicates that each society determines what is accepted as true.
  • Herbert Gans: Introduced the concept of “enduring values” in news.
  • Michael Fishman: Advocated that journalists depend on “institutions of social control.”
  • Tenove: Defines disinformation explicitly as intentionally deceptive information.

Examples to Remember:

  • News bias:
    • Notably, coverage relating to police and courts as primary sources.
  • Media spectacles:
    • Examples include:
    • Billionaire submarine incident (2023).
    • MH370 disappearance (2014).
    • Iraq War “Shock and Awe” (2003).
    • OJ Simpson trial (1994-95).
  • Deepfakes:
    • AI-generated videos that act as emergent tools for disinformation.

Part 2: Popular Culture & Fans (Week 12)

Key Themes:

  • Definitions of popular culture
  • Fan culture and participatory media
  • Textual poaching and convergence

Core Concepts:

  • Popular Culture (Storey, 2006):
    • Characteristics include:
    • Easily accessible: Widely available to the public.
    • Widely enjoyed: High levels of enjoyment across demographics.
    • Commercial/mass-produced: Created for market consumption.
    • Originates from “the people”: Inclusive of common societal interests.
    • Terrain of interaction between media and audiences: Space for audience engagement with media.
  • Textual poaching (de Certeau):
    • Concept where fans engage with media texts to derive new meanings or interpretations.
  • Participatory culture (Jenkins):
    • Fans are active participants who create and share content.
  • Convergence culture:
    • Media content flows across multiple platforms, blending traditional and new media formats.
  • Collective intelligence:
    • Fans collectively share knowledge, as seen in practices such as wikis or fan theories.

Key Theorists:

  • John Fiske: Emphasized “local knowledge” – how everyday people derive meaning from media.
  • Henry Jenkins: Contributed to fan studies, especially in the areas of textual poaching and convergence.
  • Michel de Certeau: Advocated that consumption can also act as production.

Jenkins’ 10 Types of Fan Production:

  1. Recontextualization
  2. Expanding series timeline
  3. Refocalization
  4. Moral realignment
  5. Genre shift
  6. Cross-over
  7. Character dislocation
  8. Personalization
  9. Emotional intensification
  10. Eroticization

Examples to Remember:

  • Star Wars fans: Participation through fan edits and fan fiction; conflicts with Lucasfilm exemplify the active engagement of fans.
  • Remix culture: Notable mention includes online creations like Steamed Hams from The Simpsons.
  • Fan activism: Efforts to revive canceled shows showcase the collective power of fan communities.

Part 3: Communication and Power (Week 13)

Key Themes:

  • Colonialism and cultural imperialism
  • Orientalism and othering
  • Discourse and power (Foucault)

Core Concepts:

  • Colonialism:
    • Refers to the imposition of Western values alongside the erasure of Indigenous cultures and languages.
  • Orientalism (Edward Said):
    • Describes the Western fabrication of the “East” as exotic and primitive.
  • Othering:
    • Process of representing marginalized cultures as fundamentally different or inferior.
  • Cultural imperialism:
    • The prevalence and dominance of U.S. culture and media globally.
  • Lingua franca:
    • English has become a global default language primarily due to colonial influence.
  • Discourse (Foucault):
    • Systems of knowledge that inform societal realities and exert forms of power.
  • Power/knowledge:
    • Those who control discourse generally dictate what is perceived as “truth.”

Key Theorists:

  • Frantz Fanon: Explored the psychological impacts of colonialism and racism.
  • Edward Said: Authored notable work titled Orientalism (1978).
  • Michel Foucault: Delineated how discourse shapes identities (e.g., sane/insane, normal/deviant).

Examples to Remember:

  • Hollywood “othering”: Movies like 300 and True Lies often portray Middle Eastern cultures negatively.
  • Indigenous languages: Dramatic reduction from ~600 languages to only 175 in North America due to colonization.
  • Corporate globalization: Emergence of transnational corporations during the 1960s-70s is a significant historical example.

Part 4: Course Reflection & Critical Thinking (Final Week)

Key Themes:

  • Critical thinking as a university goal
  • Doubt and self-reflection
  • Media literacy and ethics

Core Concepts:

  • Critical thinking (Freire/Giroux):
    • The process of questioning societal power structures, media representation, and norms.
  • Self-reflection (Von Humboldt):
    • Identified as a central objective in university-level education.
  • Doubt (Descartes):
    • Philosophical cue suggesting, “Demolish everything… start again from foundations.”
  • Media literacy: Encompasses the ability to critically analyze, evaluate, and ethically create media.

Why This Matters:

  • Media inherently conveys ideologies and enduring values.
  • Individuals possess the agency to resist, reinterpret, and recreate media messages.
  • University education emphasizes the importance of questioning accepted norms rather than passively accepting them.

High-Yield Exam Prep Checklist

Topic | Must-Know Concepts | Key Theorists

  • Truth & Bias | Enduring values, disinformation, post-truth | Gans, Foucault, Fishman
  • Popular Culture | Textual poaching, fan production, convergence | Jenkins, Fiske, de Certeau
  • Power & Colonialism | Orientalism, othering, discourse | Said, Fanon, Foucault
  • Critical Thinking | Self-reflection, doubt, media literacy | Descartes, Von Humboldt, Freire

Sample Connections for Essay Questions

  1. How do “enduring values” shape news coverage?
    • Link: Examine Gans’ values, provide examples from media spectacles, and consider the impact of the 24-hour news cycle.
  2. What is textual poaching and how do fans use it?
    • Link: Explore de Certeau’s concept, Jenkins’ types of fan production, and case studies from Star Wars fandom.
  3. How is discourse a tool of power?
    • Link: Discuss Foucault’s theories alongside Said’s conception of Orientalism with reference to language erasure.
  4. What is “post-truth” and how does it relate to disinformation?
    • Link: Connect historical truth regimes with the contemporary 24-hour news cycle, referencing deepfakes and conspiracy theories.

Final Tips

  • Memorize 2–3 examples per theme (e.g., OJ Simpson, Star Wars fans, Orientalism).
  • Link theorists to concepts (e.g., Foucault → discourse; Jenkins → convergence).
  • Apply theories to new examples observed in current media.

Good luck!

  • You’ve got this!
  • If you want a quiz version or flashcards, just say the word.