Media Studies Notes

Harold Laswell's Media Studies

Harold Laswell studied the campaign to generate support for World War I.
He deconstructed media like computers or cars, taking them apart to see how they function.
Laswell analyzed propaganda, looking at language and symbols used by the U.S. government to persuade public opinion.
Later, Laswell worked for the U.S. government during the campaign to support World War II.
Despite the Holocaust, there was resistance to entering World War II.
The campaign for World War II emphasized ideas of freedom to rescue the world from Hitler's dictatorship.
African Americans who served during the war faced discrimination upon return, highlighting America's hypocrisy and fueling the civil rights movement.

Research in the 1950s focused on public sentiment.
The 2016 election shattered the perception of the reliability of public polls as many preview polls indicated that Hillary Clinton would win the election but Donald Trump ultimately became the president.
Polls have played a significant role in shaping perceptions of public opinion in the United States.
Polls can be a reliable tool, but the 2016 election exposed their faults.
The media literate person should ask:
- Who made the poll?
- Did it come from a special interest group?
- What was the sample?
- What method was used?
Polls were once conducted via telephone but are now often done online.
Online polls have unknown variables.

Early research in media studies focused on media effects.
Moral panic: Public discourse exaggerates fear about a particular issue.
In the 1930s, there was a moral panic regarding the effect of motion pictures on youth.
Early research attempted to study the effects of media on children.
Research and education are products of their environment.
In the 1930s, modernism emphasized science and numbers.

The Payne Fund was a philanthropist family that funded research to examine the effects of motion pictures on teenagers.
Research was conducted from a physiological approach.
Monitors were placed on subjects' skin:
- Increased sensitivity indicated an effect when watching films.
- Teenagers watching content with sexuality or violence showed increased sensitivity.
The study did not address whether physiological reactivity equates to intelligence or behavior.
Measuring effects on a population requires considering variables and nuance.
Media studies researchers consider demographics, socioeconomic background, education, and household when studying a group of people.
Neurological factors also play a role.
There are certain ages where media consumption has less effect.

In the 1920s, the advertising industry used media research to persuade people to buy products.
Advertisements from the 1920s-1940s often used religious themes and Christian ideology.
Products were portrayed as overarching figures with epic language.

The hypodermic needle model suggests media has an instant effect.
However, it discounts other factors.
Certain populations, like toddlers, are more easily influenced by media.
Exposure to violent content may foster aggressive behaviors or attitudes.
The uses and gratification theory states that people consume media to satisfy emotional and intellectual needs.
Media can help release emotions in a healthy way.
The hypodermic needle model exaggerates media effects while not recognizing subtle ways media affects us.
Media can affect us in both good and bad ways, inspiring or motivating us.

The minimal effects model suggests media alone cannot cause people to change their attitudes and behavior.

Selective exposure: People expose themselves to media messages that are most familiar to them, reinforcing their beliefs (cable news and social media algorithms).
Selective retention: People retain the information that confirms their values and attitudes.

Public research (universities) vs. private/proprietary research (advertisers).
Public research involves more theoretical takes and open answers for the sake of knowledge while private research aims to satisfy a particular aim or the profitability of the business.

Content analysis: Counting words, themes, and representations.
- Requires specificity (e.g., types of acts of violence).
Textual analysis: Studying a text in context.
- For example, understanding the historical period when studying Night of the Living Dead.