MEDIA
📖 Media Concepts & Theories
Q: What is media literacy?
A: The ability to critically analyze and evaluate media messages.
Q: What is the difference between mass media and niche media?
A: Mass media targets a broad audience; niche media targets specific demographics.
Q: What is the "Global Village" concept?
A: Marshall McLuhan's idea that media connects the world into a single virtual community.
Q: What is the hypodermic needle theory?
A: A theory suggesting media has a direct, powerful influence on passive audiences.
Q: What is the difference between the transmission view and the ritual view of communication?
A: Transmission focuses on delivering information, while ritual focuses on media’s role in culture and shared experiences.
📖 Ideology & Media Power
Q: What is ideology?
A: A system of beliefs and values that shape how people see the world.
Q: What is hegemony?
A: When dominant ideas maintain power through consent rather than force.
Q: What is encoding/decoding?
A: Stuart Hall’s theory that media producers encode messages, and audiences decode them in different ways (dominant, negotiated, oppositional).
Q: What is false consciousness?
A: When people unknowingly accept an ideology that works against their own interests.
Q: What is an interpretive community?
A: A group of people who interpret media based on shared experiences or beliefs.
📖 Semiotics & Representation
Q: What are the two parts of a sign in semiotics?
A: The signifier (physical form) and the signified (meaning).
Q: What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
A: Denotation is the literal meaning; connotation is the implied cultural meaning.
Q: What is a cultural code?
A: A shared system of signs and meanings that people in a society understand.
📖 Advertising & Digital Media
Q: What is brand image?
A: The emotional and symbolic associations a brand creates.
Q: What is product differentiation?
A: The strategy of making a product stand out from competitors.
Q: What is the difference between a hard sell and a soft sell strategy?
A: Hard sell focuses on logic and facts; soft sell appeals to emotions.
Q: What are parasocial relationships?
A: One-sided relationships where audiences feel personally connected to media figures.
Q: What is self-branding?
A: When individuals market themselves as a brand (e.g., influencers).
Q: What is native advertising?
A: Ads designed to blend in with surrounding content, making them less obvious.
Q: What is the attention economy?
A: The competition among media companies for users' attention.
Q: What is data mining?
A: The process of analyzing user data to predict behaviors and target ads.
📖 Fake News & Misinformation
Q: What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation?
A: Misinformation is false info shared unintentionally; disinformation is shared deliberately to mislead.
Q: What is the illusory truth effect?
A: The tendency to believe false information if it is repeated often.
Q: What is the ABC framework for identifying fake news?
A: Deceptive Actors, Deceptive Behavior, Deceptive Content.
📖 Media Regulation & Economics
Q: What does the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulate?
A: Advertising, consumer protection, and competition.
Q: What was the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)?
A: A law to prevent monopolies and promote competition.
Q: What is the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" (1998)?
A: A copyright law extending protection to 95 years to prevent Disney's Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain.
Q: What is the difference between economies of scale and economies of scope?
A: Scale = cost savings from producing more of the same product; Scope = cost savings from offering a variety of products.
📖 Film & Media History
Q: What were the Big Five and Little Three in the Classical Hollywood System?
A:
Big Five: MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, RKO.
Little Three: Universal, Columbia, United Artists.
Q: What is block booking?
A: A practice where theaters were forced to buy film packages instead of individual films.
Q: What was the 1948 Paramount Decision?
A: A Supreme Court ruling that ended Hollywood’s monopoly over film production, distribution, and exhibition.
Q: What is the blockbuster model?
A: A focus on big-budget films, franchises, sequels, and merchandising (e.g., Star Wars, Marvel movies).
📖 History of Telecommunications
Q: What did the Radio Act of 1927 establish?
A: It created the Federal Radio Commission to regulate the airwaves.
Q: What does the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulate?
A: Radio, television, and internet communications in the U.S.
Q: What was the Fairness Doctrine?
A: A policy requiring broadcasters to present balanced viewpoints on controversial issues (repealed in 1987).
Q: What did the Telecommunications Act of 1996 do?
A: It deregulated media ownership, allowing big corporations to consolidate power