Chapter 4: Pragmatic Analysis

Question 1

What is SOPA?

Answer 1

SOPA stands for the stop online piracy act ➔ the US batter over new media regulation

Question 2

How does pragmatism relate to media studies?

Answer 2

Pragmatist ideas help us better understand the process of regulation in the American media industries

Question 3

Def pragmatism

Answer 3

Pragmatism is the branch of philosophy that assesses truth in terms of effect, outcome, and practicality

Pragmatists = truth depends on the degree to which a concept or theory provides us with useful results in the process of solving problems

Question 4

Def habit ➔ William James

Answer 4

Habit: a pathway of discharge formed in the brain, by which certain incoming currents ever after tend to escape.

Question 5

Def meliorism ➔ John Dewey

Answer 5

Meliorism, or the recognition of the elements present in a historical moment and the use of applied thought to develop ways of improving them

• Books Reconstruction in Philosophy (1919) and The Quest for Certainty (1929)

John Dewey ➔ that ways of thinking were essentially habits, in the sense that human beings generate thought in order to overcome difficulties they encounter in the world

Question 6

Def Ironism ➔ Richard Rorty

Answer 6

Ironism, or a commitment to seeing the world in terms of contingent historical descriptions (and not in terms of an unchanging essence)

Question 7

Def relativism ➔ Richard Rorty

Answer 7

Relativism is the belief that diverse approaches and theories related to a given subject are all equally correct

Question 8

Richard Rorty

Answer 8

roughly aligns philosophical work with the empiricism of the hard sciences

Consequences of Pragmatism (1982) and Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989)

Question 9

Def conseqeunces

Answer 9

Consequences refer to the clear effects of a given regulation on society at large

• tangible results

Question 10

Def contingencies

Answer 10

contingencies, or the factors a regulation should address as a result of context and situation

Question 11

What are the issues in the regulation of American media?

Answer 11

Combating monopoly

Protecting intellectual property

Maintaining national interest

Promoting diversity

Managing morality

Ensuring accuracy

Question 12

Talk about combating monopoly in regulating American media

Answer 12

Regulations designed to prevent media monopolies have focused historically on limiting the amount of a given market that any one company can own

Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (Fin-Syn Rules)
➔ PURPOSE of Fin-Syn Rules: break up perceived monopoly of major networks by LIMITING networks’ financial control over their programming

Question 13

Def syndication

Answer 13

Syndication – process of producing & selling programming

Question 14

Talk about the Telecommunications Act of 1996

Answer 14

Example of deregulation related to media monopoly

Telecommunications Act of 1996 – safeguards against monopoly by instilling traditional economic system of supply & demand encourages media to monitor itself

Act allows companies to purchase & control multiple mediums in unprecedented way ➔ increased cross ownership of TV & radio stations in same market + allow cable companies to expand their offerings to telephone services

Question 15

Talk about protecting intellectual property in regulating American media

Answer 15

Copyright – grating of exclusive control of a creative work to that work’s creator ➔ Copyright Law of 1978 ➔ can only cover material expression of idea, not the idea itself

Digital rights management (DRM) – any number of diff software programs that media industries employ to control the distribution and use of digital intellectual property

Question 16

Talk about maintaining national interest in regulating US media

Answer 16

Encryption – process of scrambling important digital messages by software so only those who possess complementary decoding program can read them

Export Administration Act ➔ restricted the export of powerful encryption software

Escrowed encryption standard: provides federal government w/ way of gaining access to encrypted messages sent over telephone wires that posed national threat

Question 17

Talk about promoting diversity in regulating US media

Answer 17

Regulations motivated by desire to ensure that minority viewpoints & perspectives find a place on TV and radio

Fairness Doctrine (1949): an FCC policy that urged broadcasting stations to air programming on controversial issue & fairly represent both sides of issues to viewers

Equal Time Ruel ➔ promoted diversity in Pragmatically responsible way ➔ equal access to media for all public candidates & built upon contingencies

Question 18

Talk about managing morality in regulating US media (3 types)

Answer 18

3 types of regulated media

Obscenity – most obscene media content ➔ sexually explicit in nature, not protected by freedom of speech
- Regulation of obscene content is ILLEGAL ➔ BUT images/words not obscene UNTIL someone challenges them in court of law

Profanity – “filthy” words banned from public broadcast

Indecency – any material that’s morally unfit for general distribution/broadcast ➔ often depicts sexual or excremental activities ➔ not illegal BUT regulated in number of ways

Question 19

Talk about ensuring accuracy in regulating US media

Answer 19

ensuring journalists & news reporters use media forums to responsibly report truth to American public

SLANDER & LIBEL (not protected by freedom of speech)

Slander – publicly spoken, untrue & defamatory statements

Libel – false printed statements that similarly damage person’s character

Code of ethics – self-imposed set of rules that outlines the ethical strivings of a particular media outlet (goals which typically revolve around notions of truth and fairness)

Question 20

Def historical violence

Answer 20

historical violence – probes the complex contradictions that shape human agency, the limits of rationality, and the existential issues that tie us to other human beings and the broader social world

typically accompanies portrayal of actual historical events

encourages audiences to think critically about the way violence is connected to hatred & social injustice

Question 21

Def ritualistic violence

Answer 21

ritualistic violence – generates mostly emotional excitement b/c pure spectacle in form and superficial in content; serves to simulate & entertain

typically fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping, sensationalistic & hyper-masculine

common to both horror (slasher) & action genres

Question 22

Def hyper-real violence

Answer 22

blurs boundaries b/n historical & ritualistic violence ➔ turns “murder into art”

combines LOOK of historical violence + FEEL of ritualistic violence

Question 23

List the 4 primary effects of media violence?

Answer 23

aggressor, victim, bystander & catharsis effects

Question 24

Def aggressor effect

Answer 24

Aggressor effect – exposure to media violence triggers arousal & promotes aggressive behaviour

theory of disinhibition ➔ media violence undermines social norms and sanctions vs violence

enculturation theory ➔ LT exposure constructs violence as norm

Theory of imitation

Question 25

Def victim effect

Answer 25

Victim effect – ppl develop & experience heightened fearfulness of violence

THEREFORE: heavy viewing of media violence leads people to see themselves as likely victims in a cruel and scary world

Question 26

Def Bystander effect

Answer 26

Bystander effect – holds that media violence fosters increased callousness about or insensitivity toward violence directed at others

Desensitization theory ➔ increased acceptance of violence in real life

Question 27

Def catharsis effect

Answer 27

can reduce & alleviate feelings of aggression

PROSOCIAL EFFECT ➔ reduction of real world violence