Chapter 6; The mass media Flashcards
media landscape
the forms of media present in a certain context
How do Canadians spend there time interacting with media?
60 hours/week
1. broadcast television 25 hours/week
2. internet based media 23 hours/week
legacy media
forms of media that have origins in the distant past; print media, radio, cinema, physical music recordings
new media
forms of media that have emerged more recently
media
any tool used to communicate
mass media
communications that target large audiences
data mining
organizations sharing or personal data in ways we are not aware of
What is broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada are regulated by?
The Canadian Radio-Television and telecommunications commission (CRTC)
net neutrality
a principle of equality and detachment with respect to how info on the internet is treated by network providers
marshal McLuhan
the medium is the message
Sherry Turkle
new media has fundamentally changed the way we experience life;
as individuals we are less creative and less productive
socially we are “alone together”, more superficial interactions
The functional perspective on media
The media serves important functions:
political functions: tools used by governments/political parties in their own activities, used to raise awareness of public issues
economic functions: contributes to the nations economy via online businesses, are avenues for other industries economic activities ex. advertising
cognitive function: provides us with important info
social integrative function: connects us to other people
tension-reducing function: entertaining us so we can temporarily relax and relieve stress
people excelling can stop terrorism
The conflict perspective on media
The media perpetuates social inequalities because the media is a source of essential information and it is concentrated in a small group of corporations and conglomerates that have the power to shape the messages contained in the media.
the media supports consumerism
conglomerate
a corporation made up of several widely diversified companies, Canada’s largest media conglomerate is BCE
Repercussions of concentration and conglomeration in media ownership
- affects content through agenda setting
- conflict of interests contribute to media bias
- growing distance between parent company and any single part of the balance with a focus on profit rather than quality
producer capitalism
capitalism leads the business owners to exploit workers in order to make profit (Marx)
consumer capitalism
double exploitation, workers continue to be exploited through low wages and poor working conditions, and consumers are being exploited through manipulative advertising, high prices and low-quality products
prosumers
people acting as both consumers and producers within the same setting
prosumer capitalism
“synergistically double exploitation” The workers are still exploited by the employer and people are exploited as both consumers and producers (providing online data that will later be used in targeted advertising, attracting traffic)
Interactionist perspective on media
our understandings of the world are in part shaped by the media
media framing
dramaturgical theory
social learning theory
people learn by observing the behaviour of others and imitating that behaviour (Bobo the clown experiment)
desensitization theory
repeated exposure to violence lessens its emotional impact
cultivation theory
repeated exposure to television violence has cumulative effects on viewers, mean world syndrome: people believe the world is more dangerous than it actually is
sizing
helps the general public gather the importance of an event; the overall salience of the event in the news based on how much coverage it gets and how prominently it is displayed
Entman; what are the 4 other properties of news narrative that create frames that construct the meaning of the news topic at hand?
- Agency
- Identification
- Categorization
- Generalization
agency
the inclusion of particular words that suggest where responsibility for an event lies
identification
including words that encourage identification with the central characters in a news story (innocent victims vs. those who died)
categorization
the overall framework used to label and event by the media (attack vs. tragedy)
generalization
extent to which a media story is generalized to a larger political system or issue (terror attacks generalized to the rise of Islamic exetremists)
stereotypes
an overgeneralization about a group based on faulty assumptions
what happens when certain groups are absent from the media?
it contributes to stereotypes and misinformed policies
Feminist perspective on the media
differences between men and women are socially constructed
teach women to be submissive and nurturing
teach men to be aggressive and independent
commonly represent women as victims, consumers and sexual objects
negative stereotypes of men: jocks, jokers, strong silent types, big shots, action heroes, buffons
Post modern perspective
our lives change with each new media form
new media mobilizes social movements
new media is important for marginalized groups
underly social action
importance of media literacy
media literacy
the ability to critically asses and make informed choices about messages contained in media forms
Media understanding include the acceptance of what 5 concepts
- media are constructions
- audiences negotiate meaning (different audiences can take away different meanings)
3.Media have commercial implications (the ways content is distributed is nearly always run with profit in mind) - Media have social/political implications (media convey ideological messages, influence politics, social changes, and societies views towards different groups)
- Each medium has a unique aesthetic form (the content of the media depends in part on the nature of the medium)
To become media literal we need to do what?
- understand the nature of the media
- appreciate the wider implications of the media
- develop critical viewing skills
