Chapter 6; The mass media

Question 1

media landscape

Answer 1

the forms of media present in a certain context

Question 2

How do Canadians spend there time interacting with media?

Answer 2

60 hours/week
1. broadcast television 25 hours/week
2. internet based media 23 hours/week

Question 3

legacy media

Answer 3

forms of media that have origins in the distant past; print media, radio, cinema, physical music recordings

Question 4

new media

Answer 4

forms of media that have emerged more recently

Question 5

media

Answer 5

any tool used to communicate

Question 6

mass media

Answer 6

communications that target large audiences

Question 7

data mining

Answer 7

organizations sharing or personal data in ways we are not aware of

Question 8

What is broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada are regulated by?

Answer 8

The Canadian Radio-Television and telecommunications commission (CRTC)

Question 9

net neutrality

Answer 9

a principle of equality and detachment with respect to how info on the internet is treated by network providers

Question 10

marshal McLuhan

Answer 10

the medium is the message

Question 11

Sherry Turkle

Answer 11

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

Question 12

The functional perspective on media

Answer 12

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

Question 13

The conflict perspective on media

Answer 13

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

Question 14

conglomerate

Answer 14

a corporation made up of several widely diversified companies, Canada’s largest media conglomerate is BCE

Question 15

Repercussions of concentration and conglomeration in media ownership

Answer 15

1. affects content through agenda setting
2. conflict of interests contribute to media bias
3. growing distance between parent company and any single part of the balance with a focus on profit rather than quality

Question 16

producer capitalism

Answer 16

capitalism leads the business owners to exploit workers in order to make profit (Marx)

Question 17

consumer capitalism

Answer 17

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

Question 18

prosumers

Answer 18

people acting as both consumers and producers within the same setting

Question 19

prosumer capitalism

Answer 19

“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)

Question 20

Interactionist perspective on media

Answer 20

our understandings of the world are in part shaped by the media
media framing
dramaturgical theory

Question 21

social learning theory

Answer 21

people learn by observing the behaviour of others and imitating that behaviour (Bobo the clown experiment)

Question 22

desensitization theory

Answer 22

repeated exposure to violence lessens its emotional impact

Question 23

cultivation theory

Answer 23

repeated exposure to television violence has cumulative effects on viewers, mean world syndrome: people believe the world is more dangerous than it actually is

Question 24

sizing

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Entman; what are the 4 other properties of news narrative that create frames that construct the meaning of the news topic at hand?

Answer 25

1. Agency
2. Identification
3. Categorization
4. Generalization

Question 26

agency

Answer 26

the inclusion of particular words that suggest where responsibility for an event lies

Question 27

identification

Answer 27

including words that encourage identification with the central characters in a news story (innocent victims vs. those who died)

Question 28

categorization

Answer 28

the overall framework used to label and event by the media (attack vs. tragedy)

Question 29

generalization

Answer 29

extent to which a media story is generalized to a larger political system or issue (terror attacks generalized to the rise of Islamic exetremists)

Question 30

stereotypes

Answer 30

an overgeneralization about a group based on faulty assumptions

Question 31

what happens when certain groups are absent from the media?

Answer 31

it contributes to stereotypes and misinformed policies

Question 32

Feminist perspective on the media

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Post modern perspective

Answer 33

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

Question 34

media literacy

Answer 34

the ability to critically asses and make informed choices about messages contained in media forms

Question 35

Media understanding include the acceptance of what 5 concepts

Answer 35

1. media are constructions
2. 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)
3. Media have social/political implications (media convey ideological messages, influence politics, social changes, and societies views towards different groups)
4. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form (the content of the media depends in part on the nature of the medium)

Question 36

To become media literal we need to do what?

Answer 36

1. understand the nature of the media
2. appreciate the wider implications of the media
3. develop critical viewing skills