Comms 101 Midterm Flashcards
Gladstone’s Seven Biases
Comercial Bias
Bad News Bias
Status Quo Bias
Access Bias
Visual Bias
Narrative Bias
Fairness Bias
Media Literacy
“The process of critically analyzing media content by considering it’s particular presentation, it’s underlying political or social messages, and its media ownership or regulation that may affect the type of content we receive.”
Ben Peters: Don’t reject bias, recognize and observe it; what did you learn? Read, don’t watch. You get what you pay for.
Higher media literacy = Less fear. More Confidence.
Edward R. Murrow
Use TV wisely.
“A distinguished journalist … who first achieved fame with dramatic radio news broadcasts from London during World War II. Murrow produced the popular television programs See It Now and Person to Person at CBS news. Murrow’s comments on television at the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) meeting in 1958 ring equally true today for the Internet: “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate, and yes, it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is nothing but wires and lights in a box.” In TV Guide the same year, he offered another caveat: “Television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us.”
The Gutenberg Parenthesis
Pre-Paranthetical (orality)
Gutenberg Parenthesis (Literacy)
Post-Parenthetical Era (Digitally)
Claims that humanity was briefly interrupted by a parenthesis of canonical literacy. Claims that we’ve re-discovered oral tradition to a certain extent. Re-mixing re-introduces collaborative media.
The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The PATRIOT act
A controversial act that allows more government surveillance in order to prevent terrorism. Enacted after 9/11.
The three branches of government
are checked by the press (the fourth estate)
which is checked by the bloggers
Which are checked by us
“At this point in our culture, we have the lowest trust in our government that we have ever had.”
Definition of Libel
Libel is PUBLISHED (written) DEFAMATION where the person must be IDENTIFIABLE.
Mass Communication models
Transmission model
Ritual model
Direct effects model
Transmission Model
Info source > Transmitter > Signal > Noise > receiver > Destination
Ritual Model
Considers the power of communication. Communication is a process which creates your world-view. (Beware: homophily, the filter bubble.) Reading the newspaper (in this model) is akin to going to mass if you’re catholic.
Direct Effects Model
WWII propaganda (Triumph of des willens –> Power of visual framing)
AKA Hypodermic needle, or magic bullet.
The idea that media “controls” the population. Ideas can be injected.
Types of Communication
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Group
Mass
Intrapersonal communication
One to oneself
Interpersonal communication
One to one
Group communication
One to a few
Mass communication
One to many
Critical/Cultural Model
We can’t reduce culture to dependent & independent variables. It’s not a vacuum. It’s in a context. “[Mass comm] is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed.”
Observe:
- Cultural symbols
- ideologies and power structures
- attempt to give voice to marginalized groups
Examples:
- Uses and gratifications
- Encoding/decoding
- Reception Theory
Theories of Media and Society
Agenda setting
Uses and Gratifications
Spiral of Silence
Cultivation Theory & mean world syndrome
Who coined these theories?
Agenda Setting
- Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton
“The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling it’s readers what to think about.”
Uses and Gratifications
-Elihu Katz
People use media for their own purposes, and they know it.
Media achieves some end in their life.
Spiral of Silence
- Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
People are afraid of isolation. People are reluctant to express theories or views that will put them in the minority.
Cultivation Theory
George Gerbner. Theory that explains “mean world syndrome” and “Facebook FOMO.” You cultivate your world via your media choices.
Media Ecology
The study of the media environment and it’s interaction with society.
Marshall McLuhan
“The medium is the message”
Alien and Sedition Laws
“In 1798 the US congress passed the Alien and Sedition acts in response to. the possibility of war with France…The acts prohibited sedition, spoken or written criticism of the US government, and imposed penalties of a fine or imprisonment on conviction. Once the threat of war was passed, the Sedition Act expired in 1801.” Pg 234
Defenses for Journalists against accusations of libel
Shield Laws
Truth
Privilege
Opinion
Case study of Libel: New York Times v. Sullivan
Determined that media could not be sued unless there was actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth. (Libel case against a police chief)
Early American Newspapers
Focused on opinion, not news.
Penny Press Revolution
Made possible by steam powered presses.
Resulted in larger circulations than ever before.
Sold on the street for one or two cents.
These were the first papers to focus on “news” and value facts over opinions. They largely ignored politics.
CNN
Cable News Network ???
Six values reporters use to pick the stories they report on
Timeliness
Proximity
Prominence
Consequence
Rarity
Human Interest
Bruce L. Christensen Devotional
Pluto vs Kolob (remember the differences and similarities in their attitudes)
Current Trends in Magazines
- Targeting narrower audiences
- Articles are shorter
- Presentation matters
Development of Writing
Pictographs > Ideographs > Phonographs > Alphabet
(drawing of a thing) > (drawing of a thing that represents an idea) > (a drawing of a thing that represents a sound) > (abstract symbols that represent sounds)
Development of Paper
Papyrus > Parchment > Paper
Philosophies of Ethics
The Golden Rule
The Golden Mean
Categorical Imperative
Principle of Utility
Veil of Ignorance
Aristotle
The Golden Mean
Immanuel Kant
Categorical Imperative
John Stuart Mill
Principle of Utility
John Rawls
Veil of Ignorance
Ethics and The News
Sensationalism
Tabloidization
Chilling effect
FCC and it’s Duties
Regulates Radio & TV
In charge of license renewal (every 8 years)
– Meet 5 requirements to demonstrate that it’s serving the public interest
– Regulate: not showing nudity when kids might be watching, or spread false information.
Audio Timeline
1877 - Edison & the Phonograph
1881 - Bell invents the graphophone
1888 - Berliner develops the gramophone
1890 - Marconi develops wireless telegraph
1905 - Fessenden uses radio waves to transmit Christmas messages
Eventually obtains a US patent for the prototype for AM radio
Today: we hav new music playback technology.
Who invented the Telegraph?
Samuel Morse and other inventors
Who popularized the radio?
Reginald Fessenden
Storing Sound
Overcomes death. We listened to a sound restoration from 1860 of someone singing. We can also listen to Wilford Woodruff’s recorded testimony.
Who invented the phonograph?
Thomas Edison
What did the gramophone do?
Play records (music stored on a vinyl disc)
What do new music playback technologies do?
Allow you to have your own personal soundtrack.
Social Music
Music used to be a social experience. Now it’s more personal.
Third Person effect
The idea that harmful media hurts others but not you. (NOT TRUE!)
Uses and Gratifications
Katz and Blumler.
We use media for the desired effect it has. Ex: cartoons to relax, Mutual for a date, or a documentary to feel smart.
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Numerical data vs. human experiences
Encoding/Decoding
- Dominant/hegemonic reading (Following the author, agreeing)
- oppositional reading (arguing with the author, disagreeing)
- Negotiated reading (a bit of both)
Semiotics terms
Symbol, signified, and signifier
Marshall Mcluhan said
“The medium is the message”
Morals vs Ethics
Morals are personal and integral. Ethics are a branch of philosophy that examines right/wrong societally.
Who said we’re “amusing ourselves to death?”
Niel Postman
Who made the printing press? And why is that significant?
Johannes Gutenberg
Changed EVERYTHING: created mass communication for the first time.
Ethics of photography
What is visual framing, and why does it matter? (ex, Rolling Stone pic of the marathon bomber)
Western Christian Philosophy
The golden rule (a type of virtue ethics)
