Final Exam Flashcards
What is considered strategic communication?
Ads & PR = public relations
(clear intentions to influence the audience!)
What makes ad unique from other media contents?
Goal oriented (to sell products!)
Invested
Concise
Using many (encoded) codes
Freedom & creativity
Creating & reinforcing socio-cultural values
Can be deceptive
What did the Industrial Revolution and Civil War bring about?
The expansion of ads, which helped emergence of (mass production &) national brands
Magazine Ads
By the turn of the century, magazines financially supported primarily by advertisers rather than by readers.
The Ad Agency & Professionalism
Between Civil War & WWI, ad became more creative & expensive, and was conducted on a larger scale.
1869: F. Wayland Ayer began N. W. Ayer, a “full-service” advertising agency.
TV Ads
Early TV shows – Single sponsored.
But, the quiz show scandal in 1959.
1965: Every TV ad was 60 seconds.
Parity products
Most brands in a given product category, essentially the same
(ex. Coke vs Pepsi)
(these can have comparative ads)
USP
Unique Selling Proposition
(ex. M&Ms = “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand”)
Who regulates ads?
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
The National Advertising Review
Board (NARB)
An ad is false if it:
lies outright
does not tell the whole truth
lies by implication, words, design, etc.
(ex. FTC says the listerine is lying by saying is can help with colds, does not advertise the whole truth)
The Federal Trade Commission can issue…
cease-and-desist order &
order corrective ad
(A certain amount of puffery is OK)
Paradox of Puffery
“While puffery receives First Amendment protection, verifiable product information may be more restricted.”
In other words, the more concrete info you provide, the
less likely your ad is permissible.
Cons of Ads
Intrusive
Deceptive
Exploits children (40,000 TV ads a year).
Demeans & corrupts culture.
AIDA approach (to ads)
Attention, create Interest, stimulate Desire, & promote Action
Consumer culture
personal worth & identity reside not in ourselves, but in the products with which we surround ourselves
Pros of Ads
Helps to gather info.
Supports our economy
Increases national productivity & improves the standard of living.
Ad revenues make the “free” mass media possible.
This avoids government intervention– Fee speech possible
Demographic segmentation
appealing to audiences defined by demography (e.g., gender, race)
Psychographic segmentation
appealing to consumer groups with similar lifestyles, attitudes, values, & behaviors
VALS, VALS II (Values, Attitudes &
LifeStyles)
PR (public relations)
management function that focuses on relationships & communications that individuals and organizations have with other groups (called publics)
Ads vs PRs
To sell product
Mostly rely on media
And commercial media need ads
Paid messages (Media space purchased) – So the media have to run the ad once purchased
VS
To maintain relationship with public
Relies on the media too, but not all the time
Not necessarily paid messages
PR interacts with 7
categories of publics…
Employees
Stockholders
Communities
Media
Government
Investment community
Customers
Pseudo-event
to attract public attention via media
The Boston Tea Party purpose
organized to attract public attention for a vital cause
(PR campaigns abounded in colonial America)
Stage 1: The Propaganda-Publicity Stage
Corporate PR
Westinghouse Elec. – 1st PR dept.
Ad agencies (e.g., Ayer) began PRs.
Publicity Bureau helped railroad
industry challenge federal regulations.
Stage 2: Early Two-Way Communication (seeking
feedback)
WW I: President Wilson used PR to support the war effort.
F.D.R. began a PR campaign to support New Deal policies.
Father of PRs
Edward Bernays
Stage 3: Advanced Two-Way Communication
Post-WWII US - Social change & expansion of consumerism
Organizations needed to learn what clients thought, liked, and disliked
PR = Using research, ads, & promotion
Who is the largest single employer of PRs?
The Government
Press release
essentially a handout for journalists
Trust in PRs
While people have skepticism about PRs (e.g., just profit-seeking; spin doctors)
50–90% of stories in NPs or on TV originate entirely or in part from PR operating in form of either press release or video news release (VNR)
One PR professional for 100,000 Americans (0.25 journalist/100,000)
“The best PR is invisible.”
“The best PR ends up looking like news.”
Medical news
Sponsors research first
ex.
“According to New England Journal of Medicine, women who drink more than 3 bottles of beer a day… lower risk of ####…”
“According to New England Journal of Medicine,
women who intake more high-fructose corn syrup…
lower risk of ####…”
Globalization
Foreign ownership and PR firms’ operations into foreign countries
Greenwashing
Countering of PR efforts aimed at clients by environmentalists
Convergence
Online information & ads are growing part of the total PR media mix
Video news releases (VNR)
Viral marketing
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Viral marketing
relying on specific Internet users to spread the word
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
firms combine PR, marketing, ad, & promotion functions into communication campaign at home on the Web, television, &
magazine
Aspects of global comm in the 1800s
Colonial Powers (e.g., UK, France)
Military
Business
Religion
Telephone & telegraph were important, but
they needed physical connection, such as transoceanic cables
Early-1900s, European colonial powers started using…
Shortwave radio
Shortwave
High frequencies reflect—or skip—off the ionosphere, producing sky waves that can travel vast distances
In global comm, radio is important because…
no physical connection
penetrating geo-political boundaries
thus, ideal for propaganda
inexpensive, good for 3rd World
Antigovernment (anti-regime) radio makes up…
important segment of international broadcasting
Clandestine Stations
Indigenous & exogenous stations
Indigenous stations
Operating from inside of the region
Exogenous stations
Radio stations operating from outside (e.g., Free N. Korea from S. Korea)
Pirate Broadcasters (Commercial)
Illegally operated stations broadcasted to British audiences from offshore or foreign facilities.
Subsidized by ads and record companies.
External Services (Propaganda; sending ideology):
Voice of America (VOA)
Surrogate Services
BBC World Service
Voice of America (VOA)
to counter-enemy propaganda and spread information of US
Surrogate Services
Broadcast operations established by one country to substitute for another’s own domestic service (e.g., Radio Marti in FL by Reagan Admin from 1985)
BBC World Service
UK’s colonial broadcast
Satellites
Started around 1960s
Mexico City Olympics 1968
Tommie Smith (Gold) & John Carlos (Bronze)
Very powerful PR!
Soviet’s Sputnik
U.S. - AT&T’s Telstar I
JFK - the International Telecommunications
Satellite Organization (INTELSAT)
The Four Comparative Concepts
- western
- development
- revolutionary
- authoritarianism & communism
Western
European TVs must limit ads & increase public affairs and news in exchange for broadcast licenses
Development
Media must assist in beneficial development of the country
Revolutionary
A nation’s media can serve the goals of revolution (e.g., former Eastern Bloc)
Authoritarianism & communism
Media serve the govt.
Chinese broadcasting - Direct government subsidy
Selective introduction of foreign contents
One of the world’s largest PR
events
The 2008 torch relay travelled
137,000 km, 130 days, 21 countries, including Mt. Everest
World leader of media distribution
US
(Early in TV, US producers flooded the world with their programming at very low prices, TV programming throughout the world looks and sounds much like that found in the U.S.)
Electronic colonialism theory
The brief that cultural products produced, created, or
manufactured in another country have the ability to
influence, or possibly displace, indigenous cultural productions, artifacts, and to the detriment of the receiving nations.
Cultural Imperialism (CI)
Invasion of native cultures by powerful foreign countries
through the media
POOR BC
Diminishing local media/cultural
production
English dominance
Western media alter social, learning, memories. . .
Money flows to West(ern media)
Hollywood movies portraying Arabs…
demean Arabs contain gratuitous slurs, or they portray Arabs as bring the butt of a cheap joke (and as bad guys
killed by American heroes)
Gerbner calls these:
“Happy Violence”
(global distribution of antagonism)
Global Village
McLuhan’s idea that new communication technologies will permit people to become involved in one another’s lives – One single village
“The internet is a great global communication tool!”
Democracy
Governance by the people
Libertarianism
Based on John Milton’s self-righting principle
People can’t govern themselves in a democracy unless they have access to the information for that governance.
The free flow or trade of ideas
Truth emerges from public discourse b/c people are inherently rational.
Areas of Media Regulation
Contents (Insult/offensive lang., Sexually explicit materials, Copyright, Ads, etc.)
Structure (Broadcast license, Technology, Media ownership)
Regulations, despite the First Amendment
Govt. regulation of media must be unobtrusive & sufficiently justified.
Media’s self-regulation must be sufficiently effective to render official restraint unnecessary.
Media practitioners’ conduct should be ethical to warrant this special protection.
Libel
False/malicious publication that damages a person’s reputation
Slander
Oral/spoken defamation of a person’s character
Prior restraint
The government’s power to prevent the publication or broadcast of expression (e.g., war reporting)
Sexually explicit content known as…
pornography (protected) until a court rules it illegal; then obscene (unprotected)
Copyright
Granting ownership of given piece of expression.
Once expires, if the creator doesn’t renew it, material passes into public domain.
Fair use
Fair use
instances in which material can be used without permission &/or payment (e.g., for education)
Why is citation important for academic work?
We are privileged to use other people’s materials for free, but
need to provide proper acknowledgement. That’s what
really citations are all about.
Shield laws
protects reporters’ rights to maintain sources’ confidentiality in courts of law
Embedding reporting
Iraq raised this question
–> accepting military control over their output—in exchange for close contact with troops
Media as a messenger is
a very selective mirror, and some things are overrepresented, others underrepresented, and some
things disappear altogether
Communication
transmission of a message from a source to a receiver
Must be sharing (correspondence) of meaning
Message & Response/feedback
Interpersonal Communication
b/w two or a few people (could be more), immediate feedback, reciprocal & on-going process, medium is not necessarily needed
Mass Communication
between sender & mass; normally anonymous audience
Message is always carried by a medium with technology
Feedback is slow & inferred
Message is carried by a
medium with technology
The word media is the plural of
medium - derived from the Latin
world medius, which means “middle”
Lasswell’s 5-Ws
WHO?
Says WHAT?
Through WHICH channels,
means, medium?
To WHOM?
With WHAT EFFECT?
[no when or where]
Encoded
Transformed into understandable sign & symbol system
Decoded
Signs & symbols interpreted
Culture
Learned behavior of members of given social group
We learn (our) culture via communication & the media
Functions and effects of culture
- Limits our options & provides guidelines for behavior
- In pluralistic society, dominant culture (mainstream culture) is often challenged (by alternative culture)
- Many smaller, bounded cultures exist within large, national culture (Ex). Equestrian this area
- Culture can divide and/or unite
- (Mis)communication turns differentiation into divide (Ex). Islam vs. West
Invention of writing
- Ideogrammatic writing 田島淳志
- (Syllable) Alphabets
Before the invention of writing
Oral / preliterate culture – Local-based, memory is crucial, myth & history intertwined
Changes by writing
(esp. printing press):
- Uniformity (e.g., reliability info. for mass)
- (Long) distance communication
- Recording of memory
Literacy
The ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use written symbols.
What do you learn with literacy
- Spelling (orthography)
- Grammar: “arts of letters”
- Etymology
Media literacy
The ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and utilize mass communication
Cultural Definition of Communication
“Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired & transformed”
Third-person effect
The common attitude that others are influenced by media messages, but I am not
Industries in Turmoil…
- Movie attendance has been down
- Album sales decreased
- Major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, & Fox) possess only 34% of viewing audience compared to 60% 15 years ago . . .
What is the rate of media consumption currently?
- Media consumption is at an all time high
- Kids (age 8-18): Spend 8h 33m /day with media content
- “Rules” of media consumption have changed.
The 5 major industries
Comcast, AT&T, Disney, ViacomCBS, & SONY
Concentration of ownership
Fewer media owners own more media companies
Conglomeration
The ownership of the media outlets by larger, non-media
companies
(GE owned NBCUniversal (–2011); Disney owns ABC)
Oligopoly
(market structure)
A concentration of (media) industries into an ever smaller
number of companies
How can mass communication be compared to an industrial factory?
“economies of scale” relative to the media industry…
Economies of Scale
Relative cost of an operation’s output declines as the size of the endeavor grows (works well in media industry)
Synergy
The use by the media corporations of as many channels of delivery as possible for similar content
((AOL) Time Warner controls all the way)
This media content can sell well if a company has book, magazine, film, music, TV, & more simultaneously
Convergence
/digital tech
The erosion of traditional distinction among media
Non-rivalrous Public Goods
One media product can be shared by many people. Goods that can be inexpensively copied and distributed, allowing many consumers to enjoy product at the same time. Duplication does not cost much.
First-Copy Cost
The cost to produce the original product that can then be copied and distributed. Media industry is more willing to spend greater first-copy cost than most other industries.
Consequences of media concentration
- Lack of diverse contents, not only in the US, but also globally
- “Safe” contents (be sure to generate profit!; avoid controversy)
- Price goes up (Oligopoly)
- Media’s “watchdog role” decreases …
Watchdog
- a watchful guardian, esp. against illegal or unethical conduct
- media are expected to disclose corruption, scandal, etc. for social justice
(Ex) Watergate
Consequence of media conglomeration
How NBC would cover / not cover a plane crash, maybe they are owned by those people…
Hypercommercialism
Increasing the amount of ad, and mixing of commercial & non-commercial media contents
Product placement
Brand entertainment
Brands are part of & essential to the program
(placement agencies connect advertisers with film producers)
Audience Fragmentation
Narrowcasting, niche marketing, & targeting
Taste public
increasingly fragmented into demographically targeted media content, groups of people bound by little more than an interest in a given form
Addressable technologies
technologies permitting the transmission of very specific content to equally specific audience members
Appointment consumption
audiences consume content at a time predetermined by the producer and distributor;
for example, a movie time at a theater, your favorite television show at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, news at the top of the hour, your magazine in your mailbox on the third of the month
Consumption on demand
the ability to consume any content, anytime, anywhere
Media multitasking
Simultaneously using multiple kinds of media
Platform agnostic
Don’t care which medium to get contents
Technology changes and influences
The development of media technologies, especially via the Internet, allows the media industry to develop algorithms to obtain feedback in a much more precise fashion, such as who’s using media contents in what way.
Why is changing nature of audience feedback important?
- Privacy (e.x. Identity theft)
- Tailored Ads – Good or bad? What you see (ads) is controlled by the media, not your autonomous choice.
- Freedom of Speech: What you watch, read, etc. are important part of your identity.
Externalities
Economic and social costs of a market transaction that occur independently of the decision to
make that transaction.
- Not a concept for media only; for any business
- Both positive and negative
The Media Effects Debate
Argument 1:
Media content has limited impact on audiences because it’s only make-believe; people know it isn’t real.
Counterarguments:
News – Real
Ad - Supposed to tell truth
Kids confront the world through TV
= The early window (of social learning)
To enjoy the media, we willingly suspend disbelief.
The Media Effects Debate
Argument 2:
Media content has limited impact on us b/c it is only play or entertainment
Counterarguments:
News is not entertainment.
Even if media are for recreation, recreation is very
important to the way we develop our knowledge of
ourselves and our world.
The Media Effects Debate
Argument 5:
Media only affect unimportant things in our lives, such as fads & fashions
Counterarguments:
Fads & fashions are not unimportant
If media influence only unimportant things, why are billions of $ spent on media efforts to sway opinion about social issues?
The Media Effects Debate
Argument:
If media have any effects at all,
they are not the media’s fault.
Media simply hold a mirror to
society and reflect our world as
it is.
Counterargument:
Media = a very selective mirror,
and some things are
overrepresented, others
underrepresented, and some
things disappear altogether.
Agenda setting!
Administrative research
asks questions about the immediate, observable influence of mass comm
Transmission perspective
A liner sequential model of the
effect of communication
Ritual perspective
Representation of shared beliefs
Creation of culture
Shaping and reinforcing cultural
values
Mass comm theories
Explanations of social phenomena that attempt to relate mass comm to our personal & cultural lives
Not one single mass comm theory
Often borrowed from other fields of science (e.g., third-person effect & psychology)
(The Era of) Mass Society Theory
Media are corrupting influences undermining the social order
Hypodermic Needle (Magic Bullet) Theory
Media are a dangerous force that directly penetrates a person’s system (everyone’s)
Limited Effects Theories (The Era of the Scientific Perspective)
Media influence was limited by individual differences, social categories, & personal relationships
Lazarsfeld’s Two-step Flow Theory
Media message
↓↓
Opinion Leaders
↓↓
Opinion Followers
=
“Social context of interpretation”
Attitude Change Theory
Dissonance Theory — (when confronted by conflicting information, people experience mental discomfort), and they consciously and subconsciously work to reduce that discomfort
through 3 selective processes.
Selective Exposure
(or selective attention)— people
expose themselves to only those messages consistent with their preexisting attitudes & beliefs
Selective Retention
people remember best those
messages that are consistent with their preexisting attitudes & beliefs
Selective Perception
people interpret messages in a
manner consistent with their preexisting attitudes & beliefs
Uses and Gratifications Approach
claims that media do not do things to people; rather people do things with media
consider what gratification you are obtaining by using the media
or a specific medium/media content
Social Cognitive Theory
People copy behaviors they see, imitate it and identify with it. Observers do not always have to copy what they see but sometimes make a related response
(Observational Learning
Inhibitory Effect
Disinhibitory Effect)
Disinhibitory Effect
You may be rewarded by doing
something bad! (or at least not punished)
EX. in youth, glamorization of alcohol = the more you drink, the more “real man” you are!”
Dependency Theory
People become dependent on media to understand what is going on around them, to learn how to behave meaningfully, and for escape.
“The media are a terrorist’s best friend . . .”
The stimulation model
Direct causal relationship b/w violent content & aggressive behavior
Aggressive cues model
media portrayals suggest that certain classes of people are acceptable targets for real-world
aggression
Cultivation Theory
Heavy exposure to media, namely TV, creates & cultivates
attitudes more consistent with a media conjured version of
reality than that of actual reality.
“The more TV you watch, the more you believe the reality
is similar to what on TV.”
Mainstreaming of Reality
Moving individuals toward shared, television-created
understanding of how things are.
Mean World Syndrome
We live in a world in which we are less trusting of our
neighbors & more accepting of violence in our midst, due
to media.
(This is politically exploitable)
(“The medium is the message”)
Stereotyping
Application of standardized images to members of certain groups, usually based on limited
information
Ex. Mickey Rooney, Irish-American acting Japanese
Actors/actresses must be highly skilled to portray stereotyped characters
