Mass Communication: A Critical Approach

Question 1

News Media and Our Political Process

Answer 1

“We now watch the news media—mostly on cable and the Internet—transform important debates like health care reform into highly partisan narratives of good vs. evil in an effort to serve smaller, specialized audiences.”

Question 2

The Media Storytellers

Answer 2

At their worst, the media’s appetite for telling and selling stories leads them to exploit or misrepresent tragedy.
Hurtle from one event to another
Lose their critical distance

At their best, our media reflect and sustain the values and traditions of a vital democracy.
Engage and entertain
Watch over society’s institutions

Question 3

Cultural Contexts

Answer 3

Mass media consists of cultural institutions/cultural industries:
Media
Schools
Art
Beliefs

Question 4

Eras of Communication

Answer 4

Oral communication
Written communication
Printed communication
Electronic communication
Digital communication

Question 5

The Age of Convergence

Answer 5

Convergence refers to the appearance of older media forms on the newest media channels.

Convergence also refers to newspaper, broadcast, and Internet outlets existing under one corporate roof (also known as cross platform).

Question 6

Evolution of a Mass Medium

Answer 6

Novelty, or development, stage: inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem
Entrepreneurial stage: inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device
Mass medium stage: businesses figure out how to market the new device as a consumer roduct

Question 7

Linear Model of Communication

Answer 7

Sender—message—mass media channel—(gatekeepers)—receivers

Question 8

Cultural Approach of Communication

Answer 8

Individual cultural component
Selective exposure
Storytelling

Question 9

Schramm’s Model of Communication, 1954

Answer 9

Message -> Decoder-Interpreter-Encoder-> Message -> Decoder-Interpreter-Encoder

Question 10

Concentric Circle Model

Answer 10

Content
Communicators
Codes
Gatekeepers
Mass Media
Regulators 
Filters 
Audiences 
Effects

Question 11

Narrative Model of Communication

Answer 11

Developed by Harold Lasswell, the Narrative Model uses words instead of diagrams to explain the communication process. The model has four questions:
Who says what?
In which channel?
To whom?
With what effect?

Question 12

Cultural Landscapes

Answer 12

Culture as a skyscraper:
High culture
Low culture
Different media for each, but many people consume both.

Question 13

Skyscraper Model:Hamlet vs. Wheel of Fortune

Answer 13

Some enjoy high culture (Beethoven) and low culture (American Idol).
Did The Munsters rip off Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?
Does popular culture cheapen public life?
More refined culture struggles to compete with mass appeal of TV.
Popular media may inhibit social progress by transforming us into cultural dupes.
The “Big Mac” theory: We have lost our discriminating taste for finer fare.

Question 14

Culture as a Map

Answer 14

Culture is an ongoing, changing process.
Map is a metaphor for the centers of culture and niche areas consumers enjoy.
Our culture contains some stories that are conventional and comforting, others that are innovative and challenging.

Question 15

Map Model: Shifting Values

Answer 15

Four values of the modern period:
Working efficiently
Celebrating the individual
Believing in a rational order
Rejecting tradition/embracing progress

Question 16

Postmodern Values

Answer 16

Four features of the postmodern:
Celebrating populism
Diversifying and recycling culture
Questioning science and revering nostalgia
Acknowledging paradox
Postmodern culture (present) changes modern values.

Question 17

Media Literacy

Answer 17

A critical, not cynical, approach
Involves an analysis and interpretation of facts
Ethical/moral evaluation of meaning
Take action to shape the cultural environment

Question 18

Benefits of a Critical Perspective

Answer 18

Reassess and rebuild the standards by which we judge our culture

Recognize the links between cultural expression and daily life

Monitor how well the media serve democratic practices

Question 19

Five Key Questions of Media Literacy

Answer 19

1. Who created this message?
2. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
3. How might different people understand this message differently than me?
4. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
5. Why is this message being sent?

Question 20

Five Core Media Literacy Concepts

Answer 20

1. All media messages are ‘constructed.’
2. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
3. Different people experience the same media message differently.
4. Media have embedded values and points of view.
5. Most media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power.

Question 21

Media Literacy and the Critical Process

Answer 21

Description
Analysis
Interpretation
Evaluation
Engagement

Question 22

Functions of Mass Communication

Answer 22

Surveillance
Correlation
Cultural Transmission
Entertainment

Question 23

Benefits of Digitization

Answer 23

Easy and cheap to create, reproduce, and distribute media products
World Wide Web makes everyone a potential publisher

Question 24

Problems of Digitization

Answer 24

Erosion of privacy
Uneven access to the internet among groups
Easy access to objectionable material and pornography
susceptibility to crimes such as identity theft

Question 25

Convergence and the Relationship of Media Organizations with Their Audience

Answer 25

Audience increases its media consumption
Audience becomes more active in media production and distribution than with analog media
Audience fragmentation into smaller audiences and highly personalized content

Question 26

Convergence and Communication Professionals

Answer 26

The role and function of journalists may well change as more people can record witnessed events and report on them through the Web.
Online news credibility is as high or higher than some traditional news forms.