Mass Media

Question 1

Agency of social change

Answer 1

Influencing social attitudes and government policy.

Question 2

Alienated

Answer 2

Lacking connection with the social world.

Question 3

Bias

Answer 3

Not taking a neutral view but favouring one side of an argument or debate.

Question 4

Blog

Answer 4

Web-based comment by both amateurs and professional writers (from the word ‘weblog’).

Question 5

Censorship

Answer 5

Preventing certain information from becoming public knowledge.

Question 6

Culture of simulation

Answer 6

A virtual world that becomes more important to the individual than their day-to-day lived experience.

Question 7

Cumulative effect

Answer 7

Long period of exposure to particular media messages.

Question 8

Deviancy amplification

Answer 8

The process by which the mass media can exaggerate the significance of a particular social issue.

Question 9

Elite

Answer 9

A small dominant group (that may own and control the mass media).

Question 10

Ethnicity

Answer 10

The classification of people into groups that share the same culture, history and identity.

Question 11

Freedom of speech

Answer 11

The democratic principle that protects legitimate comment regarding the actions of the government or issues of public interest.

Question 12

Gatekeeper

Answer 12

In the media, a person who has editorial control over media content.

Question 13

Global culture

Answer 13

The idea that many cultural values (generally Western and often American) are now shared by people across the world.

Question 14

Hyper-reality

Answer 14

An alternative reality based on the individual’s experience of the mass media – particularly television and the internet.

Question 15

Image

Answer 15

The identity that individuals wish to present to the world, for example, the media image of a particular politician as young and dynamic.

Question 16

Industrial disputes

Answer 16

Disagreements between management and workforce, often leaders to workers going on strike.

Question 17

Information overload

Answer 17

The enormous volume of modern electronic communications (sometimes more than an individual can cope with).

Question 18

Internet

Answer 18

A global system of interconnected computers.

Question 19

Junk mail

Answer 19

The postal equivalent of SPAM.

Question 20

Lad’s magazine

Answer 20

Publication aimed at a young male readership often containing images of women as sex objects.

Question 21

Liberal democratic values

Answer 21

The dominant political and social values of western society, for example freedom of speech and free elections.

Question 22

Mainframe computer

Answer 22

Large, room-sized early computers that stored data using reel-to-reel magnetic tape.

Question 23

Mass culture

Answer 23

The transmission of cultural values through mass media communication, for example, television.

Question 24

Media imperialism

Answer 24

The idea that Western cultural values are imposed by a dominant cultural empire (swamping local cultures that lack the resources to match the volume of media output from countries like the USA).

Question 25

Media stereotype

Answer 25

Simple media image based on prejudice.

Question 26

Modernity

Answer 26

Relating to the modern world.

Question 27

Neo-liberalism

Answer 27

A political approach based on the belief that governments should limit their activity to maintaining law and order. In particular, governments should not interfere with market forces in the economy.

Question 28

New media

Answer 28

Computerised communications technology.

Question 29

News value

Answer 29

The importance attached to a particular news item.

Question 30

Norms and expectations

Answer 30

Generally accepted and expected patterns of behaviour in a particular society.

Question 31

Ofcom

Answer 31

The independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries.

Question 32

Old media

Answer 32

Print media and electronic communications (radio, television) developed during the mid-20th century or earlier.

Question 33

Pluralism

Answer 33

Theories about the mass media that see variety and competition as healthy sigs of a working democracy.

Question 34

Propaganda

Answer 34

The selection and control of information usually for political ends.

Question 35

Social class

Answer 35

People having the same social status measured by such things as occupation and income.

Question 36

Social construct

Answer 36

Patterns of behaviour that are based on society’s norms and expectations, for example, masculinity and femininity.

Question 37

Social convention

Answer 37

A generally expected form of social behaviour, for example, politeness and consideration of the needs of others.

Question 38

Social networking site

Answer 38

Virtual community that enables members to establish a user profile and communicate and share images and information.

Question 39

Socialisation

Answer 39

The lifelong process of learning the skills, customs, attitudes, norms and values of a culture.

Question 40

SPAM

Answer 40

Unwanted and unasked for bulk electronic messages accounting for much of the increased volume of e-mail traffic.

Question 41

Spin

Answer 41

Managing the message to influence the way in which events are reported.

Question 42

Stereotype

Answer 42

A simple, fixed mental image (usually unfavourable) of a group of people generally based on the behaviour of a few individuals from within that group.

Question 43

Stigmatise

Answer 43

To mark a particular social group or individual as different, disapproved of and even dangerous to others.

Question 44

Substitute hearth

Answer 44

The idea that the television replaced the fireplace as the focus of the living room.

Question 45

Survey

Answer 45

A research tool, for example a questionnaire or series of interviews.

Question 46

Telesales

Answer 46

The selling of goods and services over the telephone/

Question 47

World information order

Answer 47

The idea that information is now available almost instantly in a global marketplace.

Question 48

World view

Answer 48

A general view of the way that society works.

Question 49

Tabloid

Answer 49

Popular newspapers (e.g. The Sun, The Daily Mail) which used to be published in a smaller format than the so called ‘quality press’ (e.g. The Guardian, The Times)