media - march 18 Flashcards
illusion becomes reality (media)
- The fantasy worlds created by the mass media are increasingly the only realities we know, similar to how religion was 500 or 600 years ago
- Some people are chronically online, their lives are consumed by media
- We spend close to 40 percent of our time interacting with the mass media—more than we do sleeping, working, or going to school
harold
- Harold distinguished long-lived media from short-lived media, said it matters how we consume content—would definitely have something to say about TikTok lmao. Time-based media fosters traditionalism, helped to establish religion. Space-based media encourages colonization, the growth of secular states and armies, transmitting info quickly
- Innis (1951) distinguished time-based media that endure but are relatively immobile (such as writing on stone tablets) from space-based media that are relatively short-lived but mobile (such as radio signals). He argued that different types of media help to create different kinds of institutions and values; time-based media foster traditionalism and established religion while space-based media encourage colonization, empire-building, and the growth of secular states and armies.
marshall
- McLuhan said the introduction of new media changes the way we think and act—like we think of everything in terms of aesthetics now bc of instagram and whether we can take photos of it
- McLuhan (1964) added that the introduction of new media changes the way
we perceive and think. For example, printing undermined oral communication, which affected cultures based on hearing. Print media encouraged the development of cultures that are more visually oriented, abstract, individualistic, and rational. Electronic media subsequently undermined print-based culture. For instance, TV, which integrates seeing and hearing, affects its audience more deeply than print does and is more socially inclusive than print is. Moreover, TV allows communication to occur at the speed of light. It thus shrinks the world, creating what McLuhan called a “global village.” - In 1964, Marshall McLuhan, Canadian media guru, said the media are extensions of the human body and mind
—-Today, it is perhaps equally valid to claim that the human body and mind are extensions of the mass media
mass media definition
- Mass media refer to print, radio, television, and other communication technologies
- The word mass implies that the media reach many people
- The word media signifies that communication does not take place directly through face-to-face interaction
mass communication
- Mass media and mass communication are often used interchangeably to refer to the transmission of information from one person or group to another
- Communication via the mass media is usually one-way, or at least one-sided
- Producers are producing media, people are consuming. Very rarely do people get to produce their own media
- Like some letters to the editor might get published but not most
- There are few senders (or producers) and many receivers (or audience members)
- Members of the audience cannot exert much influence
media influence
- People are not always passive consumers of the mass media
- We filter, interpret, and resist what we see and hear if it contradicts our experiences and beliefs
- Depends on the source too—we have some sources we trust more than others, and so some sources we are more likely to believe
- But, in the interaction between audiences and media sources, the media sources usually dominate
—Even, dr b would argue, with the rise of social media. More people giving their take on things, but it’s still largely one-sided—think influencers who still dominate content. More two-way than ever before but still mostly one-way - Hard to tune out the news even if you want to—we’re excluded from things if we do, and humans are social creatures and don’t wanna be exclude
Communication speed-up
- Young people’s culture has always been faster than the culture of older people
- Eg TikTok
- Neurological differences—young people hardwired to be faster, so this works with that
- Recently, technological innovation has encouraged young people’s attention spans to shorten and the generational gap in processing speed to grow
functionalism on media
Mass media perform important functions:
1. Coordinate and inform
Present difficult and complex issues in a way most people can understand
Important especially as society grows, globalization increases—we need media to coordinate and inform people all over the world
2. Socialization
Values, beliefs, traditions transmitted from one generation to the next
Families not as important for socialization as they have been historically (though still most important) bc mass media is important now too
3. Social control
The need for society to have a mechanism in place that gathers info for the population and ensures conformity
Also like telling people what the moral code is by having society react to certain situations/showing people what’s right and wrong
Ex cop shows telling you cops always get the bad guy and committing crimes is wrong
Ex makeover shows: mold you into something more socially acceptable/show people what is socially acceptable
4. Entertainment
Allows people to rest, relax and escape daily pressures (distracts from important events?)
Similar reasoning to sports
The media as a socializing institution
Media is a primary agent of socialization AND mass communication
media as a socializing institution: eufunctions
- Increases social cohesion
- Enforces social norms
- Confers status on people, organizations, and public issues
We legitimize people by giving them a platform - Promotes consumption
If you’re pro-capitalism you see this as a good thing, bc we need people buying things to keep the economy going - Media advertising:
Supports the economy
Provides information about products
Underwrites cost of media
Ex. we can listen to spotify for free with ads
media as a socializing institution: dysfunctions
Dysfunction: “narcotizing effect”
Clickbait—meant to get you engaged all the time
If all headlines become sensationalized, we become desensitized to the serious things. If everything is attention-grabbing and panicking, then nothing is sensational and we don’t react properly when something actually serious happens
Ex: the difference between american and canadian media
Video says Canadian media a lot calmer and less likely to sensationalize news stories than american media (example used of a shooting on Parliament hill, american media called it terrorism and freaked out while canadian was calm)
CBC is supposed to be politically neutral, generally is, while american news are less neutral/more political
conflict theory on mass media
- Social inequality can be fostered by the mass media (conflict theory starting now)
- Some people benefit from the mass media more than others do
- Mass media favour interests of dominant classes and political groups
2 ways dominant classes and political groups benefit more from mass media:
- Broadcasts beliefs, values, and ideas that create widespread acceptance of society’s basic structure, including its injustices and inequalities
- Ownership of mass media is highly concentrated in the hands of a small number of people and is highly profitable for them
So they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo
media ownership
For decades, most of Canadian mass media have been owned by fewer than a dozen families
There are just five multimedia giants in Canada:
1. BCE (Bell)
2. Rogers
3. Shaw
4. Quebecor
5. CBC/Radio Canada (only one that’s publicly owned)
Forms of media concentration
- In the 1990s, “vertical integration” become much more widespread
This is when you control a process from start to finish. Like Bell or Rogers owning TV channels, the internet, the radio, the sports team that is being broadcast, the phones you’re using to watch everything - Media firms sought to control production and distribution in many fields. They became media “conglomerates”
