chapter 18 the mass media. chapter outline the significance of the mass media theories of media...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 18
The Mass Media
Chapter Outline
The Significance of the Mass Media Theories of Media Effects Domination and Resistance on the Internet
1 Mass Media
The mass media are print, radio, television, and other communication technologies. “Mass” implies the media reach many people. “Media” signifies that communication is
usually one way.There are few senders (or producers) and
many receivers (or audience members).
2 Media Usage, 2005(projected hours/capita)
3 Media Usage
Hours in a year: 8,760 Hours per year the average American uses the
mass media: 3,649 63% of waking hours assuming eight hours of sleep per
day
Increase since 1996 in hours per year the average American uses mass media: 11%.
4 Media Usage, 2005 (Projected dollars/Capita)
Question
Which media source do you think has the strongest impact on attitudes and behaviors of your generation?
a. Advertising
b. Television
c. Music and music videos
d. The Internet
e. Magazines
5 Development of the Mass Media
Circa 100
Papermaking developed in China
Circa 1000
Movable clay type used in China
Circa 1400
Movable metal type developed in Korea
1702First daily newspaper, London’s Daily Courant
1833First mass-circulation newspaper, New York Sun
5 Development of the Mass Media
1837Louis Daguerre invents a practical method of photography in France
1844 Samuel Morse sends the first telegraph message
1875Alexander Graham Bell sends the first telephone message
1877 Thomas Edison develops the first phonograph
1895 Motion pictures are invented
1901Guglielmo Marconi transmits first transatlantic wireless message
5 Development of the Mass Media
1906 First radio voice transmission
1920 First regularly scheduled radio broadcast, Pittsburgh
1921 First commercial TV broadcast
1922 Long-playing records (LPs) introduced
1939 Network TV begins in the United States
5 Development of the Mass Media
1952 VCR invented
1961 First cable television, San Diego
1969First 4 nodes of the Defense Dept. ARPANET (precursor to internet)
1975 First microcomputer marketed
1989World Wide Web conceived by Tim Berners-Lee in Switzerland.
Question
The mass media refer to communication technologies that:
a. reach many people b. do not take place directly through face-to-face
interactionc. are usually one way or at least one-sided in the
sense of having few senders and many receiversd. all of these choices
Answer: d
The mass media refer to communication technologies that reach many people and communication technologies that do not take place directly through face-to-face interaction and communication technologies that are usually one way or at least one-sided in the sense of having few senders and many receivers.
6 Causes of Growth of the Media
1. Protestant Reformation of the 16th century encouraged people to read the Bible themselves.
2. Democratic movements in the late 18th century encouraged people to demand literacy.
3. Capitalist industrialization in the late 19th century required rapid communication.
7 Magazine Advertising and Circulation Revenue, United States, 1960–2004
8 Theories of Mass Media EffectsTheory Mass Media Effects
FunctionalismCoordination, socialization, social control, and entertainment
Conflict Theory
Reinforce economic inequality and core values of a stratified society.
Interpretiveapproaches
Effects are ambiguous and can never be assumed.
Feministapproaches
Gender and racial stereotypes in the media perpetuate inequalities.
Question
According to functionalists, which of the following is not a function of mass media?
a. coordination
b. socialization
c. strengthening of community
d. social control
Answer: c
According to functionalists, strengthening of community, is not a function of mass media.
9 Media Bias Advertising
93%of newspaper editors said advertisers tried to influence their news reports. 37% of newspaper editors admitted to being influenced by advertisers.
Sourcing Most news agencies rely on press releases, news conferences, and interviews
organized by corporations and government agencies. These sources slant information to reflect favorably on their policies.
Flak Governments and big corporations attack journalists who depart from official
points of view. 60 Minutes refused to broadcast a damaging interview with a former Philip Morris
executive because CBS was threatened with legal action by the tobacco company.
9 Media Bias Advertising
93%of newspaper editors said advertisers tried to influence their news reports.
37% of newspaper editors admitted to being influenced by advertisers.
Sourcing Most news agencies rely on press releases, news conferences, and
interviews organized by corporations and government agencies. These sources slant information to reflect favorably on their policies.
Flak Governments and big corporations attack journalists who depart from
official points of view. 60 Minutes refused to broadcast a damaging interview with a former
Philip Morris executive because CBS was threatened with legal action by the tobacco company.
9 Media Bias Advertising
93%of newspaper editors said advertisers tried to influence their news reports.
37% of newspaper editors admitted to being influenced by advertisers.
Sourcing Most news agencies rely on press releases,
news conferences, and interviews organized by corporations and government agencies.
These sources slant information to reflect favorably on their policies.
Flak Governments and big corporations attack journalists who depart from
official points of view. 60 Minutes refused to broadcast a damaging interview with a former
Philip Morris executive because CBS was threatened with legal action by the tobacco company.
9 Media Bias Advertising
93%of newspaper editors said advertisers tried to influence their news reports.
37% of newspaper editors admitted to being influenced by advertisers.
Sourcing Most news agencies rely on press releases, news conferences,
and interviews organized by corporations and government agencies.
These sources slant information to reflect favorably on their policies.
Flak Governments & big corporations attack journalists who
depart from official points of view. 60 Minutes refused to broadcast a damaging interview with
a former Philip Morris executive because CBS was threatened with legal action by the tobacco company.
Relationship Between Centrality of Values and Diversity of Media Opinion
10 Two-step Flow of Communication
The two-step flow of communication between mass media and audience members involves:
respected people of high status and independent judgment evaluating media messages
members of the community being influenced by these opinion leaders.
11 Cultural Studies
Cultural studies is an increasingly popular interdisciplinary area of media research. It focuses not just on the cultural meanings producers try to transmit but also on the way audiences filter and interpret mass media messages in the context of their own interests, experiences, and values.
Feminist Approach to Media: Abortion Study
Study by Andrea Press and Elizabeth Cole of audience reaction to abortion as portrayed on TV shows.
Over 4 years, they conducted discussion groups involving 108 women.
The women watched shows focusing on abortion and discussed their reactions.
The programs dealt with women who chose abortion to avoid poverty.
Feminist Approach to Media: Abortion Study 4 Opinions
1. Pro-life women from all social classes form the most homogeneous group.
• They think abortion is never justified.
• They reject the mass media’s justification for abortion.
2. Pro-choice working-class women
3. Pro-choice working-class women who aspire to middle-class status
4. Pro-choice middle-class women
Feminist Approach to Media: Abortion Study 4 Opinions
1. Pro-life women from all social classes
2. Pro-choice working-class women adopt a pro-choice stand as a survival strategy, not on principle. • They fear laws restricting abortion would be
applied prejudicially against women of their class.
• At the same time, they reject the TV message that financial hardship justifies abortion.
2. Pro-choice working-class women who aspire to middle-class status
3. Pro-choice middle-class women
Feminist Approach to Media: Abortion Study 4 Opinions
1. Pro-life women from all social classes
2. Pro-choice working-class women
3. Pro-choice working-class women who aspire to middle-class status distance themselves from “reckless” members of their own class who sought abortions on the TV shows.• They tolerate abortion for such people but
reject it for themselves and for other “responsible” women.
2. Pro-choice middle-class women
Feminist Approach to Media: Abortion Study 4 Opinions
1. Pro-life women from all social classes
2. Pro-choice working-class women 3. Pro-choice working-class women who aspire to middle-class
status
4. Pro-choice middle-class women believe only an individual woman’s feelings can determine whether abortion is right or wrong in her own case.• Many reservations about abortion, and
reject it as an option for themselves.• They staunchly defend the right of all
women to choose abortion.
12 Representation of Minority Groups in Television
Question
Which of the following groups was not highly underrepresented among American fictional television characters who appeared in prime-time and daytime series, films, and animated cartoons in the period 1994-97?
a. poor peopleb. African Americansc. disabled peopled. Hispanic Americans
Answer: b
African Americans were not highly underrepresented among American fictional television characters who appeared in prime-time and daytime series, films, and animated cartoons in the period 1994-97.
13 Top 10 Countries, Millions of Internet Users
Question
Of friends and relatives you keep in contact with at least once a year about how many do you stay in contact through e-mail? a. None
b. 1-5
c. 6 and up
GSS National Data
Age <30 30-49 50 and Up
None 41.2% 43.1% 63.6%
1-5 24.9% 25.4% 13.6%
6 and up 33.9% 31.6% 23.1%
14 Internet ConnectivityPopulation Density
15 % Population With Internet Access
United States 59.1
UK 57.4
Canada 53.1
South Korea 53.0
Japan 44.1
Germany 38.5
Italy 33.4
France 28.4
China 3.5
Question
How likely is it that you would be willing to pursue an Internet romance?
a. Very likely
b. Somewhat likely
c. Unsure
d. Somewhat unlikely
e. Very unlikely
16 Media Imperialism
Media imperialism is the domination of a mass medium by a single national culture and the undermining of other national cultures.
17 Media Convergence
Media convergence is the blending of the World Wide Web, television, and other communications media as new, hybrid media forms.
Quick Quiz
1. Which of the following was not a factor that led to the rise of the mass media?
a. the Protestant Reformationb. the Catholic Counter-Reformationc. the democratic revolutions in France, the
United States, and other countriesd. capitalist industrialization
Answer: b
The Catholic Counter-Reformation was not a factor that led to the rise of the mass media.
2. According to conflict theorists:a. the mass media stimulate social conflict
b. the mass media create widespread acceptance of social inequality
c. the mass media are themselves a source of economic inequality
d. b. and c. only
Answer: d
According to conflict theorists: the mass media create widespread acceptance of social inequality and the mass media are themselves a source of economic inequality.
3. The two-step flow of communication refers to the fact that:
a. ideas, fashions, and fads originate in the press and only later make their way to TV
b. ideas, fashions, and fads originate on TV and only later make their way to other mass media
c. respected people of high status typically evaluate mass media messages and then may influence the broader public
d. b. and c. only
Answer: c
The two-step flow of communication refers to the fact that respected people of high status typically evaluate mass media messages and then may influence the broader public.
4. Media convergence refers to:a. the restriction of access to the mass media to paying
customers
b. the blending of the World Wide Web, television, and other communications media into new, hybrid forms
c. global inequality in access to the mass media
d. the accumulation of vast amounts of wealth by media conglomerates
Answer: b
Media convergence refers to the blending of the World Wide Web, television, and other communications media into new, hybrid forms.
5. Americans spend more time interacting with the mass media than they do working.
a. True
b. False
Answer: True
Americans spend more time interacting with the mass media than they do working.