Media (Lecture 15&16)

Question 1

Mass Media

Answer 1

the TECHNOLOGY (print, radio, television, internet) that allow mass communication

Question 2

Mass Communication

Answer 2

the actual TRANSMISSION of message from one source to huge audience at same time

Question 3

Political Economy

Answer 3

• looks at relation between economic ownership and power over society
• looking at media, asks who owns it? and what effect ownership has on media

Question 4

COnclomerate

Answer 4

• large business structure with interests in a variety of fields (eg: gambling, drinks, media)
• emphasis on PROFIT not ‘quality news’

Question 5

Horizontal Integration

Answer 5

chains of local newspapers owned by same company all have identical stories; ignore local issues (ie: calgary and toronto news owned by same company)

Question 6

Vertical Integration

Answer 6

radio stations mostly play music produced by record company owned by same corporation

Question 7

Cross-ownership

Answer 7

companies own different types of media (tv, papers etc) and repeat same issues across them to save money —> reduces diversity of perspectives

Question 8

Commodification

Answer 8

• treating an object (or person, idea, value, work of art) as a commodity to be bought and sold
• the overall transformation of part of society so everything in it is commodified
• news coverage focuses increasingly on personality NOT issues

Question 9

Native Advertising

Answer 9

• adverts disguised as news stories in a respectable news outlet (ie: buzzfeed)
• blurs boundaries of truth and adverts
• ie: if you purchase this you will be as cool/ smart/ funny etc.. as this person

Question 10

Niche marketing

Answer 10

Advertisers target very specific segments of the population with carefully-focused commercials and message

Question 11

Colonization of the Lifeworld (Habermans)

Answer 11

• terms for increasing dominance of impersonal system motives (profit, power etc) in areas previously open to free debate
• seen in effects of profit motive on media’s ability to be a space for public discourse
• as society gets more complex, it relies more on impersonal systems
• media should be part of fluid public sphere, with open debate, but instead is governed by motive of efficiency and profit

Question 12

Integration

Answer 12

in Parson’s AGIL system, the function that brings members of society together in a common set of values, beliefs, and understanding

Question 13

Structural Functionalists integrating members

Answer 13

• Socialization: like education, mass media can present a single standard view of society as a whole, ensuring cohesion
• Enforcing Social Norms: in both news and entertainment, we see criminals being punished when they break social rules
• Economic Stimulus: media promote consumption through advertising, thus helping economy
• Information and Surveillance: transits vital news

Question 14

Agenda Setting

Answer 14

• media’s power to select which topics we think and talk about
• whatever gets discussed int eh media is likely to be uppermost in out thoughts

Question 15

Gatekeeping

Answer 15

actively preventing certain ideas, values, people, lifestyles from appearing in media

Question 16

Alternative Media

Answer 16

Less prominent media sources, but used by subordinate groups to transmit views

Question 17

Moral Entrepreneurs (Howard Becker)

Answer 17

An individual who tries to influence a group by setting or upholding a moral norm, often by LABELLING behaviour as good or bad

Question 18

Rule Creators

Answer 18

those how define a new rule, usually by identifying some threat to society

Question 19

Rule Enforcers

Answer 19

those whose position depends on ensuring others follow the rules; they can gian personal power in a situation by upholding a rule

Question 20

Epistemic Closure

Answer 20

When individuals choose only news outlets that agree with they politics, they find only confirmation of their beliefs (ie: Fox news)
• possible in highly marketized media world

Question 21

Homogenization

Answer 21

when differences disappear, and we all become the same–> mass media encourage cultural homogenization (ie: evrywhr in the world is becoming highly influenced by america)

Question 22

Cultivation Theory

Answer 22

• Masses are terrified by constant images of threats and conflict on tv
• consequently, they support hardline solutions for nonexistent problems

Question 23

Narcotizing Dysfunction

Answer 23

• constant exposure to the same messages over and over agin makes us less sensitive to them–> we don’t care as much
• may make us indifferent to violence or to suffering in other parts of world

Question 24

’ The Medium is the message’

Answer 24

McLuhan’s famous statement that HOW the media says something is more important than WHAT it says

Question 25

Commodity Fetishism

Answer 25

Originally a Marxist term, but changed and adapted by Baudrillard to describe the way we desire a product for its cultural value, not its actual use • we don't actually want the concrete material item, we view the world as a set of brands (which are somehow more important for what they represent than what they are)

Question 26

Hyperreality

Answer 26

the ultra-bright, fast-moving, sensory overload world produced by the mass media-- which overwhelms the dull material world underneath • impossible for us to distinguish between reality and manufactured hyperreality

Question 27

Cultural Studies

Answer 27

* sociological study of various aspects of cultures-- both 'high are' and mass entertainment * examines movies, tv, news etc to see what we can learn about a society from them

Question 28

Male Gaze

Answer 28

* Feminist concept to describe the way women are generally expected to present themselves to be judged by men * Women are trained to spend a long time looking good to attract the ubiquitous male eye

Question 29

Orientalism

Answer 29

* tendency for Europeans/ western writers to depict other parts of world (especially Asia) as 'mysterious' and 'magical' * Makes these areas seem irrational and pre-modern--? only there for white man to 'find'

Question 30

The Other

Answer 30

* theoretical term to describe any group marked out as different from or somehow inferior to 'the norm' * linked to idea of ALTERITY, suggesting dominant groups always define themselves against some Other