Description
Pre 1800s: People in the United States lived in rural communities with people of similar ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.
Mass Communication Effects:
How Society & Media Interact
Vote Different &
Yes We Can
• New media tools like YouTube -- becoming
a growing part of the political process.
• “Yes We Can” voted best marketing
message of 2008 by Ad Age and Business
Week. (See pgs 44 – 46)
History of Mass Media
Research
• How has our understanding of
media effects evolved over the
past 200 years?
Rise of Mass Society
• Pre 1800s: People in the United States lived in
rural communities with people of similar ethnic,
racial, and religious backgrounds.
• 1800s: Industrial revolution – People move into
cities, work for wages, interact with people of
diverse backgrounds.
• Fears: Media would replace church, family, and
community in shaping public opinion (grew out
of Propaganda and Direct Effects Model.)
Propaganda & Direct Effects Model
• Argument views audiences and
passive targets (fear factor).
• Direct effects—presume media
messages are a stimulus that leads
to consistent, predictable
attitudinal or behavioral effects.
• Indirect effects—recognize that
people have different
backgrounds, needs, values and so
respond differently.
vs
Critical Cultural Model
• (Our preferred method media research since
we are pursuing happiness in a media world.)
• Focus is on how people use media to
construct view of the world; not effect of
media on people’s behavior.
• Examines creation of meaning and how
communication takes place; not survey or
experimental results.
Types of Media Effects
• Message Effects
• Medium Effects
• Ownership Effects
• Active Audience Effects
Message Effects
How are people affected by the content
of messages?
• Cognitive Effects
Short-term learning of information.
• Attitudinal Effects
Changing people’s attitudes about a
person, product, institution, or idea.
Message Effects
• Behavioral Effects
Inducing people to adopt new behaviors
or change existing ones. Much harder
than changing attitudes.
• Psychological Effects
Inspiring strong feelings or arousal in
audience members. People often seek
feelings such as fear, joy, revulsion,
happiness, or amusement.
Medium Effects
• How does the medium used change
the nature of the message and the
receiver’s response to the message?
• What are the social effects of each
medium?
• “The medium is the message”—
Marshall McLuhan
Ownership Effects
• How does ownership affect the media?
• Do we get different messages from
different owners?
• How important are the six largest media
companies?
Active Audience Effects
• Audience members seek out and respond to
media for a variety of reasons.
• People can be segmented by geographics,
demographics, or psychographics (study these
definitions).
• Looks at audience members as selective
consumers rather than naïve victims of the
media.
Media, Politics,
and Society
How Do Campaigns Affect Voters?
• Resonance Model
A candidate’s success depends on how well his
or her basic message resonates with and
reinforces voters’ preexisting political feelings.
• Competitive Model
Views the political campaign as a competition
for the hearts and minds of voters. A candidate’s
response to an attack is as important as the
attack itself.
Media and Political Bias
• News with an explicit point of view
(opinionated style) is popular on cable
television eg Fox vs MSNBC.
• Audience members tend to view news as
biased if it does not actively match their
own point of view.
Liberal vs. Conservative Bias
• Conservatives point out reporters tend to
be more liberal than public at large.
“The duty of the press is to comfort the
afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
• Liberals point out that media are owned by
large corporations that tend to be more
conservative than the public at large.
“Freedom of the press belongs to those who
own a press.”
Herbert Gans:
Basic Journalistic Values
• Gans evaluated the actual values
exhibited within content on CBS and
NBC news programming and Time
magazine and Newsweek magazine.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Ethnocentrism
The belief that your own country and
culture are better than all others.
• Altruistic democracy
The idea that politicians should serve
the public good, not their own interests.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Responsible capitalism
The idea that open competition among
businesses will create a better, more
prosperous world. But must be
responsible.
• Small-town pastoralism
Nostalgia for the old-fashioned rural
community.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Individualism
The quest to identify the one person
who makes a difference.
• Moderatism
The value of moderation in all
things. Extremists on left and right
are viewed with suspicion.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Social order
When journalists cover disorder they tend
to focus on the restoration of order.
• Leadership
Media look at the actions of leaders,
whereas the actions of lower-level
bureaucrats are ignored.
NETWORK (Sidney Lumet: 1976)
Logline: A TV network cynically exploits a
deranged ex-TV anchor's ravings and revelations
about the media for their own profit.
Question: How does this film predict today’s rash
of trashTV and shock-laden newsbroadcasts?
Writer: Paddy Chayefsky
Starring: Wiliam Holden, Robert Duvall, Dunaway.
121 Minutes.
doc_540062390.ppt
Pre 1800s: People in the United States lived in rural communities with people of similar ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.
Mass Communication Effects:
How Society & Media Interact
Vote Different &
Yes We Can
• New media tools like YouTube -- becoming
a growing part of the political process.
• “Yes We Can” voted best marketing
message of 2008 by Ad Age and Business
Week. (See pgs 44 – 46)
History of Mass Media
Research
• How has our understanding of
media effects evolved over the
past 200 years?
Rise of Mass Society
• Pre 1800s: People in the United States lived in
rural communities with people of similar ethnic,
racial, and religious backgrounds.
• 1800s: Industrial revolution – People move into
cities, work for wages, interact with people of
diverse backgrounds.
• Fears: Media would replace church, family, and
community in shaping public opinion (grew out
of Propaganda and Direct Effects Model.)
Propaganda & Direct Effects Model
• Argument views audiences and
passive targets (fear factor).
• Direct effects—presume media
messages are a stimulus that leads
to consistent, predictable
attitudinal or behavioral effects.
• Indirect effects—recognize that
people have different
backgrounds, needs, values and so
respond differently.
vs
Critical Cultural Model
• (Our preferred method media research since
we are pursuing happiness in a media world.)
• Focus is on how people use media to
construct view of the world; not effect of
media on people’s behavior.
• Examines creation of meaning and how
communication takes place; not survey or
experimental results.
Types of Media Effects
• Message Effects
• Medium Effects
• Ownership Effects
• Active Audience Effects
Message Effects
How are people affected by the content
of messages?
• Cognitive Effects
Short-term learning of information.
• Attitudinal Effects
Changing people’s attitudes about a
person, product, institution, or idea.
Message Effects
• Behavioral Effects
Inducing people to adopt new behaviors
or change existing ones. Much harder
than changing attitudes.
• Psychological Effects
Inspiring strong feelings or arousal in
audience members. People often seek
feelings such as fear, joy, revulsion,
happiness, or amusement.
Medium Effects
• How does the medium used change
the nature of the message and the
receiver’s response to the message?
• What are the social effects of each
medium?
• “The medium is the message”—
Marshall McLuhan
Ownership Effects
• How does ownership affect the media?
• Do we get different messages from
different owners?
• How important are the six largest media
companies?
Active Audience Effects
• Audience members seek out and respond to
media for a variety of reasons.
• People can be segmented by geographics,
demographics, or psychographics (study these
definitions).
• Looks at audience members as selective
consumers rather than naïve victims of the
media.
Media, Politics,
and Society
How Do Campaigns Affect Voters?
• Resonance Model
A candidate’s success depends on how well his
or her basic message resonates with and
reinforces voters’ preexisting political feelings.
• Competitive Model
Views the political campaign as a competition
for the hearts and minds of voters. A candidate’s
response to an attack is as important as the
attack itself.
Media and Political Bias
• News with an explicit point of view
(opinionated style) is popular on cable
television eg Fox vs MSNBC.
• Audience members tend to view news as
biased if it does not actively match their
own point of view.
Liberal vs. Conservative Bias
• Conservatives point out reporters tend to
be more liberal than public at large.
“The duty of the press is to comfort the
afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
• Liberals point out that media are owned by
large corporations that tend to be more
conservative than the public at large.
“Freedom of the press belongs to those who
own a press.”
Herbert Gans:
Basic Journalistic Values
• Gans evaluated the actual values
exhibited within content on CBS and
NBC news programming and Time
magazine and Newsweek magazine.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Ethnocentrism
The belief that your own country and
culture are better than all others.
• Altruistic democracy
The idea that politicians should serve
the public good, not their own interests.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Responsible capitalism
The idea that open competition among
businesses will create a better, more
prosperous world. But must be
responsible.
• Small-town pastoralism
Nostalgia for the old-fashioned rural
community.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Individualism
The quest to identify the one person
who makes a difference.
• Moderatism
The value of moderation in all
things. Extremists on left and right
are viewed with suspicion.
Basic Journalistic Values
• Social order
When journalists cover disorder they tend
to focus on the restoration of order.
• Leadership
Media look at the actions of leaders,
whereas the actions of lower-level
bureaucrats are ignored.
NETWORK (Sidney Lumet: 1976)
Logline: A TV network cynically exploits a
deranged ex-TV anchor's ravings and revelations
about the media for their own profit.
Question: How does this film predict today’s rash
of trashTV and shock-laden newsbroadcasts?
Writer: Paddy Chayefsky
Starring: Wiliam Holden, Robert Duvall, Dunaway.
121 Minutes.
doc_540062390.ppt