Download rodman-chapter 1

Making Sense of Media
The World of Media
What is CULTURE?
• defined as “the symbols that individuals,
groups and societies use to make sense
of daily life and to articulate their values”
• includes both products and processes
• communicates the values of a society
through products or meaning-making
forms
What are Mass Media?
• Mass Media are the industries that
mass-produce and distribute cultural
products (songs, novels, newspapers,
movies, online services, magazines,
comic books, DVDs, video games,
textbooks, radio programs, cable TV,
advertising, sports events, and so on)
• Mass Communication is the process of
designing and delivering cultural
messages and stories to large and
diverse audiences through media
channels
Linear Model
of Communication
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sender
message
channel
receivers
gatekeepers
feedback
– senders-->messages-->receivers
FIVE HISTORICAL ERAS
of media and communication:
• Oral
• Written
• Print
• Electronic
• Digital
Pre-Industrial Cultures
Oral
• Meanings are specific and local
• Knowledge is passed by showing and
telling
• Memory is crucial
• Elders are repositories of knowledge, as
are storytellers
• Myth and history are intertwined
Pre-Industrial Cultures
Written (c. 3000 BC)
• Ideogrammatic alphabets (Egyptian, Sumerian, Chinese)
give way to syllabic [sound based] alphabets (originally
from Sumerian cuneiform)
• Developed to enhance business record keeping
• Effects of Literacy
– Meaning and language became more uniform
– Communication could occur over great distances and
long periods of time
– Memories, history and mythology could be recorded
on first papyrus, then parchment.
Industrial and PostIndustrial Cultures
Print
– Invention of the Printing Press in China
• Block presses invented in 600 AD, with movable clay type
in use by 1000 AD
– Invention of the Printing Press in Europe
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Johannes Gutenberg (1397-1468, Germany)
studied metallurgy, sold trinkets to religious pilgrims
invented movable metal type printing
first printed “Indulgences” for Catholic Church
printed 200 copies of two-volume Gutenberg Bible
Impact of Print
• Wider availability of written material led to higher
interest in literacy among middle and working classes
• Increased interest in education to empower the
middle classes to compete with heredity aristocracies
• Broader distribution of ideas and information led to
increased technological progress
• Printing processes became a model for mass
production techniques
• Increased literacy led to both democratic selfexpression and interest in censorship
• Reading triggered emphasis on nationalism and
individualism
Industrial and PostIndustrial Cultures
• Development of Telegraph (1840s)
– separated communication from transportation
– transformed information into a commodity
– coordinated commercial and military
operations
• Forerunner of electronic communication
• Electronic and Digital Communication
create mass market for information and
entertainment
Mass Media as Business
Why is the US dominant in global
commerce?
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Language
Freedom of Speech Laws
Diversity of Audience
Large Domestic Audience in an
Affluent Economy
Media Conglomerates
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What factors favor growth?
How can they be structured?
When is a monopoly illegal?
What are some possible
relationships between media
and government?
• What possible negative effects
could conglomerates have on
free speech?
Developing a CRITICAL
PERSPECTIVE
• DESCRIPTION
– Outline content
– Note structure
– Identify characters, conflicts,
themes,ideas
– Research
• ANALYSIS
– Focus
– Isolate and analyze patterns
– Define area of analysis
Developing a CRITICAL
PERSPECTIVE
• INTERPRETATION
– Determine meanings of patterns
– Answer “so what?”
(significance)
• EVALUATION
– Make an informed judgment
based on previous steps, not on
personal reaction
– Conclude, perhaps with a
recommendation