Mass Communication and Society

Bettina Fabos, Professor

FABOS

www.uni.edu/fabos

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Democracy

For a democracy to function properly, we need a diverse, open, democratic media system.

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Democracy

QUOTE FROM CH. 1:“At their best, our media reflect and sustain the values and traditions of a vital democracy.”

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Democracy

“PUBLIC SPHERE”

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Democracy

“PUBLIC SPHERE” FIRST AMMENDMENT

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Culture is an ongoing process

Culture is never at rest.

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Culture is cyclical

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Culture is cyclical We keep on having the same debates about

the media; content repeats itself; old becomes new again.

COURSE THEMES (4)

•Media convergence The story of technology is that it constantly

adapts to new formats.

Models of Communication

Models of Communication

Linear model vs. cultural model

Linear model

Linear Model

Sender Message Receiver

Linear Model

Culture = nutrition

You need the right kind of culture to build a healthy society

Linear Model

Sender Message ReceiverNoise

Linear Model

Sender Message ReceiverNoise

Feedback

Linear Model

Sender Message Receiver

Noise

Feedback

Cultural Model

Cultural Model

We get messages through selective exposure

Cultural Model

We get messages through selective exposure

p. 11“Audiences typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs and values.”

Cultural Model

Story is important in communicating culture.

Thinking about Culture

Thinking about Culture

• Culture as a Hierarchy

Thinking about Culture

• Culture as a Hierarchy

• Culture as a Map

Culture as Hierarchy p. 16

• Culture as a Map

Culture as a Map

• Conventional• Recognizable• Stable• Comforting

• Innovative• Unfamiliar• Unstable• Challenging

There are lots of reasons why certain kinds of culture resonate

Critical Process

•A formal process to make an informed--not cynical-- judgment

Critical Process

• Description• Analysis• Interpretation• Evaluation• Engagement

Critical Process

• Description• Analysis• Interpretation• Evaluation• Engagement

Description

• Paying close attention, taking notes, researching the subject

Analysis

• Discovering significant patterns that emerge

Interpretation

• Answering “What does it mean?” or ‘So what?”

Evaluation

• Arriving at a judgment about whether something is good, bad, mediocre, etc.

• Subordinate your personal tastes to critical assessment.

Engagement

• Acting on what you know

Critical Process

• Description• Analysis• Interpretation• Evaluation• Engagement

Look at Media literacy box, pp. 28-29

DISCUSSION: TV CULTURE

TV CULTUREQUALITY TRASH IN DISPUTE

Culture as a Map

• Conventional• Recognizable• Stable• Comforting

• Innovative• Unfamiliar• Unstable• Challenging

THINK-PAIR-SHARE: CLASSICAL MUSIC

DESCRIPTION:• What is your image of a typical listener of classical music?• How is classical music experienced in our culture?• How is the music introduced or discussed on radio?• What are the major elements of a classical music concert?• What are the rituals and formalities?• What do people wear?• What is required of the audience, the conductor (if there is

one) and the musicians?• What age group does the audience typically fit into?

ANALYSIS:• WHAT ARE SOME PATTERNS IN YOUR RESEARCH?• How does the way classical music is heard on the radio, in

concert halls, and the way it's packaged, differ from rock or other music?

INTERPRETATION:• SO WHAT?• IF CLASSICAL MUSIC POSITIONED AS A CERTAIN

KIND OF CULTURE….IS IT BAD?• Are there alternative ways to experience classical music

that you know of or can imagine?• Is the packaging of classical music in part responsible for

its limited audience?

evaluATION:• Do you think the gloss of high culture make the classical

experience more --or less--pleasurable?• How might classical-music radio formats, concert

performances, and CD packaging change to appeal to more people?

engagement:• What could we do to bring a larger audience to classical

music?

BREAK

Five Eras of Communication

1. Oral tradition

People communicated their ideas through talking

Socrates (470-399 BC) - public arguments and debates

Socratic Method as form of inquiry

2. Written tradition

Developed to complement oral tradition

A. Alphabet Plato (427-347 BC), Socrates pupil,

sought to banish poets (people who wrote things down)

Plato

B. Manuscript Culture

Illuminated manuscripts

Opinions and knowledge could be recorded and preserved.

Knowledge became transportable.

3. Print tradition

Johannes Gutenberg - developed movable type

1440s

Printing press

Prototype for mass production

More and more people could read. More and more people began to

THINK beyond what their religious leaders were saying.

This is the beginning of INDIVIDUALISM

4. Electronic Era (Information Age)

Telegraph (1840s)First electronic medium

From to

Morse CodeMorse code demonstration

4. Electronic Era (information age)

Telegraph separated communication from transportation Made information a commodity Easier to coordinate commerce and military Omen for future developments

4. Electronic Era (information age)

1876: Telephone 1890s: Radio is invented (no longer

need wires to send morse code) 1900: can transmit voice over the air 1920s: TV is being invented

ALSO: Sound recording, 1850s; Film, 1890s

4. Electronic Era (information age)

Shift from Producer to Consumer society U.S. 1880s - 80% in farms, villages U.S. 1920s - 80% in towns, cities

5. Digital Era Analog - shapes or waves

correspond to image or sound (like record grooves)

Digital - binary code (0-1) represents image or sound (pits or rises on CD = numerical value)

Five Eras of Communication

1. Oral Tradition2. Written Tradition3. Print Tradition4. Electronic Era5. Digital Era

The Media and Democracy

What is democracy?

1776: Declaration of Independence 1787: U.S. Constitution 1791: First Amendment

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceable to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First Amendment

You can practice any religion you want You can SAY and PUBLISH anything you

please, and you can hold peaceful demonstrations against the Government, and Congress can’t do a darn thing about it.

Free speech.

First Amendment

1. Information is good for democracy

First Amendment

1. Information is good for democracy

2. U.S. Media is protected

First Amendment

1. Information is good for democracy

2. U.S. Media is protected 3. U.S. Media is our public sphere

Public Sphere

In a democratic society, we should always work on creating the most favorable communication situation possible

The idea of public rational-critical debate.

Communication, not domination Communication=Democracy

Less Democracy

Oligopolies

Less Democracy

Oligopolies Entry to the industry is difficult

Less Democracy

Oligopolies Entry to the industry is difficult The media is now BIG MEDIA (or

Big Business)

Less Democracy

Big Media=conflict of interest

They want to make as much money as possible.

They want to increase the numbers of things we buy, not increase how much we know.

More Democracy

Cable/Satellite Internet

--Abundance--Control