Theories and Effects of Mass Communication

In the media effects debate, these arguments for limited media influence have logical countries:

• media content is make-believe; people know its not real.
• media content is only play or entertainment.
• media simply hold a mirror to society.
• if media have any influence, it is only in reinforcing preexisting values and beliefs.
• media influence only the unimportant things like fads and fashions.

Three dichotomies characterise the different sides in the effects debate:

• micro- versus macro- level effects.
•  administrative versus critical research.
• transmission versus ritual perspective on communication. 

In understanding mass communication theory we must recognise that:

• there is no one mass communication theory.
• theories are often borrowed from other fields of science.
• theories are human constructions and they are dynamic.

Developments in mass communication theory are driven by advances in technology or the introduction of new media, calls for their control and questions about their democratic and pluralistic use.

The four major eras or mass communication theory are mass society theory, limited effects theory, cultural theory, and the meaning making perspective. the latter two mark a return to the idea of powerful media effects.

Media literate individuals are themselves good mass communication theories. 

media consumed this week:

• social media
• instant messaging
• newspapers

Advertising

advertising has been a part of commerce for centuries, but it became an industry in its own right with the coming of the american civil war and industrialisation.

Advertising suffer from a number of criticism it is:

• deceptive.
• intrusive.
• it exploits children.
• it demeans and corrupts culture.

Advertising is also considered beneficial:

• it supports our economic system.
• provides information to assist buying decisions.
• supports our media system.
• improves our standard of living.

Advertising agencies typically have these departments: administration, account management, creative, media, market research, PR.

There are different types of advertising:

1. institutional or corporate.
2.  trade or professional.
3. retail.
4. promotional retail.
5. industrial.
6. national consumer.
7. direct marketing.
8. public service. 

Regulation of advertising content is the responsibility of the Federal Trade Commission, which recognises that an ad can be false if it lies outright, does not tell the whole truth, or lies by implication. puffery, the entertaining little lie is permissible. 

There are several ways to measure an ad's effectiveness copy testing, consumer juries, forced exposure, recognition tests, recall testing, and awareness tests. 

The interaction of converging technologies and changes they drive in how, when and why people consume them is reshaping the economics and creativity of the advertising industry as well as its relationship with consumers.

reshaping of the industry has led to calls for better measure of effectiveness, such as engagement, return on investment and performance based advertising. 

Advertisers must also deal with consumers increasingly segmented not only by their media choices but also along demographic and psychographic lines. 

The advertising industry is increasingly globalised. 

Public Relations

Public relations tells an organisations story to its publics and helps shape the organisation and the way it preforms.

• history of PR:
• early PR.
• propaganda publicity stage.
• early two way communication.
• advanced two way communication.
• evolution of public relations has been shaped by advances in technology, the growth of middle class, growth of organisations, better search tools, and professionalisation. 
• publics served by the PR industry include:
• employees.
• stockholders.
• communities.
• media.
• government.
• investment communities.
• customers. 
• PR firms provide multiple services: 
1. community relations
2. counseling
3. development and fund rising
4. employee/member relations
5. financial relations
6. government affairs
7. industry relations
8. issues management
9. media relations
10. marketing communication
11. minority relations
12. multicultural affairs.
13. special events
14. public participation and research

Advertising executes an organisation's communication strategy; public relations provides several important management functions.

Firms usually are organised around an executive, account executive, creative specialist, and media specialist. Larger firms typically include research, government relations, and financial service professionals. 

Globalisation, specialisation, and convergence are reshaping contemporary PR. 

Trust in PR is essential in the industry is to perform its role for its clients and publics.

Recognising video news releases is an increasingly important media literacy skill.

Media consumed this week:

• instant messaging
• social media
• newspapers. 

The Internet and the World Wide Web

• the idea of internet came from the military hoping to maintain communication in times of enemy attacks.

• PC or personal computers were developed by bill gates and steve jobs. 
• e-mails, IM (instant messaging), VoIP(voice over Internet programming) and the WWW are the most useful facilities by the internet.
• the web relies on a system of hosts, browsers, and search engines to bring users to websites characterised by URLs.
• the WWW and internet technology implies on Marshall McLuhan's concept, the global village where everyone in the world is connected to everyone.
• one other concept of his is that the media and the WWW are extensions of our bodies.
• freedom of expression is an important aspect of the internet usage.
• problems of the internet revolve around technological and informational gaps.
• the internet and the WWW especially with their power to reshape all the mass media raise multiple issues for media literate users hoping to effectively make their way in an interconnected world.

Media consumed this week:

• instant messaging.
• newspapers.
• books.

Television, Cable and Mobile Video

chapter viii



During the 1950s Television became one of the most popular mediums out there.

T.V. included many genres with a variety of shows.

Two new formats appeared:

• feature films
• talk shows

T.V. news and documentaries as well as political coverage of the events occurring gave the audience a glimpse of how powerful this medium is.

A share: measures a program audience as a percentage of the television sets in use at the time it airs. it tells us what proportion of the actual audience a program attracts, indicating how a program is doing on is giving time. 

that being measured, attracts a number of advertisers and companies of the marketplace to buy and showcase theirs goods and services. 

• cable designed initially for the importation of distant signals, became a mature medium when it began offering movies and other premium content.
• Basic cable: direct broadcast satellite is the primary multichannel competitor to cable.
• MSO: multiple system operators, companies that own several cable franchises.
• Premium cable: subscription T.V. HBO... etc.

Trends and Convergence in Television and Cable:

• VCR: Videocassette recorders. 1976
• DVD: digital video disc. 1996
• DVR: digital video recorder. 1999
• Digital Television
• Television on the Internet
• Video on the internet
• Interactive Television
• Phone over cable
• Mobile video

Media Consumed this Week:

• social media.
• twitter, instagram, storehouse, snapchat, pinterest, tumblr, periscope, google+, path, whatsapp.
• newspapers.
• magazines.

Radio, Recording and Popular Music

chapter vii


Radio Today:

• Consolidation of the radio industry.
• few companies owning many stations.
• Advertisements generate the majority of revenue.
• Competition between satellite radio and the internet.
• Streaming programs.
• Spectrum scarcity: frequencies are not available for anyone.
• Radio is influential.

Satellite Radio:

• it started 2001
• requires subscription.
• appeals to commuters.
• losing money at the moment.
• facing competition from traditional radio and the internet.

Advantages of Radio:

• Portability.
• Supplemental.
• Universality.
• Selectivity.
• Flexibility.

MUSIC INDUSTRY:

• Music business is most affected by the introduction of the internet.
• People have different tastes and music has a lot of genres.
• Talented artists at the top are the ones making most of the money.
• Music industry is mostly supported by audience purchases and not advertising.

Timeline:

1960s: Cassettes.

1983: CDs.

1997: DVDs

2000: MP3

2001: Internet

2006: iTunes.

Trends of Music Industry:

• 1970s was the BOOM in music industry.
• CDs had a greater profit.
• iTunes claim that they have 10 billion stored songs.
• illegal file sharing.

Record Industry Organisations:

1. Talent: artist.
2. Production: recorded then promoted.
3. Distribution: stores.
4. Retail: record stores sales declined.

Music Economics: 

• It is a very competitive business.
• Few companies control 85% of the market.
• 1 billion CDs sold yearly.
• 55% of music are bought by people over 30.
• Male and female equally purchase music.

Media Consumed this Week:

1. Social media.
2. Internet blogs.

Movies and the Impact of Images

chapter vi

• Images have a powerful impact on us.
• Images we see, stay with us for a long time.
• Movies detach us from reality.
• Movies' plots, engage us in the story.

Verticale Intergration:

1. Production
2. Distribution
3. Exhibition

Production:

• casting
• art
• set
• makeup
• controlled by studios 
• scripting

Distribution:

• from studio to audience.
• produce ads to promote.
• theaters 
• cinemas 
• DVDs
• TV
• pay per view
• video on demand.

Exhibition:

• showing of the movie
• start to show in theaters.
• the cinema generate the most revenue
• it consists of 12-18 screens.

Movie Producers:

• account or 80-90% of box office revenue.
• eg: fox and disney.

Film's Economic Division:

• Synergy: the promotion and sale of a product throughout the varios subsidiaries pf a media conglomerate. 

Trends in Movie Making:

• Concept films:
• movies with a particular theme.
• Audience research:
• involving the audience before the movie is produced.
• Sequels:
• Pirates of the Caribbean, batman...etc.
• Remakes:
• The Lion King.
• Franchises:
• Harry Potter, James Bond.
• Product placement:
• intentionally advertising products in the movie.

Magazines

chapter v

• Magazine publishers rely heavily on advertising revenue.
• The internet had a huge effect on magazines since more people are reading online editions than the print ones.
• Publishers rely on cost effective online editions that take advantage of the internet and mobile media. 

Magazine Content:

1. 45% editorial content.
2. 55% advertisements.

Magazine Types and Trends:

• General content.
• Specialisation.

Magazines have highly diverse content as well as audience.


Expansion:

•  The spread of magazines to become the first national medium.
• The rise in literacy rates.
• The industrialisation and rise in wages.
• Having more efficient transportation.
• The effect of social movement such as labor reform and women's rights.

Magazines spread highly starting the 1800s till TV started to be broadcasted around the 1950s.


Magazines and Democracy:

• They are a part of our culture.
• 1,000 new magazines yearly.
• 17k published magazines yearly.
• It played a role in politics.
• Ownership by a few Publishers. 
• less affective by daily pressure, offers more insight and analysis.
• Webzines: online magazines.

Magazines and Advertisement:

• Total revenue: $30 billlion.
• Consumer report: zero ads.
• 80% of the US population read magazines.
• Publishers lower issue price and recoup costs through ads.

Advantages for online Magazines:

• Fast feedback through comments and emails.
• Available before print issues.
• Online editions can be easily edited.
• They are cheaper to produce than paper copies.

Main Characteristics of Magazines:

• attract specialised audience.
• In tune with social ,demographic and economic trends.
• They influence social trends. eg. playboy, webmd.

Magazine Economics:

• Production and technology:
• Desktop publishing: format.
• Satellite technology.
• Editorial Content:
• Publisher.
• Editor-in-chief.
• Managing editor.
• Advertising and Sales:
• Promoting.
• Ads.
• research.
• Circulation and distribution:
• Single copy
• Subscription.
• Secure new clients.

How does Magazines make Money?

• Subscriptions: 68%
• long term contracts.
• cheapening it for costumers.
• Single copy sales:
• copies sold at the newsstand.
• Controlled circulation:
• free magazines in hotels.

Important Terms:

1. Complementary copy: positive content about an ad.
2. Ad-pull policy: advertisers review an advanced copy of a magazine before publishing.
3. Advertorials: ads that take the appearance of editorial content.
4. Magalogue: catalogues designed to look like magazines.

Media consumed this week:

• Magazines
• Social media
• Books
• Internet

Newspapers

chapter iv

Newspapers are an integral part of daily life.
They are an indispensable part of modern media.
They are tied to our culture.
They help us make daily choices.
They inform and entertain.
They assure us about safety and security.
They are credible and trustworthy.

History of the Newspapers:
The Fist Amendment in the US Constitution emphasises on the Freedom of speech and the freedom of the press.

• early newspapers in the USA were highly politicised.
•   independence struggle against the British.
• free press was not endorsed by the British.
• debate over the creation of the new country.

Competition

• 10,000 newspapers are produced in the US today.
• the rise of the penny papers.
• increase reporting of crime.
• coverage of civil war.

Yellow Journalism

• sensational reporting covering human interest stories.
• layout of newspapers changed including bold highlights.
• dramatic reporting.
• signalled the beginning of investigative journalism.

Models of Print Journalism

• shifted from reporting to story telling.
• facts became markable products.
• objective reporting gave it credibility, expanding costumer base.
• maintain neutral attitude. 

Circulation and daily newspapers are declining.

USA Today is a relatively new but wide spread newspaper in the US.

Online News

• fast, up to date.
• (breaking news, news from the field)
• interactive.
• emails
• videos.
• incorporate user-generated content.

Newspaper Business

• consolidation of newspaper industry.
• concentrating on the newspaper industry.
• understand demographics to tailor content and advertising.
• social class, age group...
• court readers.
• readers look for news.
• competition for advertising dollars with online stores. 

2009 online newspapers became more readable than print newspapers.

Advertisement

• newspapers declined
• internet increased 
• T.V slight increase with major stability.

Media Consumed this Week:

• social media.
• online newspapers.
• the internet.

Convergence and the Reshaping of Mass Communication

chapter ii

The Media consumers' behaviours are rapidly shifting. The technological change shifted the consumption's behaviour; hence, the medium in which to send the message is changed.
It is rapidly advancing from a simple medium to a more technological and easy accessed way of message delivering.


"Media industries and media consumers face a number of challenges. Beyond fragmentation of audience and the impact of new technologies, they must also deal with three other forces that promise to alter the nature of the media industries as well as the relationship between those industries and the people with whom they interact: concentration of ownership and conglomeration, rapid globalisation and hypercommercialization."

• fragmentation of audience
• interests of media consumers vary from one to another.
• the diversity of audience.
• TV, radio and magazines all reach a niche audience.
• Niche: specific.
• impact of new technologies: 
• technology has made consumers demand more of the media.
• concentration of ownership: 
• ownership of media companies is increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.
• conglomeration: 
• a large company composed of a number of smaller companies engaged in different interests.
• globalisation: 
• developing an international influence or starting to operate in an international scale.
• integration of economics and societies. 
• increased trade between countries.
• flow of goods and services. 
• technology plays a huge role in globalisation.
• hypercommercialization: 
• the rise in number of commercial minutes in a typical broadcast or cable show is evident to most viewers. 

Mass media has played a huge role in our lives; thus, the question of possibility of life without social media aroused. There are two ways to examine this question.

1. Microanalysis: sociological wide angle lens.
• the intention of mass media.
• focus on mass media effect on society.
2. Microanalysis: smaller lens
• focus on media consumers.
• ask them questions to get their opinion.

Functions of mass media:

• Surveillance
• consumer report; car&driver.
• Interpretation
• media analyse and explains messages to consumers; CNN political coverage of US elections.
• Linkage
• match.com
• Transmission of values
• media is a reflection of values and culture.
• socialisation of the media.

Media consumed this week:

1. Social media.
2. Digital newspapers.
3. The internet.

Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy

chapter i

To start this chapter, lets define the basic words we will be using. starting with Communication which is the transmission of a message from a source to a receiver. While Medium is the way that message is being sent. Mass Media is defined as the distribution of culture to a larger audience. on the other hand; Mass Communication is delivering a message to diverse cultures.
(but, what is culture?)
Culture can be defined as the earned behaviour of members of a given social group.
Functions and effects of Culture:

• Dominant culture or Mainstream culture.
• Bounded culture or Co-cultures.

The medium in delivering those messages can be via books, magazines, T.V or the Internet. However, Digital Communication is defined as electronic signals.

Media is not a signal entity. for media to be "media" it has to be a combination of multiple things in which is defined as Media Convergence where multiple media forms are combined into one. for example: social media, digital newspapers... etc.

The Importance of Media:

• Low culture: TV.
• High culture: museum.
• violent entertainment.
• Reality shows.
• Computers and the WWW.
• Education
• News content.

Media Literacy is the ability to affectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated communication.

Elements of Media Literacy:

•  A critical thinking skill enabling audience members to develop independent judgments about media content.
• An understanding of the process of mass communication.
• An awareness of the impact of media on the individual and society.
• Strategies for analysing and discussing media messages.
• An understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into our culture and our lives.
• The ability to enjoy, understand and appreciate media content.
• development of effective and responsible production skills.
• An understanding of the ethical and moral obligations of media practitioners.

Media Literacy Skills:

• The ability and willingness to make an effort to understand content, to pay attention, and to filter out noise.
• An understanding of and respect for the power of media messages.
• The ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions when responding to content and to act accordingly. 
• Development of heightened expectations of media content.
• A knowledge of genre conventions and the ability to recognise when they are being mixed.
• the ability to think critically about media messages.
• A knowledge of the internal language of various media and the ability to understand its effects.

Media Consumed this week:

1. social media.
2. digital and print newspapers.
3. the internet.