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.