COMM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Mass Communication, Culture Industry, Media Studies
13 Jun 2018
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Definitions: Introductory Lecture
Why study the media? They are pervasive, a massive industry, influence and
define how we communicate with each other, bring us political and ideological messages
all the time, They offer a version of reality, where a kind of national “common sense” is
produced, maintained, repaired, challenged and transformed
They powerfully shape and reshape notions of identity, especially around race,
gender, sexuality, class
Because they go to great lengths to study you
Between traditional media like television and magazines, and social media like
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, Americans in the first three months of 2016
spent, on average, over 10 ½ hours a day—a day!—consuming media, up a full hour
from 2015
Basic definitions:
•What are the mass media? The cultural industries that produce and distribute,
through various communication technologies, cultural products like TV shows, the news,
music, magazines, and movies, which have shared meanings, to large numbers of people.
One-way, One-to-many, mostly passive consumer participation
Mostly centralized, top-down systems of distribution
The term culture industry emphasizes that this IS an industry, that it relies on the
mass production of similar, sometimes identical products, and that it standardizes not just
these products, but people's tastes and imaginations as well.
•Mass communication is the process of designing and delivering these products—
often called mass culture—through media channels
Mass media offered (and still does) voluntary experiences, produced by a
relatively small number of specialists, for millions across the nation to share, in similar or
identical form, either simultaneously or nearly so, with dependable frequency. Mass
culture shapes habitual audiences, around common needs or interests, and is made for a
profit. Network programming, the nightly news
•medium--one channel
•media--many--thus, media is plural
Magazines and television are mass media; Time or NBC are media outlets, TV is
a medium
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
They powerfully shape and reshape notions of identity, especially around race, gender, sexuality, class. Because they go to great lengths to study you. Between traditional media like television and magazines, and social media like. Facebook, twitter, youtube, and instagram, americans in the first three months of 2016 spent, on average, over 10 hours a day a day! consuming media, up a full hour from 2015. The cultural industries that produce and distribute, through various communication technologies, cultural products like tv shows, the news, music, magazines, and movies, which have shared meanings, to large numbers of people. Mass media offered (and still does) voluntary experiences, produced by a relatively small number of specialists, for millions across the nation to share, in similar or identical form, either simultaneously or nearly so, with dependable frequency. Mass culture shapes habitual audiences, around common needs or interests, and is made for a profit. Network programming, the nightly news: medium--one channel, media--many--thus, media is plural.
