CHPT 5 THE MASS MEDIA TEXT AND LECTURE STUDY NOTES.doc
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Chapter 5 : The Mass Media
Terms
Alternative News Sources: representatives of social movements and of social advoca-
cy groups whose viewpoints often diverge from those of dominant social groups of their
representatives
Communication: denotes the transmission of knowledge, ideas, meanings and under-
standings
Computer-mediated communication (CMC): refers to the social interaction or infor-
mation gathering through the use of computer technology
Critical Perspective: media reinforce dominant ideology and the position of the domi-
nant class and other powerful groups
Cultivation Analysis: examines the long-term effects of television viewing on the be-
liefs of social reality
Cultural Imperialism: is a situation in which one society’s media exert an overwhelm-
ing and unilateral influence over another society’s culture
Dominant Ideology: comprises the interests, perspectives, viewpoints, and under-
standings of the dominant class and other powerful groups
Framing: process of defining the boundaries of a representation and the organization of
its contents
Hegemony: the exercise by the dominant class of cultural leadership by using the me-
dia to naturalize and universalize dominant ideology and to absorb the challenge of al-
ternative and oppositional points of view
Horizontal Integration: ownership of different outlets in a media chain for purposes of
sharing resources
Interactive Media: technologically mediated means of communication in which the floe
of messages is two way
Mass Media: technologically mediated means of communication in which the flow of
messages is largely one way
Multimedia Chains: corporations that own and control a string of media operations or
outlets in different fields of mass communication
News Values: include immediacy, personalization and extraordinariness in terms of
which news media define and represent events and issues
Official News Sources: authoritative voices that the media use to define the meaning
of an event or issue
Ordinary News Sources: news sources that do not derive from organizations or groups
(eye witnesses or victims)
Representation; use of language, visual images or other means of communication to
portray something in a coherent and meaningful way that others can understand
Space-Biased Media: enable communication over extended distances; not long
lasting ; promote territorial expansion together with secular beliefs and military political
forms of power
Time-Biased Media: such as stone cravings or inscriptions on clay tablets, convey
durable messages but are relatively immobile
Vertical Integration: refers to a media corporations ownership and control of the
means of production at all stages of the production process
Web 2.0: refers to new media technologies that feature user-generated content, infor-
mation sharing, collaboration and interactive texts
Text Book Notes
-media is the plural of medium “middle” which is the idea of media as a means for con-
necting two or more points
-communication and unification occurs through the transmission of information, knowl-
edge or beliefs by means of language, visual images and other sign systems
-interactive media flows back and forth ; people interact in the transmission and recep-
tion of communication
The Technological Perspective
-time-biased media; endure over time but are relatively immobile across space; sense
of tradition and custom
-space-biased media; cover must greater space but are less durable over time; territori-
al expansion, empire building and secular forms of power and culture
-McLuhan; the spread of electronic media, particularly television, marked the end of the
era of print dominance
-“global village”; expanded capacity for information gathering and transmission help
make us more aware of , and familiar with, life in other parts of the world
-McLuhan; see media technologies as an autonomous force that operates outside so-
cial and human control
The Critical Perspective
-institutions, news media and processes and social control cannot be understood from
the viewpoint of society as a whole, but only from that of unequal and conflicting groups
and classes
-the media serve the economic interests and political power of those who own and con-
trol the means of material production
-Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorono ; mass media as a part of a broader “culture
industry” that functions to create “mass deception” about the exploitative and oppressive
character of capitalist society
-mass media is to distract and pacify people by feeding them standardized im-
ages and messages that stifle the capacity for independent, critical thought
-“propaganda model”; argues that the media serve the interests of the leading political
and economic class by filtering information to reduce or eliminate radical or subversive
views
-capitalist class and other powerful groups use dominant ideology to reinforce their po-
sition and maintain the status quo