Media

In this book, we examine the history and business of mass media, and discuss the media as a central force In shaping our culture and our democracy. A. Critical process for Investigating media industries and Issues. L. Address key Ideas Including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication. N. Investigating important periods In communication history: the oral, Whiten, print, electric, and digital eras. Ill. Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence. Lb. Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media v. Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture. . Discuss two models for organizing and categorizing culture: a skyscraper and a map. Evil. Trace important cultural values in both the modern and postmodern societies. Viii. Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Often, culture is narrowly associated with art, the uniqu e forms of creative expression that give pleasure and set standards about what Is true, good, and beautiful. (Can be viewed more broadly as the ways In which people live and represent themselves at particular historical time.Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey Information and meaning (e. G. Languages, more code, motion pictures, and one-zero binary computer codes). A. Culture, therefore, Is a process that delivers the values of society through products or other meaning making forms. B. Culture inks individuals to their society by providing both shared and contested values and the mass media help circulate those values. There eras, which all still operate to some degree, are oral, written, print, electronic, digital. A.The mass media are the culture industries-the channels f communication-that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspaper, movies, video games, internet services, and other cultural products to large numbers of people. Mass com munication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old and distinctive as the printed book and as converged as the internet. A. Hastened by the growth of Industry and modern technology, mass communication accompanied the shift or rural populations to urban settings and the rise of a consumer culture.In digital communication, images, texts, and sounds are converted onto electronic signals( represented as varied combinations of binary number-ones and zeroes) that are then reassembled( decoded) as a precise reproduction of, say, a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice. Sender (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, texts, images, sounds, and ads) through a mass media channel (newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, or the internet) to large groups of receivers. . In process, gatekeeper function as message filters. Media gatekeeper mak e decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers. I. The process also allows for dieback, In which citizens and consumers, If they choose, return messages to senders or gatekeepers through letters to the editor, phone calls, email, we postings, or talk shows. Elective exposure: people typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs, values, and interests. Tag in the development of media-convergence- a term that media critic and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. Medium: an intervening substance through which something is conveyed or reanimated. Media innovations typically go through four stages. A. Emergence, or novelty, stage. I. Inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem, such as making pictures move, transmitting messages form ship to shore, or sending mail electronically. . Entrepreneurial stage I. Inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device. C. Mass medium stage I. Businesses figure out how to market the new device or medium as a consumer product. D. Convergence stage I. Older media are reconfigured in various forms on newer media. Convergence: a ERM that media critics and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. A.The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels. B. Cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone services, television transmissions, and internet access, under one corporate umbrella. Our varied media institutions and outlets are basically in the narrative-or storytelling business. Media stories put events in context, helping us to b etter understand both daily lives and the larger world. Culture as a hierarchy, represented by a skyscraper model, and culture as a process, represented by a map model. Skyscraper High culture Good taste, high education, and supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, is associated with fine art, which is available primarily in libraries, theaters, and museums. Low culture Which is aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, which enjoy the commercial Junk circulated by the mass media, such as reality TV, celebrity gossip Web sites, and violent action films. Media The 1920’s in America was a time of unprecedented growth and cultural expansion, up to that time, than ever before. America had come back from Europe victorious in the Great War and the great cities like Chicago and New York, along with the rest of the country, was now a creditor nation. This growth helped to spark the second industrial revolution in which consumerism helped to drive the needs and wants of its people. More and more inventions which the modern American takes for granted started to flood into the culture at this time. This increase in consumerism was spurred on by the gains which technology helped to make possible. The 1920’s was a very important year for the media in this country and which served as not only one of the most interesting but important decades for this medium of American culture. Television was invented in this decade but would not be introduced on a national level until the 1939 World Fair and that was only a demonstration. People got their news through the newsreels at the movies, radio, for the few people that had then but mostly through newspapers. The latter was the most important and influential medium for Americans to receive their news. In New York City, there were seventeen daily newspapers with some turning out more than one edition a day. Eventually, the influence of the radio and television would come onto the national scene and usurp the influence that those mediums had on the 1920’s but with most mediums which have such an important and resounding influence on the nation and its culture, it had to have a beginning and for radio and motion pictures which portrayed the news, the 1920’s contributed a great deal to the formation and growth of these. The 1920’s was one of the most important years for popular culture in this country’s history. Some would say that the terms â€Å"pop culture† and â€Å"important† being used in the same sentence would be an oxymoron and usually, I would not be in total disagreement with them. However, the 1920’s ushered in a greater understanding of the country which was on the move and sought a higher standard of living then ever before. This newer sense of worldly capitalism came from technology and much of that was within the media. The 1930’s and the 1940’s would eclipse the 1920’s in its dependence upon the radio.   However, its importance at this time cannot be overlooked. In moving the consumerism that would help to define the decade, the radio was able to reach the masses in a way that was unthinkable just a decade before. One example was a simple advertisement in New York City for apartments in one of its Burroughs. This single thirty second advertisement spot created a rush of phone calls to the realtor in charge of the properties that the main phone server was shut down. Over $150,000 of apartments were bought in a single day and to adjust for inflation that number would be just short of $2 million.[1] It has been proven that people respond more to what they hear and see than what they hear. This is why most people today read very little compared to what their parents or grandparents did in their youth.   Seeing the news was simply more entertaining and enticing for the majority of people. The radio exploited that truth and as a result, became the central item in a person’s house as well as in their life as a main source for their news. The first presidential election was broadcasted over Pittsburgh’s KDKA in 1920.[2] People, for the first time, could hear in almost real time, the debates and election results as they first came over the wire. This helped to spur an interest in politics and world events which before, people could successfully avoid had they not felt interested in what was occurring outside of their immediate sphere of influence. â€Å"The radio helped to create a global society for Americans who would never, could never travel to the various places which radio brought to their living rooms.†[3] This served as its major appeal. The radio also served as free advertisements for the major sports of the day. It was first protested by the baseball owners who felt that radio was stealing their product and those who could listen on the radio, would be less compelled to come to the ballpark. This seems like common sense, but in reality, the exact opposite happened. Being reminded of the ballgame and in listening to the daily actions of their favorite team, spurred a heightened interest which could only be quelled by visiting the ballpark for oneself. As a partial result, along with the heroics of Babe Ruth and other famous athletes, the sports enjoyed a golden era in sports. â€Å"Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney in boxing, the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame in Football, horse racing and the further cementing of baseball as the nation’s past time, all occurred in the 1920’s because of the advances in technology; especially in the media.†[4] Another form of the media which came to take hold in the 1920’s was the newsreels. The inventor of television is still under dispute but what is not under dispute is that even though the majority of advancements in television occurred in the 1920’s, television was non existent in American homes. The closest thing to come to television was the newsreels which occurred before, in between and after the movies at the local cinema. Each one was only a few minutes in length and before 1927, were all without sound. A newsreel in the 1920’s would bring scenes of the New York Yankees winning another championship or Notre Dame running to another undefeated season. It would also bring the events of the world and Presidents Harding and Coolidge. The death of President Wilson and the beginning of the slow death which would be the League of Nations would be shown to audiences. The Teapot Dome scandal helped to infuriate a nation over the corruption of their government as well as Charles Lindbergh flight from New York to Paris in 1927.[5] People could actually see Lindbergh leaving New York and arriving in Paris instead of just reading it. This produced a highly electric feeling; a feeling which made Lindbergh the most famous non athlete of the 1920’s in America. In Chicago, the Loeb and Leopold case would have been broadcasted to a shocked Chicago as well as the rest of the nation. Two very smart and over privileged boys sought to commit the prefect crime by killing a fourteen year old boy who was picked at random. That case and the 1925 Scopes Trial in Tennessee which put evolution on trial were two events in the judicial system which would command the attention of the American public in ways that the newspaper never could. The most important form of the media was the newspaper during the 1920’s. The newspaper served as an affordable form of news and which served as the rough draft of history. Despite many newspapers being heavily influenced by one political party over another, historians look to newspapers and other primary written sources more than the various elements of popular culture when trying to interpret an era in our nation’s history. Two of the most important newspapers of that time were the New York Times and Chicago Tribune. In the eighty years since the 1920’s, the subscription of the Chicago Tribune has actually decreased from 920,000 to a little more than 620,000 in 2006.[6] This truth, despite the fact that there are roughly 180 million more Americans in the country and Chicago land, which currently totals more than 5.5 million people, helps to explain the rapid decline in the power and influence which newspapers had from then until now.[7] Also, most of the major newspapers had more than one edition per day. The Chicago Tribune would have a morning edition and then a later afternoon edition that same day with a comparable circulation. The price of the newspaper at that time was 2 cents in the city and up to 3 cents in the suburbs. Therefore, it was a cheap form of receiving the news and one which was readily available throughout the city and suburbs.   The newspaper would be divided into sections: World and Sports with other sections inverted into those sections. The events of the world and important political actions would be seen on the front of the page with editorials towards the end of the World section. Box scores and â€Å"In the Wake of the News† would help its readers to follow the actions of their favorite team.   Local sports were also very important as was seen when 109,000 people showed up at Soldiers Field in Chicago to watch the city’s high school championship football game. Another important aspect of the newspaper was the advertisements within its pages.   The largest section would be reserved for the Saturday and Sunday papers. Despite its crude pictures compared to today’s standards, seeing a model wearing the largest fashions were even more influential than the fashion magazines of its day. This helped to promote the consumerism that was so easily identifiable with the 1920’s. People need to be reminded of what will make their lives better, regardless of how little that item is actually needed. This was the job of the major clothing companies and department stores of the day and they looked to the newspapers as the number one form of advertisement for their business. One store owner stated: â€Å"The secret is not how to supply the goods but how to supply the customers by making them want what we have to sell.† This is one of the most daunting problems which face advertisers: How to create demand for the products which a producer has to sell and which usually is not essential for the customer to have. By creating an illusion in the customer’s mind which tells him or her that such an item is essential to their continued happiness; the store that can do that, will never have to worry about producing the customers and with the mass production of their products through the modern inventions of various machines, producing the goods was neither a problem as well. At that time, they were the most important form of advertisement for the major companies in America and the store owners who took advantage of this influential medium, enjoyed high returns on their investments. The media is important in this country, not just to tell us what our nation’s movie starts up to but they serve as the first draft of history. Historians, when attempting to fully appreciate the era which they study, refer to scholarly sources but it is the primary source which is usually seen as the Holy Grail. The media in all of its various forms helps the historian as well as the interested in knowing what the society at that time felt was important and was of an interest to the country at that time. The use of the radio, newsreels and newspaper all served that purpose and help to give future generations a closer look at what motivated the country as a whole and how the media helped to motivate the shape the country as well. The stuffy of the media, in all of its forms and in the years since Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in 1776 sought to convince the rest of the colonists that the choice before them was as simple yet profound as liberty or death. In much of the same way, though not always as dramatic, the mass production of sounds, words, images and ideas, which are spread across the country and even the world; it has been the media, although not always unbiased, which has helped to bring America into the information age. As the radio and newsreels were to this generation, the Internet is to Americans of this era. Despite its major differences, they both have a lot alike and show that the more things change, the more they really do stay the same. The method of transporting information might have improved but it still affects the way people think, feel and even vote. WORKS CITED Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 Paine, Thomas Common Sense New York: WW Norton   1948 Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 Front page of the Chicago Tribune   October 10, 1925 Front Page of the New York Times   June 15, 1927 Top 10 American Newspapers http://www.newspapers.com/top10.html Downloaded July 10, 2007 [1] Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 [2] Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 [3] Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 pg. 18 [4] Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 pg. 22 [5] Burns, Ric   The History of New York Episode 6. Los Angeles: Time Warner 1999 [6] http://www.newspapers.com/top10.html [7] Mead, Joan The History of the Media in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1987 pg. 28    Media News media plays an important role in by providing information to the public about matters affecting their lives and the society in which they live. The news media also plays an important role in identifying nonmarket issues and stimulating action that affects their progress. The news media finds business of interest, and with stories instantly transmitted worldwide by the broadcast media and the Internet, a firm's actions are in the eye of the media and under the scrutiny of interest groups, activists, and government. A fortune 500 company can have a great year according to their annual report, and then get hit by a series of blasts from the media about their labor practices, causing sales to plummet . Many companies dread media coverage of their nonmarket issues and have had to develop a capability for interacting with the media. The essential role the news media plays in a democracy is accompanied by a responsibility to provide information in an accurate and unbiased manner so that individuals can formulate their own conclusions about issues. News organizations face incentives, including those provided by profits, and pressures from competition among news organizations. Similarly, journalists face incentives associated with career and professional advancement. These incentives and pressures complicate the fulfillment of that responsibility. The news media itself is a diverse collection of organizations, including television, radio, internet services, blogs, newspapers, magazines, and journals, and each faces its own set of challenges. Management and journalists are different in their perspective on what constitutes who, what where and why of a story. Media companies are motivated by profit so management is concerned with the story that makes the most profit. On the other hand, And journalist are guided by professional standards and their conduct is governed by editorial control when choosing and reporting their subject matter. So whatever journalists have career interest. Editorial control govern their conduct. In the 21st century large media companies like Time Warner Cable, ABC, NBC and CBS, etc., control the media. It's all ratings and profitability. The higher their ratings, the better the profit for the large media companies. Media In this book, we examine the history and business of mass media, and discuss the media as a central force In shaping our culture and our democracy. A. Critical process for Investigating media industries and Issues. L. Address key Ideas Including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication. N. Investigating important periods In communication history: the oral, Whiten, print, electric, and digital eras. Ill. Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence. Lb. Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media v. Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture. . Discuss two models for organizing and categorizing culture: a skyscraper and a map. Evil. Trace important cultural values in both the modern and postmodern societies. Viii. Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Often, culture is narrowly associated with art, the uniqu e forms of creative expression that give pleasure and set standards about what Is true, good, and beautiful. (Can be viewed more broadly as the ways In which people live and represent themselves at particular historical time.Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey Information and meaning (e. G. Languages, more code, motion pictures, and one-zero binary computer codes). A. Culture, therefore, Is a process that delivers the values of society through products or other meaning making forms. B. Culture inks individuals to their society by providing both shared and contested values and the mass media help circulate those values. There eras, which all still operate to some degree, are oral, written, print, electronic, digital. A.The mass media are the culture industries-the channels f communication-that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspaper, movies, video games, internet services, and other cultural products to large numbers of people. Mass com munication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old and distinctive as the printed book and as converged as the internet. A. Hastened by the growth of Industry and modern technology, mass communication accompanied the shift or rural populations to urban settings and the rise of a consumer culture.In digital communication, images, texts, and sounds are converted onto electronic signals( represented as varied combinations of binary number-ones and zeroes) that are then reassembled( decoded) as a precise reproduction of, say, a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice. Sender (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, texts, images, sounds, and ads) through a mass media channel (newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, or the internet) to large groups of receivers. . In process, gatekeeper function as message filters. Media gatekeeper mak e decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers. I. The process also allows for dieback, In which citizens and consumers, If they choose, return messages to senders or gatekeepers through letters to the editor, phone calls, email, we postings, or talk shows. Elective exposure: people typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs, values, and interests. Tag in the development of media-convergence- a term that media critic and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. Medium: an intervening substance through which something is conveyed or reanimated. Media innovations typically go through four stages. A. Emergence, or novelty, stage. I. Inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem, such as making pictures move, transmitting messages form ship to shore, or sending mail electronically. . Entrepreneurial stage I. Inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device. C. Mass medium stage I. Businesses figure out how to market the new device or medium as a consumer product. D. Convergence stage I. Older media are reconfigured in various forms on newer media. Convergence: a ERM that media critics and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. A.The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels. B. Cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone services, television transmissions, and internet access, under one corporate umbrella. Our varied media institutions and outlets are basically in the narrative-or storytelling business. Media stories put events in context, helping us to b etter understand both daily lives and the larger world. Culture as a hierarchy, represented by a skyscraper model, and culture as a process, represented by a map model. Skyscraper High culture Good taste, high education, and supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, is associated with fine art, which is available primarily in libraries, theaters, and museums. Low culture Which is aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, which enjoy the commercial Junk circulated by the mass media, such as reality TV, celebrity gossip Web sites, and violent action films. Media In this book, we examine the history and business of mass media, and discuss the media as a central force In shaping our culture and our democracy. A. Critical process for Investigating media industries and Issues. L. Address key Ideas Including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication. N. Investigating important periods In communication history: the oral, Whiten, print, electric, and digital eras. Ill. Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence. Lb. Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media v. Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture. . Discuss two models for organizing and categorizing culture: a skyscraper and a map. Evil. Trace important cultural values in both the modern and postmodern societies. Viii. Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Often, culture is narrowly associated with art, the uniqu e forms of creative expression that give pleasure and set standards about what Is true, good, and beautiful. (Can be viewed more broadly as the ways In which people live and represent themselves at particular historical time.Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey Information and meaning (e. G. Languages, more code, motion pictures, and one-zero binary computer codes). A. Culture, therefore, Is a process that delivers the values of society through products or other meaning making forms. B. Culture inks individuals to their society by providing both shared and contested values and the mass media help circulate those values. There eras, which all still operate to some degree, are oral, written, print, electronic, digital. A.The mass media are the culture industries-the channels f communication-that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspaper, movies, video games, internet services, and other cultural products to large numbers of people. Mass com munication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old and distinctive as the printed book and as converged as the internet. A. Hastened by the growth of Industry and modern technology, mass communication accompanied the shift or rural populations to urban settings and the rise of a consumer culture.In digital communication, images, texts, and sounds are converted onto electronic signals( represented as varied combinations of binary number-ones and zeroes) that are then reassembled( decoded) as a precise reproduction of, say, a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice. Sender (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, texts, images, sounds, and ads) through a mass media channel (newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, or the internet) to large groups of receivers. . In process, gatekeeper function as message filters. Media gatekeeper mak e decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers. I. The process also allows for dieback, In which citizens and consumers, If they choose, return messages to senders or gatekeepers through letters to the editor, phone calls, email, we postings, or talk shows. Elective exposure: people typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs, values, and interests. Tag in the development of media-convergence- a term that media critic and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. Medium: an intervening substance through which something is conveyed or reanimated. Media innovations typically go through four stages. A. Emergence, or novelty, stage. I. Inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem, such as making pictures move, transmitting messages form ship to shore, or sending mail electronically. . Entrepreneurial stage I. Inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device. C. Mass medium stage I. Businesses figure out how to market the new device or medium as a consumer product. D. Convergence stage I. Older media are reconfigured in various forms on newer media. Convergence: a ERM that media critics and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. A.The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels. B. Cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone services, television transmissions, and internet access, under one corporate umbrella. Our varied media institutions and outlets are basically in the narrative-or storytelling business. Media stories put events in context, helping us to b etter understand both daily lives and the larger world. Culture as a hierarchy, represented by a skyscraper model, and culture as a process, represented by a map model. Skyscraper High culture Good taste, high education, and supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, is associated with fine art, which is available primarily in libraries, theaters, and museums. Low culture Which is aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, which enjoy the commercial Junk circulated by the mass media, such as reality TV, celebrity gossip Web sites, and violent action films.