Understanding Media and Culture by the University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License unless otherwise noted. Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication is adapted from a work produced and distributed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not recipient.
Media and Culture
Pop Culture Mania
For as long as mass media has existed in the United States, it has helped create and fuel mass crazes, pop stars, and all manner of pop culture manias. In the following chapters, we will look at different types of mass media and how they have been changed - and are being changed - by the world we live in.
Intersection of American Media and Culture
Consider that Jenny Lind, the Beatles, and American Idol were each promoted using a then-new technology (photography for Lind, television for the Beatles, and the Internet and text messages for American Idol).
Mass Communication, Mass Media, and Culture
This book also provides a framework for thinking about some of the key issues affecting media and culture in today's world. How today's media landscape can help us understand what may await us in the coming years.
What Does Media Do for Us?
In contrast, the Internet encourages public discussion of issues and allows almost anyone who wants a voice to have one. A decade and a half later, with the Internet firmly embedded in our daily lives, McLuhan's intellectual descendants are the media analysts who claim that the Internet is doing.
A Brief History of Mass Media and Culture
In the early decades of the 20th century, the first major non-print form of mass media—radio—exploded in popularity. The media world faced drastic changes again in the 1980s and 1990s with the expansion of cable television.
Technological Transitions Shape Media Industries
In the United States, competing commercial stations (including CBS and NBC) meant commercial programming dominated. The inventions of random access memory (RAM) chips and microprocessors in the 1970s were important steps into the Internet age.
Kinds of Convergence
Another aspect of cultural convergence is participatory culture—that is, the way media consumers are able to annotate, comment, remix, and otherwise influence culture in unprecedented ways. Global convergence is the process of geographically distant cultures influencing each other regardless of the distance that physically separates them.
Effects of Convergence
Cultural convergence is when stories flow across multiple types of media platforms and when readers or viewers can comment on, change, or otherwise respond to culture. In a 1995 Wired magazine article titled "The Age of Paine," Jon Katz suggested that Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Paine should be considered the "moral father of the Internet." The Internet, Katz wrote, "offers what Paine and his fellow revolutionaries hoped for—a vast, diverse, passionate, global means of transmitting ideas and opening minds." In fact, according to Katz, the emerging age of the Internet is closer in spirit to the media world of the 18th century than to the "old media" of the 20th century (radio, television, print).
Free Speech and Its Limitations
Artist Shepard Fairey, creator of the iconic Obama HOPE image, was sued by the Associated Press for copyright infringement. James Joyce's Ulysses, listed by the Modern Library as the best English-language novel of the 20th century, was illegal to publish in the United States between 1922 and 1934 because the U.S.
Propaganda and Other Ulterior Motives
In recent years, an Internet culture that enables file sharing, musical mash-ups, and YouTube video parodies has raised questions about the fair use exception to copyright law.
Gatekeepers
Cultural Periods
A cultural period is a time characterized by a particular way of understanding the world through culture and technology. Changes in cultural periods are characterized by fundamental changes in the way people perceive and understand the world.
The Modern Age
The early modern period began with Gutenberg's invention of the movable printing press in the late 15th century and ended in the late 18th century. Major political, social and economic changes marked the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the late modern period.
The Postmodern Age
The Modern Era began after the Middle Ages and lasted through the early decades of the 20th century, when the Postmodern Era began. One of the most important, however, was the Industrial Revolution; his emphasis on routinization and efficiency helped society similarly restructure itself.
Tastemakers
And while the postmodern era specifically embraced popular culture, mass media and pop culture have been intertwined from the very beginning. In fact, the mass media often determines what is and is not part of the pop culture scene.
A Changing System for the Internet Age
Social networking sites, such as Facebook, and microblogging services, such as Twitter, are another source of up-to-date information. Thanks to these and other media in the digital age, the Internet has become a pop cultural force, both a source of amateur talent and a source of amateur promotion.
Getting Around the Gatekeepers
Media Literacy
A few centuries later, as the world's literacy rate continued to grow, a new sense emerged that it was not enough to just read and write. In the second half of the 20th century, the skill of decoding and processing messages and symbols transmitted through the media was called media literacy.
Why Be Media Literate?
According to the nonprofit National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), a person who is media literate can access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information. One crucial role of media literacy education is to enable us to scrutinize the often conflicting media messages we receive every day.
Advertising
Bias, Spin, and Misinformation
New Skills for a New World
Individual Accountability and Popular Culture
Media Effects
- Mass Media and Its Messages
This dialogue is an important one; after all, mass media have long been used to persuade. The role of propaganda and persuasion in the mass media is a good place to start when considering various types of media effects.
Propaganda and Persuasion
Benjamin Franklin used a powerful image of a severed snake to emphasize the importance of the colonies coming together during the American Revolution. The current, pejorative connotation of propaganda stems from the full use of the mass media by World War I governments to motivate the citizens of many countries to go to war.
Media and Behavior
Violence and the Media
A number of studies have confirmed certain links between violent video games and violent behavior in young people. Anderson and others point to correlations between the amount of time spent playing violent video games and increased incidence of aggression (Anderson, 2003).
Sex and the Media
The Columbine High School shooting in 1999 led to greater debate and criticism over violent video games. For example, studies have found that some youth who play violent video games report angry thoughts and aggressive feelings immediately after playing.
Cultural Messages and the Media
You will learn more about the influence of sexual content in the media in chapter 14 "Ethics of mass media". Mid-20th century television and magazines often portrayed women in a subservient domestic role that both reflected and reinforced.
New Media and Society
Advertising icons developed during the early 20th century, such as Aunt Jemima and the cream of wheat cook, similarly reflected and reinforced a subservient and domestic servant role for African Americans. Other famous stereotypes - such as the Lone Ranger's Native American sidekick Tonto or Mickey Rooney's Mr.
Information
Customized news feeds allow individuals to receive only the types of news and information they want, blocking sources that report unwanted stories or views. When media consumers hear only the information they want, the common ground of public discourse, derived from general agreement on certain principles, inevitably diminishes (Kakutani, 2010).
Literacy
Some analysts have used the term cyberbalkanization to describe the way media consumers filter information.
News
President Barack Obama fired General Stanley McChrystal after a controversial Rolling Stone story in which McChrystal spoke ill of the Obama administration was leaked on the Internet. On Monday, June 21, 2010, for example, a spokesperson for Rolling Stone magazine first released quotes from a story in which General Stanley McChrystal publicly criticized members of the Obama administration on foreign policy issues.
Convergence Culture
Media Effects Theories
However, journalists and researchers soon turned to the behavioral sciences to help uncover the effect of media and communications on society. The widespread fear that mass media messages might override other stabilizing cultural influences, such as family and community, led to what is known as the direct effects model of media studies.
Challenges to the Direct Effects Theory
However, the current criticism of McLuhan is a bit more revealing of the state of modern media studies. Despite his lack of scholarly diligence, McLuhan had a major impact on media studies.
Agenda-Setting Theory
Interestingly, the analysis of McLuhan's work has not changed significantly since the publication of his works. There are many more media scholars now than in the 1960s, and many of these scholars criticize McLuhan's lack of methodology and theoretical framework.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Media professionals who specialize in agenda-setting research examine the importance or relative importance of an issue and then try to understand why it is important. The relative importance of an issue determines its place on the public agenda, which in turn affects the formulation of public policy.
Symbolic Interactionism
Researchers in this case used the uses and gratifications theory to uncover a nuanced set of circumstances surrounding violent media consumption, as individuals with aggressive tendencies were drawn to violent media (Papacharissi, 2009).
Spiral of Silence
Media Logic
Cultivation Analysis
Methods of Researching Media Effects
Media theories provide the framework for approaching questions about media effects that range from as simple as how 10-year-old boys respond to cereal advertisements to as broad as how Internet use affects literacy. Contemporary research methods are very diverse and can range from analyzing old newspapers to conducting controlled experiments.
Content Analysis
Archival Research
Older radio programs are available for free or by paid download through a number of online sources. Resources such as the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) are working to archive a variety of media sources.
Surveys
Many TV shows and movies have also been made available for free download or for rent or sale through online distributors. Internet archives are invaluable for a study of online media because they store websites that have been deleted or changed.
Social Role Analysis
Depth Interviews
Rhetorical Analysis
Focus Groups
Researchers then compare these measurements to those of a control group from which key elements of the experience had been removed. Researchers then ask children from both groups the same set of questions, and the results are compared.
Participant Observation
By becoming part of the group, the researcher becomes part of the experiment and can discover important influences of the media on culture (Priest). How might project results differ from those of a project with a higher budget?
Problems With Methodology and Theory
Major debates in media theory have questioned the foundations and thus the results of media research. As a result, issues of tenure and position, rather than issues of truth and objectivity, can sometimes fuel discussion of theories and research.
Active versus Passive Audience
Arguments against Agenda-Setting Theory
An agenda-setting study might relate the prevalence of a topic in the media to subsequent changes in public policy and might find that the media set that agenda. In addition, public concern about issues also drives media coverage, making it difficult to determine whether the media is responding to the public's desire to report on the issue or pushing the issue onto its own agenda (Kwansah-Aidoo, 2005).
Arguments Against Uses and Gratifications Theory
Arguments Against Spiral of Silence Theory
Arguments Against Cultivation Analysis Theory
Politics and Media Studies
Media Bias
Media Decency
Jack Thompson's actions may seem extreme, but he represents a common pattern of media scholarship misinterpretation. Pundits, social reformers and politicians often use the results of media studies to support their agenda without regard to accuracy.
Media Consolidation
Books
- Books
A Lost Generation of Readers?
History of Books
Ancient Books
Christianity eventually brought about the dominance of the codex; by the 6th century CE it had almost completely replaced the scroll. By the end of the Middle Ages, the papal library in Avignon, France, had only a few thousand manuscripts compared to the nearly half a million texts found at the Library of Alexandria in ancient times (Fischer, 2004).
Gutenberg’s Industry-Changing Invention
By the end of the 15th century, 50 years after Gutenberg's invention of loose type, printing houses had sprung up across Europe, with an estimated 300 in Germany alone. The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center estimates that before the invention of the printing press, the total number of books in all of Europe was about 30,000.
Effects of the Mass Production of Books
The Bible was not the only text that began to be published in languages other than Latin. The Renaissance saw a growing interest in texts published in the vernacular, the speech of "common people".
History of Document Control
The first federal copyright law, the Copyright Act of 1790, was modeled on the Statute of Queen Anne and similarly granted exclusive rights for 14 years, renewable for another 14 if the author was alive at the end of the first term. Critics of the Copyright Extension Act called it the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" because the Walt Disney Company championed the law (Krasniewicz, 2010).
History of the Book-Publishing Industry
By the turn of the century, New York was the center of publishing in the United States. In the early years of the third millennium, book publishing was an increasingly centralized, profit-driven industry.
Books in the 1800s—How Uncle Tom’s Cabin Helped Start a War
Washington Irving, author of the now iconic short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), helped establish satire and wit as important aspects of the new American style. This passage, from the first chapter of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), shows Twain's use of characteristically American speech patterns: "The widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would civilize me; but that was it.
Twentieth Century and Beyond
The second half of the 20th century was marked by writers who challenged the conformist ideas of the United States. American Scream: Allen Ginsberg's “Howl” and the Making of the Beat Generation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006).
Hardcover
The print run of a book refers to all copies made in one printing machine setup. When a first print run sells out, the book will be reprinted (these copies are considered a second printing) or will be considered sold out.
Paperback
Books
- Current Publishing Trends
Although they account for only 3 to 5 percent of current sales, e-books have the potential to transform the book market. Eco-Libris, "Some facts about the book publishing industry", Eco-Libris, http://www.ecolibris.net/.
Blockbuster Syndrome
In a world full of distractions, each demanding people's time, the publishing industry tries to do everything they can to capture readers' attention. These non-traditional systems allow authors more flexibility at a time when the publishing industry is facing rapid change.
Rise (and Fall?) of Book Superstores
Two of the most well-known and widespread book retailers, Barnes & Noble and Borders (the largest and second largest book retailers in the United States, respectively) expanded greatly by building book superstores in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The decline of the independent bookstore coincided with the consolidation of the publishing industry, and some advocates of independent bookstores see a connection between the two.
Price Wars
The Influence of New Technology
At the start of 2010, more than half of the best-selling titles on Kindle were free. Although the phenomenon has yet to catch on in the United States, some publishers fear the mobile phone novel as a further sign of the devaluation of books in a world where browsers expect content to be free.
Digitizing Libraries
Other works in the Google Books digital library include printed texts whose publishers have reached an agreement with Google. The Open Book Alliance will challenge Google, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild [sic] scheme to monopolize access, distribution and pricing of the world's largest digital book database.
Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing
Newspapers
- Newspapers
Newspaper Wars
History of Newspapers
In the course of its long and complex history, the newspaper has undergone many transformations. Examining newspapers' historical roots can help shed light on how and why the newspaper developed into the versatile medium it is today.
The Birth of the Printing Press
However, the lack of printing press technology severely limited the circulation of both the Acta Diurna and the Venetian newspapers. Overnight, the new printing press transformed the scope and reach of the newspaper, paving the way for modern journalism.
European Roots
The first was the Dutch-style "corantos," a densely packed paper of two to four pages, while the second was the German-style pamphlet, a larger paper of eight to 24 pages. Many publishers began printing in the Dutch format, but as their popularity grew, they changed to the larger German style.
Government Control and Freedom of the Press
The newspaper fueled a discussion about the freedom of the press, which was later formulated in 1644 by John Milton in his famous treatise Areopagitica. John Milton's Areopagitica from 1644, which criticized the British Parliament's role in regulating texts and helped pave the way for freedom of the press.
Colonial American Newspapers
The Trial of John Peter Zenger
The founder of the New York Weekly Journal, John Peter Zenger, brought controversial political discussions to the New York press. Zenger's article soon began to criticize the newly appointed colonial governor, William Cosby, who had replaced members of the New York Supreme Court when he could not exercise control over them.
Freedom of the Press in the Early United States
The Zenger trial led to two important shifts in the march toward freedom of the press. First, the trial showed newspapers that they could print fair criticism of the government without fear of reprisal.
Newspapers as a Form of Mass Media
When Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1800, he repealed the Sedition Act, claiming that it lent itself to "a grand experiment ... to demonstrate the falsity of the pretense that freedom of the press is incompatible with orderly government (University of Virginia) )." This experiment with a free press has continued into modern times.
The Penny Press
His newspaper was the first to send a reporter to the crime scene to witness the investigation. Although the Herald initially emphasized sensational news, its accurate reporting later made it one of the most respected newspapers in the country.
Growth of Wire Services
Another early successful penny paper was James Gordon Bennett's New York Morning Herald, first published in 1835.
Yellow Journalism
Comics and Stunt Journalism
Different Styles and Models of Journalism
Over time, however, certain styles – such as sensationalism – have faded or become associated with less serious publications, such as tabloids, while others have developed into a dominant force in contemporary reporting.
Objective versus Story-Driven Journalism
The Rise of Objective Journalism
The Inverted Pyramid Style
Interpretive Journalism
Competition From Broadcasting
Literary Journalism
Important Literary Journalists
Truman Capote responded to Wolfe's new style by writing In Cold Blood in 1966, which Capote called a "nonfiction novel" (Plimpton, 1966). New York Times writer George Plimpton claimed that the book is “remarkable for its objectivity – nowhere, despite his involvement, does the author impose himself (Plimpton, 1966).” After In Cold Blood ended, Capote criticized Wolfe's style in an interview, noting that Wolfe has "nothing to do with creative journalism", claiming that Wolfe lacked the proper expertise in fiction writing had (Plimpton, 1966).
The Effects of Literary Journalism
Dobell was so impressed by this piece that he simply crossed out "Dear Byron" at the top of the letter and published the rest of Wolfe's letter in its entirety under the title "There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy-Colored Tangerine- Flake Streamline Baby.” The article was a great success, and Wolfe, in time, became known as the father of the new journalism. Capote claimed that he wrote the book because he wanted to exchange "his self-created world ... with the everyday world objectives that we all inhabit (Plimpton, 1966). The book was praised for its straightforward and journalistic style.
Advocacy Journalism and Precision Journalism
Television talk show host and owner of the production company Harpo Inc., Oprah Winfrey is one of the most. She started hosting her own show in 1984, and in 2010 the Oprah Winfrey Show was one of the most popular TV shows on the air.
Consensus versus Conflict Newspapers
Winfrey has long used her show as a platform for questions and concerns, making her one of the best-known advocacy journalists. She had her own reminder page in the form of a million dollar television studio.
Niche Newspapers
Conflict journalists define news in terms of social discord, covering events and issues that conflict with perceived social norms. Conflict reporters often present both sides of a story and pit ideas against each other to generate conflict and, therefore, attract a larger readership.
The Underground Press
Consensus journalism encourages social and economic harmony, while conflict journalists present information in a way that focuses on views outside the social norm. The rise of the Internet and online journalism brought niche newspapers more into the mainstream.
American Pop Culture
All the News That’s Fit to Print”
One such example occurred in 2004 when, in response to criticism of its handling of the Iraq War, The New York Times offered a statement of apology. While the apology was risky—it essentially admitted guilt in fact-checking a controversial story—the New York Times demonstrated a commitment to ethical journalism.
Watchdog Journalism
For example, The New York Times reporter Jayson Blair lost his job in 2003 when his plagiarism and fabrication were discovered, and The New Republic reporter Stephen Glass was fired in 1998 for fabricating stories, quotes and sources. Despite criticism from The New York Times, the famous newspaper is known to have revisited its old stories to provide a new, more balanced view.
Impact of Television and the Internet on Print
Surviving in the newsroom—doing watchdog stories—requires a lot of personal and political skills. Reporters must have a sense of guerrilla warfare tactics to do well in the newsroom (Bennett & . Serrin, 2005).".
Case Study: USA Today
Examine the differences in the visual nature of newspapers, as well as journalistic style. Lance and William Serrin, "The Watchdog Role," in The Institutions of American Democracy: The Press, ed.
Major Publications in the U.S. Newspaper Industry
The newspaper has also successfully established itself on the Internet and has become one of the most popular online newspapers today. Perhaps the newspaper's most unique feature is its Column One, which focuses on sometimes bizarre stories designed to captivate readers.
Declining Readership and Decreasing Revenues
The Chicago Tribune's inaccurate declaration of the results of the tight presidential election of 1948 became one of the most famous headlines of all time. Despite this flaw, the Chicago Tribune has become known for its watchdog journalism, including a dedicated watchdog section for issues facing Chicago, such as pollution, politics and more.
Readership Decline
Joint Operating Agreements
Newspaper Chains
Recent Ownership Trends
Online Journalism Redefines News
As individuals turn to the Internet to get news for free, traditional newspapers struggle to stay competitive and retain their traditional readers. The Internet and its role in the media are explored in more detail in Chapter 11, "The Internet and Social Media," of this textbook.
Competition From Blogs
Advantages Over Print Media
The report gave few details about the scandal and concluded the article with the phrase "The White House was checking the Drudge Report for details (Australian Politics, 1998)." This act revealed the power of the Internet because of its superiority in timeliness, threatening the relevance of slower newspapers and news magazines. Print media also constantly struggles with space limitations, another limitation spared the Internet.
Online Newspapers
Magazines
- Magazines
Changing Times, Changing Tastes
History of Magazine Publishing
Examining the industry's roots and its transformation over time can contribute to a better understanding of modern industry.
Early Magazines
Germany, France, and the Netherlands Lead the Way
This lighter magazine targeted a different reader than the other, more intellectual publications of the time, offering articles for entertainment and pleasure rather than education. This growth affected the literary world as a whole and inspired a large number of women writers to publish novels for women readers (Wolf).
British Magazines Appear
This influx of female readers also helped magazines flourish as more women sought out the publications as a source of knowledge and entertainment.
American Magazines
Mass-Appeal Magazines
One of the earliest American women's magazines was Godey's Lady's Book, a Philadelphia-based monthly published between 1830 and 1898. The publication was widely recognized for changing the look of the magazine and was the first to put art on the cover, a decision that The Saturday Evening Post has said "readers closely associated with the magazine as a whole (Saturday Evening Post)." The Saturday Evening Post certainly took advantage of the format by featuring works by famous artists such as Norman Rockwell.
Price Decreases Attract Larger Audiences
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, this magazine had quite a religious content and developed a reputation as a wholesome magazine that encouraged young readers to be virtuous and pious. Nevertheless, in time the magazine began to feature the work of prominent authors for both children and adults and became "a literary force to be reckoned with (Nineteenth-Century American Children and What They Read)".
Early 20th-Century Developments
Newsmagazines
The magazine's distinctive style of well-researched news presented in a concise manner contributed greatly to its eventual success.
Picture Magazines
Into the 21st Century
Changes in printing technologies in the 1830s had a direct impact on how the magazine looks now. Based on how the magazine has adapted to trends in journalism during the 20th century, how do you predict the magazine will evolve in the future.
Advertising for a National Market
Popular Literature in Magazines
Pulp Magazines
However, the graphic content of the pulp strips caused a stir, and the public was divided about the nature of this new medium. Despite the controversy surrounding the magazines, the industry flourished and eventually new forms of pulp magazines emerged.
Entertainment Magazines
Teen Magazines
In 2006, a Madrid fashion show made headlines by banning overly skinny models that represented beauty and health. Studies have shown that images of ultra-skinny models distort women's views of health and beauty, leading to depression, extreme diets and eating disorders.
Celebrity Magazines
Major Publications in the Magazine Industry
Magazines have influenced the world by bringing news, entertainment, literature and photography to their readers. As magazines have evolved over time, individual publications have targeted specific groups and found specific niches.
High-Circulation Magazines
First published in 1922 as a "compilation of abridged articles of current interest and entertainment value taken from other periodicals (Encyclopaedia Britannica)," this famous pocket magazine was first produced on a low budget by a man and woman team who believed the magazine would sell despite numerous rejections from magazine publishers (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The monthly magazine has subscribers around the world and aims to "create products that inform, enrich, entertain and inspire people of all ages and cultures around the world (Reader's Digest)".
News Magazines
Like Newsweek, Time has won numerous awards and prides itself on being “the guide through chaos” in an era of information overload (Time). In 1933—the same year that Newsweek debuted—journalist David Lawrence began publishing a weekly newspaper called the United States News.
Women’s Magazines
From human interest stories and social issues to money management and travel, the magazine will promote positive living for today's women (Good Housekeeping Magazine, 2010). Currently, the magazine ranks fifth in circulation in the US with over 7.6 million readers (Echo Media).
Men’s Magazines
