Week 2 Media & Society PDF

MEDIA & SOCIETY/DEMOCRACY Week 2, Pt. 1  WHY STUDY MEDIA? We have agreed that a Are media good or bad? significant amoung of our (potential use v. actual use) knowledge about the world is mediated!! O’Shaughnessy, M....

MEDIA & SOCIETY/DEMOCRACY Week 2, Pt. 1  WHY STUDY MEDIA? We have agreed that a Are media good or bad? significant amoung of our (potential use v. actual use) knowledge about the world is mediated!! O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2  POINTS FOR & AGAINST MEDIA For Contributes to pop knowledge, inspirational, critiquing previously normalized behaviors, major contributions to democracy, advocates of free speech, give voices to marginzalized groups, agents for social change Against Is repetitive and worthless, makes us lazy and complacent, corrupts and perverts us, fake news, only serve commercial interests, want to control us, goal of homogenized culture, maintains the status quo O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2  HISTORICAL VIEWS OF MEDIA Utopia O’Shaughnessy, M.O. (2016), Ch. 2 a belief in the positive possibilties that abound when information is shared, voices are heard, and people are informed Dangerous moral panic about the ways media can corrupt, pervert, and destablize society  MEDIA FEARS O’Shaughnessy, M.O. (2016), Ch. 2 THE POLITICAL USE OF MEDIA: the way political parties use media to control people; 1 advertising as propaganda and brainwashing that supports consumerism/capitalism THE MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON MORALS: typically around sex, violence, and young 2 people--the gratuity of both help to normalize certain ideologies THE MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON CULTURE: the Idea that media devalue culture because 3 what they produce Is trivial or superficial; high v. low culture APPROACHES TO MEDIA STUDIES The Frankfurt School Political Economy Effects Research Structural Organization Communication Models Textual Analysis Content Analysis Cultural Studies O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2 APPROACHES TO MEDIA STUDIES The Frankfurt School: Marxist scholars who stressed the way media functioned to subordinate the working class and how they were driven by economic interests Consciousness Industry - a term describing how the media function to control the minds and feelings of the masses while also making money Effects Research: researches who conduct research to figure out whether watching violent media causes viewer aggression Affect - a measurable physiological expression of emotional responses to stimulation O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2  APPROACHES TO MEDIA STUDIES Communication Models: seminal way to define what communications Is the global village - communications media has brought the whole world closer together O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2 APPROACHES TO MEDIA STUDIES Content Analysis: quantitative measurement of media content Provides a systematic way to make inferences about patterns of images, printed words, or verbal data in order to quantify their meanings and interpret their consequences Can identify trends, reveal cultural patterns, and find where audiences focus attention Political Economy of the Media: explains how the media are determined by a combination of economic, social, and political factors, particularly ownership and control of the media Media homogenization - financial pressures and other forces lead all media products to become similar, standard, and uniform O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2 APPROACHES TO MEDIA STUDIES Structural Organization: The way media are organized effects the way they present information Agenda setting - the process by which media producers set up the issues that media will focus on and the audiences will subsequently perceive as important Gatekeeping - the proces of controlling what gets included and whose voices are heard in the media, particularly in news Textual Analysis: The process of analyzing and interpreting any media text, typically focusing on its form, content, style, and structure Cultural Studies: Interested in questions of political power and the social role of the media; understanding pop culture; the audience; issues of representation O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2  MEDIA & DEMOCRACY What IS democracy? What makes media democratic? makes information and aesthetics available to the masses giving voice to the marginalized & the majority publicizing political issues informing citizens who vote O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 2  MEDIA & DEMOCRACY Western, liberal democratic systems gives “everyone” the right to vote Voting delegates power to political candidates--it is a representative democracy The media play a major role in this process, but there are limits to democracy as we know it 2-3 major parties having to appeal to a wide swath makes popular and mediated politics more conservative; only about 50% of eligible Americans vote O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 3  HOW THE MEDIA WORK O’Shaughnessy, M.O. (2016), Ch. 3 REPRESENTATION: media are the primary source for how we see the world--by 1 reading, hearing, and watching media stories/pictures INTERPRETATION: through representation, media provide information and 2 explanations, taking on an interpretive role EVALUATION: media constantly privilege some Issues and Identities while devaluing 3 others thur providing a judgemental framework about the world  HOW THE MEDIA WORK O’Shaughnessy, M.O. (2016), Ch. 3 Media products do not show or present the real world; they construct and represent 4 reality 5 The media are just one way people make sense of the world Media are created, owned, and controlled by certain groups who makes sense of 6 society on behalf of others  THE ACRONYM SEARCH The social role of media; the social values and beliefs of media texts; the Ideology S = sex/sexual orientation/gender E = environment A = age R = race and religion C = class H = handicap/disabled O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 3  MEDIA & SOCIETY Do media affect/reflect the world? Media as a reflection of society If we want to study a society, we turn to its media; media are merely a mirror The Effects Model Media do affect what people think, believe, and how they behave; the media construct our values and dictate our actions O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 3 MEDIA & SOCIETY O’Shaughnessy, M. O. (2016). Ch. 3 media & society/ democracy Week 2, Pt. 2 what is democracy? A form of government where people choose leaders by voting Citizen participation in the organization of society  Misinformation is not new! The 2016 mis- election did not invent “fake news”!! “It found truth astir on Earth and gave it infor- wings; but untruth also was aboard, and it was supplied with a double pair of wings” mation – Mark Twain, re: printing press Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast (1938) Lies are 70% more likely to be re-tweeted than facts Are we living in a post-truth world? Evidence, and therefore truth, can change over time—do we accept that? Ashley, News Literacy & Democracy, Ch. 1 (2020) what is news literacy? The critical evaluation of information content as well as the context where it is produced and consumed You should know when you will have reached your goal The digital age asks a lot of its citizens and it can seem unfair Why should we care? DEMOCRACY! We are all political, despite the inclination to disengage Informed participation in civic life is our responsibility and a privilege  ROLES OF NEWS in democracy LIBERTY V EQUALITY INFORMED CITIZENS 1ST AMENDMENT Preference to liberty = If we agree that some In protecting the the freedom to do form of shared freedom of the press, what we want without governance is a good and the first the government thing, we agree that Amendment generally, getting in the way citizens need to be we have to allow all the Preference to equality = informed to weigh in baggage that comes thoughtful distribution on policy questions with it of resources is required to level the playing field news is socially constructed News is not necessarily a complete picture of what’s super important in our daily lives, it is shaped by social structures and constructed by humans making decisions about what it should look like Ashley, News Literacy & Democracy, Ch. 1 (2020) objectivity is horse poop Objectivity = not influenced by emotions or prejudices Human beings are not capable of objectivity by the very nature of being human beings with lived experiences A BIG problem with the question of “trust” of news organizations is the very expectation of objectivity By focusing on objectivity, we ignore the actual political/economic issues that cause severe agenda setting and gatekeeping that extend far beyond the concept of “objectivity” We can expect and strive for a neutral presentation of facts, but we have to remember that nothing is purely or truly objective Neutral = not taking sides, neither positive or negative Public Broadcasting Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 PBA created the funding authority for public broadcasting, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) mandated to provide alternatives to commercial broadcasting Re-integrated the idea that mass mediums have a social responsibility of educating the public Funding The House approved $397 million to fund public television and $132 million to fund public radio for FY 2025 Unfortunately this has become somewhat of a partisan issue Fake News It is just as important to recognize your own bias in the era of “fake news” Must assess current events from a wide variety of sources Cannot ignore nontraditional sources Must bring social media into the conversation and teach people how to assess and analyze these sources Talk to your friends and family about information and sources Understand propaganda techniques: Activating strong emotions Simplifying information and ideas Attacking opponents  Fear or Panic? THE INTERNET BAD INFO MORAL PANIC a democractic can weaken a An upward spiral of technology, in theory democracy concern where an better-informed studies focus on increase in news citizens social media coverage prompts Accessible problems: data responses from participation in mining, privacy, politicians or other debate, elections and leaders that can effect algorithms public discourse real/policy change