COURSE LECTURES

COURSE LECTURES REVISIT THIS PAGE OFTEN: CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITH NOTICE.

THIS IS A MEDIA CLASS SO WE WILL BE COVERING MEDIA CONTENT/CURRENT-EVENTS IN REAL TIME.

MODULE 1 DIGITAL MEDIA AND CONVERGENCE

TOPIC 1— INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE MEDIA AND MASS COMMUNICATION

Communication, in its simplest form, can be defined as shared meaning. Using an old-fashioned communication model, where a SOURCE sends a

MESSAGE to a RECEIVER, we can define several different kinds of

communication.

SOURCE ———-> MESSAGE——– > RECEIVER

SOURCE >

MESSAGE RECEIVER

INTRAPERSONAL

COMMUNICATION YOU

SPECIFIC

INTERNAL

DIALOGUE

YOU

INTERPERSONAL

COMMUNICATION

ONE OR A

FEW

PEOPLE

FACE-TO-

FACE, with or

without

technology

ONE OR A

FEW PEOPLE

MASS COMMUNICATION

Usually a

GROUP/CORP

But can also

be an

individual

(influencer)

LCD

AS MANY AS

POSSIBLE

(MASSES)

MASS COMMUNICATION: A CRITICAL APPROACH

I love media studies! I feel this area of study can and will help you in myriad other

endeavors and academic pursuits as media intersects with every other discipline. Media

technology is an ubiquitous presence in our lives, it’s everywhere all the time! To name

just a few media sources: radio, television, film, newspapers, magazines, smartphones,

computers, the Internet, computer and video games, gps, satellites, phones and other

smart devices, etc.

We must interrogate these systems on a deeper level to develop a critical lens.

Attaining a deeper understanding of how these industries and tools work will allow us to

engage, produce and consume more thoughtfully and intentionally. Now more than ever,

due to the pandemic, we see how these tools-and an understanding of these tools- is

necessary to keep in contact with friends and family, stay informed, work etc.

Study after study claim that Americans consume a lot of media. According to

STATISTA.com, (Daily media consumption in the U.S. 2020, by format, published by

Amy Watson, Jun 17, 2020) “In terms of average time spent each day, TV is the

second most used form of media in the United States, with adults spending 229

minutes (almost four hours) watching television on a daily basis according to a study

undertaken in April 2020. Digital formats took up the majority of U.S. adults’ daily

media consumption time, while for newspapers and magazines the average time

spent was just nine and eight minutes respectively.

HTTPS://WWW.STATISTA.COM/STATISTICS/276683/MEDIA-USE-IN- THE-US/

If it is true (and it is) that we spend more time- consuming media than doing ANYTHING ELSE in our lives (eating, sleeping, working, getting exercise, making love, spending time with our families, getting educated, exercising, etc.), then why is it we are not better educated about our media interactions/consumption? Why aren’t we taught about media in school? We begin consuming media as babies, so by the time we start kindergarten or first grade, we’ve already been listening and watching our entire lives. So why aren’t we taught in first grade how media work and how we can protect ourselves as much as possible from their negative influence? Why aren’t we taught to discriminate between quality media or accurate information from destructive messages and lies? Or why aren’t we taught how to use our influence as audience members to challenge the media to better serve us or provide us with higher quality product or more balanced and fair coverage?http://www.statista.com/STATISTICS/276683/MEDIA-USE-IN-THE-US/http://www.statista.com/STATISTICS/276683/MEDIA-USE-IN-THE-US/

How could this much interaction with media NOT have consequences and effects? Of course, it does. And the stakes are very high. Media provide us with news and information. Media influence who we elect as our political leaders. Media spotlights some while ignoring others. Media perpetuate and destroy stereotypes, power structures and cultural systems. Media represent us to the rest of the world. Media provide us with ways to define ourselves. The better media literate we are, the more power we have in working WITH media to make the world a better place. Interrogating systems that we give the lion’s-share of our time to is an exercise in reclamation.

So let’s get started.

WHAT IS MEDIA LITERACY?

(Lots of different definitions, here are a few you need to know):

“Media Literacy: to develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques.” – Dr. John Caputo

“Media literacy is a set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the mass media to interpret the meaning of the messages we encounter.” – W. James Potter

“The purpose of media literacy education is to help individuals of all ages develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression that they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators and active citizens in today’s world.” – National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)

So in order to be media literate MEDIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION (MEF), the non-profit media literacy organization’s, illustrates how the process of effective media analysis is based on the following concepts: 1. All media messages are “constructed” no matter how simple they seem. 2. Each medium has different characteristics, strengths, and a unique “language” of construction. 3. Media messages always contain embedded values and points of view. 4. All media messages contain embedded values and points-of-view. There is no such thing as neutral (according to whose definition?) 5. People use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages. 6. Media and media messages can influence beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and the democratic process. Most of us hardly give our media interactions a second thought. We are so immersed in our mediated world that the metaphorical question that is often used to describe our contemporary relationship with media is

“does a fish know it is wet?” Media are mostly invisible to us—until they don’t work or we lose access to them (when your computer crashes, when you lose your smart phone, when a natural disaster knocks out electricity and connectivity) or if you are simply out of range (hard to believe there are still areas on the planet that aren’t covered.) When our connection to media is severed, you often hear people describe their experience as feeling “lost”, or when referring to their broken computers/phones “My life is in there.” This is why media literacy—the understanding of how media function and affect society is important. Here are a list of 10 reasons why media literacy is important (according to the Media Education Foundation MEF).

So how do we begin analyzing how we interact with media, how

media function and how we can become more media literate? The easiest

way to understand how a process works, is to deconstruct it into its

functioning parts.

Referring to our communication model, we will begin by looking at the source:

SOURCE ———-> MESSAGE——– > RECEIVER

There is often confusion (much of the time it is instigated by media

corporations) that the Constitution protects the media so they can say/do

whatever they want. Not true. The Constitution DOES protect the Press in

the First Amendment which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting

an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or

abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people

peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of

grievances.” The reason our country’s founders wanted to protect the

Press was because of the ideal of the Press acting as a Fourth Estate of

the government. The U.S. has three branches of the government

(executive—the President, legislative—the Congress, and judicial—The

Supreme Court) that act together as checks and balances (the idea that no

one entity can control everything (no more King).

The PRESS were/are supposed to act as a 4th Branch of the

government: providing the population with information so they can

participate in our democracy from a place of knowledge and understanding.

The Press are supposed to be THE WATCHDOG of the government. Media

are supposed to be on our side instead of on the side of corporations or

politicians or systems of power and money.

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

One of the most important issues regarding media (requiring regulation of

media) revolves around media ownership. Our country has a deep history of

not liking monopolies, so we have passed rules (that have been relaxed over

the years) regarding how many media outlets companies may own. When

media ownership is merged into the hands of a smaller and smaller number of

companies, it is called CONCENTRATION OF OWNERSHIP. And, when

companies that own media aren’t media companies per se, it is called MEDIA

CONGLOMERATION. When a single media corporation (or just a few) gain all

of the control. It becomes a big problem: For democracy, for the public, for the

world. Even the media, themselves, present content that is reflective of the

dangers of concentration of ownership and media conglomeration.

Here is an old and new example of the U.S government’s interaction with

media monopolies:

● If you have taken media history courses, you may know about the

landmark case United states v. Paramount Pictures inc. This was a

case that ended the Hollywood studio system and changed how

movies were made, exhibited and distributed. The studios owned the

theaters and the movies and the rights of distribution. This is an

example of VERTICAL INTEGRATION as studios owned and

controlled the entire supply chain for films and their distribution.

● On December 9, 2020 the FTC sued Facebook for illegal

monopolization of the social networking. This is an issue of

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION, as the company owns Facebook and

had purchased Instagram which operates at the same level in the

industry.

Review the images below to get a sense of how few companies now own media compared to the numbers of the past AND how many media owners are giant conglomerates that own A LOT of other things. Review several media company holdings at FREEPRESS.NET. There are a lot of these ownership charts (GOOGLE: media ownership). It should be noted that all of the owners are white men (exception: Sony, a Japanese company, has a President who is Japanese and a man).

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK to see an infographic containing the ownership of “The Big 6” AND THE SECOND LINK to show consolidation over time

Big 6 Ownership

Media consolidation