MACS 110 | Introduction to Mass Communication Theory
Week 12 Media and Society: The Role of Media in the Social World -back to MACS 110 weekly- translate
Questions for consideration
Theories of Media, Culture, and Society
How might you justify the claim that media are far more influential than limited effects theories imply?
Social Marketing Theory
What might be an example of socially valuable information promoted through the media by elite sources ?
How might the hierarchy of effects model monitor the message and change it when the proper results aren't obtained ? How could feedback from target audiences be used to adjust media campaigns ?
Agenda Setting
Give an example of how the public is made to think about some topics as the major issues. Also, in what way can agenda setting encourage us to think about them ? Include a discussion of priming, i.e. the "idea that the media draw attention to some aspects of political life at the expense of others."
How might framing - frames - influence how an audience think about an issue - i.e. their "interpretive schemas"
Spiral of Silence
What perspectives promoted in the mainstream media might people fear to speak out against for fear of isolation and rejection ? Also, what topics, or perspectives, might the mainstream media fear drawing attention to in case of a negative reaction to the broadcaster/publisher ?
Media System Dependency Theory
According to this theory, the more we use media, the more dependent we are. What is an example of both "short-term situationally induced dependency" and "long-term, chronic dependency."
The more central to society media become, the more we are dependent on them. In what ways might new media increase or decrease this dependency ?
The Knowledge Gap
What is the significance of the digital divide (i.e. well informed and less-well informed people) from both a national and international perspective ?
Cultivation Analysis
TV creates or cultivates a world view - e.g. effect of year in year out violence in the 'media world' in comparison to the 'real world'. This is particularly true among heavy viewers. How might excessive violence in the media , and "mean-world syndrome," contribute to social control ?
Give an example of how cultivation occurs by mainstreaming.
How might cultivation theory be understood within the context of critical theory ?
Commodification of Culture
"can function as very subtle but effective ideologies"
How have "American media entrepreneurs developed their strategy for creating universally attractive cultural commodities" ?
Why is the commodification of culture a useful framework through which to study globalization of culture ?
News Production Research
What is "gee whizz" or "disco news" ? Give examples of how "most news stories centre around people" and how triviality often dominates the news agenda. What does media critic Todd Gitlin mean when he refers to journalists as "stenographers with amnesia" ?
Summarize Media Intrusion Theory - and - Information (Innovation) Diffusion Theory
And finally . . .
Select theories from the textbook that you found either illuminating or confusing and explain why.