MediaStudies.com | MACS 110
MACS 110: Introduction to Communication Theory -MediaStudies.com-
Week 2 Mass Communication Theory
Week 3 The Rise of Media Industries and Mass Society Theory
Week 4 The Rise of Media Theory in the Age of Propaganda
Week 5 Normative Theories of Mass Communication
Social responsibility theory meant, first of all, providing a 'full, truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day's events in a context which gives them meaning.' Secondly, the press should serve as a 'forum for the exchange of comment and criticism' and be 'common carriers of the public expression.' Thirdly, the press should give a 'representative picture of constituent groups in society' and also present and clarify the 'goals and values of society'. From Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction, by Dennis McQuail, 1994.
Marketplace of IdeasTheory "The marketplace of ideas is also a theory that claims that we ought to be exposed to a wide array of ideas and thoughts in order to be able to pick the idea that best suits us. If the marketplace of ideas is limited, humans can not make well informed decisions and communities (state, national and/or global) are directly impacted." Wikipedia
Mass Media as Fourth Estate ". . . from the perspective of those researchers who see the media as situated within the model of a pluralist liberal democracy, the mass media are often seen as fulfilling the vitally important rôle of fourth estate, the guardians of democracy, defenders of the public interest." Mick Underwood, 2004.ic
Civic Journalism "Civic journalism is both a philosophy and a set of values supported by some evolving techniques to reflect both of those in your journalism. At its heart is a belief that journalism has an obligation to public life - an obligation that goes beyond just telling the news or unloading lots of facts." (Pew Center)
Libertarianism "a political philosophy that advocates individual rights, private property and free market capitalism." Wikipedia
Week 6 Mid-term Review
Questions for consideration:
Play the role of a propagandist. Include both language and images and create a poster or one page public service announcement which makes an argument (claim to truth). Consider, for instance, the recent BC teachers' strike. You could construct a text for or against it. In the case of the latter, one might utilize techniques such as appeal to fear, or appeal to guilt - e.g. an image of a student looking lost and abandoned hanging around the streets killing time coupled with language such as "If I were a child molester or a drug dealer, I'd also be supporting the teachers' strike." In terms of a broader issue, you could construct a message supporting or opposing the "War on Terror" in Iraq. Conversely, you could frame it as an "Attack on Iraq" and portray the "insurgents" as "freedom fighters" in a David vs. Goliath scenario. This is an exercise requiring both analytical and creative skills, i.e. applied academics, where you decide both the subject matter and perspective. The persuasive message may be either political, commercial, or both. You do not have to personally believe in your message. The objective is to persuade others of its merit. Please be sure to utilize one or more fallacies - e.g. appeal to pity, name-calling, glittering generalizations, or virtue words etc. (see the following links: Propaganda Mission Critical Propaganda Critic Also, include an explanation (1-2 pp.) of how your message employs fallacies - faulty causation - non sequiturs.
2. Look through your copy of 'Life' magazine and answer one of the following questions:
a) In what way(s) does the magazine reflect normative theories of mass communication ? These theories "describe the way things should be if some ideal values or principles are to be realized." (Baran & Davis, Chapter Five)
b) In what way(s) does the magazine communicate propaganda or generally mislead the public ? Given the time period of publication, how can the content be interpreted within the context of social responsibility theory ?
Week 7 Reading Break Limited Effects Theory
Please read the Chapter on Limited Effects Theory and prepare a summary of your essay topic and reading presentation.
Week 8 Middle-Range Theory and the Consolidation of the Limited Effects Paradigm
Re: Fox News
Week 9 Challenging the Dominant Paradigm: Children, Systems, and Effects
Science of Coercion: Communication Research and Psychological Warfare, 1945-1960 by Christopher Sampson "provides the first thorough examination of the role of the CIA, the Pentagon, and other U.S. security agencies in the evolution of modern communication research, a field in the social sciences which crystallized into a distinct discipline in the early 1950s. Government-funded psychological warfare programs underwrote the academic triumph of preconceptions about communication that persist today in communication studies, advertising research, and in counterinsurgency operations. Christopher Simpson contends that it is unlikely that communication research could have emerged into its present form without regular transfusions of money from U.S military, intelligence, and propaganda agencies during the Cold War. A fascinating case study in the history of science and the sociology of knowledge, Science of Coercion offers valuable insights into the dynamics of ideology and the social psychology of communication."
Review by Brian Martin "Christopher Simpson's book is about the way U.S. government and military priorities influenced the development of U.S. academic research into mass communication. He provides a wealth of detail into the connections. The military funded the majority of early academic research in the field. For example, the U.S. Air Force provided at least half of the budget of the Bureau of Social Science Research in the 1950s. Military contracts supported studies at this Bureau such as the vulnerabilities of Eastern European peoples for the purposes of psychological warfare and comparisons of the effectiveness of "drugs, electroshock, violence, and other coercive techniques during interrogation of prisoners."
- Center for Research on the Effects of Television
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Museum of Broadcast Communications - Children and Television
- University of Michigan Health Systems - more on Children and Television
QUESTIONS:
- What are arguments for and against 'Catharsis' ?
- Give examples of 'imitation' and 'identification.'
- What are some of the problems of proving causality ?
Week 10 Emergence of Critical and Cultural Theories of Mass Communication
- Marxist Media Theory - "Marxist perspectives draw our attention to the issue of political and economic interests in the mass media and highlight social inequalities in media representations . . . opening up the possibility of oppositional readings . . . Marxist theory emphasizes the importance of social class in relation to both media ownership and audience interpretation of media texts . . . Critical political economists' study the ownership and control of the media and the influence of media ownership." Daniel Chandler
- The Marxist Approach in the U.K.
"Marxists view capitalist society as being one of class domination; the media are seen as part of an ideological arena in which various class views are fought out, although within the context of the dominance of certain classes; ultimate control is increasingly concentrated in monopoly capital; media professionals, while enjoying the illusion of autonomy, are socialized into and internalize the norms of the dominant culture. The media, taken as a whole, relay interpretive frameworks consonant with the interest of the dominant classes, and media audiences, while sometimes negotiating and contesting these frameworks, lack ready access to alternative meaning systems that would enable them to reject the definitions offered by the media in favour of oppositional definitions." Curran and Gurevitch
- Hans Enzensberger "discusses Theodor Adorno’s notion of a thought-control industry and its importance in maintaining capitalist hegemony."
- Frankfurt School and British Cultural Studies
- Frankfurt School "Institute for Social Research founded 1923. The School's members were Horkheimer, Adorno, Benjamin, Marcuse, and, more recently, Jürgen Habermas. The members of the school were exiled by the Nazis to the US and, with the exception of Marcuse, returned post-war. They were concerned to develop critical theory from the works of Karl Marx. They greatly developed the critique of the mass media in mass society (what they referred to as the culture industry) and their work is therefore at the root of much Marxist criticism of the mass media. As they saw it, the culture industry played a highly manipulative role in modern society and served to control or subvert oppositional consciousness, thus removing any threat to the dominant capitalist class." http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/
- No Fake News Center for Media and Democracy
- Trust Us, We're the Experts Center for Media and Democracy Welcome to the Panopticon. Is there reason to be concerned re. the "War on Terror" and the gradual legitimization of the virtual panopticon ? (see handout)
Ideology, Image Manipulation and Action
"These notes are an example of how ideologies, which are based on manipulated images, are embedded in forms of practice and in communications.
Ideology is like all the other forms of image manipulation described, here. It involves meanings and stories that embody claims about whether things are of positive or negative value. It also lays out action-programs, for what can and should be done, which it depicts as of positive value. Like the other forms of image manipulation, the claims of ideology are embedded and implicit in communications, in addition to being made explicit. In part, they take the form of implicit justifications or legitimizations for whatever is being communicated and done. In the case of the news media, ideology is embedded in everything it does, in the form of the implicit claims it makes about the nature and validity of its enterprise, and the reasons it has for various kinds of action. All these claims, together, form a coherent ideology that protects the news media's prerogatives and position. The claim that the news media focuses on getting the story right . . . is one part of its ideology. The justifications that are given for acts of credit and discredit, as described in the partial essay, "How Discrediting Attacks are Disguised" . . . are another part of the ideology. Collectively, all these claims form a coherent system, based on a cognitive model, which journalists and others draw from to decide how to act, to explain and justify action, to respond to action, and to criticize it. In other words, they are part of the cultural value systems described earlier.
Here are a few additional elements of news ideology:
The idea that public figures have an obligation to answer to journalists and answer their questions, as part of their public accountability to the public. The idea that the news media is the fourth estate, playing a watchdog role on government and power. The idea that the most important thing journalists cover are the arenas of government and politics. The idea that journalists are the messenger only; that they report, rather than acting. The idea that there is an objective account of events that all reasonable observers would agree with. The idea that journalists are not beholden and should not be beholden to the business side of the organization and to management and ownership. The idea that journalists should tell both sides. The idea that journalists can and should leave their biases out of their stories. The pretence that there is no staging or conspiring to improve on stories between journalists and those they cover. The idea that progress is good. All the ideas about what audiences accept as good, which can then be presumed in stories.
As you can see from this very quick and partial list, ideology permeates the entire realm of journalism. Ultimately, we can describe the entire system of thought embodied in these, mostly implicit, claims and we can do the same thing for political groups, corporate marketing programs, and so on. We can also do it for society at large. Ultimately we end up describing what some refer to as the social construction of 'reality.' Our description will also need to include discussions about whether the media (and others) does or does not live up to its claims, and discussions about what criteria should be used to determine the validity of claims. This . . . is about ferreting out ideology, revealing it as a system of image-manipulation and action, of credit and discredit, that is often embedded in communication. It is about taking what is implicit in communication and making it explicit. Ideologies are systems of claims. Claims are manipulated images. Images are forms of action.
QUESTIONS:
- In what ways is critical theory political/action-oriented ?
- Why would supporters of limited effects be concerned about the rise of cultural theories ?
- What is the essence of political economy theory ?
- Why, until recently, do you think political economy theory was largely ignored in the U.S. ?
- What do you understand by "Consciousness Industries" ?
Week 11 Media and Audiences
Week 12 Theories of Media, Culture, and Society
Week 13 Trends in Mass Communication Theory: Seeking Consensus, Facing Challenges
Questions for consideration:
- Mass communication theory can challenge comprehension due to its abstract nature and jargon. Select theories from the textbook that you found either illuminating or confusing and explain why.
- The textbook concludes with a discussion of media literacy. What do you think secondary school students should be taught about mass media ? Should media literacy be considered an essential part of education ? Why or why not ?
- The final chapter of the textbook, 'Trends in Mass Communication Theory: Seeking Consensus, Facing Challenges,' poses the question: "Should government or some other technocracy, presumably with the best interests of all in mind, regulate the new communication technologies ?" If you were in a position to regulate media industries, what threats would you identify and how would you deal with them ? What potential benefits would you identify and how would you promote them ?
- In terms of media and globalization, what ways do you think mass media might be liberating and enriching, and, conversely, what possibilities do they hold for oppression and social control ?
- Discuss in detail two examples of communication phenomena existing on the following four levels: a) Intra-individual. b) Interpersonal. c) Network or organizational. d) Macroscopic, societal.
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