©  2014  by  McGraw-­Hill  Education

Stanley J. Baran

Introduction to Mass Communication:

Media Literacy and Culture 8th edition

©  2014  by  McGraw-­Hill  Education

Chapter 1

Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy

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What Is Mass Communication?

• Communication: the transmission of a message from a source to a receiver.

Ø Must be sharing (or correspondence) of meaning

Ø FeedbackØ Interpersonal communication

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Communication Occurs When?

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What Is Mass Communication?

• Media plural of medium

• Messages are encoded

• Once received, messages are decoded

Ø NoiseØ Medium

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What Is Mass Communication?

Osgood and Schramm’s Model of Communication

Source: From The Process and Effects of Mass Communication by Wilbur Lang Schramm, 1954. Reprinted by permission of Wilbur Schramm’s heirs.

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What Is Mass Communication?

• Mass communication: the process of creating shared meaning between the mass media and their audience.

• Schramm’s mass communication model represents feedback by inferential feedback—indirect rather than direct.

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What Is Mass Communication?

Schramm’s Model of Mass Communication

Source: From The Process and Effects of Mass Communication by Wilbur Lang Schramm, 1954. Reprinted by permission of Wilbur Schramm’s heirs.

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What Is Mass Communication?

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What Is Mass Communication?

• Cultural definition of communication (1975)Ø James W. Carey: “Communication is a

symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed.”

Ø Carey’s updated definition (1989) asserts that communication and reality are linked. It’s truest purpose is to maintain ever-evolving, “fragile” cultures; communication is that “sacred ceremony that draws persons together in fellowship and commonality.”

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What Is Culture?

• Culture: the learned, socially acquired traditions and lifestyles of the members of a society, including their patterned, repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.

• Culture lends significance to human experience by selecting from and organizing it. It refers broadly to the forms through which people make sense of their lives, rather than more narrowly to the opera or art of museums.

• Culture is the medium evolved by humans to survive. Nothing is free from cultural influences. It is the keystone in civilization’s arch and is the medium through which all of life’s events must flow. We are culture.

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What Is Culture?

• Culture: is an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbolic forms by means of which [people] communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.

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What Is Culture?

• Culture: the learned behavior of members of a given social group.

• Culture as Socially Constructed Shared Meaning

• Functions and Effects of Culture:Ø Limits our options and provides guidelinesØ Culture’s limiting effects can be negativeØ Dominant culture

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What Is Culture?

• Cultural values can be contested

Ø Bounded culturesØ Divide and/or uniteØ Culture/communicationØ Differentiation can divide

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Mass Communication and Culture

• Our stories help define our culture

• The aim is to shape in a professional and ethical way

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Scope and Nature of Mass Media

• The role of technologyØ Technological determinism

• The role of money

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Scope and Nature of Mass Media

“Technology  can  be  our  best  friend,  and  technology  can  also  be  the  biggest  party  pooper  in  our  lives.  It  interrupts  our  own  story,  interrupts  our  ability  to  have  a  thought  or  daydream,  to  imagine  something  wonderful  because  we’re  too  busy  bridging  the  walk  from  the  cafeteria  back  to  the  office  on  the  cell  phone.”

Steven  Spielberg

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Scope and Nature of Mass Media

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Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy

• Media literacy

• Literate culture

• Oral or preliterate cultures

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The Gutenberg Revolution

• Printing Press

• The Impact of Print

• The Industrial Revolution

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Media Literacy

• Critical thinking that leads to independent judgments

• Understanding the process of mass communication

• Awareness of impact of media on the individual and society

• Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages

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Media Literacy

• Understanding of media content as insight into our cultures/lives

• Ability to enjoy, understand, and appreciate media content

• Development of effective and responsible production skills

• Understanding of the ethical and moral obligations of media practitioners

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Media Literacy Skills

• Understand content

• Pay attention

• Filter out noise

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Media Literacy Skills

• Respect for power of messagesØ Third-person effect

• Emotion vs. reason

• Heightened expectations of content

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Media Literacy Skills

• Genre conventionsØ GenreØ Conventions

• Ability to think critically

• Knowledge of internal languageØ Production values