summary of introduction to mass communication by - Mycelium：通过菌丝总结大众传播概论.doc

SUMMARY OF INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION BY STANLEY BARANPART ONECHAPTER ONEMedia Communication Culture and Media Literacy.In this chapter, mass communication is defined as the process of creating shared meaning among two or more people.it criticizes the one way model of communication as it does not wholly reflect the communication process, rather it agrees with the theories of Osgood and Shramm which states that there are no permanent receiver or sender, rather an interchanging of roles exits.It defines culture a learned behavior of members of a given social group. He suggests that culture helps us categorize and classify our experiences and also helps define us, our world and the people in it. According to him culture cannot survive without communication, as communication is the only means that it can be transferred. Therefore the media plays a very special role in the culture of the people.Furthermore he defined media literacy as the ability effectively and efficiently comprehends and use any form of mediated-communication. In a bid to explain media literacy further he traced the history of writing starting from the oral period when the meaning of language is specific and local. As a result communities were closely knit and their members were highly dependent on each other for all aspects of life knowledge was passed orally and people were shown and told how to do things. Having a good memory was also crucial as myths and history were intertwined.He writes that more than 5000 thousand years ago, alphabets were developed independently in several places around the world. Picture based appeared in Egypt, Sumer, and urban China etc. he noted that the syllable alphabet as we know it today developed slowly and was aided by greatly by ancient semantic cultures and eventually flowered in Greece around 800 B.C. like the Sumerians the Greek perfected the easy alphabet of necessity.As modern writing developed, meaning and language became more uniform, communication could occur over a long distance and long periods of time with knowledge being transmitted in writing, power shifted from those who could show others their special talent to those who could write and read them.Elements of medical literacyi. A critical thinking skill enabling audience members to develop independent judgment.ii. An understanding of the process of mass communication.iii. An awareness of the impact of the media on the individual and the society.iv. Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages.v. An understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into ones culture.vi. The ability to enjoy, understand and appreciate media contents.vii. Development of effective development skillsviii. An understanding of the ethical moral obligation of media practitionersAccording to him, for a person to be media literate means the ability to understand content, and filter out noise and the ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions when responding to content and to act accordingly.CHAPTER TWOThe Evolving Mass Communication ProcessThis chapter traces the history of the mass media and also deals with current trends in the mass media. It discusses concentration of ownership, conglomeration, globalization, audience fragmentation, hyper commercialization and convergence.He noted that the mass media system we have today has exited ever since 1830s. He opined that it is a system that has weathered repeated significant change with the coming of increasingly sophisticated technologies. The penny press newspaper which was the first newspaper was soon followed by a mass market books and circulation magazines. As the 1800s became 1900s these popular media were joined by motion pictures, radio and sound recording. A few years later came television combining news and entertainment, moving images and sound all in the home, ostensibly for free. The traditional media found new functions and prospered side by side with television. Then more recently the internet and the World Wide Web came, this has given rise to the media industries alliterating how they how they are structured and do business. The nature of the content and how they interact and respond to the audienceIn this chapter problems media outlets currently face such as, declining revenue and viewership were equally discussed and solutions suggested. The solutions include:i. Audience fragmentation: also known as narrow casting or niche marketing. Baran suggests that individual stations should narrow their programs to a specific audience, thus given the selected audience attention. Example before the advent of cable television, people could choose from among the three commercial broadcast networks- ABC, CBS, NBC, one noncommercial public broadcasting station, but today have thousands of viewing options. So to retain audience and attract advertisers each channel must now find a more specific group of people to make up its viewership. Example Nickelodeon and Disney junior targets kids, Disney XD targets older teens while Bravo channel upper income older people.ii. Hyper commercialization: this is a process of writing brands into production instead of going for separate advert in between programs. Example ABC writes Revlon cosmetics into the story line of its popular soap opera “all my children”, on desperate house wives the females stars shop regularly at Macys.Finally ends with developing media literacy skills were it places emphasis on proper interpretation of the content i.e. message as a vital tool in developing media literacy.PART TWOCHAPTER THREEBooksIn this chapter history of books and printing presses, is discussed. Problems they face are also considered and solutions suggested.The first printing press arrived on North American soil in 1638 only 38 years after the Plymouth Rock landing. It was operated by a company called Cambridge press. Printing was limited to religion and government documents. The first book printed in the colonies appeared in 1644the whole book of psalm sometimes referred to as the Bay psalm book. Among the very few secular titles were those printed by Benjamin Franklin annually. The almanac contained shorty story, poetry, weather forecasts and other facts and figures useful to a population now in command of its environment.The 1800s saw a series of important refinements to the process of printing: continuous roll paper which permitted printing of standardized pages was invented in France at the very beginning of the century. Soon after in 1811, German inventor Friedrich Koenig converted the printing press from muscle to steam power, this speed up the production of printed materials.Baran notes that the book industry is bound by many of the same financial and industrial pressures that constrain the media but book more than the others are in position to transcend the constrains.Functions of booksi. Books are agents of social and cultural change.ii. Books are important cultural repository.iii. Books are our windows on the past.iv. Books are important sources of personal development.v. Books are wonderful sources of entertainment.Because of their affluence as cultural reposition and agents of change, books have often been targeted for censorship. A book is censored when someone in authority limits publication of or access to it. Censorship occurs in all media. This is a major challenge book face today, examples of books censored are The outsiders, fallen angel by Walter Myer etc. there are different categories of books: Higher education books for colleges and universities, El-hi books for elementary and secondary school etc.In the concluding part of the chapter, new trends in book printing and publishing such as; e-books, conglomeration, convergence etc. were discussed. Like other chapters, the chapter ends with developing media literacy skills with J. K. Rowlings “Harry potter” in focus.CHAPTER FOURNewspapersThis chapter examines the relationship between the newspaper and its readers, it looked the mediums root beginning with the first papers following them from Europe to colonial America were the traditions of today free press were set. It also studies the cultural changes that led to creation of Penny press and the competition between these mass circulation dailies that gave rise to yellow journalism it also reviewed the modern newspaper in terms of its size and scope discussing different types of papers plus the importance of newspapers as an advertising medium. Finally the positive and negative impacts of technology such as the rise in online newspapers and changes in the nature of newspaper readership are discussed.HistoryIi Caesars time Rome had a new paper the “Acta Diurna” (actions of the day) written on a tablet and was pasted on the wall after each meeting of the senate, its circulation was one. The newspapers we recognize today have their roots in the 17th century Europe. “Corontos” a one page news sheet about specific events, were printed in Holland in 1620 and imported to English by British booksellers who were eager to satisfy public demand for information about continental happenings that eventually led to what we know today as thirty years wars.English man Nathaniel Butter, Thomas Archer, and Nicholas Bourne eventually began printing their own occasional news sheets using the same title for consecutive editions. They stooped publishing in 1641. The same year that regular daily accounts of local news started appearing in the news sheet, these for runners of daily newspapers were called “Diurnals”Political power struggle in England at this time booted the fledging mediums as partisans on the side of the monarchy and those on the side of the parliament printed Diurnals to bolster their positions. When the monarchy prevailed it granted monopoly rights to the Oxford Gazette; the official voice of the crown founded in 1665 and later renamed the London Gazette. This journal; used a formula of foreign news, official information, royal proclamation and local news that became the model for the first colonial newspaper.The concept of “Yellow journalism” is a study in excess or sensational reporting of sex, crime and disaster news it is dine with grant headlines, heavy use of illustrations and over reliance on cartoons and color. It derived its name from the Yellow kid ,a popular cartoon character of the time.Type of Newspapers.i. National daily Newspapers: this type of paper enjoys wide readership and unlimited circulation across towns in the country.ii. Large metro Politian dailiesiii. Suburban and small town dailiesiv. Weeklies and semi weekliesv. The ethnic pressvi. The alternative and dissident pressthis type of newspapers is mostly weekly and is available to readers at no cost.vii. Commuter paper- modeled after a common form of European newspaper, this paper is a free daily designed for commuters.CHAPTER FIVEMagazinesThe dynamics of the contemporary magazine industry; paper and online and its audience was discussed in this chapter. The mediums beginnings in the colonies, its pre-war expansion and explosive growth between the civil war and world war were also highlighted. Finally the chapter examines some of the editorial decisions that should be of particular interest to media literate magazine consumer.Magazines were a favorite medium of the British elite by the mid- 1700s. Two prominent colonial printers hoped to duplicate that in success in the new world. In 1741 in Philadelphia, Andrew Bradford published American magazine or a monthly view of the political sate of British colonies. Followed by Benjamin Franklins “General magazine and Historical chronicle composed largely of reprinted British materials. These publications were expensive and aimed at small number of literate colonist. Lacking an organized postal system distribution was difficult and neither magazine was successful American magazine produced three issues, General magazine six. Yet between 1741 and 1794, 45 new magazines appeared although not more than three was published in the same time period. Entrepreneurial printers hoped to attract educated, cultured and moneyed gentlemen by copying the London magazines. Even after the revolutionary war, U.S magazines remained clones to their British forerunners.These early magazine were aimed at literate elites interested in short stories, poetry, social commentary and essays. The magazine did not become a true national mass medium until after the civil war.The modern era of magazines is characterized by a different relationship between medium and audience. Magazines were truly Americas first national medium and like books they served as important force in social change especially in the muckratry” era of the 20th century. This name was coined by Theodore Roosevelt as an insult to the government.Scope and structure of magazinesi. Trade magazines; carries stories, feature and ads aimed at people in specific professions and are either distributed by media professional organizations themselves or by media companies.ii. Individual company and sponsored magazine; produced by companies specifically for their own employees, c customers and stockholders or by clubs and association. Specifically for its members.iii. Consumer magazines; they are sold by subscription at newsstands, books stores etc.Trends and convergence in magazine publishing Online magazine: this is made possible by the convergence of magazine the internet most magazines now produce online editions offering special interactive feature not available to their hard-copy readers. Custom magazines: custom publishing is the creating of magazines specifically designed for an individual company seeking to reach a very narrowly defined audience. There are two broad categories of custom publishing: brand magazines and magalogue. The developing media literacy segment focused on “Recognizing the power of graphics” it criticized the over use of graphics by media houses. Baran pointed out that such alteration in pictures restructures the reality the events they represent.CHAPTER SIXFilmThe chapter begins with the history of films, from it entrepreneurial beginnings through the introduction of its narrative and visual language, to its establishment large, studio run industry. It details Hollywoods relationship with its early audience and changes in the structure and content of films resulting from the introduction of television. It also looked at the contemporary movie production, distribution and exhibition systems and how convergence is altering all three, the influence of the major studios and the economic pressures on them in an increasingly multimedia environment. It also highlights on the special place movies hold for us and how ever younger audience and the films that targets them may affect our culture.HistoryIn 1873 former California governor Leland Stanford needed help in winning a bet: he had made a bet with a friend convinced that a horse in full gallop had all feet of the ground, he had to prove it so he hired photographer Fadweard Maybridge who worked on it for four years before finding a solution. In 1877 Maybridge arranged a series of still cameras along a stretch of racetrack. As the horse sprinted by, each camera took its picture. The resulting photographs won Stanford his bet and also sparked an idea on Maybridge causing him to develop Zoopraxiscope- a machine for projecting slides into a distant surface. The Lumiere brothers made the next advancement. In 1895 they patented the Cinematographic device that both photographed and projected action. By 1890s French filmmaker George Melies began making narrative motion pictures exhibiting one scene, one shot movies but soon began making stories made on sequence. He made the film A trip to the moon in 1902. Other scientists such as Edwin S. Porter improved on using movies to tell a story. The first sound films were that ones produced by warner brothers in 1920.The industry prospered not just because of its artistry, drive and innovation but because it used these to meet the needs of a growing audience. Movies like books are a culturally special medium. They hold very special place in the peoples culture.Trends and convergence in movie making. Conglomeration and blockbuster movies Concept moviesmaking movies simple and easier to understand Audience researchbefore movies are released, the concept, plot and characters are subjected to market testing. Often trailers are produced and tested with sample audience. Sequels, remakes and Franchisethese are movies produced with the intention of producing several more sequel e.g. prison break. Merchandise moviesthis are movies produced to generate interest for non-film products as for their intrinsic value as movies.The developing media literacy segment discussed “recognizing product placement” were it emphasis recognition of advert placements in scripts as a valuable literacy skill.CHAPTER SEVENRadio, Recording and Popular Music.Technical and social beginning of both radio and sound recording is discussed in this chapter. It highlights the coming of broadcasting and hoe the growth of regulatory organization led to the mediums “golden age” the heart of the chapter covers how television changed radio and produced the medium with which we are now familiar with. It also reviewed the scope and nature of contemporary radio especially its rebirth as a local, fragmented, specialized medium. It examines how these characteristics save advertisers and listeners. The chapter then explores the relationship between radio, the modern recording industry, popular music and the way new technologies serve and