COURSE LECTURESREVISIT THIS PAGE OFTEN CONTENT IS SUBJECT T

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/MEDI
A-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
A lot of students sigh and feel helpless against such a powerful,
rich,
entrenched system (media in the USA). In fact, part of the
cultural story we tell
ourselves is that the media are too powerful to change. That
story is wrong and
only serves those who gain or maintain power from that story.
But remember: Media "they" can't engage you, define you and
reflect you if
you do not cooperate. We just need to see the media NOT as a
separate
"mediating" entity that is simply the go-between us and
corporations/institutions that
are simply delivering content to us. Rather, the media
themselves ARE the

corporations and institutions who are selling products to us
(like laundry
soap, make-up and politicians) and culture to us (what it is to be
happy,
successful, a “real man”, an “attractive woman”, who and what
is or isn’t
desirable etc.)
This brings us back to the fact that these “titans of industry” are
almost all
from the same demographic. This is important to note as these
older, white, cis,
straight, men’s values and biases affect the media we consume
and produce. This
goes beyond mass media. In the tech industry, an industry also
dominated by white
men, we see power structures and bias replicated in their output.
There is
extensive research being conducted on the bias that is literally
encoded into our
software by these men. Many times, we think of technology as
objective or apart
https://techstartups.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/the-6-
companies-that-own-almost-all-media1.jpg
https://techstartups.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/6-
corporations-control-american-media.jpg

from human error. It is shown that the bias of those in the tech
industry is
inextricable from the software they produce (If you are
interested in this topic- pick
up the book Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble).
Check out PBS's MEDIA GIANTS ownership listing. And here
are other versions of
media ownership illustrated:
MODULE 1 DIGITAL MEDIA AND CONVERGENCE
TOPIC 2— ONLINE, INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA
The Internet, Digital Media, and Media Convergence Digital
Gaming and the
Media Playground
There seems to be a fascination with the future and technology.
WATCH THE FUTURE IS NOW (1955 prediction of the future)
Industry wants us to like technology and see it as positive or as
an opportunity. But
the reality of technology isn't so utopian. What happens when it
doesn't work (ask
anyone who has lost or broken their phone, lost wifi connection,
destroyed a

computer hard drive without backing it up). And what happens
if only some of the
population have access (digital divide?) What happens when big
data is used as
another way to marginalize and discriminate against groups that
are already
subordinated and vulnerable?
WATCH AT&T's VISION OF THE FUTURE.
Notice what they got right in their predictions (smart devices,
gaming, video
calling) but also what they got wrong (AT&T, the PHONE
company didn't know we
would have cell phones?)
WATCH the first 10 minutes of FRONTLINE'S: Digital nation
WATCH Adam Ruins Everything (Adam Ruins Facebook)
Social media platforms are now being scrutinized for "allowing"
false information to
perpetuate ideas that lead to actions. The Russians have been
blamed for creating
separatism and influencing American campaigns via Facebook.
A study of 200 million
posts determined that over half of posts advocating re-opening

from the Corona virus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr5MTRZsLj0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFWCoeZjx8A
https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-digital-nation/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3rS7I6Xyz8
were posted by bots. (Literally: Robots were dominating the
conversations.) President
Trump called out Twitter for providing a correction to one of
his Tweets.
What happens, then, when information is used against us?
In addition to social media, consider BIG DATA. It is (and will
be) presented to us as
an allowable infringement of our privacy (to stop crime or
whatever), but how can it
be used against us and normalized by authorities?
WATCH: THE GOOD FIGHT ANIMATION: RUSSIAN TROLL
CHANGE
Consider artificial intelligence. Will it help us and make life
better? Or will it take our
jobs and make life worse?
Check out this infographic about AI
Watch the Innovation of Loneliness

WATCH: THIS AD (try to guess what it is about before the end,
notice the irony of
the message to the product)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaR5SUq_8K4
https://infographicjournal.com/ai-the-dark-side-versus-the-
force-for-good/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Bkr_udado
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcdxW2XF0v8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcdxW2XF0v8
So we all know that the Internet never forgets (once it is out
there, you can't fully
erase it or retract it). And that everything we do online is being
tracked and
recorded, etc. Just recently the comedian Johnathan Firstman,
who became famous
in 2020 for his “impressions” series on Instagram, was called
out for racist jokes he
made 2012.
Social media is also being used more than ever to bring people
together to share
interests, concerns and to organize political activism. My topic
of study in graduate
school was about the marginalization and erasure of sex workers
by social media

networks. Pop into my office hours if you’d like to know more
about my research or
how you can help!
READ: The Pew Research Center's Social media continue to be
important political
outlets for Black Americans
Culture can be influenced by all kinds of online content (beyond
social media). Even
gaming presents perspectives.
WATCH: Women and people of color discuss bullying and
harrassment they experience while online
gaming on a GOOD MORNING AMERICA REPORT.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/11/social-
media-continue-to-be-important-political-outlets-for-black-
americans/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/12/11/social-
media-continue-to-be-important-political-outlets-for-black-
americans/
https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/women-
gamers-color-detail-experiences-online-harassment-games-
73721561
https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/women-
gamers-color-detail-experiences-online-harassment-games-
73721561
MODULE 2 BUSINESS OF MEDIA AND CULTURAL
EFFECTS

TOPIC 3— COMMERCIAL CULTURE AND ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIAL CULTURE PUBLIC
RELATIONS AND FRAMING THE
MESSAGE
DISCUSSION AND NOTES:
Referring to our communication model, we will continue to look
at media as the
source, but now we will turn our attention to people and culture:
SOURCE----------> MESSAGE --------> RECEIVER
We. Are. The. Receivers.
What makes our U.S. media system unique is that IT BELONGS
TO THE
PEOPLE. The airwaves belong to the citizens of the United
States of
America—NOT the government, NOT private companies, but
THE PEOPLE.
We decided this a long time ago after WW1 when our radios
were taken
from us by the government during war time. Other countries'
media systems
emerged as authoritative (China) or paternalistic (ENGLAND),
but the United
States (because of the power of the people in our democracy)
demanded that the
media system be public.
It all revolved around the notion that THE

ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM was "SCARCE" or limited and, therefore so
valuable that it must be
owned by everyone. Communications use a very small portion
of the overall
spectrum (check out this chart, for more information: U.S.
Radio Frequency
Allocation.
MEDIA COMPANIES WERE TO SUPPOSE TO "TAKE CARE
OF" OR ACT AS "PUBLIC TRUSTEES" OF THE AIRWAVES
(FOR THE PEOPLE.) THEY ARE LICENSED
TO USE OUR AIRWAVES AND THEY ARE ALOUD
(OBVISOUSLY) TO MAKE A PROFIT. BUT THEY ARE
SUPPOSE TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO THE PEOPLE
FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF MAKING ALL THAT MONEY
WITH OUR AIRWAVES: MEDIA OWNERS MUST SERVE
THE PUBLIC INTEREST, CONVENIENCE OR
NECESSITY (PICON.)
This PICON requirement was mentioned over 100 times in the
1934
Communications Act (it wasn't simply an empty promise). We
use to police
our spectrum more strongly than we do now. But the airwaves
are still
owned by the public and, as long as we keep it that way, the
public will
have power and sway with what happens to it (and to us through
media.)
Because we own the airwaves, it gives us great leverage when

innovations or politics influence what the future of media will
be and how the
public will be served. So now you know how we ended up with
the
system/format we have in the U.S. and how important our power
is as
audience members. Keep returning to these ideas of audience
empowerment as you learn other media literacy lessons
throughout the rest
of the course. Now let us address the concept of culture.
CULTURE IS…A set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols
shared by a large
group of people and usually communicated from one generation
to the next.
1. Culture is used in every aspect of our lives
2. The meaning of culture is relative
3. Culture is an abstraction
4. Culture is learned NOT innate
5. Culture is a collective, shared experience
6. Culture manifests in products (explicit)
7. Culture creates meaning systems (implicit)
8. Culture is a mode of transmission
9. Culture is expressed in varying degrees

10. Culture has historical context
11. Culture is stable but not static
12. Culture is learned
POPULAR CULTURE
Generally refers to trends in music, art, and other expressions
that become
popular among a group of people: slang, fashion, etc.
NATIONAL CULTURE
Common geographical origin, history, and language. Political
entity
recognized by other countries. Does a passport necessarily
determine
your cultural values? National culture ignores the possibility of
variety of
cultures within that nationality
MEDIA CULTURE
Represents culture: distorted and true. Creates new culture. Is a
culture of its
own. Media are institutions (companies), technology, cultural
forums,
go-betweens, mediators.
How do media producers affect culture? They do it by
remaining invisible
(we think of media as simply a tool or a service or a destination
for
information and entertainment. We rarely take a critical look at
how they

influence our lives, create the concept of "normal", convince us
to act/buy
products, convince us to engage in activities that are actually
NOT good for
us. Media effects are planned, researched and implemented
mostly without
our knowledge.
The question is one of how we perceive and/or define ourselves:
ARE WE
MERELY CONSUMERS? OR ARE WE ACTIVE CITIZENS OF
OUR CULTURE,
OUR DEMOCRACY, and OUR WORLD?
CONSUMER CULTURE
Are you an audience member or a consumer? The juxtaposition
infers that
audience members actively participate with and are served by
the relationship with
media while consumers are simply the component necessary to
complete a sales
transaction. We have become a culture of CONSUMERS
(instead of being engaged
audience members, we behave as (and are treated by
corporations as) consumers. All
sociological students regarding consumption come to the same
general conclusion:
having more stuff does NOT make us happier. In fact, it makes
us LESS happy.
Watch THE STORY OF STUFF (20 minutes). Watch the entire
program paying

especially close attention to the "golden arrow" section.
Keep in mind that engaging with or being a member of a culture
is a matter
of choice. Culture is LEARNED, it is NOT INNATE. You are
not born democrat or
republican...all of those things (what it means to be those things
) are LEARNED.
And anything that can be learned, can change. In the end, it is
our thoughts about
things that are more important than the things themselves.
Meaning lies within
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM&vl=en
human beings not within the objects we are observing. The more
aware you are
regarding your cultural participation, the more you can make
the most of your time
in terms of doing what is good for you and others.
Marketers are very interested in how much time (quantity) and
what kind of
interactions (quality) we have with media. They typically
combine several variables
to define a demographic profile. A demographic profile (often

shortened to "a
demographic or demo") provides enough information about the
typical member of
an audience to create a mental picture of a hypothetical
aggregate (the entire U.S.
audience is made up of smaller sub-segments). For example, a
marketer might
speak of the single, female, middle-class, age 18 to 24, college
educated
demographic.
Market researchers typically have two objectives when
determining audience
characteristics: first to determine what segments or subgroups
exist in the overall
population; and secondly to create a clear and complete picture
of the
characteristics of a typical member of each of segments. Once
these profiles are
constructed, they can be used to develop a marketing strategy
and marketing
plan—to effectively "reach" target audiences with information
about their products
and/or services.

The five types of demographics for marketing are age, gender,
income level, race
and ethnicity. For example, for age, the U.S. population is
typically lumped into
these generational categories: [Ref—
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/202334#]:
GEN I
Also called Gen Z, the internet generation or iGeneration,
they're the children of
the youngest boomers. Because this generation is still very
young, marketing and
demographics theories are still developing. One huge
distinction, however, can be
made: This generation is the only one to be born entirely in the
internet era, and to
parents who are generally more accepting and knowledgeable of
such technology. This
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/202334
differs from the next generation, Gen Y, which sometimes dealt
with tensions stemming
from their parents' lack of technological savvy or acceptance.
GEN Y

Also referred to as millennials or "echo boomers," they are the
children of
boomers, ages nine to 27. Because of higher costs of living or,
in some cases, the
over-protective nature of their boomer parents, many are
choosing to live at home.
University of Michigan economics and public policy professor
Bob Schoeni told Time
magazine that the percentage of 26-year-olds living with their
parents rose from 11
percent to 20 percent between 1970 and 2004. They're 75
million strong and they have
disposable income because of their parents' support. Growing up
with computers
means this generation is especially responsive to internet
campaigns. They process
information quickly and are especially brand loyal. Gen Yers
like innovative marketing
approaches and advertising that uses humor or is "outside the
box."
WATCH Simon Sinek's MILLENIAL QUESTION.
GEN X
They are perhaps the most overlooked generation, falling in the
shadow of the powerful

baby-boom generation. But the 44 million Gen Xers born
between 1965 and 1975 are
entering their peak earning and buying years. They're tech-
savvy and love to shop.
They have a high value for education and knowledge. Unlike
Gen Yers, brand prestige
alone won't woo this generation--let them know why your
product is a good value. They
are independent and like to save.
BOOMERS
Until the boomer generation hit age 50, marketers generally
forgot consumers
once they passed that age mark. Today, however, they're
awakening to the buying
power of this 76 million-strong group. On average boomers
spend $400 billion more per
year than any other generation. They're at many life stages:
empty nesters or full
nesters, boomer grandparents, single or married, etc. What they
have in common is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vudaAYx2IcE
exceptional drive and the ability to evaluate advertising and
determine its value to them.

Between 2005 and 2030, the over-60 group will grow by 80
percent--as they age, be
careful not to label them as "old." This generation has a Peter
Pan complex--play up
their youthfulness in marketing. The Greatest Generation Born
between 1909 and 1945,
today's octogenarian has seen it all when it comes to
advertising, resulting in a
particularly savvy consumer segment. They are more careful
about whom they do
business with, and they want to know more about your business
before they choose to
patronize it. Having been born during, or lived through, the
Great Depression, World
War II and many economic recessions, they're keen on value
and in general don't "shop
for fun" as other generations tend to do. They have pensions to
rely on that other
generations won't have as they become senior citizens, so
concentrate on
communicating the value of your product or services. A
practical bunch, they also tend
to be extremely loyal customers.

But marketers don't stop there.
They are also interested in our psychographics. Psychographics
is the study
of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and
lifestyles. Because this
area of research focuses on interests, attitudes, and opinions,
psychographic
factors are also called IAO variables.
Psychographic studies of individuals or communities can be
valuable in the
fields of marketing, demographics, opinion research, futuring,
and social research
in general. Psychographics should not be confused with
demographics, for
example, historical generations (listed above) may be defined
both by
demographics, such as the years in which a particular
generation is born or even
the fertility rates of that generation's parents, but also by
psychographic variables
like attitudes, personality formation, and cultural touchstones.
For example, the
traditional approaches to defining the Baby Boom Generation or
Generation X or
Millennials have relied on both demographic variables
(classifying individuals based
on birth years) and psychographic variables (such as beliefs,
attitudes, values and
behaviors).
MEDIA ECONOMICS: Show me the money. Follow the money.

There are two important things you need to learn regarding
media economics. 1. When
people think about the purpose of media, they may list things
like: to inform, to entertain,
to help make our lives more convenient, etc. Media researchers
have defined four major
functions of media:
1. To inform
2. To persuade
3. To entertain
4. To transmit culture
5. But one of the top purposes of media is to SELL SELL SELL
in order to
make money.
Not much is left to chance, every image is planned down to the
finest detail. Media use
all information at their disposal. They pay for studies to
determine media effects (and
how people think/feel so the effects can be...more effective. 2.
The role of the audience
in the economic infrastructure.

Consider the typical buyer- seller-product relationship.
SELLER -------> PRODUCT------ > BUYER
So you were going to eat some mac-n-cheese for dinner it would
work like this:
SELLER ------------> PRODUCT --------- > BUYER
KRAFT ----------> MAC 'N CHEESE ----------> YOU (PUBLIC
When you ask most people, how media make their money (and
specifically
television), they know enough to answer "the ratings" but they
do not fully
understand what that means. They assume broadcasters are
selling time to
advertisers. So they incorrectly map the model like this:
SELLER ----------------> PRODUCT -------------- > BUYER
MEDIA ----------> COMMERCIAL AIR TIME -------------- >
ADVERTISERS
Not correct. If this was true, then :30 seconds of a soap opera
would cost the same
as :30 of the Super Bowl. It isn't TIME that is being bought and
sold, it is the
audience. The more eyeballs and ears, the more money
advertisers will be willing

to pay.
MEDIA SELLS -------> PRODUCT ---------> ADVERTISER
BUYS
MEDIA SELLS -------> YOU ---------> ADVERTISER BUYS
A broadcaster sells YOU to advertisers. YOU ARE THE
PRODUCT.
That is what the rating system is all about: Measuring how
many people (and
what kind of people) are consuming what content at what time.
Despite this
seemingly depressing situation, I urge people to believe that
things are NOT they
way they are by accident or inertia. Things change. ANYTHING
can change. The
media money "deal" (where we are the product) cannot be
completed without us
(the audience) so we have to be willing to NOT SHOW UP until
the situation is good
for us (better quality programming content, reasonable access,
affordable prices,
etc.) When the people stand up, the media MUST adjust because
they cannot

afford to lose us or our interest.
Media use advertising to sell us products, lifestyles, ideas,
politicians, etc. They do this
the HARD SELL (giving us facts and figures to consider) and
the SOFT SELL
(appealing to our emotions).
WATCH THE FOLLOWING COMMERCIALS and think about
what is being
sold BESIDES the specific product. Notice who is the "star" or
what is the
focus of the ad. How are people dressed? What are the people
doing in the
ad? What is the product/idea/lifestyle/perception being sold?
CARL's Jr.: Is this burger company selling healthier food? All
natural ingredients?
Innuendo is everywhere: from the angle of the food to the
woman's over-the-top
reaction. It is a parody, to be sure. But these same tactics are
used all the time
and NOT as a parody. The joke is on us.
Is this a jean's ad? Or a Justin Bieber and Lara Stone ad? Or

both? Or neither?
Watch this classic tire commercial, how far have we come in
portraying sexist
themes? There is a contemporary version of this (a car with a
woman driving her
kids, in the rain, runs over a piece of wood, etc.) If you find this
commercial, let me
know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AdViveJYD0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0t-aBAYym8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0n0hLr2gow
Interestingly the same hard and soft sell can be used to "sell"
prosocial ideas (not
just consumer products). *This should always be questioned,
when this is coming
from a corporation: Is it selling a prosocial idea or is this
corporation cashing in on
prosocial ideas when they become lucrative. Think of your
favorite brand and how
they addressed BLM before, during and after June 2020. Think
of your favorite
brands putting rainbows up during pride while simultaneously
funding anti-lgbtq

politicians or by abandoning support of the community the rest
of the year. In many
cases, you aren't being represented, you’re being marketed too.
Dove's REAL Beauty Ad addresses the unrealistic beauty
industry and shows how
fake advertising images can be- even though they have been
complicit in creating
this unrealistic standard.
DOVE'S ONSLAUGHT
DOVE'S BODY EVOLUTION: Illustrates how devastating the
beauty myth can be
on girls.
Finally, ADBUSTERS has a bunch of AMAZING UN-
COMMERCIALS you can
enjoy. Ads that they cannot get U.S. networks to air because
"they are too
controversial."
WATCH The Consumer Pig AND The Product is You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zKfF40jeCA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOqRXBJgapQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtAX0HfsBtk

Beyond this, in the age of social media, our data is being sold.
This data is not
only sold to advertisers but also to unexpected buyers. Here is a
link to an article about
Amazon’s year-long moratorium on selling its facial recognition
technology to police.
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/10/874418013/amazon-halts-
police-use-of-its-facial-recogn
ition-technology
Here is a Washington Post article about the “artist” Richard
Prince. This man
screenshot women’s Instagram posts and printed them on a
larger scale. Because we
do not own the content we generate on social media- he was
able to sell these
screenshots for $90,000 Artist selling Instagram Screenshots
WATCH this preview of Jill Kilbourne's KILLING US
SOFTLY. Pay attention to
how advertising creates "normalcy" for women to strive for in
terms of beauty and
physical representation. At the same time, sexism is working
against men as well.
Men are expected to be tough, strong, money makers (providers
to the family).

They are not allowed the full spectrum of emotions and are
socially punished if they
don't comply with mainstream norms.
Watch the following three films—in their entirety. You can
watch for free
through SJSU's Kanopy, just log in like you usually do). Here
are the links:
THE MASK YOU LIVE IN
MISS REPRESENTATION
TOUGH GUISE
police-use-of-its-facial-recognition-technology
police-use-of-its-facial-recognition-technology
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-
entertainment/wp/2015/05/25/a-reminder-that-your-instagram-
photos-arent-really-yours-someone-else-can-sell-them-for-
90000/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWKXit_3rpQ
https://sjsu.kanopy.com/product/mask-you-live
https://sjsu.kanopy.com/product/miss-representation-0
https://sjsu.kanopy.com/product/tough-guise-0
MODULE 2 BUSINESS OF MEDIA AND CULTURAL
EFFECTS
TOPIC 4— MEDIA EFFECTS AND RESEARCH

MEDIA EFFECTS AND CULTURAL APPROACHES TO
RESEARCH DISCUSSION AND
NOTES: We will continue our look at culture and people (the
receivers of the
communication model).
SOURCE----------> MESSAGE --------> RECEIVER
We have been studying how media effects work since the
beginning of media. Media is not
real, it represents reality.
Watch MEDIA REPRESENTATION| Media in Minutes |
Episode 7
Be familiar with the following theories regarding how media
affects us as individuals or
as large groups.
HYPODERMIC (OR MAGIC BULLET) THEORY (HAROLD
LASWELL)
This theory assumes linear, direct, point-to-point effects. It was
one of the earliest
theories based upon direct effects observed by the WAR OF
THE WORLDS radio
broadcast and Hitler's propaganda campaigns. Watch THE
HYPODERMIC NEED

THEORY by MEDIA MINUTES | EPISODE 1
TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY (Paul Lasersfeld)
This theory states that opinion leaders pay attention to media
content and then pass on
the information to audiences. So it is a step away from direct
effects and assumes
audiences are active.
Watch Two-Step Flow | Media in Minutes | Episode 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOecpti7Qf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY&list=PL-
of4HBxbY3hcTh7rl2edl3LVYDE6pB8D&index=5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY&list=PL-
of4HBxbY3hcTh7rl2edl3LVYDE6pB8D&index=5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csGHExeP3uA
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
Uses and Gratifications theorists explain why people choose and
use certain media
forms. The theory emphasizes a limited effect position; that is,
the media have a limited
effect on their audiences because audiences are able to exercise
control over their
media. The influence of media is limited to what people want it
to be. Uses and

Gratifications Theory attempts to answer the following: What
do people do with the
media? Now you have a strong idea about how media effects
have been studied and
what theories we have about how it all works. One of the major
goals of this course is to
make everyone more educated and thoughtful consumers and
producers of media. The
only way media will improve is if we set the bar higher. The
only way the media will
change, is if we demand it.
Watch this explanation of Hyperdermic Needle, Two-Step Flow
and Uses
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (SOCIAL LEARNING
THEORY)
People imitate what they see in media. People learn by imitation
and identification.
SELECTIVE PROCESSES
People selective expose themselves or pay attention to mostly
those messages
consistent with their pre- existing beliefs or attitudes. Selective
exposure, selective
perception, selective retention.

AGENDA-SETTING THEORY (Maxwell McCombs and Donald
Shaw)
The media tell us NOT WHAT TO THINK, but (1) WHAT to
think about, and (2)
HOW to think about it. The first process (agenda setting)
transfers the salience of
items on their news agenda to our agenda. The second process
(framing) transfers
the salience of selected attributes to prominence among the
pictures in our heads.
(Socio-psychological tradition)
Watch The Agenda Setting Function Theory | Media in Minutes
| Episode 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7SzwMJ3MZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7qf9gQpoF4&list=LLPwG
6uRKP_8E-15wElqY7Dw&index=4833
REINFORCEMENT THEORY (Joseph Klapper)
This theory turned thought away from the direct-effects model
of communication effects
and said that media don't directly affect people, but instead,
simply reinforces what
people already think.
Watch REINFORCEMENT THEORY | MEDIA IN MINUTES |

EPISODE 4
CULTURAL STUDIES (Stuart Hall)
The mass media function to maintain the ideology of those who
already have power.
Corporately controlled media provide the dominant discourse of
the day that frames
interpretation of events. Critics should seek not only to interpret
culture, but to change it.
Media audiences do have the capacity to resist hegemonic
influence. (Critical tradition)
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE (Leon Festinger)
Cognitive dissonance is an aversive drive that causes people to
(1) avoid opposing
viewpoints, (2) seek reassurance after making a tough decision,
and (3)change private
beliefs to match public behavior when there is minimal
justification for an action.
Self-consistency, a sense of personal responsibility, or self-
affirmation can explain
dissonance reduction. (Socio-psychological tradition) Simply
put: you feel uncomfortable
and you do the thing (or consume the media messages) that
make you feel better (by

agreeing with you, praising you, etc.)
CULTIVATION THEORY (George Gerbner)
Television has become society's storyteller. Heavy television
viewers see a vast quantity
of dramatic violence, which cultivates an exaggerated belief in
a mean and scary world.
Mainstreaming and resonance are two of the processes that
create a homogeneous
and fearful populace. (Socio-cultural and socio- psychological
traditions)Television has
become society's storyteller. Heavy television viewers see a
vast quantity of dramatic
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Watch+REINF
ORCEMENT+THEORY+%7C+MEDIA+IN+MINUTES+%7C+E
PISODE+4
violence, which cultivates an exaggerated belief in a mean and
scary world.
Mainstreaming and resonance are two of the processes that
create a homogeneous
and fearful populace. (Socio-cultural and socio-psychological
traditions).
DEPENDENCY THEORY (Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin
DeFleur)

It proposes an integral relationship among audiences, media and
the larger social
system. This theory predicts that you depend on media
information to meet certain
needs and achieve certain goals, like uses- and-gratifications
theory. But you do not
depend on all media equally. Two factors influence the degree
of media dependence.
First, you will become more dependent on media that meet a
number of your needs
than on media that provide just a few. The second source of
dependency is social
stability. When social change and conflict are high, established
institutions, beliefs, and
practices are challenged, forcing you to reevaluate and make
new choices. At such
times your reliance on the media for information will increase.
At other, more stable
times your dependency on media may go way down. One’s
needs are not always
strictly personal but may be shaped by the culture or by various
social conditions. In
other words, individuals’ needs, motives, and uses of media are
contingent on outside

factors that may not be in the individuals’ control. These
outside factors act as
constraints on what and how media can be used and on the
availability of other
non-media alternatives. Furthermore, the more alternatives and
individual had for
gratifying needs, the less dependent he or she will become on
any single medium. The
number of functional alternatives, however, is not just a matter
of individual choice or
even of psychological traits but is limited also by factors such
as availability of certain
media.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL — DEPENDENCY THEORY
This model is the general idea of the dependency theory.
HIERARCHY OF NEEDS (Abraham Maslow)
According to Maslow, there are four kinds of needs that must be
satisfied before a
person can act unselfishly: Physiological, Safety, Love, Esteem,
Self Actualization
(article here—optional if you'd like to know more.)

MEDIA ECOLOGY (Marshall McLuhan)
The media must be understood. Changes in communication
technology alter the
symbolic environment—the socially constructed, sensory world
of meanings. We
shaped our tools—the phonetic alphabet, printing press, and
telegraph—and they in
turn have shaped our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and
behavior. Thus the
medium is the message. (Socio-cultural tradition) One of my
favorite quotes from
McLuhan: All media work us over completely. They are so
persuasive in their personal,
political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and
social consequences
that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered.
The medium is the
message. Any understanding of social and cultural change is
impossible without a
knowledge of the way media work as environments. All media
are extensions of some
human faculty- psychic or physical. -Marshall McLuhan The
Medium is the Message
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

SEMIOTICS (Roland Barthes)
The significant visual sign systems of a culture affirm the status
quo by suggesting that
the world as it is today is natural, inevitable, and eternal.
Mythmakers do this by
co-opting neutral denotative signs to become signifiers without
historical grounding in
second-order connotative semiotic systems. (Semiotic tradition).
Semiotics is associated with Symbolic Interaction Theory This
theory suggests that
people are motivated to act based on the meanings they assign
to people, things,
and events. Further, meaning is created in the language that
people use both with
others and in private thought. Language allows people to
develop a sense of self
and to interact with others in community.
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY (Peter L. Berger and
Thomas Luckmann)
The theory that examines the development of jointly constructed
understandings of the
world. It assumes that understanding, significance, and meaning

are developed not
separately within the individual, but in coordination with other
human beings. The
elements most important to the theory are (a) the assumption
that human beings
rationalize their experience by creating a model of the social
world, how it functions and,
(b) that language is the most essential system through which
humans construct
reality. A major focus of social constructionism is to uncover
the ways in which
individuals and groups participate in the construction of their
perceived social
reality. It involves looking at the ways social phenomena are
created,
institutionalized, known, and made into tradition by humans.
The social construction
of reality is an ongoing, dynamic process that is (and must be)
reproduced by
people acting on their interpretations and their knowledge of it.
Because social
constructs as facets of reality and objects of knowledge are not
"given" by nature,
they must be constantly maintained and re-affirmed in order to

persist. This process
also introduces the possibility of change: what "justice" is and
what it means shifts
from one generation to the next.
SPIRAL OF SILENCE
Theorists associated with Spiral of Silence Theory argue that
due to their enormous
power, the mass media have a lasting effect on public opinion.
The theory maintains
that mass media work simultaneously with Majority public
opinion to silence minority
beliefs on cultural issues. A fear of isolation prompts those with
minority views to
examine the beliefs of others. Individuals who fear being
socially isolated are prone to
conform to what they perceive to be a majority view. The phrase
"spiral of silence"
actually refers to how people tend to remain silent when they
feel that their views are in
the minority. The model is based on three premises: 1) people
have a "quasi-statistical
organ," a sixth-sense if you will, which allows them to know the

prevailing public opinion,
even without access to polls, 2) people have a fear of isolation
and know what
behaviors will increase their likelihood of being socially
isolated, and 3) people are
reticent to express their minority views, primarily out of fear of
being isolated. The closer
a person believes the opinion held is similar to the prevailing
public opinion, the more
they are willing to openly disclose that opinion in public. Then,
if public sentiment
changes, the person will recognize that the opinion is less in
favor and will be less
willing to express that opinion publicly. As the perceived
distance between public
opinion and a person's personal opinion grows, the more
unlikely the person is to
express their opinion.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (Philosophy)
If the media wants to remain free from government control, it
must serve the public.
MODULE 3 WORDS AND PICTURES

TOPIC 5— SOUND AND MUSIC
SOUND RECORDING AND POPULAR MUSIC RADIO
DISCUSSION AND NOTES: Referring to our communication
model,
we've looked at the source and receiver, but now we will turn
our
attention to the message:
SOURCE----------> MESSAGE------- > RECEIVER
Listen to the first few minutes of WAR OF THE WORLDs. This
aired October 30,
1938. It was presented as a newscast announcing that Martians
had landed on
Earth. Many people believed it and panicked.
Music is such an interesting medium. Music videos are one of
my favorite
“art forms” This landscape is one that has changed and changed
rapidly. From
radio, records, cassettes, CDs, itunes songs purchased
individually for $0.99 and
subscription music like spotify. Music and the technologies it
has inspired is truly
amazing!

If any of you are interested in cultural studies beyond this
course- in one of
my undergraduate courses we used the text Doing Cultural
Studies: The Story of
the Sony Walkman. Authored by Paul du Gay and Stuart Hall
among others, the
textbook uses the sony walkman as a tool to understand media
culture’s flows
shifts and rules.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g
Do ya’ll remember the controversy surrounding the song Old
Town Road?
From google: The exclusion of "Old Town Road" brought
criticism of the
evaluation of the work of non-white artists in the country genre,
with the Rolling
Stone writer Elias Leight referring to Beyoncé, another black
artist, whose song
"Daddy Lessons" failed to be considered a country song by The
Recording
Academy in 2016.
Do ya’ll remember the controversy surrounding WAP by Meg

the Stallion and Cardi
B?
Many people felt the explicitness of the song was too much.
Snoop Dogg
weighed in in an interview saying ““Slow down and let’s have
some imagination.
That’s like your pride and possession. That’s your jewel of your
crown. That’s what
you should hold on to, that should be a possession that no one
gets to know about
until they know about it.” This feels hypocritical to me coming
from a man who has
an album titled Doggy Style.
WAP was threatening not because of its lewdness or its
references to bodily
fluids (who remembers Lil jon’s Get Low). This song and these
artists were treated
differently because it was women embracing and centering their
own sexuality and
pleasure. It is fine when men talk about it but not when women
do.
Music is still a landscape where cultural inequities and norms

thrive and
multiply. I took a class in my undergrad called “Beyonce
Feminism, Rihanna
Womanism” If you would like to know more come to my office
hours or read my
professor, Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley’s book Beyoncé in
Formation : Remixing
Black Feminism. There is so much power and influence that
comes from the music
industry that is culture specific or even subconscious.
For those who liked WAP, I recommend watching Beyonce’s
Blow. This
video is also about vulva focused pleasure. The “cunnicentrism”
in the video is an
aesthetic that is in opposition to the phallocentrism of our world
(sky scrapers,
obelisks ect.) Here is a quote from Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley
in an article on the
importance of this reclamation (Click the paragraph to read the
full piece):
Last week in my black feminisms course, we discussed the
importance of
cunnicentrism in black women’s art. Yes, cunnicentrism:
aesthetic

appreciation for colors (pink, purple), shapes (circles,
triangles), and
textures (wet, viscous) associated with the vulva and vagina.
And, as I
added in my lecture, while we can’t see them in visual art, we
shouldn’t
forget taste and smell. We should all learn to take care of our
vaginas every
day, and, no, vaginas don’t smell like flowers or baby powder.
They smell
like a human body, and part of claiming our full humanity is
being able to be
proud of every aspect of them.
The music and radio industry are full of hypocrisies, double
standards and racism.
Why can beyonce sing a song about cunninglingus but Meg and
Cardi
cannot? Respectability politics and colorism are at least in part
to blame.
Even early radio with no visual component produced programs
like “Amos
and Andy” a radio show starring two white men playing Black
men from the deep

south. As visuals are paired with music things have not
improved- now we talk
about blackfishing. White artists darkening their skin has been
under scrutiny as
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIELYkfoKy8
https://chicagocrusader.com/profiting-myths-black-womens-
bodies/
bodies/
bodies/
bodies/
bodies/
bodies/
bodies/
bodies/
bodies/
well as white women appropriating aesthetics of women of color
and capitalizing on
the ambiguity.
If you have heard the term black fishing you may also have
heard the phrase
“digital blackface” Warning: This video contains historical

footage of blackface minstrel
shows which you may find offensive.
African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is also being
appropriated by
non Black people. Again when non Black people take from
Black culture and profit
off it while Black people are punished for the same thing
(words, hairstyles etc.)
there is a HUGE problem.
I will note here that part of my research concerns the
appropriation of
“stripper” or “sex work” aesthtic that has been trending with
celebrities. These
people cosplay as sex workers for shock without facing the real
life and death
consequences of being a sex worker. I personally would be OK
with celebrities pole
dancing etc. if they would include sex work mutual aid links or
connect it to
community concerns like decriminalization.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-40931479
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-40931479

UNIT 3 WORDS AND PICTURES
TOPIC 6— TELEVISION, FILM AND VIDEOS
TELEVISION AND CABLE: THE POWER OF VISUAL
CULTURE MOVIES
AND THE IMPACT OF IMAGES
DISCUSSION AND NOTES:
Television and Movies are a place where stereotypes flourish.
Stereotypes
do not only function to inform our perception of others but can
also function to
inform our perception of ourselves. When you watch a movie
what careers,
relationships and fates are given to people that look like you?
For example, fat
femme characters are almost never given romantic storylines-
how does this affect
what fat femmes think is possible for them or what they are
worthy of? Prejudice is
clear in all institutions run predominantly by white people
(*cough* the American
government *cough*).
So what is the solution?

There is now a strong push to force Hollywood and other media
producers to let
people tell their own stories- from script to screen.
Scarlett Johansson, a cis white woman, received critique for
attempting to play Asian
and trans characters. READ: Scarlett Johansson playing other
identities
Sia, the musician turned director, has recently cast a
neurotypical actor to play a
non-verbal autistic character. When autistic actors and critics
attempted to interrogate
this decision Sia snapped back “I cast thirteen neuroatypical
people, three trans folk,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-
entertainment/2019/07/14/scarle tt-johannson-who-has-history-
casting-controversies-says-i-should-be-allowed-play-any-
person/
and not as fucking prostitutes or drug addicts but s as doctors,
nurses and singers.
Fucking sad nobody’s even seen the dang movie. My heart has
always been in the right
place.”
In defending the harm she has caused the disabled community,
she managed to

also disparage people struggling with addiction and sex workers
(all of these
communities are feeling the worst of the pandemic). Not to
mention there are disabled
sex workers struggling with addiction. One critic @paigeLayle
on tik tok explained that
in a scene where the protagonist is having a “meltdown” she is
put into a prone restraint
that can in fact be lethal- highlighting the importance of letting
people tell their own
stories.
READ: Sia Controversy
This is a clip from the film Disclosure in which Jen Richards
explains that cis men
playing trans women causes violence and harm toward the trans
community. WATCH:
Cis men playing trans women as violence
Of course, depictions of identities and experiences outside of
your own will be
lacking. How well can you empathize with a character you write
for or play if you are
taking opportunity and wealth away from that very same
community.

What can you do if you want to uplift marginalized communities
with your
work/privilege? Ryan Murphy is a great example of how to
uplift marginalized
communities without doing harm. Leveraging his success from
American Horror Story,
Ryan Murphy created Pose, he created the first show to center
black trans women and
hired black transwomen as the producers, show runners and
actors. He created a
space and opportunity for these women to tell their own stories.
Some feel representation is enough. Here is a critique of the
Grey’s Anatomy
show-runner Shonda Rhimes’, a black woman’s use of
colorblind-casting. READ:
Shonda Rimes Colorblind Casting
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-
entertainment/films/news/sia-music-autism-maddie-ziegler-
trailer-b1759159.html
https://twitter.com/i/status/1276210382625845248
https://medium.com/@nikkijeflynnesargent/colorblindness-in-
entertainment-through-the-eyes-of-greys-anatomy-helpful-or-
harmful-36e42f4f25f3
Although there was more representation, some felt the show did

not couple the optics of
multiculturalism with cultural depth. It should also be noted
that there are not many
black femme show runners- especially before Shonda Rhimes,
so she, like many
trail-blazers before her, was under more pressure and scrutiny
than her white
counterparts. It should be noted that terms like color-blind
casting or politicians being
tone-deaf should be avoided as they are ableist uses of blind and
deaf.
This notion of the shortcomings of representation alone are
reflected in discourse
surrounding our most recent presidential election. Many are
elated that we have elected
a Black-Asian female Vice President. Others feel less excited
due to Kamala Harris’s
history with policing in a time when BLM is asking for the
defunding of the police. These
same people feel that without a political record that supports
Black communities, having
a Black VP is just for optics.
This is not to say representation is free of effect. This past
Christmas, a British

grocery store called Argos, produced an ad centering a Black
family. They received a
huge backlash from racist viewers who claimed they could not
identify with the ad.
READ: UK ad Controversy This is interesting as a competing
grocery chain produced
ads centering a family of carrots without any backlash due to
their viewers inability to
identify with the carrots. That’s because it is simply racism. A
study was conducted in
2015 on children’s books that showed a shocking lack of
diversity. Animals, trucks…
presumably carrots make up 12.5% of characters in children’s
books, while all POC
characters combined make up 14.2%. GOOD NEWS! Here is the
updated data as of
2018 SEE: Diversity in Children's books I am sure in 2020 we
have shifted these
numbers even more.
Media can also use representation for good and Mr.Roger’s was
an expert at this:
Watch Mr. Fred Roger's testimony to Congress (to an angry
panelist). Mr. Rogers turns

the situation around with his compassion, his feelings and his
kindness.
And here is another example of Mr. Rogers doing amazing
things
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/argos-advert-defend-
tweet-black-family-complaints-gay-couple-racist-reaction-
a9695996.html
https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=an-updated-look-at-diversity-
in-childrens-books
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMdTl2R354A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMdTl2R354A
Read this article and watch the embedded clip
It may make you laugh or even feel uncomfortable watching two
grown men soaking
their feet in a wading pool. This was a groundbreaking episode.
At this same time,
Black Americans were not permitted to swim with White
Americans (racists would
pour bleach into pools etc.) Mr. Rogers made a very clear and
direct message for
good, by sharing a pool with his Black friend.
https://www.biography.com/news/mister-rogers-officer-
clemmons-pool
UNIT 4 DEMOCRATIC EXPRESSION AND THE MASS

MEDIA
TOPIC 7— NEWS AND JOURNALISM
NEWSPAPERS: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF MODERN
JOURNALISM THE CULTURE
OF JOURNALISM: VALUES, ETHICS and DEMOCRACY
DISCUSSION AND NOTES: News of the past approached
information from a more
"objective" perspective with the goal of presenting a balanced
argument of all sides. The
economic infrastructure's goal was to reach the MASS audience
(as many people as
possible). But now, with fragmentation of the audience (people
are forming their own
interest groups and choose to consume a variety of media
sources of radio, television,
film, online, gaming, etc.) So now media can and do take a more
subjective look. In fact,
news media often inflame the different perspectives against one
another because it drives
consumption. Not good for us. Not good for society. Not good
for democracy.
WATCH Dan Rather's statement on JUNK MEDIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viwybJfSkcY

UNIT 4 DEMOCRATIC EXPRESSION AND THE MASS
MEDIA
TOPIC 8— REGULATION AND THE GLOBE
MEDIA ECONOMICS AND THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE
LEGAL
CONTROLS AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
DISCUSSION AND NOTES: In addition to race and gender, the
media also
stereotype people by socio- economic class. Media portrayals go
further:
They affect our environment, our planet. I'll use the example of
how media
are affecting our food source.
WATCH the excerpt from HOW TELEVISION FRAMES
WORKING CLASS
WATCH the trailer for NICKLED AND DIMED where a
journalist does a year-long
experiment to try and get buy on minimum wage (surprise
surprise, she can't do it)
WATCH Taylor Swift’s music video You Need To Calm Down.
This video is
intended to show support of the LGBTQ+ community. Who are

the villains of this
narrative? Homophobia is being coded as low income, rural ect.
Does this narrative
isolate rural queer people? Could anti-LGBTQ+ legislators be
cast as the
opposition? How would that change this narrative?
Watch first 10-15 minutes of Food Inc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJENf-s6r4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDgFiW2xtf0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDgFiW2xtf0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkk9gvTmCXY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGrpgPQFU3A
WRAP-UP
END OF COURSE
So, given what you've learned over the course of the semester
(to name a
few major points): Media have influence.
The medium (of media) matters (radio, television, film, social
media,
virtual reality, etc.) There are various ways in which media
affect
individuals and society

Gender, Race and Class are all created, maintained, changed,
destroyed, etc. by
the public mind. There are specific and complex systems that
are premeditatedly
creating and perpetuating dominant ideas by which "others"
position and judge
themselves. Stereotypes adversely affect groups and perpetuate
non-mainstream
subordination.
So is there any hope given the gravity of the situation?
Media literacy and critical analysis are the first steps!
It all comes down to information. People need to know that they
are being "led"
down a path of compliance and purchasing and opposition to
others. They need to
be informed that they have power and agency in the
media/audience relationship.
People need to know that they are MORE than merely
consumers and public-
minded sheep following the directions (or thinly-veiled orders)
of those in charge of
money, politics and power.
That is what RTVF 110 is trying to accomplish. To take a short

amount of time to
allow you to step back, look at and think about what is
happening. By making you
more media literate, you should expect/demand more from
media (and yourselves
within the audience-media interaction and relationship.)
2
Primary Source Review Sheet Instructions
1. For the “Primary Source Review Sheet” you must have a total
of aminimum 500 of your own words. Quotes from primary
sources to support your contentions are in addition to the
minimum 500 of your own words. Use the template provided
below and your essay should be double-spaced, 12-point Arial
or Times New Roman font.
2. Address all sources assigned listed in the syllabus for the
week’s assignment.
3. If there is only one source assigned, answer question five
with a minimum 500 of your own words plus quotes from
primary sources with proper citation to meet the criteria listed
in the number one instruction.

4. If there are two or more sources assigned, question five
would be a minimum 250 of your own words and question six
would be a minimum 250 of your own words; totaling a
minimum 500 of your own words plus quotes from primary
sources with proper citation to meet the criteria listed in the
number one instruction.
5. A minimum of two quotes per primary source are required,
(not from introduction, but from the actual source with proper
citation for each quote), to support your contentions about the
main ideas and arguments you find in the document(s).
6. Use the “Written Assignment Checklist” to ensure your essay
meets “Basic Format Guidelines,” “Basic Paper Structure,”
“Grammar, Spelling, Correcting Typos, Proper Academic
Format, and Citation” and staple a copy of the “Written
Assignment Checklist” on top of your “Primary Source Review
Sheet” essay when turning in the hard copy. For online students
merely upload the Primary Source Review Sheet found below on
page two.
7. Important Note: The Primary Source Review Sheets,
Discussion Board entries, and any other assignment need to be
entirely your own words with the exception of quotes used to
support your contentions which are properly cited. As
mentioned above, the quotes are in addition to the minimum 500
of your own words and you cannot use an entire paragraph
quote to meet the minimum 500 of your own words criteria.
8. If you do not follow the instructions listed above you will
receive a zero for the assignment.
9. Do not copy and paste information from the Internet or other
student's assignments if doing homework with a fellow student.
If you commit acts of plagiarism or academic dishonesty you
will receive a zero for the assignment and I will inform the

Academic Dishonesty Department.
Primary Source Review Sheet
Your Name:_______________
Class and Section Number:___________________
Title of Document:________________________
Identification Answers
1. The original author's first and last name, (not the editor, (ed.)
2. The year the document was originally written and/or
published. If exact year is not given then the decade (Example:
1790s, 1850s, 1960s, etc.)
3. What type of primary source is this document? (Examples:
journal entry, diary, personal letter, photograph, etc.)
4. What society and region was the author reflecting on?
(Examples: United States in New England factory working
conditions, Chinese immigrants in California, White and Black
relations in the Deep South, etc.)
Argumentative Essay – A minimum of 500 of your own words
plus a minimum of two quotes per primary source properly
cited.
An essay has an introduction paragraph that introduces the
sources assigned with a thesis statement, body paragraphs that

start with topic sentences and end with transition sentences, and
a conclusion paragraph that summarizes main points of essay
and ties back to thesis statement.
5. What is or are the main idea(s) and argument(s) the author is
trying to convey to the reader? (Think about why they decided
to sit down and write the document and what their aims were,
i.e., what’s their agenda? Is it simply to inform, to inspire
people to take action of some sort, to influence political leaders,
etc.?) Then discuss your argument about the main idea(s) and
argument(s) the author presented. Refer to the syllabus or To-
Do list to find the primary source assigned for question five in
the proper week.
6. What is or are the main idea(s) and argument(s) the author is
trying to convey to the reader? (Think about why they decided
to sit down and write the document and what their aims were,
i.e., what’s their agenda? Is it simply to inform, to inspire
people to take action of some sort, to influence political leaders,
etc.?) Then discuss your argument about the main idea(s) and
argument(s) the author presented.
Next, discuss how does this document compare, (comment on
similarities and/or differences, change over time, and/ or lack of
change over time), to the main document we read this week if
we read more than one. Refer to the syllabus or To-Do list to
find the primary source(s) assigned for question six in the
proper week.
Refer to these sources if you are unfamiliar or unsure how to
write an argumentative and compare/ contrast essay. Read them
in the order listed below.
· Argumentative Essay: Purdue Online Writing Lab –
Argumentative Essays

· Compare and Contrast Essay: The Writing Center - University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Comparing and Contrasting
in Essays
To-Do Instructions and Templates for Assignments/
Informational Resources/ College Student Services
Important Note:
The Primary Source Review Sheet and In-Text Footnote
Citations templates and Written Assignment Checklist will be
used several times throughout the semester and are required to
use for assignments.
1. Download the editable Microsoft Word Primary Source
Review Sheet template.
2. Download the Written Assignment Checklist. The Brief
Writing Tutorial and Writing Review in the Week Two module
are based on this checklist. This checklist contains the criteria
that is required for all written assignments throughout the
semester.
3. Download the editable Microsoft Word In-Text Footnote
Citations template. This template provides the properly
formatted footnotes that are required for all written
assignments. The Footnotes Are Easy video tutorial
demonstrates how to insert a footnote using Microsoft Word and
using this template.
4. Download and read the Discussion Board Instructions
Overview.
5. Review and consult throughout the semester the
informational resources, Taking Effective Notes Guide,
Approaching Sources Critically, How to Write History
Assignments Guide, and Citing Sources Chicago Manual Style
Quick Guide.
6. Utilize college student services for academic success if
needed throughout the semester.

4 Introduction: Using Sources to Study the Past
sources provide background about a particular subject, include
important refer-
ences to primary sources through footnotes and bibliographies,
and raise ques-
tions, topics, and debates that form the foundation for
additional research. To
carry the courtroom analogy a step further, it is the lawyer's
job, like the historian's,
to take the evidence (primary sources) and build a case
(secondary source). It is
impossible to build a case, however, unless you have some idea
of what the other
lawyers are saying, what their evidence is, and how they plan to
structure their
case.
T his is why courts have a "discovery" process that requires
lawyers to share
their evidence with opposing counsel before trial. And it is why
history teachers
assign students to read secondary sources before giving them
the difficult task of
going through birth records or ship manifests looking for fresh
evidence, trying
to rearrange the old evidence, or combining the two to create a
new understand-
ing of what happened. The exciting part of history is coming up
with your own
questions about the past and finding answers that create
knowledge and spark

new ways of understanding the past, the present, and even the
future.
':, ��r;t';:, )' APPROACHING SOURCES CRITICALLY
In any courtroom trial. opposing lawyers try many ways to poke
holes in each
other's argument bu a the end of the day, the jury must decide
what evidence
is most relevant, who e estimony is most reliable and which
argument is most
convincing. The same tandard applies to historical sources. In
investigating
whether slavery was eco omi ally inefficient, do we trust the tax
office's records
or the plantation owner's financial records, his complaints to his
congressman
about how much tax he was paying, or his boastful letters to his
sister about
cheating on his taxes. Is there a good reason why some or all of
these sources
may be lying stretching the truth, or simply misleading? Who is
a more reliable
witness to slavery, the slave or the slaveholder; the Northern
abolitionist or the
Southern politician; the poor white farmer who hates the
slaveholders or the
English gentleman visiting his Georgia cousins? Every person
has a unique point
of view set of beliefs, and reason for giving testimony; and we
must critically
analyze and evaluate everything-and assume nothing.
These factors constitute the bias of the source. Because all
sources are i-
ased, it is important to develop a set of questions for
interrogating documemary

sources. Some useful questions to ask are:
What is the historical context for the document? When was i
and how does it relate to important events of the perio . . ·
headnotes for the sources included in this book provide • 01"
ground information.)
• Who is the author? What can you tell about that p
social status, and so on?
What can you infer about the purpose of the doa•- -
intended audience?
its
Professor Laura J. Sweeney's Curricula Materials
lsweeney
Sticky Note
All of these points are important when analyzing primary
sources.
Introduction: Using Sources to Study the Past
What do the document's style and tone tell you about the
author's
purpose?
What main points does the author seek to communicate or
express?
What does the document suggest about the author's point of
view and
biases? Consider whether the author misunderstood what he or
she was
relating or had reason to falsify the account.

• What can you infer about how typical for the period the views
expressed
in the document are?
5
Additional thought must be given to visual sources. When
working with
visual material, ask the following questions along with those
above:
• How is the image framed or drawn? What does the image
include? What
might the creator of the work have excluded? What do the
creator's de-
cisions regarding the content tell you about the event, person, or
place
you are analyzing?
• What medium (drawing, painting, photograph, or other) did
the creator
employ? What constraints did the medium impose on the
creator? For
example, photographic technology in the nineteenth century was
very
rudimentary and involved large, bulky cameras with very slow
shutter
speeds. This technological context tells us something about why
people
often posed stiffly and without a smile for early photographs.
Likewise,
although there are numerous Civil War battlefront photographs,
most
were posed or created after battles because the camera's shutter
speeds
did not allow for action photography.

• Do you know if the work was expensive or cheap to produce?
Where
was the work intended to be displayed-in a museum, a
courthouse, a
private home, a grocery store, or elsewhere? What might these
consider-
ations suggest about the event, person, or place you are
analyzing?
Historians strive not to use the standards of the present to make
judgments
about the past. When working with both primary and secondary
sources, the
question of historical context must always be considered. For
example, the de-
cision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is
often said to have
been made without the same taboos, sociopolitical fears, and
ecological concerns
that are today tied to nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. It
was largely as-
sumed, during the entire process of developing atomic weapons,
that they would
be used. At the time, there was little serious discussion of not
using this new
war technology to hasten the end of the conflict with Japan,
beyond a few last-
minute letters and petitions from the very atomic scientists who
had spent years
and vast sums of money working to develop these new tools of
war. This was the
historical context in which the decision to drop the atomic bomb
was made. To
bring in more modern concerns, such as nuclear proliferation
and environmental

impact, when analyzing evidence from the period would be
moving beyond this
decision's historical context.
Professor Laura J. Sweeney's Curricula Materials
1
Written Assignment Checklist
Primary Source Review Sheet, Discussion Board, and Journal
Entry Assignments:
1. For primary source review assignments, please use the
primary source review sheet
template and follow all instructions in addition to this checklist.
2. For Discussion Boards and Journal Entries, follow all
instructions listed in Canvas in
addition to this checklist. It is the student’s responsibility to
ensure all submitted
assignments follow all instructions and meets all criteria in the
checklist below.
Assignments that do not follow instructions will receive a zero.
Basic Format Guidelines
A. Your name, class section, and date as a header, with
Times New Roman or Arial 12-point font, 1-inch
margins, double space, and inserted page numbers.

I, the student, have
completed this task. Check
here if completed. □
Basic Paper Structure
B. Introduction: One paragraph in length. Introduces brief
overview, tells reader in summary what topics will be
discussed, and includes a thesis statement. Thesis
statement is telling the reader your perspective
and contention on the topic.
C. Main body of paper, (meaning all paragraphs in
between the introduction and conclusion paragraphs,
provides chronological description of events with
relevant quotes to provide proof of your descriptions
and ideas.
D. When starting to discuss a new topic or idea start a
new paragraph.
E. Each paragraph needs to stay focused and on topic.
Do not jump around on topics or ideas within the same
paragraph because it creates a disjointed reading

experience.
F. Transitional sentences between each paragraph
create flow. Jumping from one topic/ idea to the next
without transitional sentences at the end of a
paragraph leading into the next paragraph creates a
disjointed reading experience.
G. Conclusion: One paragraph in length. Summarizes
paper as a whole and last sentence ends with final
analysis of your thesis statement.
Continued on next page.
Professor Laura J. Sweeney Curricula Materials
2
Grammar, Spelling, Correcting Typos, Proper Academic Format,
and
Citation
H. Used past tense in paper since historical events were

in the past.
I. Indented the beginning of all paragraphs with five
spaces. I, the student, have
J. Used either underline, italics or quotation marks for
proper titles of documents, films, books, etc.
K. Capitalized all proper names, places, events, titles,
and the first letter of the first word that begins a
sentence.
L. Used a lead-in to quote rather than beginning
sentence with a quote.
Correct Example: Professor Sweeney said, “Follow
the paper checklist.”
Incorrect Example: Professor Sweeney said to follow
all guidelines for the paper. “Follow the paper
checklist.”

M. Spelled out numbers except for dates, Examples:
twenty-five thousand dollar slush fund (not 25,000
dollar) December 29, 2014
N. Placed all periods or commas next to quotations inside
the quotation marks, not on the outside and placed a
comma before quote.
Correct example: Professor Sweeney said, “follow
the checklist.”
Incorrect example: Professor Sweeney said “follow
the checklist”.
O. Corrected all misspellings, typos, and improper
grammar.
P. Ensured there was not excessive use of pronouns, e.g.
he, him, himself, she, her, herself, they, their, them, us,
we, it, you etc.

Q. Ensured there was not any use of contractions, e.g.
don’t should be written out do not, isn’t should be
written out is not etc.
Continued on next page.
3
R. Ensured all abbreviations have periods in between
each letter, e.g. US should be U.S. or Washington DC
should be Washington D.C.
S. Ensured there was not any use of the first person, e.g.
“I,” “Me,” “My,” “Myself,” etc.
T. Ensured that commas or semicolons were used to
separate thoughts in sentences, not colons or dashes.

U. Ensured there was not any use of colloquial or slang
language.
V. Ensured that after introducing a person with their full
name when they first appear in the paper, thereafter
person is referred to by their last name, not first name.
W. Ensured there were not any run-on sentences. I, the student,
have
X. Placed all citations at the end of sentences, not in mid-
sentence.

Y. Provided proper academic citation for all sources.
When citing anything from lecture, the textbook,
primary source documents, websites, etc. or when
paraphrasing information from another source use
in-text footnotes.
ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM ANOTHER
SOURCE MUST BE CITED PROPERLY OR THE
PAPER WILL RECEIVE A ZERO AND I WILL
REPORT THE ACT OF PLAGIARISM TO THE
DEPARMTENT THAT HANDLES ACADEMIC
DISHONESTY.
Z. Ensured all instructions for written assignments and
questions were addressed in submitted work and use
of specified course materials listed in the syllabus and
instructions were utilized in analysis.
1
Citations format for sources used this semester:

Alan Brinkley Textbook:
Alan Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past:
Volume Two, 15th Edition (New York: McGraw Hill,
2015), insert page number(s).
America Firsthand Textbook:
Document in a Compilation Book:
Author First and Last Name, “Title of Document,” in America
Firsthand: Readings from Settlement to Reconstruction, Vol. 2,
10th Edition by Anthony Marcus et. al (Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2015), insert page number(s).
Example: America Firsthand Textbook.
Ida B. Wells, “African American Protest,” in America
Firsthand: Readings from Settlement to Reconstruction, Vol. 2,
10th Edition by Anthony Marcus et. al (Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2015), 28.
Online Source with title only: For access date, use the date you
viewed the website. Follow this pattern for the National
Archives online article.
Name of website, “Title of Article,” URL address (accessed
insert date you viewed the website).
Example: Online Source with title only: For access date, use the
date you viewed the website. Follow this pattern for the
National Archives online article.
Washingtonpost.com, “The Watergate Story,”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/politics/special/watergate/timeline.html (accessed November
5, 2015).

Online Source with author and title: For access date, use the
date you viewed the website.
Author First and Last Name, “Title of Article,” Name of
Website, URL address (accessed insert date you viewed the
website).
Example: Online Source with author and title: For access date,
use the date you viewed the website.
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, “Woodward and Bernstein:
40 years after Watergate, Nixon was far worse than we
thought,” Washingtonpost.com,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/woodward-and-
bernstein-40-years-after-watergate-nixon-was-far-worse-than-
we-thought/2012/06/08/gJQAlsi0NV_story.html (accessed
November 5, 2015).
Film:
Pakula, Alan J., William Goldman, Walter Coblenz, Robert
Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, et al.
2006. All the President's Men. Burbank, CA: Distributed by
Warner Home Video.
DAY/DATE MEDIUM CONTENT AMOUNT OF TIME
FRIDAY
09/17

IPAD LISTEN TO
PODCAST
TED RADIO HOUR
50-60 MINUTES
FRIDAY
09/17
BOOK THE ART OF
THINKING CLEARLY
1 HOUR
FRIDAY
09/17
PLAYSTATION GAMES: FIFA 2-3 HOUR
FRIDAY
09/17
SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM:
WATCHING MEMES
ON IT
1 HOUR
FRIDAY
09/17
IPAD WATCHING
NETFLIX SERIES
2 HOUR

PRODUCT/BRAND WHY DO YOU USE THIS
PRODUCT?
IS THIS PRODUCT
NECESSARY? WHY OR
WHY NOT?
TOOTHPASTE
(CREST)
MAKE MY TEETH WHITER
AND HEALTHY
Yes it is necessary to
maintain good health
CEREAL
(HONEY OAT ALMONDS)
IT IS HEALTHY AS WELL IT
TASTES GOOD AS WELL
Yes because i like it and also
it can can be replaced with
other thing
FACIAL MOISTURIZING
LOTION
(CERAVE)
IT HELPS TO PREVENT MY
SKIN FROM BECOMING
DRY
Yes because it helps to

prevent my skin from harming
JUICE
(FRESH FRUITS)
IT IS HEALTHY AS WELL AS
TASTY
Yes because it helps to keep
my body healthy
SMARTPHONE
(APPLE)
USUALLY MAKES MY
WHOLE DAY SCHEDULE
ON IT AS WELL AS
SETTING REMINDERS FOR
MEETING ON IT.
Yes because it helps to make
my day more organized
TELEVISION
(SAMSUNG)
TO WATCH NEWS
EVERYDAY AND TO LEARN
ABOUT THE SITUATION
WHICH IS GOING AROUND
THE WHOLE WORLD
No, because you can still
read it online.

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