WCC COMM 101 wrap up LUTHER

1. COMM 101 WRAP-UP

2. COMM 101 WRAP-UP
• This semester we’ve done a good job of studying how REALITY IS
PRODUCED, MAINTAINED, REPAIRED, AND TRANSFORMED by Mass
Media. We’ve done this through the textbook, reflection projects, and
in-class media presentations and discussions including these;
• Overwhelming Presence of Mass Media (digital_nation, Reflective Project #1)
• Power of Mass Media Images & Messages (Reflective Project #2, Body Image,
Media Hoaxes/War of the Worlds)
• How Mass Media Should Be Taught (Censorship of Huck Finn)
• Yellow Journalism & “Truth” in Mass Media (The Daily Show)
• Global Industry of Mass Media (Film History and Production)
• Music as Cultural Unifier & Influencer (NY77 & Fresh Dressed)
• Overwhelming Presence of Advertising in Mass Media (Reflective Project #3)
• Advertising as a Means of Media Production (The Greatest Movie Ever Sold)
• Video Games as Cultural History (How Video Games Changed The World)

3. • Now I urge you to continue your study of MASS
MEDIA and look even deeper into its impact on
culture and the possible underpinnings of its
larger purpose.
• Something you’re bound to encounter is the
work of media theorist and critic Noam
Chomsky (we already saw him in THE GREATEST
MOVIE EVER SOLD).
• In 1988 Chomsky co-wrote the very influential
book, Manufacturing Consent, where it’s
proposed that the mass communication media
of the United States is designed to carry out
propaganda of all kinds.
• This work lays out the case that the mainstream
media exists to control our thoughts to benefit
those in power, regardless of political affiliation.
COMM 101 WRAP-UP

4. 1. DISTRACTION
2. PROBLEM-REACTION-SOLUTION
3. THE GRADUAL STRATEGY
4. DEFERRING
5. TREAT PEOPLE LIKE CHILDREN
6. GOING THE EMOTIONAL ROUTE
7. KEEPING THE PUBLIC IGNORANT
8. MAKING THE PUBLIC COMPLACENT
9. REINFORCING SELF-BLAME
10. KNOWING THE PUBLIC BETTER THAN THEY KNOW
THEMSELVES
10 STRATEGIES OF MEDIA MANIPULATION

6. • What MASS MEDIA is often doing (Media
Manipulation)
• What MASS MEDIA could be doing (“What if
scientists were celebrities?”)
• MASS MEDIA and its messages may be all around us
and inescapable, but you can still be proactive about
the role it plays in your life and in the culture around
you.
• The #1 thing I hope you take from this class is to
think for yourselves…because if you won’t, someone
else will gladly do your thinking for you…
COMM 101 WRAP-UP

7. • MASS MEDIA IS A POWERFUL CULTURAL FORCE
WE SHOULD ALL TAKE SERIOUSLY…THOSE WHO
ARE ALREADY USING IT TO “PRODUCE,
MAINTAIN, REPAIR, AND TRANSFORM REALITY”
FOR ALL OF US CERTAINLY ARE...
COMM 101 WRAP-UP