Summary of the book Media/Society, technology, industries, content and users from David Croteau and William Hoynes (6th edition). appropriate for Premaster media studies and IBCOM students from the EUR.
Summary Media / Society: technology,
industries, content and users
David Croteau & William Hoynes
Sixth edition
Year: 2019
1
,Table of contents
CHAPTER 1: MEDIA / SOCIETY IN A DIGITAL WORLD .................................................................................. 3
CHAPTER 2: THE EVOLUTION OF MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ................................................................................ 7
CHAPTER 3: THE ECONOMICS OF THE MEDIA INDUSTRY ............................................................................ 13
CHAPTER 4: POLITICAL INFLUENCE ON MEDIA ........................................................................................ 17
CHAPTER 5: MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS AND PROFESSIONALS ....................................................................... 20
CHAPTER 6: MEDIA AND IDEOLOGY .................................................................................................... 22
CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION .................................................................. 25
CHAPTER 8: AUDIENCES AND CREATORS ............................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER 9: MEDIA INFLUENCE .......................................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER 10: GLOBALIZATION AND THE FUTURE OF MEDIA ....................................................................... 39
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,Chapter 1: Media / Society in a digital world
All media devices:
- Radio - video game console
- Tv by cable - multimedia device
- Tv by satellite - cellphone
- Tv by fiber optic - smartphone
- Broadband video - desktop or laptop computer
- DVD / blue ray - tablet
- Dvr - home broadband access
Radio is a nearly universal presence in US households and automobiles, reaching more Americans in
any given week than any other media platform (Nielsen 2017 d)
Television is in almost all homes, with 82% of TV households paying for programming – through cable
44%, satellite 33% or a fiber optic line from their phone company 8% and 13% relying on free over-
the-air broadcast television. The remaining 5% of TV households forgo traditional broadcast or cable
television and rely exclusively on a broadband internet connection for video content.
Devices that can connect to the internet are available to most Americans. About 95% of adults have a
cell phone of some sort 77% have a smartphone. 78% of US adults have a desktop or laptop
computer, and 51% have a tablet.
As users embrace new technology, they continually change the landscape of media equipment.
With vast exposure to media at all ages, it can be argued that the media are the dominant social
institution in contemporary society, supplanting the influence of older institutions, such as schools,
religion, and sometimes even family. With the presence of media throughout our lives, our media
and society are fused.
Communication media = the different technological processes that facilitate communication
between the sender of the message and the receiver of the message.
Interpersonal communication = you are contacting a single person that is likely to know you (phone
call)
Mass communication = a known sender and an anonymous receiver (radio or book).
All mediated communication involves:
Sender → message → medium → receiver
The different technologies that make up the medium are what result in different communication
experiences.
Traditional mass media are characterized by single sender and a potentially large and typically
unknown set of receivers. Senders and receivers using such media traditionally have limited or no
interaction.
The development of the internet blurred the lines between interpersonal communication and mass
media, enabling users to play different sorts of roles if they so choose.
Internet = both interpersonal communication as mass media.
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, The internet enabled people to be much more active, than they could with traditional media. Today,
we can be users of media rather than merely receivers or audience members. With the internet,
media users can be more active in the following
- Choosing what media content they will access from a range of choices that is broader than
ever
- Deciding when they will use media rather than being dependent on scheduled broadcasts
- Sharing, promoting, and distributing media content
- Responding to and commenting on media content
- Creating their own media content
With this level of users activity, traditional mass communication models fail to capture the dynamic
interplay that potentially exists between the media industry and nonprofessional media users.
Today’s communication in a simple media model
Media industry = the entire organizational structure that makes up the media, including all media
personnel. The media industry is affected by changes in technology but is also instrumental in
influencing the direction and application of technology. The media industry is the producer of the
media content.
Users (audience) = may be influenced by the media content they see, but they must actively
interpret and construct meaning from that content.
Social world = all the social elements included in the four main boxes. Some of these elements are
crucial for an understanding of the workings of the media and thus van be thought of as being at the
center of the model.
the 4 primary elements of the model have changed:
- Industry replaces sender to flag the professional and usually commercial nature of media
organizations responsible for most media content.
- The term content replaces messages to better reflect the wide range of media subjects as
experienced users
- Technology replaces medium to isolate the material elements of media
- Users, who both actively consume content created by industry professionals and create their
own content, replace receivers.
This entire model is embedded within a vital new element, the social world, which includes variety of
social forces and non-media actors that affect the communication process, such as cultural norms
and government regulation.
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