Media today – Joseph Turow (6th edition)
Summary of chapters 1, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Understanding Mass Media, Convergence, and the Importance of Media
Literacy..............................................................................................................................0
Chapter 3: The Business of Media.......................................................................................3
Chapter 4: Financing and Shaping the Media...................................................................10
Chapter 7: The Book Industry...........................................................................................16
Chapter 8: The Newspaper Industry..................................................................................20
Chapter 9: The Magazine Industry....................................................................................24
Chapter 1: Understanding Mass Media, Convergence,
and the Importance of Media Literacy
,Media = platforms or vehicles that industries have developed for the purpose of
creating and sending messages
Media are all involved in the process of mass communication.
Traditionally, mass communication referred to the size and composition of the
audience: media used mass communication used to reach huge, diverse groups.
Definition has changed because of arrival of many channels, this led to
audience fragmentation = dividing audience into segments based on background
and lifestyle to send them targeted messages.
Mass communication is special because of the way the content is created ->
mass communication process = the process that creates the potential for reaching
huge numbers of anonymous people at the same time. Mass communication is
different from normal communication because of this industrial nature.
Mass communication (current definition) = the industrialized production and
multiple distribution of messages through technological devices.
Communication = people interacting in ways that a party involved understands as
messages.
Interpersonal communication = a form of communication that involves 2 or more
individuals signalling each other using their voices and other gestures to convey
meaning
Mediated interpersonal communication = a type of interpersonal communication
that is assisted by a medium
Difference interpersonal communication and mass communication is the
source/receiver.
Mass Media = the technological instruments through which mass communication
takes place
Mass media outlets = companies that send out messages via mass media
Example mass communication through mass media: Grammy Awards streams to the
whole of the US, presidential conference is covered everywhere, and the Hunger
games is seen everywhere, and popularity rises due to the producer’s advertising.
3 C’s of mass media convergence: content, corporations and computers.
Computer centred mass media = digital, 0 and 1’s. (whereas other media
technologies are analogue).
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,Convergence = the ability of different media to easily interact with each other
because they all deal with information in the same digital form, e.g. moving digital
files from one device to another.
Why do we use mass Media?
- Enjoyment.
Media is used as a social currency: to talk about in interpersonal
communication
- Companionship: media brings a sense of camaraderie.
Parasocial interaction = psychological connections established with celebrities
they learn about through media
- Surveillance: to learn about what is happening in the world around us
- Interpretation: using media to find out why things are happening, what is the
cause and what to do about them.
People will stay away from media that do not reflect their own beliefs, values
and interests.
Mass Media can be used for multiple uses.
Interactivity = ability to track and respond the end user’s actions in order
to cultivate a rapport. / Users can manipulate the media in their way and
the producer can send out new messages that takes this feedback into
consideration.
Mass media present ideas of the culture in 3 ways:
1) Identifying and discussing codes of acceptable behaviour
A culture provides its people with notions about how to approach life’s
decisions.
2) Learning what and who counts in our world and why
Mass Media tells us who is famous and why.
3) Determining what others think of us and what ‘people like us’ think of
others
Media allows / encourages us to compare ourselves to others and to fit in but
they also encourage feelings of connection.
Criticism on mass media’s influence on culture, they present:
-Stereotypes: predictable depictions that reflect cultural prejudices
-Political ideologies: beliefs about who should hold the greatest power within a
culture
-Encourages political and economic manipulation
Media literacy = the ability to apply critical thinking skills to the mass media
Basic principles about mass media:
1) The media construct our individual realties
2) The media are influenced by industrial pressures: commercial / financial
interest involved?
3) The media are influenced by political pressures: government rules /
political ideologies
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, 4) The media are influenced by format: the format influenced on how the
cultural reality is presented
5) Audiences are active recipients of the Media: the receiver can make their
own interpretation
6) The media tells us about who we are as a society: mass media hold
crucial importance for society’s visions of itself.
Media literacy tools:
-Consider authorship: realize the constructed nature of media reality and realize
choices are made
-Evaluate the audience: who is the targeted audience? How might different people
understand these materials?
-Determine the institutional purpose: why is the content being sent (commercial
reasons?)
-Analyse the content: what choices are made in the message? What has been
omitted?
-Identify the creative techniques: what techniques are used to attract my
attention?
Chapter 3: The Business of Media
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, Business media cannot exist without their audience = the people to whom mass
media firms are directing their products. Media practitioners = the people who select
or create the material that a mass media firm produces, distributes or exhibits:
content must be attractive to audience.
Audience is identified and selected by the information they have of the subscribers.
Firm executives have 3 challenges: create content that attracts audiences (1),
recognizing the important of convergence (place content on various media) (2),
make sure that the content and audience it brings in will be attractive to advertisers
(3): reach enough adequate venue (= enough cash to allow the enterprise to pay for
itself and give the owners or bankers who put up the money the desired return on
their investment).
Audience is constructed in 3 broad ways:
1. Demographics: characteristics by which people are divided into particular
social categories. Demographic indicators are e.g. age, gender, income and
ethnicity.
2. Psychographics: categorizing people according to their attitudes, personality
types, or motivations. e.g. idea hunters, comparers, luxury lovers.
3. Lifestyle categories: activities in which potential audiences are involved that
mark them as different from others in the population at large.
Only relevant if it helps to attract advertisers or keeping them as audience
members
Create content to attract the target audience:
Find someone with a good track record (history of success) / choosing material that
was successful recently.
Research and development (R&D) = explore new ideas and generate new
products and services, investigating potential sources of revenue through research
such as surveys, focus groups (8/10 people who discuss their habits and opinions)
or analysing existing data.
Measuring success: counting sales, conducting rating surveys.
Genres = major categories of media content.
Main genres:
1. Entertainment: material that grabs the audience’s attention and leaves
agreeable feelings as opposed to challenging their views. Primary concern is
audience enjoyment.
Subgenres: festivals, gaming, drama and comedy: each has more subcategories.
Formula = a patterned approach to creating content that is characterized by the use
of setting, typical characters and patterns of action.
Hybrid genres = mixed genres, the process of mixing genres within a culture and
across cultures = hybridity.
Dramedy = subgenre that blends the rules associated with drama (serious) and
comedy (fun)
2. News: involves the telling of stories.
Journalist = individual who is trained to report nonfiction events to an audience
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