COMMON THREADS
One of the Common Threads discussed in Chapter 1 is the commercial nature of mass media. In controversies about media content, how much of what society finds troubling in the mass media is due more to the commercial nature of the media than to any intrinsic quality of the media themselves?
For some media critics, such as former advertising executive Jerry Mander in his popular book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (1978), the problems of the mass media are inherent in the technology of the medium (e.g., the hypnotic lure of a light-
But how much of what critics dislike about television and other mass media—
One of the keys to accurately analyzing television and the other mass media is to tease apart the effects of a capitalist economy (which organizes media industries and relies on advertising, corporate underwriting, and other forms of sponsorship to profit from them) from the effects of the actual medium (television, movies, the Internet, radio, newspapers, etc.). If our media system wasn’t commercial in nature—
Basically, would society be learning other things if the mass media were organized in a noncommercial way? Would noncommercial mass media set the same kind of political agenda, or would they cultivate a different kind of reality? What would the spiral of silence theory look like in a noncommercial media system?
Perhaps noncommercial mass media would have their own problems. Indeed, there may be effects that can’t be unhitched from the technology of a mass medium no matter what the economy is. But it’s worth considering whether any effects are due to the economic system that brings the content to us. If we determine that the commercial nature of the media is a source of negative effects, then we should also reconsider our policy solutions for trying to deal with those effects.
KEY TERMS
The definitions for the terms listed below can be found in the glossary at the end of the book. The page numbers listed with the terms indicate where the term is highlighted in the chapter.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Early Media Research Methods
What were the earliest types of media studies, and why weren’t they more scientific?
What were the major influences that led to scientific media research?
Research on Media Effects
What are the differences between experiments and surveys as media research strategies?
What is content analysis, and why is it significant?
What are the differences between the hypodermic-
What are the main ideas behind social learning theory, agenda-
What are some strengths and limitations of modern media research?
Cultural Approaches to Media Research
Why did cultural studies develop in opposition to media effects research?
What are the features of cultural studies?
How is textual analysis different from content analysis?
What are some of the strengths and limitations of cultural research?
Media Research and Democracy
What is a major criticism about specialization in academic research at universities?
How have public intellectuals contributed to society’s debates about the mass media? Give examples.
QUESTIONING THE MEDIA
Think about instances in which the mass media have been blamed for a social problem. Could there be another, more accurate cause (an underlying variable) of that problem?
One charge leveled against a lot of media research—
Do you have a major concern about media in society that hasn’t been, but should be, addressed by research? Explain your answer.
Can you think of a media issue on which researchers from different fields at a university could team up to study together? Explain.
LAUNCHPAD FOR MEDIA & CULTURE
REVIEW WITH LEARNINGCURVE LearningCurve, available on LaunchPad for Media & Culture, uses gamelike quizzing to help you master the concepts you need to learn from this chapter.