Chapter Review

• Developmental stages of mass media. How did the media evolve, from their origins in ancient oral traditions to their incarnation on the Internet today? What discoveries, inventions, and social circumstances drove the development of different media? What roles do new technologies play in changing contemporary media and culture?
• The commercial nature of mass media. What role do media ownership and government regulation play in the presentation of commercial media products and serious journalism? How do the desire for profit and other business demands affect and change the media landscape? What role should government oversight play? What role do we play as ordinary viewers, readers, students, critics, and citizens?
• The converged nature of media. How has convergence changed the experience of media from the print to the digital era? What are the significant differences between reading a printed newspaper and reading the news online? What changes have to be made in the media business to help older forms of media, like newspapers, in the transition to an online world?
• The role that media play in a democracy. How are policy decisions and government actions affected by the news media and other mass media? How do individuals find room in the media terrain to express alternative (nonmainstream) points of view? How do grassroots movements create media to influence and express political ideas?
• Mass media, cultural expression, and storytelling. What are the advantages and pitfalls of the media’s appetite for telling and selling stories? As we reach the point where almost all media exist on the Internet in some form, how have our culture and our daily lives been affected?
• Critical analysis of the mass media. How can we use the critical process to understand, critique, and influence the media? How important is it to be media literate in today’s world? At the end of each chapter, we will examine the historical contexts and current processes that shape media products. By becoming more critical consumers and engaged citizens, we will be in a better position to influence the relationships among mass media, democratic participation, and the complex cultural landscape that we all inhabit.

1. Define culture, mass communication, and mass media, and explain their interrelationships.
2. What are the key technological breakthroughs that accompanied the transition to the print and electronic eras? Why were these changes significant?
3. Explain the linear model of mass communication and its limitations.

1. Describe the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence.
2. In looking at the history of popular culture, explain why newer and emerging forms of media seem to threaten status quo values.

1. Describe the skyscraper model of culture. What are its strengths and limitations?
2. Describe the map model of culture. What are its strengths and limitations?
3. What are the chief differences between modern and postmodern values?

1. What are the five steps in the critical process? Which of these is the most difficult and why?
2. What is the difference between cynicism and criticism?
3. Why is the critical process important?

1. Drawing on your experience, list the kinds of media stories you like and dislike. You might think mostly of movies and TV shows, but remember that news, sports, political ads, and product ads are also usually structured as stories. Conversations on Facebook can also be considered narratives. What kinds of stories do you like and dislike on Facebook, and why?
2. Cite some examples in which the media have been accused of unfairness. Draw on comments from parents, teachers, religious leaders, friends, news media, and so on. Discuss whether these criticisms have been justified.
3. Pick an example of a popular media product that you think is harmful to children. How would you make your concerns known? Should the product be removed from circulation? Why or why not? If you think the product should be banned, how would you do it?
4. Make a critical case either defending or condemning Comedy Central’s South Park, a TV or radio talk show, a hip-hop group, a soap opera, or TV news coverage of the war in Afghanistan. Use the five-step critical process to develop your position.
5. Although in some ways postmodern forms of communication, such as e-mail, MTV, smartphones, and Twitter, have helped citizens participate in global life, in what ways might these forms harm more traditional or native cultures?

• THE MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY

  This video traces the history of the media’s role in democracy from newspapers and television to the Internet.