active audience theory
the idea that audiences play an active role in interpreting or decoding media messages``
communications conglomerates
large corporations that combine many different media holdings or have interests both in media and in other industrial sectors
cultivation effect
the idea that heavy viewing of television leads people to perceive reality in ways consistent with the representations they see on television
cultural imperialism
the imposition of one nation’s culture on another, not through direct occupation but by the indirect effects of media influence
cultural studies school
a school of research that focuses on how people make meanings in everyday life, sometimes in ways that are resistant to dominant values promoted in major media channels
culture industry
a term originally used critically to describe the crass, conservative, and conformist tendencies of commercially organized mass entertainment, now often used approvingly to refer to business-driven media
cyberspace
the imaginary space or dimension in which we conceive of computer-mediated communication occuring
desensitization
repeated exposure to scenes of media violence to make people indifferent of real life incidents
disinhibition
the idea that viewing media violence encourages people to shed their restraints against committing real-life violence
hybridization
the tendency of internal communication flows to create cultural mixes or crossovers between previously distinct national and ethnic groups
hypodermic model
the belief that media shoot powerful messages into weak, passive audiences, thus directly controlling their behaviour
information imbalance
the disparity between the capacities of developed and less-developed world to produce and distribute information
information society
a new stage of civilization supposedly being brought into being by computers and telecommunications, succeeding the old industrial society
political economy of media
an approach to communication studies that focuses on the power relations governing the production, distribution, and consumption of information (conflict theory)
surrogate theory
the idea that watching media violence, rather than stimulating real-life violence, provides a substitute or safety valve for aggressive feelings
technological determinism
the idea that new technologies drive social change
technologies of freedom
computers and other tech. empower citizens by allowing them to create and circulate information for themselves
virtual commerce
the use of computer networks such as the internet for business purposes, primarily by creating direct links between producers and customers
virtual community
a group of computer users separated geographically but linked together in cyberspace on the basis of shared interests and concerns
Political Economy of Media
Basic concern - the relationship between mass media and the distribution of power in society
• General finding: media functions to preserve the interests of privileged groups in society
Media Alert
Internet Predators • Function: protect children from threat of sexual abuse pedophiles on-line • Vic Toews – Safety Minister “You’re with us, or the child pornographers.”
narcotysine effect
media provides so much 24/7 info, that we become desensitized and ail to act when we need to
Barry Glasner
function of stories is to protect from internet predators fuel moral panic # of stories about internet violence is unproportioned to the actual threat
Bill C3D
electronic surveillance bill, nearly passed
