Media Theories

Critical Studies

Looks for relationships between

• The media

• Media content

• Audiences for media

• Culture

Political economy

• Focus on interests-Karl Marx– Power

• Advertising

• Commercial interests and ownership

• Hegemony– Ideology

Hegemony

• An underlying consensus of ideology that favors a system that serves the interests of a dominant social group

• Economic system preserves the interests of the ruling classes– Mitigating factors: Consumer needs, laws of

supply and demand

Setting the agenda

• The ability of the media to determine what is important– Two-party elections– Elian Gonzales and Cuban-American

diplomacy– Activism and media event creation

Gatekeeping and framing

• Gatekeeping: deciding what will appear in the media– Does a media message make it through the

gate?

• Framing: writing to tell stories– What makes the story? What is left out?

Opinion leaders

• People who try to influence media coverage– Diverse interests

• Lobbying groups– Special interests, business constituencies

• Ethics of media favoritism

Literary criticism

• Electronic media as a new kind of literature

• Apply tradition of literary or cultural criticism– Genre studies– Semiotic analyses

The active audience

• The media and audiences are both powerful

• Media creators have a preferred reading

Societal Functions of the Media

• Functions of the mass media– Surveillance– interpretation– socialization– entertainment

• Functions of new communications media– Interpersonal– virtual

Social Learning Theory

• Explains media consumption behavior in terms of– Expectations– Modeling– Cognition– Reward

Uses & Gratifications

• Information

• Entertainment

• Social Utility

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Diffusion of Innovations

• Explains the spreading of new ways of doing things in a social system– Innovators– Early adopters– Critical mass– Late adopters– Laggards

Diffusion of innovations

Diffusion of Innovations

• Observability

• Trialability

• Utility

• Compatability

• Affordability

Diffusion

• VCR– VHS vs. Beta

• Internet– Email and WWW

• HDTV– Format wars

• MP3– Systems and players