Mass Communication
We are all “mass media consumers”
Sometimes voluntarily
Sometimes involuntarily
Either way, we must consume media critically
Mass media: revenue-generating business
Book and printing press
Newspapers
Television (network and cable)
Radio
Internet sites
What is the credibility of each?
Social Media: user-generated content
Blogs (can also be part of profit-making business too)
MySpace
FourSquare
Others
What is the credibility of each?
Critical Thinking with Mass Media
Awareness – how media affects our lives
Access – understanding the various forms of media
Analysis – recognize how media works, understand patterns
Assessment – critical thinking
Action – be active in media consumption
Elaboration Likelihood ModelTwo persuasive techniques
CentralReceiver is an active
participant in the process of persuasion
Peripheral
Receiver agrees with a message based on the expert source or attractiveness
Both are influencers in behavior change.
Nationalist Appeal
Keyword Five Core Concepts Five Key Questions
Authorship All media messages are “constructed”
Who created this message?
Format Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules
What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
Audience Different people experience the same media message differently
How might different people understand this message differently from me?
Content Media have embedded values and points of view
What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in; or omitted from this message?
Purpose Most media are organized to gain profit and/or power
Why is this message being sent?
Mass Media Literacy:Five Questions to Ask
Speed of Media
Mistakes
Biased Journalism
Keeping up with audience attention span
Pressure on journalists
“No Time to Think” by Howard Rosenberg and Charles Feldman
The speed of thumbs: the influence of social network reporting and the US Airways example
Media Credibility
Obama is not a citizen of the United States
Michael Jackson’s body is missing
Larry Craig’s bathroom arrest in Minneapolis
Tiger Wood and the golf club episode with his wife
Be a Skeptic
A healthy tendency to delay forming an opinion until you can complete a more thorough processing of the messageConsume the same story from various news
sourcesUse media literacy techniquesLook at the source of the story and recognize the
effects of media convergence
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