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79 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Radio Act of 1927
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the FRC is established and is responsible for regulating access, assigning frequencies. It also establishes regulations for obtaining and renewing licenses and frequency assignments. Have to have a license and a channel. Contemporary system of giving out spectrum channels. Even more marginalization of amateurs.
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Communication Act of 1934
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Made permanent all the things made in the Radio Act of 1927 and it established the FCC in place of the FRC. Communications not just radio for telephones & television
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PICON
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Public Interest must be served and you need to show this to get or renew licenses. Public interest is a service
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First Amendment principles
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protects against state censorship not editorial control, ideas should circulate in a marketplace of competing ideas. It is the publics job not the government’s to decide what is right but there are exceptions to free speech: government can censor “dangerous” speech and the governments job to protect can trump individual freedoms
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regulatory rationale for broadcasting
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perceptions of broadcasting as unique by regulatory framers b/c it is: 1) public = broadcasters must serve public in exchange for use, 2) scarce = licensees have to represent unheard voices, 3) intrusive = must protect auds from signals invading private homes
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FCC v. Pacifica
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legal case for broadcasting started over radio content george carlin being heard by a young boy. FCC can prohibit certain shows during hours when kids are around. The hours that the shows can be shown are called safe harbor hours. Indecent exposure is allowed from 10-6 and obscene is never allowed.
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Minow: regulating the “vast wasteland”
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trust in government regulation. Its what the public needs, not what it wants, interested in well-balanced choices, concern for educational needs of children, must improve broadcasting by maintaining public interest
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Winer: case for deregulation
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libertarian distrust of government regulation. There are problems with public resource rationale because other media use public resources for distribution too and scarcity = economic constant, new spaces have opened up. Instead: public interest = 1st amendment freedoms, better that non-gov’t corps & orgs. control speech
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National Educational Television (NET)
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formerly NETRC, puts educational TV on map, a tempts to be an educational “4th network” but it does not produce. Distributes materials to educational stations set aside by FCC starting 1952, Ford Foundation provides funding, 1967 – NET folds, but member stations live on
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Carnegie Commission
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on the future of public broadcasting—recommends: 1. a nationalized corporation for public broadcasting, 2. PB should be educational and cultural, 3. INSULATED FUNDING, 4. Half of Board of directors should be Presidential-appointees, half from public at large
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Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
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passed in 1968 – creates corporation for public broadcasting (CPB) – CPB can purchase, produce and distribute programs but CANNOT dictate affiliate schedules at all, funding NOT INSULATED, Board made of only presidential appointees
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PBS program sources and mandate
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sources: produce their own programming (Wisconsin Gardener), pay fees to other affiliates and CPB’s productions. (Arthur, Frontline come from WGBH, Bill Moyers Journal, Wide-Angle from WNET), Pay fees for BBC programming (Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Fawlty Towers), Serve as “presenting stations” for independent productions”. Mandate: 1. provides programming for underserved audiences—Arthur = kids, Wisconsin gardener = older viewers, festa = P-Ax, Maria Aurora Fans, 2. be ‘non-commercial’, 3. be diverse, educational, cultural—BBC programming, Windy Acres (more self promotion), 4. be politically challenging
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PBS funding and enhanced underwriting
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Funding: 1. taxes, 2. fees from selling programs, 3. underwriting – corporations, 4. viewers like . . . who? – who watches and donates to PBS, how does this effect programming. PBS remaking itself to compete for corporate attention: enhanced underwriting = ad-like visibility for donors, ancillary markets = licensing & merchandising
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Aufderheide: “safely splendid” programming
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safely splendid programming is found on PBS, toned down not controversial because it wouldn’t be able to get money for donations. (Kenburns doc., masterpiece theater), public TV needs to be a public forum for the people thus: requires insulated funding and a clear mandate
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Jarvik: critique of public television
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public TV needs to be free of political influence thus: no government funding—alternative methods instead. Ex: more donations for corp. taxation
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divide between amateur and professional media
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professionals enjoy the privilege of being “good” and “bad” amateurs kept in private spaces & out of public. The historical divide between amateurs & professionals came thru: professionalization of film & TV industries, standardization of equipment, denial of access to networks of distribution and industrial & popular discourses on quality
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public access in the Cable Television Act of 1984
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the public access movement grows from: disenchantment w/ commercial nets/PBS, utopian vision of cable & video technologies, org. concerned w/ local focus. Regulators mandated public access in the Cable TV Act of 1984. PEG channels require in exchange for local monopolies * public access, educational, government * allows public use outside of local gov’t/cable operator control, digital technologies made production & editing easier
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PEG channels
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public access television that require public access, educational programming and government programming in exchange for local monopolies.
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public access television funding and operation
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operator provides channel space, studio, equipment and training, municipalities/users must cover anything else, sign-up = 1st come, 1st served basis, like a “soap box” for citizens to speak
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Paper Tiger Television
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public access television, able to organize and share tapes across borders and could share shows that go against main stream media. Also known as bargain media. Founded in late 1970s & several collectives by 1990s (via satellite), intended to critique corporate media, intentionally cheap aesthetic
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Millner: bargain media
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bargain media is more than cost—it’s an alternative aesthetic. Being cheap forces you to be efficient, props/effects add emphasis, many small audiences add up to a large audience, greater immediacy/turnaround, does not need to be “well-behaved.
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culture industry critics
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capitalism had a democratizing influence by providing government-free media and places to socialize, used to supply enlightenment, debate, news. BUT NOW: mass media devolved into spectacle, supplies diversion, control and advertising; mass culture is spread by mass media. The goal is to promote an economy of consumerism and everything is “dumbed down” and it is interchangeable, formulaic, standardized and mass culture provides artificial concerns, fulfillment thru commodities and no sense of collectivity. [criticisms of this: elitist, people are not helpless & passive, difference between the power of the culture industries & the power of its impact]
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vs. culture studies critics
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culture = circulation of meanings, values, pleasures—process of forming social identities & relationships, focuses on the shared meanings and a site of contestation & negotiation. Pop culture is not the same as mass culture—pop culture is a process, not a thing or category and its assembled from mass culture resources but creates new understandings, values, experiences
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mass culture
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artificial concerns, media interchangeable, no collective identity, corps. Control media
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vs. pop culture
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media is source of pleasure and passion, we engage in and make use of, provides connection to others—watching TV creates a common currency, interwoven w/ everyday lives, provides different viewpoints—TV exposes audiences to identities & ideas far away from our own communities, resources for people to construct their sense of self
*the relationship between mass culture & pop culture is always unstable, PC scans MC for resources it can appropriate and MC scans PC for tastes/interests it can commodify [criticisms = populist, repressive representations, validates dominant/commercial interests, audiences can be active, but that doesn’t mean they’re powerful |
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Shattuc: daytime talk shows
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allows ordinary individuals to enter public debate, discusses social issues rarely raised elsewhere, focuses on everyday lived experience, provides access for domestic/marginalized voices
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Hall’s circuit model of communication and codes
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instead of linear model where there given show and they get what was intended out of it. It is a loop where there can be feedback about the show and change the show and impact each other through ratings and cultural behaviors. One way models of communication has no allowance for miscommunication and no allowance for effects of receivers
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Hall: encoding/decoding, the production of
meaning and its critiques |
codes = generally recognized frames of reference used to express meanings—texts are encoded & we need the code to decode, access to codes depends on cult frameworks, different codes lead to variable decodings. The meaning is shaped in multiple stages: production = message is produced, circulation = message is transmitted, distribution/consumption = audiences receive the message, reproduction/feedback = message is accepted & reproduced, each stage generates meaning and impacts the others, fixed meaning = impossible, no one stage can guarantee meaning in the next, audience = participant in meaning making, producers can’t totally control meaning. Texts are Polysemic—texts are not fixed in meaning—meaning can be multiple but polysemy is structured and hegemony legitimates some meanings over others. Texts are Contestatory—meaning = up for grabs as battleground/site of struggle, diff interests compete to promote diff ideologies.
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Encoding
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Texts are ENCODED at the level of production—producers encode program with preferred meanings, codes shape these meanings thru: 1) frameworks of knowledge (world views, ideas about audience), 2) relation to production (industry economics), 3) access to tech infrastructure (tech, skills, style), producers usually ideologically/economically linked to hegemonic elite.
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Decoding
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Texts are DECODED at the level of consumption—three decoding positions based on different codes: 1) dominant/hegemonic = uses preferred/accepted codes, 2) negotiated = partially accepts/reads preferred meaning, 3) oppositional/counter-hegemonic = rejects preferred meaning for alt. codes.
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Hall's Encoding/Decoding Model
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Hall’s Encoding/Decoding Model Illustrates: the message contains more than one potential reading, producers prefer some readings, but can’t close off all decodings, one’s life experiences/associations color the reading experience, the struggle with getting people’s ideological agreement
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Jenkins: fans as folk culture
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fans = displaced form of folk culture, imitation, revision, parody = crucial to culture, fans do what fold cults did w/ folklore but IP controls make this illegal & ‘extreme’ today, public interest = fair use of culture
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Gwenllian Jones: industrial utility of fandom
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fandom is: an industrial category/function, the industry’s “adoring offspring” not its “nemesis”, a construct not a culture, based on consumption not critique, fans have industrial utility * goals of prods = a wide audience PLUS an active one, fandom = consumer practices cultivated by the industry regardless of IP violations * it relies on studio tolerance
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Wilson: narrative activism/narrative involvement
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narrative involvement = interaction designed by producers * ex: voting for contestants, narrative activism = interfering in producers’ plans
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competing definitions of the public/public interest
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TV must mediate two tensions: commercial interest = b-casting is a business and public interest = b-casters are required to serve the public ** individual stations—not the networks—are licensed to serve the public interest
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regulation
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governmental oversight
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self-regulation
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industry polices itself (for content), internal arbitration and negotiation of what can be said, approves scripts before production, episodes before airing. Factors driving self-regulation: threat of imposed regulation, affiliates refusing clearance, pressure from public advocacy groups, pressure from advertisers and corporation’s own commercial/political interests
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deregulation
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removal of structural rules, premise = corporations serve public interest best when allowed to compete w/o restriction: 80s-90s = deregulatory trends * FCC chairman Fowler: TV = ‘toaster with pictures’, repeal of Fin/Syn etc.
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case studies of Sinclair Broadcast Group
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Sinclair owns 62 stations across country (25% of national audience), 4/04: Nightline reads names of soldiers who died in Irac Sinclair orders its ABC affiliates to deny clearance, 11/04: Sinclair ordered all its stations to air Stolen Honor
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regulatory functions of the FCC
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1) frequency/licensing assignment, 2) establishing technical standards, 3) policing b-cast content, 4) creating rules for ownership & inter-industry relations. FCC regulates broadcast content: disallows obscenity, prohibits indecency as defined by community standards, imposes fines to individual stations for violations, FCC does not regulate cable content: because it’s not public, scarce or intrusive like b-casting, 2004/5 Congress considers regulating cable content
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Telecommunications Act of 1996
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Goal One: let any communications business compete in any market against any other * pushed structural deregulation of ownership* - loosened station ownership cap = now 35% of national market, eliminated cross-ownership restrictions (b-cast, cable, telephone, Internet), extended length of b-cast license from 4-8 years * emphasized self-regulation of content *, communication decency act = passed but challenged by Supreme Court, mandates V-chip, TV ratings, but allows “mature” content through labeling. Goal Two: to maximized competition w/ and across media by replacing public “trustee” system w/ market system, BUT: is the marketplace “free” when a few international corps control major media? Ex: monthly cable bills still rising dramatically, ALSO: did the Act actually promote competition?. Goal Three: to preserve free speech by limiting governmental control But: does it result in more choice & more free speech? Ex: do 5 different ESPN stations really provide variety
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recent trends in deregulation
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corporations must keep up w/ competitors, push to have both programming and distribution, broadcast networks okay to move into cable, enables cross-promotion, repurposing
vertical integration – total control w/ in a single industry |
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horizontal integration
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control & coordination across media sectors
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synergy
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the whole can me more than the sum of its parts—each corporate division works to advance the brand, divisions tailor content for multiple media platforms, utilizes horizontal integration
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power/knowledge and media ownership
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“knowledge is power”, BUT: power is knowledge, * power over media = power to control circulation of ideas, conglomeration = media power too concentrated
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[McChesney vs. Compaine debate]
McChesney |
media conglomerates are giants and its hard for others to break into. News corporations are rich and limit & control what we see. Giants have power to shape policy debates, prevent call for reform, serve commercial agendas; have power to shape & withhold knowledge
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[McChesney vs. Compaine debate]
Compaine |
large corporations have to grow to survive and we get more choices because of it (cable). Media industry is dynamic & changing, corps must grow to survive or lose market share, larger corporations but also more choice, b-cast = now more competitive (6, not 3 networks) (+ cable), notion of what the public needs = elitist
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promotion vs. publicity
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promotion – constructed by stars and people backing them for an image (PR person, ex: poster), publicity – generated by the press, went on Oprah apart of celebrity’s star text
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development of sports on television
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sports on TV attracts: large audiences, demographically desirable audiences,
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how TV changes the sports viewing experience
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Sport organizations thrive or fail depending on TV’s money & coverage – TV has financial/technical requirements & sports need to accommodate this. RESULT: sports organizations alter when/how they’re played, TV changes the viewing experience in a variety of ways
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impact of cable and satellite on sports
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broadcast = ratings for sports events decreasing, cable = popularity and diversity of sports increasing. Satellite provides global transmission: increases the popularity of US sports abroad, brings international sports to US viewers, example: the Olympics & figure skating
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news narratives and how they’re manufactured
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news stories build specific narratives & meanings in a variety of ways. They are manufactured through what materials are readily available, routines, deadlines & resouces, “news values” on what makes “good copy”
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advantages of local news for TV stations
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more watched than national news, also slow to develop but now a TV stable because: serves the public interest license requirement, promotes station identity, a major source of ad revenue, *news is still a commercial enterprise*
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high definition television (HDTV)
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its just higher quality so for digital its sending more numbers
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digital television
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sending of numbers instead of sending the image
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compression
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shrinks it down so that it can allow for HD to fit in old signal bandwidth
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multiplexing
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multiple signals being sent at once
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FCC digital transition plan
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obstacles to implementing ATSC—transmission – equip costs, interference. Reception – need to upgrade receiver – either new TV or converter box (like digital cable/DBS). FCC 10-year transition plan: b-casters get 2nd UHF channel for digital ops, by 2006, b-casters will surrender analog freq (incl. all VHF), but consumers are hesitant to upgrade – security concerns – Emergency Broadcast System, end date pushed back to 2009, subsidy to lower cost of converter for low-income families. Transition to digital not necessarily HD
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Advanced TV Standards Committee (ATSC)
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in 1996 they set new standards, all digital, but no single picture format
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Globalization
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globalization = the flows of media, technologies, ideas, money, & cultures across national/cultural boundaries—it applies to all industries & concerns importing & exporting, goods/services pitched at a global level rather than national one. BUT: globalization is uneven due to inequalities of power, some people/corps/nations have less access
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the factors influencing global TV
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1) political = end of Cold War & opening up of new foreign market, 2) econ = deregulation, loosening ownership regs, & trade treaties, 3) tech = satellite, digital networks, 4) cultural = new migration patterns & movements of people
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importation
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programs made in one nation & sold to another.
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co-production
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co-op between producers from different markets. Advantages = tailored to needs of both & shared cost. But: co-op between markets are challenging—language & industrial differences create conflicts, ad/program structure, scheduling, etc, needs of stronger partner usually win out
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formatting
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importing premises, not episodes. Licensed adaption in local contexts, attractive to local programmers because they are proven successes—cheaper to buy ideas than finished products, enables cultural specificity * many non-U.S. formats have been globally successful *, niche channels/services (“Format TV”) can travel globally as well, ex: international/localized versions of MTV (42 globally)
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Havens: demand of US programs abroad
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Havens = U.S. distributors are in a position of power because their: broadcast strategy work internationally as well, primetimes drama are $$$ to produce and have a wide appeal, programs’ strong domestic performance in the US * advantages for U.S. distributors: global revenues = all profit, * U.S. can afford variable pricing, discounts for poorer markets allow U.S. dominance, advantage for buyer = cheaper than local production. *U.S. faces competition at home & abroad* Home: non-U.S. programs find more success in the U.S. Abroad: Havens = U.S. facing increasing competition from producers in sale to foreign markets. Shows from U.S. = wide appeal / expensive / primetime, shows from elsewhere = niche appeal / cheaper / daytime
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four perspectives on global TV power
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1) cultural exchange = global flows are part of a global village—global TV = marketplace that unites people, advocates a free flow of media, universal cultures are most in demand, 2) cultural imperialism = global flows are part of a global pillage—global TV = one-way flow from U.S./West to the rest, local media suppressed & local media imitates U.S. media, no real exchange of ideas, but unequal position of influence, DANGER: imposes cultural values from outside, 3) cultural nationalism = extension of cultural imperialism—local cultures need to be protected, must be reasserted through quotas, etc., 4) cultural hybridity = global flows are a recombination of cultures—genres/styles are combined & not traceable to one origin, global MTV = mix of business model & w/ local & international cultures, Carrol: TV viewing experience is not the same in all countries
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technological convergence
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personalized content thru a single machine—hardware converges, software diverges. Foundations: increase awareness of content in an environment characterized by overabundance, interactive models of TV to compete w/media such as DVD & Internet, increased capacity for transmits—most people get their TV thru digital cable/satellite
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vs. content convergence
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similar content avail. Thru a variety of devices—hardware diverges, software converges = interactive television. Content shared across different media—a form of synergy, blurs boundaries between: media technologies, entertainment & advertisement, audience & participant
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iTV and its defining characteristics
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iTV = any service which allows the viewer to interact with programming. Viewers customize viewing strategies & content—people have access to a variety of services (video-on-demand, web access, episode guides, reminders, etc.). two-way communication = iTV can respond to the users, addressability = iTV can make suggestions based on user profiles that have been compile on your interests, purchases, etc.
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transmedia storytelling
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narratives told thru multiple media
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advantages of content convergence
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keeps audience engaged between airings & maintains their attention across media, allows a secondary source of income, collects two kinds of viewers: demographically wide (TV) & desirable (“loyals”), * by requiring viewers to use multiple media, they are exposed to even more forms of advertising *
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“the lost boys”
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valuable demo lost to other media such as the web & video games, TV = incorporative approach—licensed games & game-related programming, web content on TV
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Viacom v. Google
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* not all content convergence is the result of corporate interests *, Viacom filed a $1 billion suit against Google for infringement. YouTube (owned by Google) provides content storage and exhibition. Viacom: “Google is using infringing works to draw traffic”, Google: “we are in compliance with the DMCA” BUT: it is a burden of the IP holder to monitor the internet, YouTube is immune to litigation as long as it’s taking down unauthorized material when advised. BUT: Viacom: “we’re spending too much time/money policing YouTube & users merely re-post infringing content”, *Viacom demands filtering software*, Google: “we’re working on it, but it’s hard”, Viacom: “you already monitor for porn & span, tho”
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Digital Millennium Copyright Act
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IP holders notify websites/ISPs of infringement & they must remove it immediately
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the Internet and advertising
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* its about ads as well as content*, TV & YouTube compete for ad dollars: 1) viewers watch unauthorized content on YouTube instead of on TV (loss of ad $$$), 2) corps increasingly putting $$$ to online ads & this threatens TV’s economic model
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disruptive technologies
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1) remote control – allows muting & channel surfing, thwarts network economics, 2) home video recording/DVR – allows FF & time shifting, disrupts programming flow, 3) video game consoles – disregard TV content entirely, displays non-programmed material
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obscenity
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Obscenity shall be defined as any language or material that depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs. is that subset of pornography--sexually explicit speech. Obscenity is not considered to be "speech" and therefore not entitled to First Amendment protection. always illegal
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indecency
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is prohibited in mass media (esp. radio and TV); but is protected as part of freedom of speech in magazines and books
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Broadcast Standards and Practices
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the name traditionally given to the department at a television network which is responsible for the "moral", ethical, and legal implications of the program that network airs—in the vernacular, "the censors". They also ensure fairness on television game shows, acting as an adjunct to the judges at the production company level
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