Study Guide For Exam 1: Media And Society

Front 1

Communication

Back 1

The process of creating symbol systems that convey information and meaning

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Culture

Back 2

Symbols of expression that individuals, groups, and societies use to make sense of daily life and to articulate their values-- a process that delivers the values of a society through products or other meaning-making forms

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Social media

Back 3

Digital applications that allow people worldwide to have conversations, share common interests, and generate their own media content online

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Media Convergence

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The technological merging of media content across various platforms. Also a business model that consolidates various media holdings under one corporate umbrella

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Cross platform

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A particular business model that involves a consolidation of various media holdings-such as cable connection, phone service, television transmission, and Internet access-under one corporate umbrella

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Senders

Back 6

The authors, producers, agencies, and organizations that transmit messages to receivers

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Messages

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The texts, images, and sounds transmitted from senders to receivers

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Receivers

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The targets of messages crafted by senders

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Gatekeepers

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Editors, producers, and other media managers who function as message filters, making decisions about what types of messages actually get produced for particular audiences

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Feedback

Back 10

Responses from receivers to the senders of messages

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Selective exposure

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The phenomenon whereby audiences seek messages and meanings that correspond to their preexisting beliefs and values

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Narrative

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The structure underlying most media products, it includes two components-- the story and the discourse

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High culture

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A symbolic expression that has come to mean good taste--often supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, it is associated with fine art

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Low culture

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A symbolic expression allegedly aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, who enjoy the commercial junk circulated by the mass media, such as soap operas, rock music, talk radio, comics and monster truck pulls

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Modern period

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Tim from the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the present-- its social values include celebrating the individual, believing in rational order, working efficiently, and rejecting tradition

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Progressive era

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A period of political and social reform that lasted from the 1890’s to the 1920’s

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Postmodern period

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era spanning the 1960’s to the present-- its social values include opposing hierarchy, diversifying and recycling culture, questioning scientific reasoning, and embracing paradox

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Populism

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A political idea that tries to appeal to ordinary people by contrasting the people with the elite

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Critical process

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The process whereby a media-literate person or student studying mass communication forms and practices employs the techniques of description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement

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ARPAnet

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The original internet, designed by the U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)

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Broadband

Back 21

Data transmission over a fiber-optic cable-a signaling method that handles a wide range of frequencies

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Wiki web sites

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Internet Web sites that are capable of being edited by any user-- the most famous is Wikipedia

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Portal

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An entry point to the Internet, such as a search engine

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Analog recording

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A recording that is made by capturing the fluctuations of the original sound waves and storing those signals on records or cassettes as a continuous stream of magnetism-analogous to the actual sound

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Digital recording

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Music recorded and played back by laser beam rather than by needle or magnetic tape

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Cover music

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Songs recorded or performed by musicians who did not originally write or perform the music-- in the 1950’s cover music was an attempt by white producers and artists to capitalize on popular songs by blacks

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Payola

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The unethical ( but not always illegal) practice of record promoters paying deejays or radio programmers to favor particular songs over others

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Online piracy

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The illegal uploading, downloading, or streaming of copyrighted material, such as music

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Counterfeiting

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Illegal reissues of out of print recordings and the unauthorized duplication of manufacturer recordings sold on the black market at cut rate prices

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Bootlegging

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The illegal counterfeiting or pirating of CDs, cassettes, and videos that are produced and or sold without official permission from the original songwriter, performer, or copyright holder

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Telegraph

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Invented in the 1840’s, it sent electrical impulses through a cable from a transmitter to a reception point, transmitting Morse code

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Morse code

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A system of sending electrical impulses from a transmitter through a cable to a reception point-- developed by American inventor Samuel Morse

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Electromagnetic waves

Back 33

Invisible electronic impulses similar to visible light electricity, magnetism, light, broadcast signals, and heat are part of such waves, which radiate in space at the speed of light, about 186,000 miles per second

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Radio waves

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A portion of the electromagnetic wave spectrum that was harnessed so that signals could e sent from a transmission point and obtained at a reception point

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Wireless telegraphy

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The forerunner of radio, a from of voiceless point to point communication

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Wireless telephony

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Early experiments in wireless voice and music transmissions, which later developed in modern radio

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Broadcasting

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The transmission of radio waves or TV signals to a broad public audience

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Narrowcasting

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Any specialized electronic programming or media channel aimed at a target audience

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Radio act of 1912

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The first radio legislation passed by Congress, it addressed the problem of amateur radio operators increasingly cramming the airwaves

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Federal radio commission (FRC)

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A body established in 1927 to oversee radio licenses and negotiate channel problems

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HD Radio

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A digital technology that enables AM and FM radio broadcasters to multicast two or three additional compressed digital signals within their traditional analog frequency

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Internet Radio

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Online radio stations that either stream simulcast versions of on air radio broadcasts over the Web or are created exclusively for the Internet

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Podcasting

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A distribution method that enables listeners to download audio program files from the Internet for playback on computer or digital music players

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Low power FM

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A new class of noncommercial radio stations approved by the FCC in 2000 to give voice to local groups lacking access to the public airwaves-- the 10 watt and 100 watt station s broadcast to a small, community-based area

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Basic cable

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In cable programming, a tier of channels composed of local broadcast signals, nonbroadcast access channels, a few regional PBS stations, and a variety of cable channels downlinked from communication satellites

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Superstations

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local independent TV stations, such as WTBS in Atlanta or WGN in Chicago, that have uplinked their signals onto a communication satellite to make themselves available nationwide

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Pay per view PPV

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A cable-television service that allows customers to select a particular movie for a fee, or to pay $25 to $40 for a special onetime event

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Video on demand (VOD)

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Cable television technology that enables viewers to instantly order programming such as movies to be digitally delivered to their sets

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Direct broadcast satellite (DBS)

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A satellite-based service that for a monthly fee downlinks hundreds of satellite channels and services--DBS began distributing video programming directly to households in 1994

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Kinescope

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Before the days of videotape, a 1950’s technique for preserving television broadcasts by using a film camera to record a live TV show off a studio monitor

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Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR)

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An FCC regulation that reduced networks’ control of prime-time programming to encourage more local news and public-affairs programs, often between 6 and 7 p.m.

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Third Screens

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The computer-type screens on which consumers can view television, movies, music, newspapers, and books

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Time shifting

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The process whereby television viewers tape shows and watch them later, when it is convenient for them

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O and Os

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TV stations owned and operated by networks

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Fringe time

Back 55

in television, the time slot either immediately before the evening’s prime-time schedule or immediately following the local evening news or the network’s late-night talk shows

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Off network Syndication

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In television, the process whereby older programs that no longer run during prime time are made available for reruns to local stations, cable operators, online services, and foreign markets

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Ratings

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In TV audience measurement, a statistical estimate expressed as a percentage of household tuned to a program in the local or national market being sampled

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Shares

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In TV audience measurement, a statistical estimate of the percentage of homes tuned to a certain program, compared with those simply using their sets at the time of a sample

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Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

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A company developed during World War 1 that was designed, with government approval, to pool radio patents, the formation of RCA gave the United States almost total control over the emerging mass medium of broadcasting

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Radio act of 1927

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The second radio legislation passed by Congress-- in an attempt to restore order to the airwaves, it stated that licenses did not own their channels buy could license them as long as they operated to serve the public interest, convenience, or necessity

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Communications Act of 1934

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The far-reaching act that established the FCC and the federal regulatory structure for U.S. broadcasting

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Telecommunications act of 1996

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The sweeping update of telecommunications law that led to a wave of media consolidation