University of Phoenix Material

Effects of Mass Media Worksheet

Write brief 250-to 300-word answers to each of the following:

|Questions |Answers |
|What were the major developments in the |In the 21st century, rabid fans could turn their attention to a whole swath of pop stars |
|evolution of mass media during the 20th |in |
|century? |the making when the reality TV program American Idolhit the airwaves in 2002. The show was|
| | |
| |the only television program ever to have snagged the top spot in the Nielsen ratings for |
| |six |
| |seasons in a row, often averaging more than 30 million nightly viewers. Rival television |
| |network |
| |executives were alarmed, deeming the pop giant “the ultimate schoolyard bully,” “the Death|
| | |
| |Star,” or even “the most impactful show in the history of television,” according to former|
| |NBC |
| |Universal CEO Jeff Zucker. |
| |5 |
| |New cell phone technologies allowed viewers to have a direct role |
| |in the program’s star-making enterprise through casting votes, signing up for text alerts,|
| |or |
| |playing trivia games on their phones. In 2009, AT&T estimated that Idol-related text |
| |traffic |
| |amounted to 178 million messages. |
| | |
| |These three crazes all relied on various forms of media to create excitement. Whether |
| |through newspaper advertisements, live television broadcasts, or integrated Internet |
| |marketing, |
| |media industry tastemakers help shape what wecare about. For as long as mass media has |
| |existed in the United States, it’s helped to create and fuel mass crazes, skyrocketing |
| |celebrities, |
| |and pop culture manias of all kinds. Even in ourera of seemingly limitless entertainment |
| |options, |
| |mass hits like American Idol |
| |1 Intersection of American Media and Culture |
| |still have the ability to dominate the public’s attention. In the |
| |chapters to come, we’ll look at different kinds of mass media and how they have been |
| |changed |
| |by—and are changing—the world we live in. |
| | |
| |Throughout U.S. history, evolving media technologies have changed the way we relate |
| |socially, economically, and politically. In 2007, for example, a joint venture between the|
| |24-hour |
| |news network CNN and the video-sharing site YouTube allowed voters to pose questions |
| |directly to presidential candidates in two televised debates. Voters could record their |
| |questions |
| |and upload them to YouTube, and a selection of these videos were then chosen by the debate|
| | |
| |moderators and played directly to the presidential candidates. This new format opened up |
| |the |
| |presidential debates to a much wider array of people, allowing for greater voter |
| |participation than |
| |has been possible in the past, where questions wereposed solely by journalists or a few |
| |carefully |
| |chosen audience members. |
| | |
| |In 2010, Americans could turn on their television and find 24-hour news channels as well |
| |as |
| |music videos, nature documentaries, and reality shows about everything from hoarders to |
| |fashion |
| |models. That’s not to mention movies available on demand from cable providers or |
| |television |
| |and video available online for streaming or downloading. Half of U.S. households receive a|
| |daily |
| |newspaper, and the average person holds 1.9 magazine subscriptions. |
| |7 |
| |, |
| |8 |
| |A University of |
| |California, San Diego study claimed that U.S. households consumed a total of approximately|
| |3.6 |
| |zettabytes of information in 2008—the digital equivalent of a 7-foot high stack of books |
| |covering the entire United States—a 350 percent increase since 1980. |
| |Americans are exposed to |
| |media in taxicabs and buses, in classrooms and doctors’ offices, on highways, and in |
| |airplanes. |
| |We can begin to orient ourselves in the information cloud through parsing what roles the |
| |media |
| |fills in society, examining its history in society, and looking at the way technological |
| |innovations |
| |have helped bring us to where we are today. |
| | |
| |The penny press appealed to readers’ desires for lurid tales of murder and scandal. |
| |In the early decades of the 20th century, the first major nonprint form of mass media— |
| |radio—exploded in popularity. Radios, which were less expensive than telephones and widely|
| | |
| |available by the 1920s, had the unprecedented ability of allowing huge numbers of people |
| |to |
| |listen to the same event at the same time. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge’s preelection speech |
| |reached |
| |Page| 32 |
| |more than 20 million people. Radio was a boon for advertisers, who now had access to a |
| |large |
| |and captive audience. An early advertising consultant claimed that the early days of radio|
| |were |
| |“a glorious opportunity for the advertising man tospread his sales propaganda” because of |
| |“a |
| |countless audience, sympathetic, pleasure seeking, enthusiastic, curious, interested, |
| |approachable |
| |in the privacy of their homes.” |
| |14 |
| |The reach of radio also meant that the medium was able to |
| |downplay regional differences and encourage a unified sense of the American lifestyle—a |
| |lifestyle that was increasingly driven and defined by consumer purchases. “Americans in |
| |the |
| |1920s were the first to wear ready-made, exact-size clothing…to play electric phonographs,|
| |to |
| |use electric vacuum cleaners, to listen to commercial radio broadcasts, and to drink fresh|
| |orange |
| |juice year round.” |
| |15 |
| |This boom in consumerism put its stamp on the 1920s and also helped |
| |contribute to the Great Depression of the 1930s. |
| |The post–World War II era in the United States was marked by prosperity, and by the |
| |introduction of a seductive new form of mass communication:television. In 1946, about |
| |17,000 |
| |televisions existed in the United States; within7 years, two-thirds of American households|
| | |
| |owned at least one set. As the United States’ gross national product (GNP) doubled in the |
| |1950s, |
| |and again in the 1960s, the American home becamefirmly ensconced as a consumer unit; along|
| | |
| |with a television, the typical U.S. household owned a car and a house in the suburbs, all |
| |of which |
| |contributed to the nation’s thriving consumer-based economy. |
| |The consumerist impulsedrove production to |
| |unprecedented levels, but when the Depression began and consumer demand dropped |
| |dramatically, the surplus of production helped further deepen the economic crisis, as more|
| |goods |
| |were being produced than could be sold. |
| |17 |
| |Broadcast television was the |
| |dominant form of mass media, and the three major networks controlled more than 90 percent |
| |of |
| |the news programs, live events, and sitcoms viewed by Americans. Some social critics |
| |argued |
| | |
| |that television was fostering a homogenous, conformist culture by reinforcing ideas about |
| |what |
| |“normal” American life looked like. But television also contributed to the counterculture |
| |of the |
| |1960s. The Vietnam War was the nation’s first televised military conflict, and nightly |
| |images of |
| |war footage and war protesters helped intensify the nation’s internal conflicts. |
| |Broadcast technology, including radio and television, had such a hold on the American |
| |imagination that newspapers and other print media found themselveshaving to adapt to the |
| |new |
| |media landscape. Print media was more durable and easily archived, and it allowed users |
| |more |
| |flexibility in terms of time—once a person had purchased a magazine, he or she could read |
| |it |
| |whenever and wherever. Broadcast media, incontrast, usually aired programs on a fixed |
| |schedule, which allowed it to both provide a sense of immediacy and fleetingness. Until |
| |the |
| |advent of digital video recorders in the late 1990s, it was impossible to pause and rewind|
| |a live |
| |television broadcast. |
| |The media world faced drastic changes once again in the 1980s and 1990s with the |
| |spread of cable television. During the early decades of television, viewers had a limited |
| |number |
| |of channels to choose from—one reason for the charges of homogeneity. In 1975, the three |
| |major networks accounted for 93 percent of all television viewing. By 2004, however, this |
| |share |
| |had dropped to 28.4 percent of total viewing, thanks to the spread of cable television. |
| |Cable |
| |providers allowed viewers a widemenu of choices, including channels specifically tailored |
| |to |
| |people who wanted to watch only golf, classic films, sermons, or videos of sharks. Still, |
| |until the |
| |mid-1990s, television was dominated by the three large networks. The Telecommunications |
| |Act |
| |of 1996, an attempt to foster competition by deregulating the industry, actually resulted |
| |in many |
| |mergers and buyouts that left most of the control of the broadcast spectrum in the hands |
| |of a few |
| |large corporations. In 2003, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loosened |
| |regulation even further, allowing a single company to own 45 percent of a single market |
| |(up |
| |from 25 percent in 1982). |
| | |
| |For Elvis Presley’s third appearance on The Ed Sullivan show |
| |Source: Used with permission from Getty Images. |
| |, he was shown only from the waist |
| |up; Sullivan considered his dancing too scandalous for family viewing. |
| |Along with encouraging a mass audience tosee (or skip) certain movies, television |
| |shows, video games, books, or fashion trends, people use tastemaking to create demand for |
| |new |
| |products. Companies often turn toadvertising firms to help create public hunger for an |
| |object |
| |Page| 73 |
| |that may have not even existed 6 months before. In the 1880s, when George Eastman |
| |developed |
| |the Kodak camera for personal use, photography was most practiced by professionals. |
| |“Though |
| |the Kodak was relatively cheap and easy to use, most Americans didn’t see the need for a |
| |camera; they had no sense that there was any value in visually documenting their lives,” |
| |noted |
| |New Yorkerwriter James Surowiecki. |
| | |
| |Tastemakers help keep culture vital by introducing the public to new ideas, music, |
| |programs, or products, but tastemakers are not immune to outside influence. In the |
| |traditional |
| |media model, large media companies set aside large advertising budgets to promote their |
| |most |
| |promising projects; tastemakers buzz about “the next big thing,” and obscure or niche |
| |works can |
| |get lost in the shuffle |
| | |
| | |
| |After exploring the ways technology, culture, and mass media have affectedone another over|
| |the |
| |years, it may also be helpful to look at recent cultural eras more broadly. A cultural |
| |periodis a |
| |time marked by a particular way of understanding the world through culture and technology.|
| | |
| |Changes in cultural periods are marked by fundamental switches in the way people perceive |
| |and |
| |understand the world. In the Middle Ages, truth was dictated by authorities like the king |
| |and the |
| |church. During the Renaissance, people turned tothe scientific method as a way to reach |
| |truth |
| |through reason. And, in 2008, Wiredmagazine’s editor in chief proclaimed that Google was |
| |about to render the scientific method obsolete. |
| |38 |
| |The Modern Age |
| |In each of these cases, it wasn’t that the nature |
| |of truth changed, but the way humans attempted tomake sense of a world that was radically |
| |changing. For the purpose of studying culture and mass media, the post-Gutenberg modern |
| |and |
| |postmodern ages are the most relevant ones to explore. |
| |The Modern Age, or modernity |
| |The |
| |, is the postmedieval era, a wide span of time marked in part by |
| |technological innovations, urbanization, scientific discoveries, and globalization. The |
| |Modern |
| |Age is generally split into two parts: the early and the late modern periods. |
| |early modern periodbegan with Gutenberg’s invention of the movable type printing |
| |press in the late 15th century and ended in the late 18th century. Thanks to Gutenberg’s |
| |press, |
| |the European population of the early modern period saw rising literacy rates, which led to|
| | |
| |educational reform. As noted in preceding sections, Gutenberg’s machine also greatly |
| |enabled |
| |the spread of knowledge and, in turn, spurred the Renaissance and the Protestant |
| |Reformation. |
| |During the early modern period, transportation improved, politics becamemore secularized, |
| |capitalism spread, nation-states grew more powerful, and information became more widely |
| |Page| 63 |
| |accessible. Enlightenment ideals of reason, rationalism, and faith in scientific inquiry |
| |slowly |
| |began to replace the previously dominant authorities of king and church. |
| |Huge political, social, and economic changes marked the end of the 18th century and the |
| |beginning of the late modern period |
| |The French and American revolutions were inspired by a rejection of monarchy in favor |
| |of national sovereignty and representative democracy. Both revolutions also heralded the |
| |rise of |
| |secular society as opposed to church-based authority systems. Democracy was well suited to|
| |the |
| |so-called Age of Reason, with its ideals of individual rights and progress. |
| |. The Industrial Revolution, which began in England around |
| |1750, combined with the American Revolution in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789, |
| |marked the beginning of massive changes in the world. |
| |Though less political, the Industrial Revolution had equally far-reaching consequences. It|
| | |
| |did not merely change the way goods were produced—it also fundamentally changed the |
| |economic, social, and cultural framework of itstime. The Industrial Revolution doesn’t |
| |have |
| |clear start or end dates. However, during the 19th century, several crucial inventions—the|
| | |
| |internal combustion engine, steam-powered ships, and railways, among others—led to |
| |innovations in various industries. Steam power and machine tools increased production |
| |dramatically. But some of the biggest changes coming out of the Industrial Revolution were|
| | |
| |social in character. An economy based on manufacturing instead of agriculture meant that |
| |more |
| |people moved to cities, where techniques of mass production led people to value efficiency|
| |both |
| |in and out of the factory. Newly urbanized factory laborers could no longer produce their |
| |own |
| |food, clothing, or supplies, and instead turned to consumer goods. Increased production |
| |led to |
| |increases in wealth, though income inequalities between classes also started to grow. |
| |These overwhelming changes affected (and were affected by) the media. As noted in |
| |Page| 64 |
| |preceding sections, the fusing of steam power and the printing press enabled the explosive|
| | |
| |expansion of books and newspapers. Literacy rates rose, as did support for public |
| |participation in |
| |politics. More and more people lived in the city, had an education, got their news from |
| |the |
| |newspaper, spent their wages on consumer goods, and identified as citizens of an |
| |industrialized |
| |nation. Urbanization, mass literacy, and new forms of mass media contributed to a sense of|
| |mass |
| |culture that united people across regional, social, and cultural boundaries. |
| |Modernity and the Modern Age, it should be noted, are distinct from (but related to) the |
| |cultural movement of modernism. The Modern Era lasted from the end of the Middle Ages to |
| |the |
| |middle of the 20th century; modernism |
| |The Postmodern Age |
| |, however, refers to the artisticmovement of late 19th and |
| |early 20th centuries that arose from the widespread changes that swept the world during |
| |that |
| |period. Most notably, modernism questioned the limitations of traditional forms of art and|
| | |
| |culture. Modernist art was in part a reaction against the Enlightenment’s certainty of |
| |progress |
| |and rationality. It celebrated subjectivity through abstraction, experimentalism, |
| |surrealism, and |
| |sometimes pessimism or even nihilism. Prominent examples of modernist works include James |
| |Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness novels, cubist paintings by Pablo Picasso, atonal |
| |compositions |
| |by Claude Debussy, and absurdist plays by Luigi Pirandello. |
| | |
| |Definitions of obscenity, which is not protected by the First Amendment, have altered |
| |with the nation’s changing social attitudes. James Joyce’sUlysses, ranked by the Modern |
| |Library |
| |as the best English-language novel of the 20th century, was illegal to publish in the |
| |United States |
| |between 1922 and 1934 because the U.S. Customs Court declared the book obscene because of |
| |its sexual content. The 1954 Supreme Court case Roth v. the United Statesdefined obscenity|
| | |
| |more narrowly, allowing for differences depending on community standards. The sexual |
| |revolution and social changes of the 1960s made iteven more difficult to pin down just |
| |what was |
| |meant by community standards—a question thatis still under debate to this day. The |
| |mainstreaming of sexually explicit content like Playboy |
| |Regulations related to obscene content are not the only restrictions on First Amendment |
| |rights; |
| |magazine, which is available in nearly |
| |every U.S. airport, is another indication that obscenity is still open to interpretation. |
| |copyright lawalso puts limits on free speech. Intellectual property law was originally |
| |intended to protect just that—the proprietary rights, both economic and intellectual, of |
| |the |
| |originator of a creative work. Works under copyright can’t be reproduced without the |
| |authorization of the creator, nor can anyone elseuse them to make a profit. Inventions, |
| |novels, |
| |musical tunes, and even phrases are all covered by copyright law. The first copyright |
| |statute in |
| |the United States set 14 years as the maximum term for copyright protection. This number |
| |has |
| |risen exponentially in the 20th century; some works are now copyright-protected for up to |
| |120 |
| |years. In recent years, an Internet culture that enables file sharing, musical mash-ups, |
| |and |
| |YouTube video parodies has raisedquestions about the fair use exception to copyright law. |
| |The |
| |exact line between what types of expressions are protected or prohibited by law are still |
| |being set |
| |by courts, and as the changing values of the U.S. public evolve, copyright law—like |
| |obscenity |
| |law—will continue to change as well. |
| | |
| |The contemporary media age can trace its origins back to the electrical telegraph, |
| |patented in the United States by Samuel Morse in 1837. Thanks to the telegraph, |
| |communication |
| |was no longer linked to the physical transportation of messages; it didn’t matter whether |
| |a |
| |message needed to travel 5 or500 miles. Suddenly, information from distant places was |
| |nearly |
| |as accessible as local news, as telegraph lines began to stretch across the globe, making |
| |their own |
| |kind of World Wide Web. In this way, the telegraph acted as the precursor to much of the |
| |technology that followed, including the telephone,radio, television, and Internet. When |
| |the first |
| |transatlantic cable was laid in 1858, allowing nearly instantaneous communication from the|
| | |
| |United States to Europe, the London Timesdescribed it as “the greatest discovery since |
| |that of |
| |Columbus, a vast enlargement…given to the sphere of human activity.” |
| |20 |
| |Not long afterward, wireless communication (which eventually led to the development of |
| |radio, television, and other broadcast media) emerged as an extension of telegraph |
| |technology. |
| |Although many 19th-century inventors, including Nikola Tesla, were involved in early |
| |wireless |
| |experiments, it was Italian-born Guglielmo Marconi who is recognized as the developer of |
| |the |
| |first practical wireless radio system. Many people were fascinatedby this new invention. |
| |Early |
| |radio was used for military communication, but soon the technology entered the home. The |
| |burgeoning interest in radio inspired hundreds ofapplications for broadcasting licenses |
| |from |
| |newspapers and other news outlets, retail stores, schools, and even cities. In the 1920s, |
| |large |
| |media networks—including the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the Columbia |
| |Broadcasting System (CBS)—were launched, and they soon began to dominate the airwaves. In |
| |1926, they owned 6.4 percent of U.S. broadcasting stations; by 1931, that number had risen|
| |to 30 |
| |Percent. |
|How did each development influence | |
|American culture? | |