R1

Mass ulture AN I N TRODUC T I ON

J _~1 E,S R.\V1LS()N California State University, Fresno

ST:\N LE RO-Y",ILS()l\ Professor Emeritus

College o/the Desert

Fifth Edition

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Cover images: "Princess Diana" by Ken Goff/Timepix, "Toni Morrison" by James Keyser/Timepix, "The Bearles" by Terence Spencer/Life Magazine/Timepix, "Edward R. Murrow" Lisa Larsen/Life Magazine/Timepi x, "Elvis" by Robert W. Kelley/Life Magazine/Timepix, "Cindy Crawford" by Albert Ferreira/ DMI /Ti mepix, "Peanuts" by Photofest, "Sammy Sosa" by Jo hn Lacono/SI/Timepix, "Stephen King" by Ted Thaj/Tlme Magazine/Tlmepix, "EHen DeGeneres and Anne Heche by Patsy Lynch/Timepix. "Lucille BaH" by Loomi s Dean/Life Magazine/Tl mepix

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MASS MEDIA/MASS CULTURE Published by The McGraw-Hili Companies, Inc . 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10020. Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1995, 1993, 1992, by The McGraw-Hili Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication ma y be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or srored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to , in any network or other e lec tro nic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to cusromers outside the United States.

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ISBN 0072314621

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Library of Congres s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wilson, James R. (James Ross) Mass media/mass culture: an introduction / James R. Wilson, Stan Le Roy Wilson.

- 5th ed. p. cm.

ISBN 0-07-231462-1 Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Mass media and culture . I. Wilson, Stan Le Roy. II. Title

P94.6W55 2001 00-55892 302.23dc-21

www.mhhe.com

Communication is mankind's most important single act .

When improperly performed it turns friends into enemies

and plunges nations into wars.

-Anonymous

Cllltllre and Communication Basz"c C"oncepts

Culture

Elite Culture

Popular Culture

Mass Culture

Media Literacy

The EPS Cycle

The Communication Process

Communication

Mass Communication

Channels of Mass Communication

Gatekeeping

Agenda Setting

4 Part 1 Culture and Communication

CULTIJRE

First, let's consider the word culture. Some see culture as synonymous with fine art and other "highbrow" activities and interests. However, anthropologists define culture as everything that occurs in a society-all of the customs and practices handed down from generation to generation. These contributions usually come from formal institu­ tions, such as churches, the government, and, increasingly, the media; mores, or stan­ dards of behavior; laws; and conventional practices and customs. In this book, we will use the anthropological definition of culture .

Elitr Cll!1 f.l re In early times there were distinct differences between the culture of the elite (the rich and ruling classes) and the culture of the common person. The elite culture is some­ times referred to as "high culture." During the Middle Ages a caste system kept the culture of the elite separate from the folk culture of the peasants. The elite culture consisted of fine art j literature, and classical music. Folk culture consisted of street car­ nivals, tavern drinking, and folktales. People who participated in the elite culture could also enjoy the folk culture, but the reverse was not true . Although some elite culture exists today, ordinary people can at least observe some of it on TV shows fea­ turing the "rich and famous" and in the supermarket tabloids, which often feature the British royal family and celebrities such as American developer Donald Trump.

Popu!m' Cllitu/,e Popular culture, or pop culture, can be defined as the culture of everyone in a society. Pop culture scholar Ray B. Browne defined it as the cultural world around us, that is, our attitudes, habits, and actions: how we act and why we act; what we eat and wear; our buildings, roads, and means of travel; our entertainment and sports; our politics, religion, and medical practices; our beliefs and activities and what shapes and controls them. In other words, it is to us what water is to fish : It is the world we live in.!

As the fish analogy suggests, our popular culture can be so pervasive that we sel­ dom notice it . To do so, we must step back and consciously observe all the objects in our society and ask ourselves why we idolize the things we do, why we buy the things we do , and why we believe in the things we do (see Box 1.1).

In the 19th century, the distinction between elite and folk culture began to blur following the development of political democracy, public education of the masses, and the Industrial Revolution, which ushered in the era of popular or mass culture. The term popular culture was developed in the 19th century to replace the term folk culture.

Throughout history, every society has had its own popular cultme. Most of today's popular culture is mass-produced and is disseminated through the mass media. Popu­ lar music, cheap paperback novels, soap operas, videocassette movies, and a myriad of advertised products from designer jeans to disposable razors make up our everyday en­ vironment. Stephen King novels, Levi's jeans, and McDonald's golden arches are in­ stantly recognizable symbols or icons of contemporary pop culture.*

"Even today, however, we can see the remnants of the elite culture. G oing to the movies is participating in th e popular culture, but attending the opera is dee med elite. A Pablo Pic~sso paiming is part of the elite culture, whereas a poster of Brad Pitt is a pop culture artifact. Bowling is a leisure activity of the popular culture, while polo is definitely a pan of the elite culture. Golf and tennis are now pop culture activities in are as with public courses nnd couns, but they were once exclusively elite . Television expo­ sure of golf and tennis events helped to expand their popularity am ong the masses and soon there were demands for public facilities.

Chapter 1 Culture find Communication: Basic Concepts 5

II

s we begin the 21st century, the study of popular Association (PCA) and the American Culture Associ­ ;- culture on college and university campuses has ation (ACA), that attract some 3,000 members to an­ 1

--L _~continued to grow. Such topics as the messages nual conventions where such papers as "The ) found in MTV videos, television programs, movies, Reconciliation of Archie and Meathead, All in the Fam­ I comic books, detective novels, and rock and roll music dis last Episode" and "The Tuppelware Party and the rl have been rigorously examined in many academic set­ American Dream" are presented. Ii tings. Many additional courses explore the relationship In the early years, many academics looked down II of the mass media to popular culture. on pop culture, believing the study of everyday culture

It h as been estimated that more than 2,000 stu­ was not appropriate in a university setting where stu­ II dents a year have been enrolling in popular culture dents examined Western civilization, philosophy, and classes. At Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the sciences. Supporters of the study of popular culture !students can earn degrees in popular culture. The study point out that it is part of our history and holds as much

" of MTV videos has been the subject of a course at Cal­ relevance as war, slavery, and ·revolutions. They note I' ifornia Sta te University, los Angeles. There are even that by examining the themes and styles of a culture , professional organizations, such as the Popular Culture we can better understand the values of the people.

.Ii(I SS (~lfII((J 'r' Because of the mass rnediation of our popular culture, another term, mass cultUl'e, has evolved. This refers to the things in our popular culture that are mass-produced or shared through the mass media. In America today, that represents almost everything in our popular culture . It is so difficult to think of anything in our modem popular cul­ ture that isn't either mass-produced or promoted in the mass media that the terms mass culture and popular culture have come to be used almost interchangeably.

Another important term in our studies is media literacy, which refers to the need for the consumer of media content to be aware of the impacts of the media on our culture. Studies have shown that Americans spend more time with the media than they do eating, sleeping, and participating in family activities. To be media literate a person should know who creates the content for the media, what the purpose of that content is, what effects the media have on our society, the role of the consumer in the mass- ,'" it: of COi1'iU,', l<!l' communication process, and, perhaps most importantly, how the media have evolved from their beginnings to their place in mday's world culture.

Throughout this book, we will refer to a concept known as the media progression C)'cle which describes how new mass media get adopted in our culture . The concept was developed by mass~communication scholars John Merrill and Ralph Lowenstein, who in 1971 first pointed out that media usually develop in three stages, 2The definitions

... -.. - - - ._ - - -­

Part 1 Culture and Communication6

' 1 pecialization, the third stage of the EPS cycle, is nals and then pay a descrambling fee or pay a cable rapidly taking over the mass media in American company for programming that generally costs any­ culture. Futurist Alvin Toffler calls this phenom­ where from $20 to $40 per month-more if you add the

enon the "demassification of the mass media." But it premium channels. These COStS are expected to in­ can also be very expensive. crease dramatically when we begin taking advantage of

II Along with this specialization has come increased the many interactive-TV options available.

costs to the consumer. A specialized magazine today Interactive TV has tremendous potential to accel­ costS many times more than the magazines of yester­ erate learning for youngsters and make adults much year, and their numbers are countless. The price of ad­ better informed and more knowledgeable citizens. Does

I mission to a motion picture theater is also much higher this mean we may be headed back to a distinct caste today. How much will we pay to read a book if it be­ system with definite economic and social differences comes necessary to purchase a computer and compact between the elite and popular cultures? Will a tremen­ disks to read one (see Chapter 6)? Television was a dous knowledge gap separate rich and poor in the new once free entertainment medium when it was limited infonuation age? This appears to be the case as studies to the popular stage of the EPS cycle. All you needed in this country and around the world indicate a divide was a TV set and an antenna. Today the specialized between those who have computers and those who programming available on television can be very costly. don't. One might argue that the EPS cycle is cyclical You must either purchase a satellite dish to pick up sig- and that it might be better described as the EPSE cycle.

of elite and popular culture discussed earlier will help you understand the three stages med ia Pl';)l'fc'iision of the media progression cycle known as the elitist-popular-specialized (EPS) cycle. ..:ydc A mass communication medium usually starts out in the elite stage. Here the me­

dia appeal to, and are consumed by, the affluent leaders in the culture. After a nation breaks through the barriers of poverty and illiteracy, its media enter the popular stage and are enjoyed by the mass culture. Eventually, as the elements of higher education, affluence, leisure time, and population growth coalesce, the mass media begin to enter a third stage of the EPS cycle: specialization. In this stage the media are consumed by highly fragmented segments of the population, each with its own interests and cultural

~peciali :atiQo activities. While media in the United States are entering the stage of specialization, in many underdeveloped nations the media are still in the elite stage of the EPS cycle (see Box 1.2).

The United States was the first nation in which all of the factors necessary for specialization converged. During the latter half of the 20th century, the American mass media have made

c@, Practicing' Nledia Lite"acy great strides toward specialization. Futurist Alvin Toffler de­ scribes this trend as the "demassification of the mass media," and Do you think .."e 're headed back he believes it will continue as we complete Ollr move from the 10 a distinct caste system with industrial age to the information age.3 Although all American

defini Le economic and social media are beginning to specialize in one fonn or another, maga­

differences between the elite zines have been the most specialized medium for the longest pe­ and popular cultures? riod of time (see Chapter 8). We will look at the EPS cycle again

when we begin our examination of individual mass media .

" ,

7 Chapter 1 Culture and Communication: Basic Concepts

This painting by Renaissance artist Pieter Brueghe1 the Elder, The Peasant Dance, was intended for the elite culture but pm"trays some of the customs of the folk culture during that period.

TilE CO,nIC\(C \TTO\ PllOCESS

Now that we have a common understanding of these terms, let's examine how the communication process, and mass communication in particular, works.

Communication can be defined simply as the process by which individuals share information, ideas, and attitudes. A key word in this definition is share, which means to give or receive a part of something or to enjoy or assume something in common. Some people use the term send rather than share when they discuss the communica­ tion process. However, sending merely implies transmitting a message with littl e con­ cern for the person receiving it, whereas sharing implies that the source and the receiver are active ly working together for common understanding.

You will also note that we call communication a process, because communication is ongoing and dynamic. The communication process encompasses various compo­ nents that interact with one another, causing specific consequences. For example, what information, ideas, and attitudes are shared, how much is shared, when they are shared, and what tools are used to share them are all variables in the process.

Part 1 Culture and Communicarion

'07)('S (if' ('OIlI/JlII/! l('(t! /011 Various types of communication exist. Intraperson al communication describes a per­ son talking to himself or herself. In interpersonal communication, two or three people talk with one another in close physical proximity. In group communication, groups of people communicate with one another in face-to-face encounters. In mass communi­ cation, professional communicators use technological devices known as mass media to communicate over great distances to influence large audiences.

Several basic components make up the communication process. While these components can be presented in a variety of diagrams or models, our basic model in­ cludes the source, the message, the channel, and the receiver (see Figure 1.1) .

•S'Ot/l'cr"'

The source (sometimes ca lled the sender, communicator, or encoder) is the person who shares information, ideas, or atti tud es with another person. The writers of this te xtbook are sharing their ideas on the definition of the term source with you. The message is being disse minated to you through the process of mass communication-in this case, book publishing.

In mass communication, the source is usually a professional communicator who shapes the message to be shared. He or she might be a newsp aper or television reporter or an entertainer who must gather material or ideas a nd then share them with th e audience.

Iles,w If!,'t' The message is whatever the source attempts to share with someone else. It originates with an idea, which then must be encoded into symbols tha t will be used to express that idea.

~ymhols Symbols are words , pictures, or objects that the source us es to elicit meaning in the mind of the receiver of the message. Words and pictures are the most common symbols used in communication. Words attempt to describe an object or a concept, while pictures actually show a representation of the object or idea. When giving some friends directions on how to find your home, you might use words to id entify the di­ rections they should follow and the various cross-streets they need to look for. Or, if you preferred, you could draw th em a map.

Selecting symbols for an idea or an obj ect is a very important step in the commu­ nication process because poorly selected symbols will result in a confusing or misun­ derstood message. Care must be taken to choose symbols that will elicit responses in the mind of the message receiver that are similar to those the source intended.

When communicators select symbols for their messages, they mllst keep in mind tha t each person has a diffe rent frame of reference and, as a result, certain symbols may mean different things to different people. A frame of reference (sometimes called field of experience) is the set of individual experiences each person possesses; no two people h ave exactly the same experiences.

FJClHEl,1 Each experience or event in our lives leaves so me Communication model sort of impression on us, and we use the accumulation

of these experiences to give meaning and interpretation Message to symbols. For example, a person who was the vic tim

L Source I.-----._~ Receiver -­~ Channel - -­

of a crime will respond differently than a street gang member to the mess age "The police are coming." These

9 Chapter I Culture and Communication: Basic Concepts

different reactions are based on the mea nings given to the word police that have de­ veloped as a result of the individual experiences.

Although we primarily use words and pictures to se nd o ur messages, we also com­ municate in other ways. Facial expressions, gestures, and body language can effectively send messages. For example, a television newscaster might repo rt on the president's ne w deficit-reduction package by stating only the facts about the plan, while his facial expression or tone of voice revea ls his bi as es agains t the plan.

( '1/(1/1ll d The channel is the way we send our message. In interp ersona l communication we use the senses of sight, sound, and touch to communicate messages. These are our chan­ n els. In mass communication such technological devices as books, newspapers, maga­ zines, movies, radio, recordings, and televisi on are o ur communication channels.

Mass communication differs from interp erso n a l communication in that its mes ­ sages must be moved ove r greater distance s. This movem ent is achieved through the use of technological devices. Radio and television messages are transmitted electron­ ically, while newspap er and magaz ine messages are reproduced on high- speed presses and distributed through the mails or via carriers.

Tod ay, h owever, even some print media messages a re transmitted electronically. Wire services send news via satellite, and USA Today trans mits the entire contents of the n ewspaper by satellite to printing plants around the country and to other parts of the world. By the mid-1990s, many newspa pers, radio stations, and telev ision stations ac ross the nation were also making news ava ila ble on the Internet.

/.) . II('e(,ll't'I '

The receiver (sometimes called the des tina tion , a udience, or decoder) in the commu­ nica ti on process is the person with who m th e message is intended to be shared. With ­ oue a rece iver, there is no communication. In fact, if anyone of the above four communication components is missing, no co mmunication will occ ur. To properly share your message, you must als o be su re that the rece iver is listening and is under­ standing what you have to communicate.

Just beca us e a story is carried in a newspaper or broadcast over rad io or telev ision does not mean everyone has received the message. If some people do not read the story or pay attention to the broad­ cast, it has not been communicated to them.

The receiv er in mass communication is usu­ ally a large audi e nce that is often re fe rred to as the masses. Because of th e audience 's size and diver­ sity, mass communicatio n requires careful choices of symbols that will e licit similar interpreta tions among rece ivers, each of whom has a different frame of reference.

Peed/Jock If the recei ver or audience in the communication process transmits back to the source an observable response to the message, a component called feed-

Can you guess from Dan Rather's faci a! ex­ pression and clothing what type of news he is reporting?

10 Part 1 Culrure and Communicat ion

back has been added. Feedback enables the source to determine if the message was correctly und erstood and, if it wasn't, to modify it (see Figure 1.2).

Feedback can take many forms. It can consist of words, gestures, facial expres­ sions, or any other observable elem ent. A person making a pass at an attractive mem­ ber of the opposite sex, for example, might get a cle ar message to "get los t" without a word being spoken.

Feedb ack is absent, o r at best very much delayed, in mass communication. This makes mass communication much more difficult than face-to-face communication. Messages in mass communication must be clearly constructed because there is seldo m a chance to restate their meaning. It is true that if a newspaper story is erroneously in ­ terpreted or misunderstood, people will write letters to the editor, and if a broadcaster's statement is incorrectly perceived, the station may get irate telephone calls. However, such feedb ack comes too late to do much good .

•\ oi'\('

Certain additional factors , called communication noise, can complicate the commu­ nicat ion process. Thre e examples of this are channel noise, semantic no ise, and psy­ chological noise.

Channel noise refers to external interference in the communication process. The message doesn't make it through as sen t. You might be listening to your car radio when, all of a sudden, a large blast of static blocks out your talk-show host's message or the lyrics of a song. This is a case of channel noi se in mass communication. Other examples of channel noise are print th at is too sma ll, a voice that is too soft, or a pic­ ture that is blurred .

Semantic noise occurs when you cle arly he ar the message but can't understand it. Fo r example, what if you heard on the radio that someone had just found a Polyphe­ mus moth or that one of your civic leaders had a case of hyperbilirubinemi a? Chances are you would not clearly interpret the message. This communication would suffer from semantic noise.

When semantic noise occurs, the message gets through as sent but you don't un­ derstand what it me ans. Symbols causing se man tic noise do not h ave to be long, mul­ tisyllabic words such as those used above. If a receive r of the message does not have a background in electricity, for example, he or she may find ohm and watt just as con ­ fusing as hyperbilirubinemia.

Semantic noise can occur even when we know the o ther person is familiar with the symbol we have selec ted . We must remember that words evoke mental pictures in the minds of both th e source and the receiver. For exa mple, if a newspape r article me ntions that a dog seriously injured a child , the repor ter might h ave had a German shepherd in mind. However, the story can lead to misunderstanding if the rece iver of the message , who h as read numerous stories describing attacks on humans by pit bull

terriers, automatically pictures a pit bull when reading HGl Itt<: 1.2 the story. Or perhaps the reader owns a dachshund and Communication process with feedback pictures h e r pet when re adi ng the word dog.

Semantic n oise can also occur when a word takes Message on connotations or emotional meanings that are based

Source Receiver on expe rie nces rather than on the word's dictionary meaning. Take the words liberal and conservative. These words mean diffe rent things to different people, ba sed on individual political points of view. In America, a

11 Chapter 1 C ulture and Com munication: Basic Concepts

1

1

e 1

If II g d

:s d y .e d a

conserv ati ve is one who favors the sta tus qu o and resi sts change. Conservatives als o h ave lo ng been anticommunists. Thus , when the news media be ga n referring to the h ard-liners in the former Soviet Union who fou ght reform and wanted to preserve co mmunism as "conservatives," many American conservatives squirmed.

The mass media also run into problems with semantic noise when reporters ge t caught up in the jargon of the beats they are covering. Gove rnment and ed uca tion are two areas in which jargon is used ex tensively. When a reporter quotes the c ity man­ ager as say ing that the city h as a "long-range strategic plan to interfac e the environ­ mental nega tive decl arati on process with the private sector," the reader may quickly turn to the spor ts pages. Mass communicators must interpret ideas and inform ation and se lect clearly understandable sy mbols to transmit that informatio n to the masses. In o th er words, they must constantly guard against semantic no ise.

Psychological noise refers to interna l factors that lead to misunderstandings in the psycbologi al noise communication process. Peop le try to protect th emse lves in thre e ways from informa­ tion the y might find offensive: selective exposure, selective perception, and selec tive retention. The concept of psych ological no ise comes from consistency theory resea rch that found that people usually prefer to seek out information and ide as that are con­ sistent with the ir beliefs, attitudes, and beh avio r and tend to avo id information that is inco nsistent.

Selective exposure holds that, as a ge n era l rule, we ex pose ourselv es to informa­ selective ~xposurc tion that reinforces rather than contradicts our beliefs or opinions . For example, Re­ publicans a re far more likely than Democrats to watch a Republican candidate on television. Selective exposure a lso helps to explain why peo ple with extreme political views have difficulty getting thei r ideas across to the ge neral public: The audience just "tunes them out."

One of the most colorful episodes in American journa lism in the 20 th century, the fl o llfishin g of the underground press movement during the 1960s, clearly demonstrates this phe­ nomenon. Various countercultural group s expressed a frust ra­ tion that the establishment press was not telling pe op le about their ideas, such as opposition to the war in Vietnam, "blissful" exp er iences with psychede lic dru gs, and the joys of sexua l fre e­ dom . So, in an effort to ge t their message out to the masses, many of these countercultural move ments sta rt ed up a lterna­ tive, "underground" newspapers.

After a few years , the messages were still failing to reach the masses, and the un ­ derground press movement started to decline. The reason was se lectiv e exposure: The only people read ing the newspapers were those who a lready subscr ibed to the philos­ ophy of the counterculture.

The second kind of psychological noise is selective perception: W e tend to see, sdecti\'e perception h ea r, and believe o nly what we want to see, hear, and believe. As the late Ca nadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan pointed out, "Everyone has his ow n set of gogg les ," and we all think tha t what we see with o ur set of goggle s is what everyone else sees. The Sw iss bio log ist and psychologist Jean Piaget, wh o was influential in 20th-century educational philosophy, called this phenomenon autistic thinking and defined autism as "thought in which truth is confused with desire."

Many studies h ave demonstrated se lective percepti o n at work. One invo lved showing people an editorial cartoon fro m a n orthern newspap er ridiculing the Ku Klux Klan ; the cartoon was repea tedly interpreted as pro-Kl an when shown to so uth ­ ern Klan sympathizers.

Practicing Media Literacy Can you think of instances in your own life where psycho­ logical nois e hindered communication?

Part 1 Cul ture a nd Com munica t ion 12

A classic example of selective perception appeared in the early 1970s when tele­ vision producer Norman Lear introduced the bi got Archi e Bunker to American tele­ vision audiences in the situatio n comedy An in the Famdy. Bunker's prejudices were reflected in a numb er of co ntrove rsial topics, including sex, religion , and racism, that had previously been considered tab oo on prime-time televi sion. The character of Archie Bunker was design ed to satirize American bigo try. But the result was Archie Bunker fan clubs and Archie Bunker T-shirts proclaiming America 's number-o ne tele­ vision bigo t a folk hero. Many people though t what Archie said was tru e and thus fa iled to see the satire underlying the message.

Selective r etention is the third basic psychological defen se. It means that we tend to remember th ose things th at reinforce our beliefs better than those that op­ pose them. For example, try to reme mber so me good things about someone you dis­ like, or try to come up with a li st of faults for so meone you reall y idolize. Chances are you will re membe r mostly bad things about your enemies and Practicing Media Literacy good things about your idols. Can you think of any leading

By now you should se e that the television characters who might communication process is more compli­

project a ne gative image to some ca ted than our initial simple definition

p eople ?indicated. Let's now consider a mo re comprehensive definition tha t attempts to recogni ze some of the complexities we h ave covered:

COM1vfUNICATION is a process involving the sort ing , selecting, and sharing of symbols to h e lp a rece iver elic it from his or her own mind a meaning similar to th at in the mind of th e communica tor.

Television bigot Archie Bunker, as played by Carro ll O'Connor (r), became a folk hero be­ cause of the controver­ sial topics he frequently argued with his liberal son-in-law, Michael (the Meathead) as played by Rob Reiner. While the character of A rchie was designed to satarize bigotr)',' many felt that he was speak­ ing for them-even though by the end of the show , Archie was often the mat of the joke.

----------------

13 Chapter 1 Culture and Communication: Basic Conce pts

'L \SS CO'I \ll \JC,\1'IO\

We also need to define the more comp lex process of mass communication . As previ­ ously noted, mass communicati on consists of (1) professional communicators sh aping and sharing messages, th en (2) transmitting them over great distances using techno­ logical devices called mass media to (3) influence large audiences.

The word influence in th e third part of this process refers to the effect the mass- communicated message has on the aud ience . This effect can be as simple as inc reasing a person's knowledge or understanding of an issue or event, such as explaining h ow a hurricane destroyed a town . Or the effect might consist of making people feel good af­ ter they watch a movie or television show. Howeve r, media effects can also be far more significant, such as changing a person's cultural attitudes and behavior.

This latter, more complex effect causes many people to be disturbed by the mass media and their influences on o ur cu lture. Concern about excessive sex and v iolence in the media and explicit rock-music lyr ics has generated a great deal of mass-media cr it icism in recent years. These issues will be discussed in more depth later in this book.

If we translate these factors in the process of mass communication into an opera­ tional definition, we might say:

MASS COMMUNICATION is a process whe reby professional communicators use tech­ nological devices to share messages over great d istances to influence large audiences .

( '/II/I/lle!.,' (d' I/uss ('nll/lIIl1l1/urlif)/l The technologica l dev ices or mass medi a used to se nd messages over great distances includ e books, pa mphlets, magazines, newspape rs, direct-mail circulars, newsle tt ers, rad io, compact disks, audiotapes, tele v ision, motion pictures, videotapes, and com­ puter n etworks.

You will note that we have not includ ed telephones, stage plays, or rock concerts. One could certainly argue that telephon es transmit messages over great distances and that long-runn ing plays or huge rock concerts are seen by large audiences. Then why aren't they cons idered mass media? Let's examine each of these in relation to our def­ inition of mass communication.

The telephone does use technological devices to transmit messages across great distances, but it does not reach large audiences. Instead, it usually transmits a one-on­ one conversation and is an electronic extensi on of interpersonal comm unication. Al-. though new technologies suc h as videoconferencing expand the size of the aud ience, the result is st ill not sufficie nt to fit the concept of a large mass- med ia audi ence.

Although stage plays and rock concerts use some techno log ica l devices (e.g., lighting and sou nd sys tems) to reach large audie nces, such shows a re limited to a con­ fin ed area and thus do not transmit those messages over great di stances. If these events are broadcast or if aud io tapes or videotapes are made, the broadcast medium or the tapes become the mass medium, not the stage play or concert itself. The annual Comic Re li ef benefits for the homeless, for example, make an impac t on our popular culture large ly because they are shown on cable TV and lat er on individu al television stations.

We must keep in mind one more thing about the medi a: The American mass me­ dia are businesses, and thei r purpose is to make a profit. If t hey don't, they go out of business. Collectively, the mass media in the United States comprise o ne of the

influence

14 Part 1 Culture and Co mmun ication

country's largest industries. By the e nd of the 20th century, the industry generated an es tima ted income of more than $150 billion and empl oyed more tha n one millio n people.

INFOHJ\L\.TIO;\ PROCESSI.\G BYTIlE 'IEnT ·\

gatekeeping

The televis ion network gatekeepers were faced wi th a dilemma when jurors in the civil trial against 0.]. Simpson returned their verdict at the same time Pres0.ent Clinton was de livering his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation. Both stories had to be re­ ported at the same time, but decisions had to be made as to which story received the top coverage.

The importance of mass communication increases as we develop from children into adults. After early childhood, we learn very little firsthand. Once we le arn to talk and then read, we sta rt gathering information from secondhand source s: o th er people and, eventually, the mass media.

In our early education, television and textbooks become important sources for our secondhand info rmation. Other media, such as newspapers and magazines, join them as we grow o lder. For example, we might know that terrorists h av e bo mbed a crowded a ir terminal or that a tornado h as devastated a community, but we proba bly didn't ex­ perience this information firsthand. We relied on the secondhand sources-usually the mass media-to inform us. Because we depend on seco ndhand so urce s for infor­ mation, the mass media playa major role in determining the content of o ur culture.

(;({/cA('('p i llg

One way the medi a control our access to news, inform at ion, and entertainment is through gatekeeping. This soc iologica l term was coined in 1947 by Kurt Lewin, who used it to describe the fac t that news must travel through a ser ies of checkp oints (or ga tes) before it reache s the public.

15 Chapter 1 Culture and Communication: Basic Concepts

In the gatekeeping process, numerous people make decisions as to whether or not we will see or hear a story or be exposed to a new musical or entertainment performer or group. A story about the United States shifting its policy toward a Middle Eastern country mayor may not reach the American people, depending on decisions made by the gatekeepers. A group of rock musicians mayor may not make it to the top of the charts, depending on decisions made by gatekeepers.

Let's take a hypothetical example of a change in policy by the president of the United States regarding a Middle Eastern country. Whether the American people learn about this shift in policy is not necessarily in the hands of the president. Gov­ ernment officials may issue a news release or hold a news conference announcing the change. However, a number of news media personnel must determine that the an­ nouncement is important before it is reported as a news story.

Before it appears in a newspaper, the news item must pass to the reporter as a news release or through a news conference. He or she then decides whether the item is important enough to be covered and how much coverage it should receive. If the reporter decides the item is important, he or she may rewrite the news release or write a story about the news conference or perhaps dictate the item over a telephone to a rewrite person at the newspaper. The rewrite person then functions as the next gate in evaluating the story's importance. Next, a copy editor edits the item and judges its importance. The story may also appear before additional gates- the na­ tional or international editors and perhaps the entire editorial board of the newspa­ per-before a determination is made as to if and where the story will run in the next edition.

Before this same story appears on radio or television, it must go through a similar set of gates: Writers, editors, and tape editors all make judgments as to what portions of the news conference will be aired. (In the case of television, if no videotape footage accompanies the news item, it might be stopped at this gate because television de­ pends on visuals to keep the news interesting.)

Similarly, a rock group that is the rage at a local college may never make it in the entertainment world because gatekeepers in the recording industry believe they have enougb performers with a similar sound. In addition, once the group has made a recording, radio station programmers may think it doesn't fit their station's "sound" and therefore won 't play it. A pilot program for a new television series may never make it on the air because network gatekeepers have decided it is not what the public wants . A potential best-selling book may never see print because a gatekeeper in the publishing industry makes a decision to reject the manuscript.

Another process whereby the mass media determine what we think and worry about is called agenda setting. The word agenda means a list, plan, outline, or the like of things to be considered. Mass-media agenda-setting theory contends that the mass media , not we, determine what will be news and what won't.

According to researchers Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, "Here may lie the most important effect of mass communication, its ability to mentally order and organize our world for us. In short, the mass media may not be successful in tell­ ing us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about. 4 .

16 Part 1 Culture and Communication

The professional communicators working for the mass me­ dia set the news and information agenda for us. If they deter­

Practicing Media Literacy mine that something isn't important, it most likely won't be,

,,,,That are some recent examples because it will receive very little, if any, media attention. And, in which the mass media set an of course, the reverse is true. Often the media give stories far agenda for what you should be more extensive coverage than they actually deserve. Sensa­

tional murder cases, for examp le, sometimes ge t week after thinking? week of front-page coverage, even when very little new infor­ mation has been uncovered. Such headlines as "No New Clues

in Hillside Strangling" are common. Most professional communicators, particularly those involved in processing the

news, attempt to be objective and fair in their selection of news items . Very few pur­ posely slant the news to fit their own particular biases. Yet there is far more news than space or time ava ilable to disseminate it. This means selections must be made as to what is news on any given day and how much space or time to devote to it. Stories of limited interest, such as activities of the local water district, church ladies' aid society, or Boy Scout troop, frequently go unreported.

Political candidates have a great deal of trouble with media agenda setting at election time. For examp le , in the year 2000, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush wanted to focus on how he could bring a new spirit of morality to the White House and how he cou ld serve as a positive ro le model for the nation, much like he had done in Texas as Governor. Instead, the media focused on whether or not in his youth Bush had used illegal drugs (something Bush would neither confirm nor deny).

It is important to understand that agenda setting can differ greatly from one news medium to another. The content of a suburban weekly newspaper will not be the same as that of a nearby metropolitan daily, for example. The suburban week ly may se t as its primary agenda local activities in the community, whereas the metropolitan daily probably feels ob ligated to include more coverage of national and international news.

I \ FOll\L\TICl:\- PROCESSl,C BY THE C( )\SC 'lER

Although the mass media determine what news and en­ tertainment the public will see and hear, people will not absorb all the information they receive. Instead, people process information by condensing it, selecting aspects of interest to them, and integrating what they select into their own thinking.

People pay attention to only a small amount of the information available to them. To do otherwise would risk information overload. Can you imagine reading or remembering everything that has been printed or broadcast during your lifetime? As the yea rs go by, most of us accumu late a substantial backlog of informat ion . This allows us to filter new information into our memo­ ries to update and refresh previously developed percep­ tions and to reject information we deem unimportant.

People absorb only a fraction of all the information available to them. ~

17

l.

Chapter 1 Culture and Communication: Basic Concepts

No matter how iwrd candidates may cry to deal with issues they consider important to their campaigns, intense coverage by the media quite often is responsible for political agenda-setting.

In a field study in Evanston, Illinois, communication researcher Doris Graber dis­ covered that newspaper readers ignored two out of three stories, read no more than 18 percent of the stories in full, and looked at only the first and second paragraph of the rest. 5 (Reading only the beginning of a story is actually an efficient process because it takes advantage of the inverted-pyramid writing style, the most common style of news writing: The most important aspects of the story are summarized in the first para­ graph, the next most important information follows, and the least important angles appear at the end.)

Graber also found that a similar screening process goes on for television news: Of all the stories on a typical half-hour newscast, only one is retained sufficiently to be recalled shortly Practicing· Media Literacy afterward. Despite this haphazard news selection process, how­

How many stories do you re­ever, she found that people manage to stay on top of the most important stories. (Many television news directors believe the member from last night's televi­ second most important story in a newscast, after the lead story, sion newscasts or from this is the final story-the kicker-because that's the one the view­ morning's newspapers? ers will remember the most. They want the audience to associ­ ate humorous or heart-warming stories with the station on which they saw it.)

In addition to ignoring large numbers of stories, people reduce the amount of in­ formation they need to store by extracting only the essential points from the few news stories they do read or hear. An example of how this works could be seen in what the public remembered about the controversial 1999 federal budget. Although the budget contained thousands of pages of detailed information, the public knew only that the Republicans wanted a larger tax cut and President Clinton wanted to save social security.

As a result of her study, Graber concluded:

Average Americans are capable of extracting enough meaningful political information from the flood of news to which they are exposed to perform the moderate number of cit­ izenship functions that American society expects of them. They keep informed to a lim­ ited extent about the majority of significant publicized events. They also learn enough about maj o r political candidates to cast a thoughtful vote and make some judgments about post-election performances.6

18 Part 1 Culture and Commun ication

These basic definitions and concepts are n eeded to assist your study of popular culture and mass media. In the nex t chapter, we will provide an overv.iew of how popular culture and mass com muni ca ti on have been influencing each other since the 15th century.

SLl\IM ,\RY

The t erm culture refers to every thing that occ urs in a society. It represents a ll of the customs and practices h anded down from ge neratio n to gene ration. Popular culture is the culture of everyone in a soci et y. It is so pervasive that we seldom see it. Mass cul­ ture is a term often used synonymously with popular culture. It refe rs to eve rything in our culture that is either mass prod uced or disseminated through the mass media .

M os t mass media evo lve thro ugh a media progression cycle ca lled the elitist­ popular-spec ialized (EPS) cycle. The media usually st art ou t in the elitist stage, then progress to the popular stage , and fin a ll y se ttle into a stage of specialization.

Seve ral basic components are impo rtant to the proper functioning of the com-mll­ nication process. These include the source, message, channe l, and receiver. In addition, comm unication h as such importan t elements as feedbac k, symbo ls, frames of reference, and a variety of noises that include channel, se mantic, and psycho logic al noise.

M ass commu nication is o ne of the more comp lex form s of communicatio n . It is a process whereby profeSSional co mmunicators use technological devices to share mes­ sages ove r great distances to influen ce large audienc es.

The mass media a re the channels used in mass communic a tion. In add ition to providing info rmat io n and entertainment, U. S. mass media are in the busin ess of making money, ea rning more than $150 billio n by the end of th e 20th century.

Inform at io n processing by the media includes ga tekeeping and agenda setting. Peo ple who work for the mass media serv e as ga tekeepers, determining what news, in­ form at ion, and enterta inm ent reach us. Agenda setting is a process whereby the mass media h e lp us dec id e what is import an t a nd what isn't.

Co nsumers a lso exe rcise informa ti on-processi n g techniques that help them prevent informa ti o n overlo ad. They very selectively filter info rmation of interes t to incre ase the ir knowledge about what they deem important while screening Oll t a great deal of nonessential material.

Find a re\' ic\\, of Kt:}' )eo/J!c ard Conce 1tS , n mt'<~a"e hoard {ur P-wcticing Mt'.:lia Lif­ erae:! quest ion~, self (('ors, and mll!" It; \\ \\'\\'.mhhe.ClJm/wi !;nl1.

]'/;Ollp/11 Questions

1. What are some examp les of elite culture n o t mentio ned in this chapter?

2 . Are there any popular cult ural items or ac tivities that are neither mass-prod uced nor shared through the mass media?

3. Make a list of instances in your own life where psychological noise hindered commun icat ion .

4. What are so me recent examples in which the mass media set an age nda for wha t you sho uld be thinking abo ut?

5. After watching a TV newscas t, make a list of five o r more stories that yo u re­ member a nd li st the reasons yo u remembered them.

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Chapter 1 Culture and Communication: Basic Concepts

Noles

1. Ray B. Browne, "Popular Culture-The 4. World Around Us," in The Popular Cul­ ture Reader, ed. Jack Nachbar, Deborah Weiser, and John L Wright (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Press, 1978), p. 12.

2. John C. Merrill and Ralph L Lowen ­ 5. stein, Media Messages and Men: New Perspectives in Communication (New York: McKay, 1971), pp. 33-44 . 6.

3. Alvin To ffle r, The Third Wave (Des Plaines, IL.: Bantam Books, 1980), pp.155-167

Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald L Shaw, "The Agenda Setting Funcrion of rhe Press,» in Enduring Issues in Mass Communication, ed. Everette E. Dennis, Arnold H. Ismach, and Donald M. Gill­ more (St. Paul, MN: West, 1978), p. 97.

Doris A. Graber, Proce ssing the News (New York: Longman, 1984 ), pp.201-216.

Ibid., p. 204.