Media Analysis Overview

Media & the Social World

Social World

Active Audience

Technology

Media Industry

Media Message/Product

Adapted from Croteau & Hoynes, 2000

Questions

Who owns the media?What should be the government’s role?Why are some images prevalent? What’s

missing?What impact does mass media have on

society?How do people experience & interpret mass

media?What is the impact of technologies?

Film Noir

SocietyEconomyGovernmentIdeasTechnologyAudience

Media/Society Interaction

Media influence how we see the world

understand ourselves

Interact with others

Who has Access?

0

20

40

60

80

100

US

Radio

TV

Cable

Computer

Internet

Social Construction of Reality

Reality is created & maintained in communication

Mass communication is the mass construction of “reality”

Society & mass media are “inter-influential”

Broadcasting

One to manyCentralizedIndustrial & ProfessionalCommercial (in US)Individualized Consumption

Media Interpretation

Does TV have too much sex & violence?

Are news media biased?Should the Internet be better

regulated?

Who should decide the answers to these questions?

Mass Media in Society

Media teach what to think…what to think about

Media socializeMedia “mediate” social relations

what we know how we know things

Social & Individual Power

Social structures patterns of social behavior often institutionalized expectations

Human agency intentional & undetermined constrained by structures

Mass Media & Institutions

Relationships between institutionsRelationships within institutionsRelationships between institutions

and individuals

Media & the Social World

Social World

Active Audience

Technology

Media Industry

Media Message/Product

Adapted from Croteau & Hoynes, 2000