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Chapter 2: Media and Society
Chapter Outline
I. Understanding the media
II. Media economics
A. Mass production, mass distribution
B. Benefits of competition
C. Media monopolies
D. The profit motive
E. How media make money
F. From mass markets to market segments: narrowcasting
G. New media economics
III. Critical studies
A. Need for media literacy
B. Political economy
C. Feminist studies
D. Ethnic media studies
E. Media criticism
IV. Diffusion of Innovations
A. Everett Rogers
B. Why innovations succeed
C. How innovations spread
V. The media’s functions in diffusion
A. Surveillance
B. Interpretation
C. Values transmission/socialization
D. Entertainment
VI. Media content and public opinion
A. Gatekeeping
B. Agenda setting
C. Framing
VII. Technological determinism
A. The medium is the message
B. Technology as dominant social force
C. Media drive culture
Active Learning Activities
Survey Questions
 Have students take an inventory of the new media devices they own – such as
smartphones, tablet personal computers, e-readers, and digital video recorders. Where
does each individual student see his or herself on the Diffusion of Innovations curve? Are
they innovators, early adopters, part of the early majority, or laggards? What about as a
social category—are college students more frequently innovators, early adopters, etc.?
Why is it they perceive themselves as that category of adopters?
 Who sets the agenda for campus news? Have students look closely at the student media.
Does the school’s administration decide what qualifies (or is disqualified) as news? Does
the staff of the student newspaper set the agenda? Do interest or student groups on
campus play a role?
 How many students have a personal website or blog? (Do they consider a social network
site profile a website?) What are the implications when anyone can be a publisher (an
online publisher, at least)? How does the ability for anyone to publish content online
affect the amount of information available? The quality of that information?
Class Discussion Questions and Critical-Thinking Exercises
 Have students keep a diary of the media they use over several days. Have them list the
kind of media; the purpose (news, entertainment, studying, etc.); the amount of time
spent in each media activity; and whether they used the media alone or with others. Each
student should compute the total number of hours spent consuming media. Who spent the
most – and the least? How often are students multi-tasking – simultaneously engaging in
two media activities (such as surfing the web while watching television)?
 Pick a news item in which the press is reacting to the political agenda of the President or
Congress (or local politics). Discuss how political figures, activist groups, and major
institutions try to set the agenda for public debate. How do such efforts influence the
media? To what extent does the press set the agenda?
 Expand this discussion to the idea of hegemony – the underlying ideological consensus.
Take a topic such as international relations, and ask students what ideas are rarely, if
ever, discussed in the press. (A good example is the lack of stories about the United
States role in international trade summits and agreements – or stories that question the
very foundation of capitalism and free markets.)
 Consider whether certain media have a gender: Are they more male or more female? For
example, to what extent does the Internet have characteristics usually associated with
women? To what extent does the Internet have characteristics usually associated with
men? Do the same for newspapers, the telephone and other media devices.
 Have students indicate their chosen career fields. Are their career goals most similar to
information, industrial, or agricultural workers? Ask students to reflect on how their
career goals would be affected if they worked in a country or field that was not as
developed as an information society.
Written Discussion Questions and Online Activities
 Roger Clark of the Australian National University has a helpful primer about the
Diffusion of Innovations theory:
http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/InnDiff.html
Using that background, explain how MP3 audio files became popular. How did MP3s
pass through the stages of technological innovation (knowledge, persuasion, decision,
implementation and confirmation)? What characteristics did MP3s have in terms of
relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability? You could
use another communications technology such as the smart phone or a social networking
site like Facebook in place of MP3 files if you wish.
 How are new production and distribution methods changing media economics? What
impact is digital technology having on barriers to entry, first-copy costs, marginal costs
and economies of scale? Do you think such technology will bring us more variety of
media messages and products?
 The RAND Corp., a prestigious think tank, has posted on its website a paper comparing
the diffusion of the printing press and the Internet:
www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P8014/index2.html
In the year 3000, when historians look back, which invention will they see as having had
the greater impact on society – the printing press or the Internet?
 What are some of the things that prevent the media from influencing us? How can we
protect ourselves from the media’s affecting our desires, attitudes, thoughts, and
behaviors? Who do you think is most susceptible to media influence?
 What media do you use to fulfill a surveillance function? Interpretation? Socialization?
Entertainment? What functions does the telephone fulfill for you? How about the
Internet?
Video Resources
Seth Godin on Standing Out, 2003, Technology, Entertainment, Design.
[http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html] ―In a world of too many
options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing
guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas
are more successful than boring ones.‖
Beyond the Headlines: Media Coverage of Economic Issues, 2006, The Rockford Center for
Public Policy. [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3596170947273718835#] ―On
October 3, 2006, five national journalists were on the Dartmouth campus to discuss their
work in covering economic and business news. The public panel discussed how economic
and public policy issues are covered by the media, the public’s understanding of these issues,
and how these issues are likely to influence elections in the coming years. Panelists also
described factors that impact the media’s role in reporting these issues. Journalists also
discussed new methods of communication and their impact on the future of traditional media
in our rapidly changing environment influenced by technology.‖
News War, 2007, Insight Media. This film ―investigates the political, legal, and economic forces
facing mainstream news media. The program examines the clashes between journalists and
the government, the emphasis on profits, and the international forces that influence
journalism and politics in the U.S. It also considers the repercussions of changing economics
on the media business and on the Internet.‖
The Matrix Trilogy, 1999-2004. The three cyberculture classics that raised the bar for special
effects and reflect a postmodern view of the world. They flow from the postmodern theory of
Jean Baudrillard. Indeed in one scene, Thomas Anderson (a.k.a. Neo, played by Keanu
Reeves) opens a copy of Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation to a chapter titled ―On
Nihilism.‖
Audience and Feedback, 2002, Films for the Humanities and Sciences. This video explores the
characteristics that define a desirable audience, the history of audience ratings, and the ways
in which audiences are assessed. ―Because the mass media is supported largely by selling
time and space to marketers, it has evolved into the main delivery vehicle for advertising, in
which the company offering a product or service is the true consumer and the attention of the
viewer is the product that is being bought.‖
The Merchants of Cool, 2001; part of the PBS Frontline series. Douglas Rushkoff examines how
media conglomerates sell teen culture through the use of focus groups and other information
gathering techniques and how teens become part of a cultural feedback loop presented by
Viacom, among others. The film can be streamed from a PBS website, which includes
additional resources: www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
Suggested Websites
The Official Site of Marshall McLuhan [www.marshallmcluhan.com] includes biographical
material, quotes and other information about the media theorist who coined the ―global
village‖ and ―the medium is the message.‖
An online tribute to Neil Postman, 1931-2003 [http://www.bigbrother.net/~mugwump/Postman/]
has video and articles about the professor who warned of technopoly and other dangers of
technology.
Diffusion of Innovations reading list from NASA Headquarters Library
[www.hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/ppm/ppm39.htm]. This is an extensive list of articles,
reports, books and Internet sites about the diffusion process.
―How Alternative Is It? Feminist Media Activists Take Aim at the Progressive Press.‖
[www.fair.org/index.php?page=1354] This is an article from Fair & Accuracy in Reporting, a
media watchdog group. In the article, feminists criticized not only commercial mainstream
but also alternative and progressive media.
European and North American WomenAction [www.enawa.org] is a network of organizations
―strengthening and integrating a feminist analysis in the information and media landscape in
relation to social movements and the women’s movement in our region and the world.‖
Wikipedia’s ―List of Emerging Technologies‖
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emerging_technologies] provides an updated list of
emergent topics, including information and communication technologies, that can provide a
good starting point for discussions of where specific technologies fall on the diffusion curve,
as well as tracking their progress.
Test Questions
True/False
1. T F New media have less personalization than old media.
Answer: False
2. T F VCRs diffused very quickly in the United States.
Answer: True
3. T F The majority of highest-ranked shows on network television are news oriented.
Answer: False
4. T F Hegemony can be described as the dominant underlying ideology governing society.
Answer: True
5. T F One reason new communication technologies have been more readily adopted than
other types of new innovations is due to reinvention.
Answer: True
6. T F Framing theory is as much concerned with what is left out of a story as with what is
in the story
Answer: True
7. T F A usage fee is when you pay each time you use the media, depending on how much
you use.
Answer: True
8. T F Economies of scale work when first copy costs are spread over many subsequent
copies.
Answer: True
9. T F In postmodernism, reason is the source of progress and science.
Answer: False
10. T F Copyright royalty fees are paid to media creators for the use of their works.
Answer: True
11. T F Monopolies and oligopolies can often afford high entry costs that pose barriers to
entry to new competitors.
Answer: True
12. T F Early adopters precede the innovators along the timeline of the diffusion curve,
according to Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory.
Answer: False
13. T F According to technological determinism, the media guides society and its
development.
Answer: True
14. T F The Internet allows people to become active seekers, users and contributors of
information instead of solely passive receivers.
Answer: True
15. T F Narrowcasting targets media to specific segments of the audience.
Answer: True
16. T F Older media companies, such as the New York Times, are able to subsidize
unprofitable websites through conventional media cash flows.
Answer: True
Multiple Choice
17. Feminist scholars typically look at _______________.
a) how gender is portrayed in the media
b) how media maintain societal patriarchy
c) stereotypical roles of women in media
d) All of the above
Answer: D
18. New York City has three newspapers. This market configuration can be best characterized as
_______________.
a) a monopoly
b) an oligopoly
c) corporatization
d) synergy
Answer: B
19. During a Hurricane Katrina relief benefit in 2005, rapper Kanye West criticized the media’s
depiction of events, stating, ―I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black
family, it says they’re looting. See a white family, it says they’re looking for food.‖ West’s
accusation was directed at what media theory?
a) Gatekeeping
b) Agenda Setting
c) Framing
d) Feedback
Answer: C
20. Marshall McLuhan’s statement that ―the medium is the message‖ best illustrates _________.
a) the need for good content in the media
b) a technological deterministic perspective
c) the important role of media texts
d) a cultural deterministic perspective
Answer: B
21. What does ―barriers to entry‖ mean?
a) The inability of controversial producers to gain access to the airwaves
b) The high costs of establishing or acquiring media firms
c) The difficulty of gaining access to production facilities because of increased security
d) A way of describing the impact of ideology on the audience
Answer: B
22. A political economist argues that _______________.
a) the media seek profitability
b) regulations cause media to change
c) media content is influenced by ownership
d) All of the choices
Answer: D
23. Agenda-setters _______________ media coverage, and gatekeepers _______________
media coverage.
a) produce … syndicate
b) buy … sell
c) influence … control
d) narrowcast … copyright
Answer: C
24. The main functions of media are surveillance, entertainment, _______________ and
_______________.
a) interpretation … digitalization
b) digitalization … regulation
c) regulation … socialization
d) socialization … interpretation
Answer: D
25. According to the Diffusion of Innovations theory, the adoption of new technologies
_______________.
a) takes place for all people at the same time
b) only occurs among the best educated people
c) follows a predictable sequence of stages
d) cannot be predicted and is dependent on cultural context
Answer: C
26. Why do large media firms produce commodities in large volumes?
a) To fight media illiteracy
b) To pursue economies of scale
c) To eliminate competition
d) To take advantage of network structures
Answer: B
27. One of the concepts stressed by critical theorists is the idea of ―hegemony.‖ What do they
mean by this?
a) Media institutions actually rule society.
b) The media are constantly hedging their positions on important social issues.
c) The media teach the ideology of the ruling classes.
d) The effects of the media are less powerful than the dictates of those in positions of
authority.
Answer: C
28. Due to economies of scale, the final price of technologies typically end at about _________
of the price when the technology was initially released commercially.
a) half
b) a quarter
c) a tenth
d) a hundredth
Answer: C
29. The process by which communications technologies spread through society can be explained
by _______________.
a) media convergence
b) economies of scale
c) Diffusion of Innovations
d) functionalism
Answer: C
30. Political economy draws heavily from the work of _______________.
a) Henri Fayol
b) Karl Marx
c) Manuel Castells
d) Groucho Marx
Answer: B
31. Narrowcasting has supplanted which of the following strategies for commercial media sales?
a) Lobbying for public subsidies
b) Broadcasting TV programming with the largest possible appeal
c) ―Medium-casting‖ to audiences with better-than-average tastes
d) None of the choices
Answer: B
32. The mass media has been accused of putting people in a ―filter bubble.‖ Which of the
following best describe a filter bubble.
a) The personalized algorithms of sites like Netflix or Facebook limit exposure to new
ideas.
b) Information filters perpetuate a class hegemony.
c) Overexposure to popular culture has caused a decrease in media literacy.
d) Limitations on information (characters, file sizes) able to be posted social media sites like
Twitter or Facebook encourages short attention spans.
Answer: B
Short Answer
33. Who was Marshall McLuhan, and what was he known for?
34. Why has the price of color televisions dropped so much since 1953?
35. How are barriers to entry related to media monopolies?
36. Who are gatekeepers, and who are agenda setters?
37. How do economies of scale in communications media work?
38. Describe narrowcasting.
39. Describe two social functions of the media.
40. Explain the main ideas behind the political-economic approach to media studies.
41. What do feminist scholars and ethnic studies scholars have in common in their criticism of
the media?
42. How does the Internet challenge the basic assumptions of media economics?
CourseMate Tutorial Quiz Questions & Answers
Multiple Choice
1. When a single advertising sales staff serves two papers instead of one, this is an example of
_______________.
a. mass customization
b. segmentation
c. economies of scale
d. barrier to entry
Analysis:
c. Correct. Efficiency measures are economies of scale. See ―Media Economics‖ in Chapter 2.
2. Which of the following is not considered as a function of the media?
a. Surveillance
b. Interpretation
c. Entertainment
d. Government control
Analysis:
d. Correct. The media’s functions include surveillance, interpretation, values
transmission/socialization and entertainment. See ―Diffusion of Innovations‖ in Chapter 2.
3. People who follow up on innovative ideas through specialized media such as trade journals or
interpersonal contacts are called _______________.
a. early adopters
b. laggards
c. innovators
d. adapters
Analysis:
a. Correct. There are four steps in the diffusion process: innovators, early adopters, the majority
and laggards. See ―Diffusion of Innovations‖ in Chapter 2.
4. What is economics?
a. A set of theories that can predict the future based on historical analysis of industry.
b. A set of theories that describes the experiences of media consumption from the perspective of
an audience member.
c. A set of theories that studies the forces that allocate resources to satisfy competing needs.
d. A set of theories that studies the forces that govern all of the activities of human civilization.
