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Comm Test Notes
comm media and societ
64
Other
Undergraduate 1
12/03/2008

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Term
The Surveying Industry
Definition
$5 billion a year business whose clients include major corporations, political candidates, and the mass media.
Term
Nielsen Media Research
Definition
television ratings system
Term
George Gallup
Definition
introduced probability sampling; Institute of American Public Opinion
Term
Arbitron
Definition
measures radio audiences in local markets
Term
The Gallup Organization
Definition
studies human nature and behavior, specializes in management, economics, psychology, & sociology.
Term
Probability Sampling
Definition
everyone in the population being surveyed has an equal chance to be sampled.
Term
384
Definition
-# of people in a properly selected sample for results to provide 95% confidence that results have less than a 5% margin of error.
Term
Margin of Error
Definition
-Percentage that a survey may be off mark
Term
Quota Sampling
Definition
Demographics of the sample coincide with those of the whole population.
Term
Evaluating Surveys
Definition
How many people surveyed?
When was poll taken?
Who paid for poll?
What was the sampling error?
How was the poll conducted?
How were questions worded and in what order were they asked?
Term
Audit Bureau of Circulations
Definition
newspaper and magazine circulation claims
Term
Archibald Crossley
Definition
first polls on broadcast audience size.
Term
Sweep periods
Definition
when broadcast ratings are conducted
Term
Ratings and Shares
Definition
measurement of broadcast audience size
Term
Focus Groups
Definition
small groups interviewed in loosely structured ways for opinion, reactions
Term
Galvanic Skin Checks
Definition
monitor pulse, skin responses to stimuli
Term
Demographics
Definition
divide people by age, gender, etc. to match content with audience.
Term
Cohort Analysis
Definition
demographic tool to identify marketing targets by common characteristics.
Term
Geodemographics
Definition
characteristics by geographic area
Term
VALS
Definition
analysis by values, lifestyle, life stage
Term
Powerful Effects Theory
Definition
-“Magic Bullet Theory” hypodermic needle; theory that the media have immediate, direct influence
Term
Walter Lippmann
Definition
social commentator who wrote Public Opinion in 1922
Term
“Public Opinion”
Definition
argues that we see the world not as it really is but as “pictures in our heads” The “pictures” of things we have not personally experienced are shaped by the mass media.
Term
Harold Lasswell
Definition
His mass communication model assumed powerful effects
Term
Hypodermic needle model or Magic bullet model.
Definition
Another name for overrated powerful effects theory.
Term
Minimalist Effects Theories
Definition
theory that media effects are mostly indirect.
Term
Paul Lazarsfeld
Definition
Found voters are more influenced by other people than by mass media.
Term
Two-Step Flow Model
Definition
media affects individuals through opinion leaders
Term
opinion leaders
Definition
influence friends, acquaintances
Term
Status Conferral
Definition
media attention enhances attention given to people, subjects, issues
Term
Agenda-setting phenomenon
Definition
media tell people what to think about, NOT what to think.
Term
Pornography versus Obscenity
Definition
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that pornography cannot be stopped.
Import and postal restrictions can be used against obscene materials which go beyond pornography.
Something is obscene if the answer is yes to all the following:
Would a typical person applying local standards see the material as appealing mainly for its sexually arousing effect?
Is the material devoid of serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value?
Term
Freedom of Information Act
Definition
public can request federal documents
Term
sunshine laws
Definition
open meeting laws require government meetings to be open to public
Term
sunshine laws
Definition
open meeting laws require government meetings to be open to public
Term
Harassment
Definition
there are boundaries on photographing/hounding people in public places
Term
Privacy laws
Definition
intruding on solitude – people have a right to solitude and expectation of solitude
Term
Fair comment and criticism-
Definition
stipulation: person must be in public or performance role.
Term
Sullivan Case
Definition
People who are public figures (meaning they sought limelight) must prove not just that material is false, but that media are guilty of “reckless disregard of the truth”
public figures can win libel suits only in extreme circumstances.
People who have actively sought the limelight forfeit some of the protection available to other citizens.
Must prove media had reckless disregard of the truth
Term
Libel law
Definition
written defamation
Term
Slander
Definition
spoken defamation
Term
Flag Burning
Definition
there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." - Justice William Brennan
Term
R.A.V v. St. Paul
Definition
Several punks had burned a cross, KKK style, on the lawn of a black family in St. Paul, Minnesota. They were caught and convicted under a municipal ordinance against "hate speech.”
Court found ordinance was aimed at the content of the expression and went beyond time, place or manner restrictions.
Term
Incitement Standard
Definition
Authorities can justify silencing someone only if:
The statement advocates a lawless action.
The statement aims at producing lawless action.
Such lawless action must be imminent.
Such lawless action must be likely to occur.
Must meet all four tests it to be suppressed by the government
Term
Fighting Words Doctrine
Definition
The court said someone might be justified taking action against someone for using "fighting words.”
Preventing a riot is justification for shutting someone up.
Time, place and manner limits by the government on expression.
Time, place and manner limits
Term
Allowable Abridgments to Free Speech
Definition
public endangerment; fire in movie theatre
Term
Prior Restraint
Definition
government action that prevents material from being published
Term
Benjamin Gitlow
Definition
principal in 1924 US supreme court decision that barred state censorship laws
Term
James Madison
Definition
Wrote the first amendment
Term
First Amendment
Definition
government interference in free expression, religion, and individual and public protests against public policies
Term
The US Constitution
Definition
First Amendment- Scope of the First Amendment - Prohibited only Congress from limiting freedom of expression, but what about States?
Term
Federal Coverage by Media
Definition
White House draws extensive coverage
White House reporters are briefed twice a day
Reporters see themselves as surrogates for the citizenry
Congress - primary reporting focuses on the Senate and House leadership with regional reporters covering for local interest
Agencies - extreme lack of newspaper/tv coverage of powerful government agencies with a little slack being picked up by trade journal and newsletter industry.
Term
527’s
Definition
allowed to collect unlimited money independently a way around campaign finance reform
Term
Overwhelming Information
Definition
much information for media to sort through, therefore no time to compose difficult questions or pursue fresh angles
Term
Stonewalling
Definition
to refuse to answer questions, sometimes refusing to even meet with reporters
Term
Trial Balloons and Leaks
Definition
a deliberate leak of a potential policy, usually from a diversionary source, to test public response
Term
Government Manipulation of Media
Definition
political leaders have over time developed mechanisms to influence coverage to their advantage
Term
Brevity
Definition
favor shorter stories because if broadcasting’s severe time constraints
Term
Media Obsessions
Definition
Reporters gravitate toward certain kinds of stories:
Presidential Coverage-personifying the candidate
Conflict-audiences like it, often illustrates the great issues by which society is defining and redefining its values
Scandals-build audience, this explains increased coverage
Horse Races-an election campaign treated by reporters like a game: who’s ahead, who’s falling back, etc.
Term
Priming
Definition
activation of one thought leads to another
Term
Framing
Definition
selecting aspects of a perceived reality for emphasis in a mass-media message, thereby shaping how the audience sees the reality
Term
CNN Effect
Definition
the ability of television, through emotion-raising video, to elevate distant issues on the domestic public agenda
Term
Agenda-Setting
Definition
process through which issues bubble up into public attention through mass-media selection of what to cover
Term
Media Effects on Governance
Definition
media coverage shapes what we think about as well as how we think about it. Media is a powerful linkage between government and how people view it.
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