- political advertising: primary form of communication between political candidates and the voting public

- news stories 

- framing: notions that media professionals use to present news stories in a particular way, using metaphors or catch phrases

- news flaws: personalization, fragmentation, normalization, dramatization 

the tendency for news stories to concentrate on individuals when reporting on large scale social concerns.

involves the delivery of news in disconnected brief capsule summaries 

whenever news is selected on the basis of its dramatic or entertaining value rather than its importance as an issue

takes place whenever news stories show how particular problems can be solved within the existing political system

political communication that is concentrated on the individual rather than the society at large

- formation and change of opinion

- cognitive effects

- effects on individual perceptions of the political system

- effects on political behavior or participation 

- agenda setting

- priming

- framing

- knowledge gain

- cognitive complexity

- researchers are concerned with the way the news media present particular stories. People learn information from stories and sometimes the presentation of a story is positive, negative or neutral toned which can determine how audiences think and feel about the content of the story

occurs when exposure to a mediated message activates related thoughts in the mind of the audience member for a limited time period. 

- It has been shown to effect political opinions and voting decisions.

- americans are not really knowledgable about political affairs.

- found that use of mass media and the information learned increased during the 2004 campaigns. 

- Other recent studies have found that people learn from news content

- the way a story is framed by a journalist can affect the way audiences process and interpret the information

- framing studies examine the manner in which journalists present certain issues and focus on reactions of audience members to those issues/stories. 

- studies have shows that media coverage, especially TV coverage, may cause voters to perceive that individuals, rather than society, are responsible for particular social problems such as poverty and crime

- episodic: using case study examples or reports of concrete events

- thematic: approaching an issue from a more abstract or general perspective --> caused audiences to associate social problems with societal and governmental responsibility instead of individuals.

30 seconds

- weak partisans and those with little interest in politics are more affected by political ads than high-interest voters

- proven effective in influencing voters when they are perceived as fair and focus on issues important to voters

- are more well remembered and recognized

- failure to answer negative ads can be bad for candidate because it allows other candidate to define their persona. 

- first to identify the influence of interpersonal communication on voters

- many people received inforamtion about the candidates or the election from other people rather than the media 

- the expense of TV commercials has made fund-raising a really important aspect in political campaigns

- the brevity of TV commercial spot encourages less focus on dicussion of important issues and more on superficial factors like attractiveness and image.

- the effects of political communication are also modified by factors related to the processing of the messages

- the more attention a person gives to a broadcast or print news story, the more the person learns from the story

1. skimming or scanning the story

2. reading through the story

3. reading and then thinking about the story and discussing with others

- blacks and other minorities have been cast in roles that specifically call for a minority characters --> began to change in 1990s.

- many more recent films do not portray the minority character in stereotypical ways such as an inner city resident or criminal

- 1990s more blacks and other minority groups appeared in tv ads. 

- have gone from almost non existent to be overrepresented by more than double the numbers of african americans and asian americans in the US

- native americans and disabled people have been avoiced in media portrayals

- Blacks represent about 14 to 17 precent of the characters on prime-time TV which is higher than their actual number in society 

- typical African American on prime time TV is a male in his 30s, middle class professional, least aggressive character, dresses more provocatively

- in news stories, esp. about crime, blacks are far more likely to be shown than whites

- hispanics are usually depicted as less intelligent, less articulate, and lazier than other characters

- white americans make up about 80 percent of the lead characters in films, while black americans make up about 19 percent. Hispanics make up about 1 percent and other minorities are rarely shown at all.

- men are shown more often as professionals than women

- men are usually selling electronics or appliances, not domestic things. 

- in the 1990s a number of black women achieved supermodel status such as tyra banks and naomi campbell (more 80s i think)

- hispanics and asian models still rare

- children are more likely to pick up attitudes and behaviors on television and other media, so minority portrayals have the potential to educate children about race relations, for better or for worse

- individuals who identify highly with their race or ethnic group tend to form more stereotypical attitudes toward those outside of their group, and feel more favorable toward those in their group

- blacks are among the heaviest viewers of television - 3 more hours per day compared to whites

- blacks enjoy watching black characters on TV and tend to select programs or avoid them based on the ethnicity of characters and to fulfull their needs for racial identity 

- most hispanics prefer spanish language channels 

- ads in spanish are more persuasive among hispanics than ads in english

- many hispanics use TV to learn about the US culture and to improve their english skills

A cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a concept or type or stimulus, including its attributes and the relations amongst those with attributes. 

dictionary definition: a conception of what is common to all members of a class; a general or essential type or form.

- women have historically been underrepresented and misrepresented in films

- usually portrayed as young and hypersexual

- sex role research has revealed that viewing stereotypical portrayals based on gender can have an effect on choice of occupation and attitudes toward particular occupations

- movies that expose children to "happily every after" romantic scenarios may affect their relationships and expectations in life

- the "thin idea" that is usually depicted in mass media can cause eating disorders especially in young females

- priming studies have examined how exposure to minority stereotypes can have a short term effect on audiences, especially majority audiences and their evaluations of minorities in the real world

- when whites see a black perpetrator commiting a crime, they blame dispositional factors. when thet see a white perpetrator they blame situational factors

- long term exposure to stereotypes about blacks have been shown to result in discriminitory thoughts amongst whites.

- tend to stereotype blacks as being lower in socioeconomic status because of lack of initiative rather than lack of opportunity. 

- heavy viewing of stereotypical portrayals of minorities on television can influence white viewers' voting and public decisions 

- can cause whites to be less supportive of affirmative action or other race based policies

to present specific messages designed by health and communications experts, which have intentional, positive, health related effects on audiences.

- reviewed literature on the mediated health effects of tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and food.

- demographics and target audience of tobacco has shifted over the years as new research regarding the effects has come to light

- appeals to adolescents - now advertises more at point of purchase than all other outlets combined

- more young people use and abuse alcohol than any other drug

- research on effects of alcohol focus on whether ads entice adolescents to start drinking or whether ads cause increased alcohol consumption and drunk driving

- FDA allows drug companies to advertise using mass media

- research has shows that these ads influence many people's behaviors

- large amount of research on the effects of food ads focus on children and may have positive or negative effects based on the nutritional value of the food advertised. 

- obesity in children is a primary concern for researchers

- Roberts and Christensen (2008) found that approx 20 percent of prime time TV episodes depicted characters who smoked/teen shows

- link between TV programs with predominantly thin charactesr and the effects on viewers body images has been studied

- Becker (2004) studied teen girls in Fiji who developed eating disorders around the time western programming began airing in the region featuring thin actresses

-time spent watching TV is a good predictor of weight problems in US

- most movies regularly feature characters using alcohol and tobacco products

- actors in current films smoke as much as actors in the 50s

- both good and bad characters are seen smoking and drinking, but drug addicts are often portrayed as evil

- demonstrated to have various potential ill effects on audience members

- male college students tended to trivialize rape and sexual violence after viewing similar scenes in films

- viewers of nonviolent but sexually explicit films more likely than non viewers to accept sexual infidelity or promiscuous behavior

- rock and rap music emphasize physical (rather than romantic) sex and sometimes violent sexual encounters

- researchers suspect this has a negative impact on teen health (assault, pregnancy, suicide, substance abuse)

- nearly all types of music mention drinking drugs sex and violence

- people pay most attention to stories about public health issues among all health related stories, but also pay attention to public health policy stories and stories about specific diseases

- behavioral effects occur after viewing certain health stories. Ex: news coverage of smoking dangers can have a significant effect on the number of people who quit.

- 70 to 80 percent of internet users search online for health related info which can be wrong and confusing

- "web md syndrom" --> people who seek out info about their illnesses are more likely to use the info to formulate questions for their doctors.

- stem from their "victim blaming" approach.

- example of a bad health ad on Television would be Gardasil because it had to be given to young women before they commit a sexual act which implied that young girls were about to engage in sexual acts. 

- physicians are ones who should be targeted not mass audience