Communication 1- Fall 2011 Study Guide
Mass Communication is the process by which a complex organization with the aid of one or more
machines produces and transmits public messages that are directed at large, heterogeneous, and scattered
audience.
In the basic communications model the term feedback describes the process of the listener or receiver
communicating his or her reaction back to the sender.
In recent years, the ownership of the U.S. mass media has consolidated into fewer hands
Mass communication functions: Surveillance; Interpretation; Linkage; Socialization.
How people use mass media: Cognition; Diversion; Social Utility; Withdrawal
Types of noises: Semantic; environmental; mechanical
Noise is distortion that can interfere with clear communication.
The Photography and Motion Picture milestone in the evolution of human communication created a
“Communal Reservoir of Images?
Critics of conglomeration worry that it will have a negative impact on the diversity of messages in the
media.
Scholars disagree that media-depicted violence leads to real-life violence
Print
Guttenberg is European inventor who is believed to have introduced movable type to western civilization.
The Yellow Jouranlism is the sensationalist, muckraking newspapers which dominated news stands in the
late 1800s.
The Penny Press is the first mass newspapers.
William Randolph Hearst is one of the fathers of “yellow journalism”, his life story was the basis for,
“Citizen Kane”.
The most important stories in a newspaper appear front page, above the fold.
Newspapers have become a more visual medium since the introduction of the USA Today.
The advantage/s of an online paper is/are: have unlimited news-holes; are continuously updated; and are
Interactive
Books
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is the Penny Press book which is credited with converting many readers to
antislavery.
The paperback boom started during the civil war when soldiers had time and read dime novels.
The Book Industry in dominated by a few large publishing companies.
Books are the oldest form of Mass Communication.
Trade Books include books from the Novel genre.
Magazines
The word MAGAZINE actually means warehouse.
Teddy Roosevelt applied this term muckrakers to describe the journalists of the turn of the century
magazines that specialized in uncovering corporate and government corruption.
Slightly different versions of the same magazine that are sent to different regional areas are called SplitRuns
Pass-Along Audience are people who pick-up a copy of a magazine at the doctor’s office, at work or
while traveling.
Primary Audience are people who subscribe to the magazine or buy it at a newsstand.
The magazine industry depends of the Audit Bureau of Circulation for information about who is reading
the publication.
Film
United Artist is the movie studio was started by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford
which had a commitment to creativity.
The studio bosses appointed William Hayes to “clean up” Hollywood in the wake of the Arbuckle
scandal.
Warner Brothers introduced sound to the motion picture industry.
Hollywood attracted early film makers because it was far away from the eastern patent companies.
In the 1950’s”: movie attendance dropped; wide-screen and 3-D movies were introduced; and there were
changes in movie censorship as the Production Code restrictions were dropped.
A book, a play or any notion that might be an idea for a motion picture is called a property.
It takes 70 days does it take to shoot an average movie.
The Director is the person in charge of actually making the film on a day to day basis.
The first type of merchandise tie-in known in movies is sheet music for silent movies
Radio
David Sarnoff is the telegrapher associated with the sinking of the Titanic, he rose to become the
President of RCA/NBC.
In radio, FM is an abbreviation for Frequency Modulation:
Marconi is the inventor and businessman who is credited with the discovery of wireless communication.
Lee De Forest is the inventor who is considered the “father” of radio.
Armstrong is the inventor credited with the discovery of FM radio.
The problem with AM radio was interference
For several years, NBC operated two radio networks.
Recording
Thomas Edison originally thought his phonograph would be used in the business office, as a dictation
tool.
Because of file sharing, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sued individuals who
download music.
Billboard is the magazine monitors the recording industry on a weekly basis.