MCM 733:
Communication Theory
Day 2:
Chapters 3, 4, 5
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• Beginnings of Mass Society
– Turn of the Century was:
• Turbulent
• Industrialization & urbanization
– This change was mostly the result of technological
change (Harold Innis)
– Rise of the Robber Barons
– CNN of the time was the telegraph led to the wire
services
– Hearst and yellow journalism
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• Rise of Yellow Journalism & Hearst
– Little respect for reporting accuracy
– Blamed for initiating the Spanish-American War
– Aimed at low income earners and new immigrants
– Reporters suffered low reputation
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• Cycles of Mass Media Development & Decline
– New media cause changes in the social, cultural,
political and economic order.
• They create struggles between types of knowledge (eg.
oral vs. literate traditions)
– New media give us what we want
– Social roles are disrupted – new elites rise
– Newspaper – radio – TV – cable/satellite - internet
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• Standards & regulation
– Do communication media regulate themselves in a
market economy?
– Does self-policing require an oligopoly?
– Revolutionary technologies start at the margins and as
they become more popular, they become more
mainstream. They change society as they move
towards the popular centre, but lose their radical edge
in the process.
– The process of a new technology replacing older ones
is called “functional displacement” : its progress is
inexorable.
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• Mass Society Critics and the Debate Over
media
– Change brings critics out, but critics tend to be
self-serving.
– Why is this useful to professional communicators?
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• 6 Assumptions of Mass Society Theory
– The Media are a powerful force within society that
can subvert essential norms and values and thus
undermine the social order. To deal with this treat
media must be brought under elite control
– Media are able to directly influence the minds of
average people, transforming their views of the social
world (Direct effects assumption)
– Once people’s thinking is transformed by media, all
sorts of bad long-term consequences are likely to
result – not only bringing ruin to indivudal lives but
also creating social problems on a vast scale
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• 6 Assumptions cont…
– Avg people are vulnerable to media because in mass
society they are cut off and isolated from traditional
social institutions that previously protected them
from manipulation
– The social chaos initiated by media will likely be
resolved by establishment of a totalitarian social order
– Mass media inevitably debase higher forms of culture,
bringing about a general decline in civilization
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries …
• Early Examples of Mass Society Theory
– Gemeinschaft & gesellschaft (F. Tönnies)
• Folk culture vs modern industrial society
– Mechanical vs Organic Solidarity (E. Durkheim)
• Consensus/tradition vs culturally negotiated social ties
Ch 3: Rise of Media Industries
• 10 Minute Discussion Exercise:
– How are Mass Society theories applicable/useful or
not in professional communication today?
– Use examples from your professional experience to
brainstorm some ideas
– Divide off in two groups of three & report back
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Propaganda spread throughout the 19th
Century (America, Europe, Asia)
• Propaganda was linked to the rise of
totalitarianism
• Americans were confused: should they
address the challenge posed by propaganda
through education or through counterpropaganda?
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Origins of Propaganda
– 1622: begins by virtue of Papal Bull to fight the
rise of protestantism
– Not necessarily a bad thing: just a dangerous tool
– 1930s: radio & film provide much better
propaganda tools
– Propaganda in its modern incarnation depends on
disinformation
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Types of propaganda:
– Gray propaganda: transmission of infomration or
ideas that might or might not be false. No effort made
to determine their validity
– Black propaganda: deliberate and strategic
transmission of lies
– White propaganda: intentional suppression of
potentially harmful info and ideas, combined with
deliberate promotion of positive info or ideas to
distract attention from problematic events.
– Engineering of consent: official use of comm
campaigns to achieve good ends.
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Propaganda Comes to the USA
– Harold Lasswell: propaganda was a tool to help
manage social orders
– 1930s: extremists were using propaganda very
effectively in Europe and in America
– Fear grew that fascist or communist groups could
come to power in the USA
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Great Theories of Propaganda:
– Behaviourism (J. Watson): stimulus-response
psychology. The opposite of cognitivism – we do not
use reflection to guide our actions, rather we are
conditioned.
• Led to the Magic Bullet theory
– Freudianism : human behaviour is the product of
conflict between an individual’s Id (darker side –
primal), Ego (reason) and Superego (cultural
influences on reason)
• Propaganda aimed at the Id could trump Ego and Superego
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Harold Lasswell’s Propaganda Theory
– Economic depression and escalating political conflict
threw people into collective psychosis and made them
more susceptible to propaganda
– Democracy is flawed: it depends on reasoned debate
– Rejected simple behaviourism: no magic bullet would
bring down a gov’t
– Communicators needed a well-developed, long-term
campaign strategy in which new ideas and images are
carefully introduced and then cultivated (cultivation
theory).
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Lasswell cont.
– Cultivation strategies led to master or collective
symbols which have strong emotional connections
– A multimedia campaign spanning months or years
is necessary to cultivate an audience. However,
once master symbols are accepted, they are very
powerful anchors for a communication strategy
– USA needed a scientific technocracy to build an
effective cultivation strategy to fight Nazi
propaganda.
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Walter Lippman
– Did not trust the people to respond to
propaganda through education
– Thought that the media could not effectively
police and regulate themselves
– Proposed gov’t regulation and censorship through
scientific technocracy.
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• Reaction against early propaganda theory
– John Dewey: believed in public education and the
power of pragmatism
– Pragmatism: a philosophical school emphasizing the
practical function of knowledge as a means of
adapting to reality and controlling it.
– Reacted violently to the elitism of scientific
technocracy
– Took issue with Lasswell’s reductionism : rel’n with
media is not linear, but networked in society.
– Institute for Propaganda Analysis
Ch 4: Rise of Media Theory …
• 15 minute exercise: 7 Propaganda Techniques
– Split into three dyads and find examples from
communication organization of the seven
techniques
– Report back to the group
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• Professionalism created the need for
normative theories in journalism
– Why?
• The most predominant North American
normative theory: Social Responsibility Theory
– How does social responsibility affect your
practice?
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• The debate around mass media regulation has
occurred between radical libertarianism and
those in favour of scientific technocracy
• The origins of libertarian thought
– Can be traced to 16th Century Europe as a
response to feudal autocrats
– In comms, arose in response to authoritarian
theory
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• Origins of libertarianism (cont.)
– Individuals freed from the shackles of gov’t,
Church, etc. would seek truth, naturally follow
dictates of conscience, engage in public debate
– 1644 John Milton introduces the self-righting
principle: in fair debate, truth and goodness will
always win over lies and deceit.
– Jeffersonian liberalism was libertarian and a
reaction to British autocracy (Canada was
different: we favored peace and efficiency)
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• Libertarianism aside, media is not free
– This protects minorities, children and consumers
from deceit, pornography and exploitation
– Protect citizen safety and access to quality
information
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• Marketplace of Ideas Theory
– Media should be regarded as a self-regulating
system. The market will select for the ideas which
are best. This theory is also known as the laissezfaire doctrine.
– Ideas compete in a market and citizen “buy” them
– Has the same reliance on libertarian faith that
truth will emerge from market competition and
consumer choice: this assumes that people are
rational actors not affected by crowd mentality.
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• Professionalization of Journalism
– Hearst and Pulitzer introduced important prizes
that reward honesty and excellence
– Fourth estate of gov’t: media as an independent
social institution that ensures that other
institutions serve the public
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• Limits of Professionalization
– Professionals in every field, including journalism, have
been reluctant to identify and censure colleagues who
violate professional standards
– Professional standards can be overly abstract and
ambiguous
– In contrast with medicine and law, media
professionalization doesn’t include standard for
professional training and licensing
– In contrast with other professionals, media
practitioners have less independent control over their
work
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• Other normative theories
– Developmental media theory: advocates support
for an existing political regime to encourage
development and citizen empowerment.
– Democratic-participant theory: encourages
support for the empowering of culturally
pluralistic groups
Ch 5: Normative Theories …
• 15 minute exercise: Discuss/Summarize/Relate
– Split off into three dyads. Each dyad will summarize
one of the following themes from the text and
illustrate it with examples from professional
communication practice.
1. What advantages does social responsibility theory
bring to your practice? Is it still relevant?
2. What advantages does libertarianism bring to your
practice? Can it be the guide for ethical practice?
3. Professionalization in communication practice – is it
possible? Does it apply to you?