mass media

jus 588 - list of reference books

Submitted by raymond on Thu, 05/15/2008 - 7:29pm

1. Altheide, David L. 1976. Creating Reality: How TV News Distorts Events. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

2. Altheide, David L. 1985. Media Power. Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage.

3. —. 1995. An Ecology of Communication: Cultural Formats of Control. Hawthorne, NY:: Aldine de Gruyter.

4. —. 2003. "The Mass Media as a Social Institution." Pp. 657-684 in Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism, edited by Larry T. and Nancy J. Herman Reynolds. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press.657-684

5. Altheide, David L., and Robert P. Snow. 1979. Media Logic. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

6. Bailey, Frankie Y., and Donna C. Hale. 1998. Popular culture, crime, and justice. Belmont: Wadsworth Pub. Co.

7. DeFleur, Melvin L, and Sandra Ball-Rokeach. 1982. Theories of Mass Communi-cation. New York: Longman.

8. Denisoff, R. Serge, and Richard A. Peterson. 1972. The sounds of social change; studies in popular culture. Chicago,: Rand McNally.

9. Doyle, Aaron. 2003. Arresting images : crime and policing in front of the television camera. Toronto ; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.

10. Ericson, Richard V., ed. 1995. Crime and the Media. Brookfield, VT: Dartmouth University Press.

11. Ericson, Richard V., Patricia M. Baranek, and Janet B. L. Chan. 1991. Representing Order: Crime, Law and Justice in the News Media. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

12. Ericson, Richard V., Patricia M. Baranek, and Janet B. L. Chan. 1989. Negotiating Control: A Study of News Sources. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

13. Ericson, Richard Victor, Patricia M. Baranek, and Janet B. L. Chan. 1987. Visualizing deviance : a study of news organization. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

14. Ferrell, Jeff, and Clinton Sanders. 1995. Cultural criminology. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

15. Fishman, Mark. 1980. Manufacturing the News. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

16. Fishman, Mark, and Gray Cavender. 1998. Entertaining crime : television reality programs. New York: Aldine de Gruyter

17. Fisse, Brent, and John Braithwaite. 1983. The impact of publicity on corporate offenders. Albany: State University of New York Press.

18. Gerbner, George, and Nancy Signorielli. 1988. Violence and terror in the mass media. Paris: Unesco.

19. Gronbeck, Bruce E., Thomas J. Farrell, and Paul A. Soukup. 1991. Media, consciousness, and culture : explorations of Walter Ong's thought. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications.

20. Grossberg, Lawrence, Ellen Wartella, and D. Charles Whitney. 1998. Mediamaking : mass media in a popular culture. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

21. Hall, Stuart. 1977. 1977. " Culture, Media, and the Ideological Effect." Pp. 315-348 in Mass Communication and Society., edited by M. Gurevitch and J. Wollacott (Eds.) J. Curran. London: Edward Arnold.315-348

22. Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. 2002. Manufacturing consent : the political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon Books.

23. Howitt, Dennis, and Guy Cumberbatch. 1975. Mass media, violence and society. New York: Wiley.

24. Iyengar, Shanto. 1991. Is Anyone Responsible?: How Television Frames Political Issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

25. Iyengar, Shanto and Donald M. Kinder. 1987. News that Matters. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

26. Jackall, Robert, ed. 1994. Propaganda. New York: New York University Press.

27. Jackall, Robert, and Janice M. Hirota. 1994. "America's First Propaganda Ministry: The Committee on Public Information During the Great War." Pp. 137-173 in Propaganda, edited by Robert Jackall. New York: New York University Press.137-173

28. —. 2000. Image makers : advertising, public relations, and the ethos of advocacy. Chicago ; London: University of Chicago Press.

29. Johnson, J. M. 1995. "Horror Stories and the Construction of Child Abuse." Pp. 17-31 in Images of Issues, edited by Joel Best. Hawthorne, New York: Aldine de Gruyter.17-31

30. Kamalipour, Yahya R., and Nancy Snow. 2004. War, media, and propaganda : a global perspective. Lanham, Md. ; Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.

31. Kendall, Kathleen E. 1995. Presidential campaign discourse : strategic communication problems. Albany: State University of New York Press.

32. Lichter, S. Robert, Linda S. Lichter, and Stanley Rothman. 1994. Prime time : how tv portrays american culture. Washington, D.C. Lanham, MD: Regnery Pub. ;

33. Lull, James. 1988. World families watch television. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications.

34. McLuhan, Marshall, and Bruce R. Powers. 1989. The global village : transformations in world life and media in the 21st century. New York: Oxford University Press.

35. McQuail, Denis. 1987. Mass communication theory : an introduction. London ; Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage.

36. —. 1994. Mass communication theory : an introduction. London ; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

37. Meyer, Thomas, and Lewis P. Hinchman. 2002. Media democracy : how the media colonize politics. Cambridge, UK Oxford ; Malden, MA: Polity Press ;Blackwell.

38. Morrison, David E., and Howard Tumber. 1988. Journalists at war : the dynamics of news reporting during the Falklands conflict. London: Sage.

39. Nimmo, Dan D., and James E. Combs. 1990. Mediated political realities. New York: Longman

40. Picard, Robert G. 1993. Media portrayals of terrorism : functions and meaning of news coverage. Ames: Iowa State University Press.

41. Shaw, D. L. , and M. E. McCombs. 1977. The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing.

42. Singer, Eleanor and P. Endreny. 1993. Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portay Accidents, Diseases, Disaster and Other Hazards. New York: Sage Foundation.

43. Soothill, Keith, and Sylvia Walby. 1991. Sex crime in the news. London ; New York: Routledge.

44. Shaw, D. L. , and M. E. McCombs. 1977. The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing.

45. Surette, Ray. 1992. Media, crime, and criminal justice : images and realities. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.

46. Tunstall, Jeremy. 1994. The media are American : Anglo-American media in the world. London: Constable.

47. Weitzer, Ronald, and Charis E. Kubrin. 2004. "Breaking News: How Local TV News and Real-World Conditions Affect Fear of Crime." Justice Quarerly 21: 497-520

jus 588 - 3/18/2008: lecture on communication and meaning

Submitted by raymond on Thu, 05/15/2008 - 7:15pm

bennett - political communication strives to shape messages through the use of formats and symbols.

Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood.
(from wikipedia)

-- distinctions between signifiers (ex: a green light) and the signified (ex: "go" or "press your gas pedal.")

uniforms are a signifier for what? groups? authority? responsibility?
"gunman" refer to whom? usually criminals and not soldiers or policeman.

this highlights a bifurcation between "legitimate" and not. how do mass media establish, indicate or imply legitimacy?

identities are sometimes less "who we are" than "how we are known to others"

Morality Play
-- dramas of the european middle ages
-- allegories for life
-- characters are abstractions (mankind as a hero, etc)

douglas lyman - studies how the seven deadly sins and the "four daughters of God" (mercy, justice, temperance and truth) manifest themselves in everyday examples of social control.

morality plays create scripts, story-lines and cultural narratives. they allow us to attribute motives to people and create a "vocabulary of motives."

SOCIAL order is part of an EXTERNAL order
-- good vs. evil are represented by symbols
-- divine intervention sometimes occurs
-- justice is related to God's will

Foundations of the Morality Play
-- carried out mainly in the theater
-- a sacred view of the world
-- order and justice are related: disorder "naturally" yields injustice
-- an emotional foundation (hopes and fears)

maladies striking people meant that somebody had done something wrong. "just world" theory.

the Linking of Crime to Morality Plays
-- secular views of the world
-- carried out mainly in the mass media
-- good vs. evil is linked to justice vs. crime
-- evil is a complete status. there's no redemption from it
-- referring to "evil ones" also has implications regarding religion and other ideas of righteousness
-- characters have heroic traits
-- social order is now linked to "legal" order

The American Beauty Rose
-- horatio alger: pull yourself up by your bootstraps
-- hope, upward mobility, self-efficacy, control of destiny
-- contrasts with social darwinism and capitalism
-- note that these stories were pushed and propagated (by industrialists) during a time in which there was strife between the wealthy and poor.
-- takeaway messages are that "this is not injustice, it is due to development and growth."
-- "good" comes from "good"

jus 588 - 01/15/2008

Submitted by raymond on Wed, 03/12/2008 - 8:56am

metaphor for media and society: escher's hands drawing hands
-- product alters process alters product
-- reflexivity
-- heisenberg's uncertainty principle

study not just the content of media, but the production of the content as well.
-- what values, technology, skills are incorporated into the content? what ideology?
-- there is information not in just the content, but in how the content is organized, produced, and put together.

process to media:
old metaphor--> stimulus / response
-- messages are like bullets, they hit you and you react to them. (ex. media causes violence)
newer metaphor: two-step flow of communication
-- stimulus is mediated through a group before you interpret it. your group identity helps process messages
present theory: symbolic interactionism
-- message reaches you and you interpret the symbolic elements and meanings and then there will be results dependent on what meanings you ascribe to the symbols.

"messages w/ moral meaning have influence on behavior"
change as opposed to reinforcing effects-- messages with moral meanings are very difficult to change. they're embedded (to a certain extent) in our environments / cultures.

naomi klein -- illegal to market directly to kids?? (in canada)

examples of interpretation battles in media:
was this "torture" or "strenuous communication"?
rush limbaugh, in reference to guantanamo, "this was a fraternity prank."

norman lear -- producer of "all in the family"
-- meant to change society
-- characters have symbolic meaning
-- lear intended to illustrate the point "bigotry is bad" however research demonstrates that in some small canadian towns it had the opposite effect of reinforcing bigotry.

culturally created SCRIPTS (situations) that get combined into NARRATIVES (with beginning, middle and end.)

ray surette -- social ecology of crime in entertainment media
-- three layers: "criminal wolves" which were fought by "crime fighting sheep dogs" who shielded "public citizen sheep"
-- interesting note: how you interpret these three layers is somewhat dependent on your experiences with law enforcements (i.e. race.)

people like to be reinforced-- "identifying things you already believe"

tony schwartz -- "the responsive chord"
-- "the best advertising is one where the viewer fills in the details."
-- this "chord" is a chord of meaning

sidebar: "this version of government is diluted fascism."

crack / cocaine and heroin: programming and government manipulation of networks and the media system.
-- robert blake -- "beretta"
-- epstein -- "agency of fear": this results in shifting language and meanings in order to talk about the subject
-- len bias -- boston celtics player died from an overdose of cocaine
---- tip o'neill: powerful congressmen (from boston)

Immediately upon returning from the July 4 recess, Tip O'Neill called an emergency meeting of the crime-related committee chairmen. Write me some goddamn legislation, he thundered. All anybody up in Boston is talking about is Len Bias. The papers are screaming for blood. We need to get out front on this now. This week. Today. The Republicans beat us to it in 1984 and I don't want that to happen again. I want dramatic new initiatives for dealing with crack and other drugs. If we can do this fast enough, he said to the Democratic leadership arrayed around him, we can take the issue away from the White House.

In life, Len Bias was a terrific basketball player. In death, he became the Archuke Ferdinand of the Total War on Drugs. What came before had been only skirmishing; the real Drug War had yet to begin. Within weeks, the country would be marching, bayonets fixed.

( from http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2006/06/18/lenBiasTheDeathThatUsh...)

"media logic is the ghost in the machine." what's running it? what shapes and frames what we see?

iconography
-- religious studies that look at what's been added and taken away from an icon over time. in particular, the associated meanings.
-- the ability to establish an icon and meaning is an act of power. (power is the ability to define a situation.)
-- "there is no meaning independent of human agency."

=======

from the standpoint of those attacking the towers, the people in the towers were "little eichmanns"
-- rationality of brutality
-- "television creates its own memory"
-- giovanni beckoloni: what is the source of our memories?

media, popular culture and blending of wars

top gun --> "highway to the danger zone" --> now, pilots play that song during bombing runs

lighthouses and frenl lens -- fear builds upon itself, narratives about the other, group membership, etc.
-- howard becker: sociologist focuses on "insiders and outsiders"
-- "the other" becomes a source of fear.
-- through multiple self-reflections and magnifications, the fear becomes more powerful.

"the discourse of evil is ecclesiastical"