CMNS 130 Review

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CMNS 130 Review
2
CMNS 130 Course Objectives

• To provide a map to navigate the field of
  communication studies
• history political economy
• 130 outlines how media work, how they are shaped
  by and shaping the economic, political and social
  worlds around us
• Society and technology
• To identify different perspectives on
  contemporary controversies
• To teach the design of effective arguments in
  academic writing in this discipline

3
Key Characteristics of Mass Communication ( wk 1)

• Message produced in complex organizations (
  sender)
• Formally constituted institutions
• Rule based
• With specialist vocations/professions
• Message fixed in some form with information and
  symbolic content ( technology of delivery is
  either in digital bits or commodity form)
  (material)
• Message is sent/transmitted or diffused widely
  via a technological medium
• Newspaper, magazine, CD or videocassette, radio,
  television, satellite or Internet
• Message is delivered rapidly over great space
• Message reaches large groups of different people
  simultaneously or within a short period of time(
  mass audience of receivers)
• Message is primarily one-way, not two way,
  although this is now being challenged at the
  margins
• STUDY AID COMPARE AGAINST TABLE 2.1 PAGE 14 CC

4
The Second National Policy

• like the railroad, communication seen as
  important for the transmission and reception of
  ideas, goods and services throughout Canada
• central to
• Western settlement
• Economic infrastructure
• Social development
• Much early spending by the Canadian State was to
  connect cities, peoples and markets
• rail, hydroelectric power, telegraph, post
  system, heavy regulation of telephones to ensure
  extension of service, and provision of public
  radio
• An early Tariff Wall until the 1930s to stimulate
  national business and manufacture ( See CC 26-30)

5
A Multi Party Pact

• The Second National Policy sustained high
  political consensus
• Overspill of US radio signals and predatory
  competition, combined with the social needs of
  Canadian citizens led to creation of the Aird
  Committee and unanimous resolution to create a
  public radio corporation
• Widespread public movements rallying cry was
  The State or the United States ( Graham Spry
  see Spry foundation www.com.umontreal.ca/spry
• A national royal commission studied the
  National Development of Arts and Letters (
  Massey Commission) and argued for a national
  interest in unity and identity in 1952-- values
  embedded in successive broadcast acts since with
  multi party consensus until the 1990s

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Framing the Canadian Media History

• The Mass Media were seen through the lense of a
  history of cultural nationalism, focussed on
  sending, and receiving Canadian information,
  ideas and entertainment
• But, they were also seen through a lense of fear
  of fascism ( CC 52)
• That new technologies like radio could make the
  individual part of a mass, undifferentiated,
  unsupported, and easy prey for authoritarian
  appeals.
• That mass media would inevitably carry low
  social status

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Contemporary Commercial Press

• Is transition of control from Ruler, to Political
  Party to Business? ( Chomsky and Herman)

8
Newspapers and the Rise of Democracy in Canada

• ( from colonial dependents to commercial
  independence)
• Earliest colonial papers ( Halifax) in late 1700s
  were licenced by the British Crown in the
  colonies
• Given news from the Imperial Country and local
  Lieutenant Governor ( so served as agent for
  Crown)
• Slowly, allied with political parties ( early
  1800s) some of them republican pressing for
• No taxation without representation
• Representation by population ( whig and tory
  parties)

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From Colonial to Independent Partisan Press

• Party papers ( sometime called factional papers)
  took money from loyalists and resisted pre
  publication censorship
• Covered the rebellion of 1839 in Lower and Upper
  Canada
• One editor Etienne Parent of the Le Canadien
  jailed
• Famous Case Joseph Howe, Nova Scotia 1835 ( read
  Kestertons History of Journalism In Canada, page
  20-22)

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Principal Differences

• Libertarian Media
• State must not intervene
• Freedom of expression is absolute
• Ideal type books, newspapers, magazines, also
  internet
• Watchdog Role ( stop abuse)

• Social Responsibility Media
• State may regulate
• To protect undersupply
• To protect against harm or offense
• To ensure universal access
• To promote effective, fair competition
• Freedom of Expression is limited only when public
  interest is at stake
• Ideal type radio or TV Acts
• Fourth Estate ( like legislative, judiciary,
  executive) may generate policy recommendations

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Critical Theories of the Press

• From critical political economy
• Marx in every epoch, the ruling ideas are the
  ideas of the ruling class ( courseware, normative
  theories, page 384)
• Media are central to the operation of capitalism
• they sell goods and services
• They carry economic news
• They are important for coordinating supply and
  demand
• So essential to economic system, they are
  controlled by the bourgeoisie, or ruling elites

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Neo-Marxian views

• Argue oligopoly forecloses diversity
• AJ Liebling Freedom of the Press belongs to
  those who own one.
• That is, the structure of ownership and control
  if very concentrated in the hands of a few, runs
  the risk that the gatekeepers may freeze out
  certain ideas in the desire to maximize profits (
  see custom courseware, p. 389 normative theories)
• The media become tools to maintain the dominant
  ideology of capitalist power

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Stephen Brooks

• Reminds us that the media are agents of
  socialization
• Set the contours of modern political discourse
• Agents of social learning
• The process of acquiring knowledge, values, and
  beliefs about the world and ourselves
• Contribute to what Walter Lippmann called the
  pictures in our heads ( CC 183)
• Especially powerful agents of ideology on issues
  where personal experience is unavailable

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Propaganda

• Definition
• The deliberate attempt to persuade people to
  think and behave in a desired way consistent with
  benefiting those doing the persuasion
• Includes advertising, public relations, and other
  forms
• Includes censorship
• More formally an organized program of publicity
  to propagate a doctrine or practice

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Common Elements of War Propaganda

• The Big Lie
• War atrocity stories ( the Operation Desert
  Storm, 1991, Kuwaiti babies)
• WWI the human soap factory ( 1919)
• Demonizing the Other
• Deck of 52 most wanted of Saddam Husseins
  colleagues
• Axis of Evil Iraq, Syria, N. Korea
• Issuance of Disinformation
• Private Jessica Lynch raid
• Tight communication control
• Embedding journalists, news pools, joint bureau
• Coercion, pre and post censorship or other uses
  of totalitarian power

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Media as Democratic Propaganda

• Coercion of citizens is not direct
• Ethical and moral claim of the democratic
  propagandist is itself to be debated
• Engagement with the propaganda techniques is
  opentends to be enlightened ( voluntary,
  majoritarian) and systemic ( not individual).

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Democratic Propaganda II

• Mainstream media do not set out to control or
  persuade,but that the effect is cumulative
• Expressions may be banal
• Frame all news around conflict/negative framework
• Consumer fantasies
• Male, ethnocentric language or values
• Little proof of a conspiracy or that owners
  collude
• it reminds us that persuasion works best when
  worming our way into our unconsciousness yet
  leaving intact the perception we have made our
  choices independently ( Fleras, 2003).

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Advertising And the Selling of Consumption

• Ubiquitous
• Intrusive
• Intensive
• Without precedent in any historical epoch
• Part of a continuum of persuasion in democratic
  propaganda

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Advertisers Clout on the News

• Canadian Association of Journalists
• We will not give favoured treatment to
  advertisers and special interests. We must resist
  their efforts to influence the news. ( ethic
  guidelines
• Prohibit acceptance of swag gifts
• Structural separation of editorial and ad
  departments
• But journalists aware of the need to sell and
  maximize audiences

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Advertisers Censor?

• Classic cases
• Advertisers boycott withdrawal after wardrobe
  malfunction, Disney withdrawing from offensive
  contents, Bill Maher
• Efforts to directly influence content
• Kingston Whig Standard lost 100 k after
  realestate agents pulled ads when article about
  direct sales published ( Russell 52)
• Tied selling advertorials
• The Bay and National Post

21
Social Issues in Advertising

• Is there a social responsibility accepted?
• Yes the Advertising Standards Council of Canada
  sets out several principles
• Yes, Advertising directed at Children is strongly
  regulated around the world
• Prohibited for very young children
• Type of appeal restricted
• In each generation, there are issues of
  representation in advertising hotly contested
  gender, age, race, sexual orientation

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Definition of Advertising

• How consumers become aware of potential goods or
  services to buy ( CC 339).
• Thus integral to persuasion
• In business, one of the costs of marketing

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Two Ideological Perspectives

• Libertarian
• Essential to inform consumers
• Builds demand for products
• Enables sellers to maximize sales and reduce
  costs
• Essential for efficiency of the market

• Reform Liberal
• Information is biassed
• Creates wants not needs
• Leads to oversupply of goods
• Passed on in costs to consumers thus inflationary
• J.K. Galbraith

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There is no free lunch

• Ad supported media appear free to consumers
• But, the costs of ads are passed on in the end
  price of the good
• Marketing and ad costs can reach 10-15 ( almost
  like a private ministry of information GST)

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Market Research

• Advertising is built on market intelligence
• Identification of potential consumers by
  demographics, behavioral and attitudinal factors
• Endebted to social psychology
• Study of what attracts, appeals, provides a sense
  of identify, pleasure
• The trend to passive people meters and
  universal barcodes tv/exposure to ads/retail
  purchases try to simulate
• complete data shadows of consumers

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Consumerism, Identity and Resistance

• Difference may be aestheticized, with the effect
  of assimilating or emulating Otherness for its
  exchange value CC 390
• Difference as a marketing tool attempts to strip
  it of all social and political antagonisms
• Allows both the reinforcement of traditional
  identities based on age, religion, taste an
  ethnicity while facilitating the production of
  new, increasingly narrow identities based on
  taste and lifestyle a culture of naricissim? A
  culture defined by fragmented public sphericules?

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The Peculiar Nature of the Media Commodity

• Ephemeral high risk
• Renewable consumption does not destroy
  availability of use to another
• Characterised by high creative labour costs
  which, as yet,cannot be wholly substituted by
  labour
• The paradox in media
• Costs or producing the first prototype are high,
  but very low to zero for additional copies
• This is called zero marginal cost suggests a
  difficulty in trapping exchange value

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The Public Good Problem

• Implies media goods may tend to be freely
  exchanged eg. MP3 file sharing
• Businesses respond by creating laws to trap
  exchange value eg. Fundamental basis of
  entertainment law is Intellectual Property
• Which establishes a monopoly for the creator for
  70 years on products of the mind

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Rationale for Intervention

• Doctrine of national sovereignty(spectrum)
• Natural Monopoly ( spectrum)
• Market Failure
• History of spectrum chaos
• Other case of Market Failure
• Diseconomies of scale in certain productions
• 40 time spent with drama
• Average US drama 1.2-2 million US per episode
• US market recovers cost and can sell into Canada
  at 1/10th the cost
• Thus, private commercial broadcasters can make no
  profit on domestic drama

30
The Canadian Broadcasting System

• - mixed with public and private elements
• Competitive
• Highly regulated by the CRTC
• ( Canadian Radio-television and
  Telecommunications Commission)
• Which licenses and monitors
• Classic case of social responsibility model

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The Canadian Broadcasting Act (1991)

• The Canadian Broadcasting System will serve to
  safeguard enrich and strengthen the cultural,
  political social and economic fabric of Canada
• Each element will contribute to the creation and
  presentation of Canadian programs
• Each.. Will Make Maximum use and no less than
  predominant use of Canadian creative resources

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Do we Need the CBC?

• You Decide

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Turn the tables and question private broadcasters

• They are Strong in local news
• But act only as Resellers of US programs
• 5 of Globals prime time audience is to Canadian
  shows (eg. BCTV)
• CTV/Global Schedules are set in New York by US
  networks
• Spend 400 m annually on US programming, Just 50
  on Canadian drama
• But eligible for over 500 million in subsidy
  and protections ( Nordicity, 2006)

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Review The Economic Problem

• Underdeveloped Ad Market
• TV ad revenues are 66 the size of their US
  counterparts on a per capita basis
• Why? Overspill of US ads
• Underdevelopment of sectors of ads which are in
  the public realm in Canada (health, education etc)

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Economic Problem 2

• Global can go to Hollywood and buy rights to air
  Greys Anatomy in Canada, and pay 100 K or less
  per episode
• But costs to produce a Anatomy here would be 2
  million per episode ( 10 to 20 times more)
• Why? Economies of scale in the US US product
  recovers most of its costs in the home market,
  can afford to sell below cost in foreign
  countries
• Cheaper to import license than make

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(No Transcript)
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Identity

• Characteristics by which a person or thing/group
  of persons or thing is known
• Recognizable as the same or different
• Multiple identities possible
• Now, politically morphed into identity
  politics the strategic assertion of a unity
• Modern identities have channelled through nation

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Myths about Canadian Cultural Identity

• Defined against the US/ British or French
  fragments
• Seen as hybridized, hyphenated French
  Canadian, English Canadian, Immigrant Canadian,
  Aboriginal Canadian
• Seen as regionalized Western, Eastern or
  central Canadian
• Increasingly seen not as bicultural but more as
  multicultural

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Other Defining Markers

• NOT American ( the rant)
• NOT nationalistic ( no anthem in schools)
• MORE deferential to authority (Garrison versus
  Frontier mentality)
• MORE public enterprise culture (rail, universal
  health care, education, CBC)
• GO BETWEEN
• international peace-keeper, trusted
  intermediary,--history of land mines treaty self
  image of a kinder, gentler peoples
• Not Mono cultural bilingual and multicultural(
  mosaic versus melting pot)

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Gendering the Media
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Key Ideas

• For most people, the identification of oneself as
  female or male is the foundation of self-identity
• Men may naturally be seen as more aggressive,
  domineering, competitive and hierarchically
  oriented
• Females may naturally be seen as more passive,
  acquiescent, nurturing , egalitarian and
  domestically oriented
• These arguments are essentialist that is, they
  assume a kind of biological determinism or
  universal pattern of culture
• BUT
• Biology may determine our sex as male or female
  but culture shapes the content and conduct of
  what it takes to be a woman or a man
  (Fleras,2001112)
• Gender identity is socialized it is a cultural
  construct that the media actively work to promote
• Sex/gender distinction is a matter of social
  power
• Therefore media representation of gender
  important

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Theoretical Basis for Critique

• Based on Cultivation Hypothesis
• Repeated exposure to stereotypes of women may
  condition a world view where
• Women are subordinate
• Women are defined by sexual display
• Women are sexually available ( see Signorelli of
  the Annenberg school)
• Reinforcing patriarchal social values (
  hegemonic/dominant cultural power)

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Theory 2

• Effects studies
• Tannis McBeth Williams
• Experimental study Notel, Unitel, Multitel
  introduction of TV to a Northern Canadian
  Community
• Found childrens play exhibited more sex-role
  stereotyped behaviors after introduction of TV
• Perceptions more traditional
• Judge stories on the basis of what they look like
  rather than what they do

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Theory 3

• Studies of Social Psychology
• Emergence of self esteem
• Body Image
• Trend to thinner and thinner models
• ( average more than 30 underweight)
• More and more young women would like to look
  differently, are dieting for ideal shape
• Rise of eating disorders, both genders
• Fetishism of appearance extreme makeover

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Theory 4

• Stereotype a reduction of persons to a set of
  exaggerated, usually negative, character traits
• How measured
• content analysis
• Textual analysis roles
• Madonna/whore dichotomy
• Other common stereotypes ( Meehan)
• Matriarch, goodwife, witch, bitch,decoy, victim,
  courtesan, siren or temptress.
• Concern with images of women, tries to make
  assertions about the truth and falsity/fairness
  of representations or their social justice

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Politics of Representation

• When minorities struggle for recognition/rights/sh
  aring of power in political, cultural and media
  institutions ( another variation on identity
  politics)
• Media and culture play an important role in
  drawing clear distinctions between who belongs
  and who doesnt
• Presupposes a level of political organization
  mobilization around a social problem
• Discloses fundamental human need drive for
  identity to escape the psychic prison of a
  world view that excludes or denies( Fleras307)
• Presupposes media form an important function in
• Framing
• Recognizing
• Representing Cultural/ethnographic groups
• Thus media both reflect and shape social justice

48
Proof of Problems

• In media
• Analysis of ownership control
• Analysis of workers/work routines in news
  manufacture
• Analysis media contents/reception ( latter
  scarce)
• In society
• Socio economic studies
• Social dysfunctions ( conflict, threats to social
  cohesion)
• Anti social behaviors stereotyping/hate/social
  exclusiveness

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Allegations Against Media

• Aboriginals, people of colour, immigrants and
  refugees tend to be underrepresented
• Invisible
• Irrelevant
• Victimized
• Trivialized
• Or misrepresented
• Race-Role Stereotyped ( FlerasCC 423)
• Demonized
• Scapegoated
• Ridiculed
• Whitewashed/Tokenized
• Or marginalized
• Ethnic media enclaves
• No public subsidy
• Limited international imports

50
Definition of Pornography

• Porno from the Greek root meaning prostitution
  or captive
• I.e. subservient position
• Graphos writing about, depiction
• I.e. separation, distance between subject and
  object
• CC 541.

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Definition of Erotica

• From Greek Root Eros
• Passionate love
• Pleasure, reciprocated

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The Cultural Political Problem

• There is a continuum of pornography
• In any society, there is a continuum between
  freedom of expression and censorship
• The goal must be to distinguish objectionable
  material from sexually explicit
• Identify when it is legitimate to restrict the
  former and not the latter
• Tests
• If mutual consent
• If no harm
• I.e. positive, life affirming sexual depiction,
  free will
• If it meets the test of equality rights
• Freedom to decide
• Equality of opportunity
• Reciprocal dignity of person

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Ideological Perspectives

• Social Conservatives
• See pornography as a threat to the social order
  and morality
• A mockery of family values ( CC 547)
• Often tied to patriarchy, right to life
• civil pollution
• Feminists
• See pornography as a threat to gender equality
  and morality
• Tied to misogyny
• Libertarians
• See right to pornography as individual choice
• Government censorship as the biggest threat of
  all
• Source CC 544.
• R.A. Hackett and Yuezhi Zhao. 1998. Sustaining
  Democracy. Toronto Garamond. 4.

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Alternative Media

• Provide a range of perspectives and forms that
  are not readily available through profit driven
  media
• May offer radical alternatives
• Or may offer small for profit enterprises
  challenging the dominant market leaders
• May offer individuals a new avenue for their
  expression ( DIY)
• Or, may offer community groups/campus radio etc.
  new channels.
• In some regimes ( eg. Quebec) there are grants to
  community associations or indie media to produce
  what they would like).

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Towards Addressing the Democratic Deficit

• Enshrine a Right to Communicate in the Charter
• Require universal access to media, media
  education and ensure diversity of public,
  private, commercial, non commercial, educative,
  entertaining, individual and group media
• Regulate Unfair Media Competition
• Provide public access media
• Reform the CBC/Public Broadcaster
• Widen and make more transparent the system of
  self regulation of the media
• Citizens must decide
• Broadcasting systems are invented in the image of
  each generation
• Need a cultural/communication environment movement

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The Essence of a Right to Communicate

• Communication is basic to the life of all
  individuals and citizens
• All people have the right to develop their own
  skills to tell their own stories and to learn how
  to express them
• All people have a right to fair and equitable
  access to local and global resources they need to
  participate in everyday life
• All have a right to participate in and make
  decisions about culture and communication
• (CC 580)

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What is to be Done

• Strikes, complaints and rallies
• Media education in Schools
• Constitutional Challenges
• Boycotts
• New forms of policy intervention as global
  concentration and vertical integration of
  commercial media escalate
• Opening up national models of regulation
• Opening up citizen models of deliberation/ of
  fair, democratic communication

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Conclusion 130

• We are all propagandists to varying degrees, just
  as we are victims of propaganda, but the answer
  is not less propaganda, it is more, with the
  wisdom to judge what is counter propaganda, what
  is democratic propaganda, and what is propaganda
  that will liberate us all for peace and social
  justice

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Key Review Readings

• 1, 2,4,5,7,10,11,16,18,19,22,25,27,29
• ( Number refers to Course Outline Key for Custom
  Courseware)

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STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK ONE

• What is the main theme for CMNS 130?
• Watch for 4 key definitions
• What is the transmission model of communication?
  How does it differ from the cultural model?

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STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK TWO

• Why are Canadian media( esp. radio) central to
  the stories of Canadian nation-building?
• What are narratives and why are they important in
  the study of communication history?
• What is modernity and how are communication
  media implicated in the emergence of modernity?

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STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK THREE

• Is the historical transition of the print
  commercial media from ruler, to political party
  to small then big business?
• What is the libertarian theory of the press?
• What would be its opposite?
• Be sure you understand the concept of
• Ideology
• Identify four areas where classical liberalism
  and reform liberalism differ

63
STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK FOUR

• What are some examples of propaganda at work from
  the Gulf War( 1991) and Iraq War ( 2002-)?

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STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK FIVE

• How does Herman and Chomskys Propaganda Model
  Work?

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STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK SIX

• What are the special characteristics of the
  cultural/communication commodity and what are the
  business strategies for reducing risk?

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STUDY TIPS FOR WK 7

• What institutions try to balance the rights of
  the consumer with the rights of the advertiser?

67
STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK 8

• Name three stereotypes about Canadian identity
• What role do the media play in promoting Canadian
  identity?
• Can a nation survive without any indigenous media?

68
STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEK 9

• Are Canadian Media racist? Or can examples of
  media racism be observed?

69
STUDY QUESTIONS FOR WEEKS 10 11

• What is the problem in media representations of
  women and men and how area these problems
  manifest?
• What are the classical liberal arguments against
  censorship of pornography?

70
STUDY QUESTIONS WEEK 12

• What are the classic reasons for Canadian state
  intervention in Broadcasting?
• How do alternative media differ from public
  broadcasting?