Binary Models Reflection

I found binary models particularly interesting because they appear in many places. Binary models include hot and cold, elitist and populist, information and entertainment, and content and distribution. Hot means the form of communication requires full attention, and cold means it does not. Elitist means that a media organization that is not primarily about profit, and populist is a media organization that’s objective is money. Information and entertainment are self-explanatory; they mean that the form of communication informs or entertains. Content means that a company makes the product, and distribution means that they buy the product and gives distributes it.

There are many examples of these models. Books are examples of hot, while music is an example of cold mediums. This is a model where its two parts cannot be combined.

Elitist and populist organizations are also everywhere. An example of an elitist organization is NPR. They have articles that they think are important and do not try to make as much money as possible. An example of a populist organization is CNN. Though they are a legitimate news station, their main goal is to make money.

An example of information communication is an article about who won the latest election. An example of entertainment communication is an article about the friendship between two animals.

Examples of content are the publisher and the printing company. Examples of distribution are the warehouse the books are stored and the book store.

There are many cases of these models merging. Disney, through conglomeration, does not only make their content, they also own channels so they can distribute their products and create more of a profit. This is an example of a company being both content creators and distributers.

Because there are many places these binary models are found, their relevance to my society made this topic very interesting.

Response

I have read Mattie's paragraph about seeing adds for ABC and ESPN on Disney Channel. I found it interesting because I had not realized ABC and ESPN were even advertised on that channel. I too had come to a realization when I heard the lecture about conglomeration.. I have seen the show Once Upon a Time and often wondered how they got the rights to some of the characters on the show. I asked my friend about it and she told me Disney owned the show. I had assumed that Disney owned the show and not the channel. It was only until I heard the lecture that I finally understood that Disney had bought ABC and that is how they own the show.

http://www.datsomattie.blogspot.com/2015/09/conglomeration.html

News Media Critique

In the politics section of CNN's website, there is an article about the unlikely friendship of Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump. This goes against the yardstick for newsworthiness. This is the case because it not only is not a core topic, meaning it was based on "human interest", but also will not have a "direct and lasting... informational impact on a wide audience."*

A way to change this article to help the reader is to move it to the "entertainment" section of CNN's website. Because of this, they would not have to meet the standards set by the seven yardsticks of journalism.

*This quote was from gradethenews.org

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/politics/chelsea-clinton-ivanka-trump-2016/index.html

Response

I find Piper’s view point on magazines very interesting. She said she thought of One Blue Wall when discussing what General Magazine contained. It contained serialized fiction, children and adult fiction, personality profiles, and investigative articles. One Blue Wall has many literary works, though I do not believe they do not contain investigative articles nor serialized fiction as she said in her reflection.  I, too, found myself thinking about One Blue Wall when discussing General Magazine in class. I believe this is because people who are interested in literature are part of the niche that is One Blue Wall’s audience.

http://thenewpipertimes.blogspot.com/2015/09/magazines.html

Magazine Relfection

I found the lesson about magazines* and how they revolutionized literacy in America very interesting. I remember talking about why magazines are still popular, which was because of demassification and therefore they created content to appeal to a niche. I agree that demassification had much to do with this, but there must have been other factors involved.

Unlike newspapers, magazines can reach a farther audience. This is one factor I believe has made them still popular. They can reach anyone that has a specific interest, which involves the concept demassification. Still, without the ability to sell magazines anywhere, it would be much harder to have a large enough audience when magazines target a specific niche.

Though magazines and newspapers differ in that magazines have a father audience, while newspapers are local, they do share traits that kept them around. One in particular is that they are physical. Because of this trait, they can easily be shared without paying for a phone or computer. Teachers, especially in younger grades have been known to ask students to cut out photos in magazines to create a collage. This can only be done because magazines are physical. Someone could also lend another their magazine easily, while someone lending another their phone would be depriving them of their main form of communication.

Another aspect of both magazines and newspapers are that they are nonlinear. That means that someone can read the middle of the magazine, skipping topics in the front. Though there are more ads proportionately in a magazine than in a television show, the reader can easily skip them.

Demassification may be the main reason that magazines are still around, but there are other factors that play a role in their existence.

*The term magazine first meant “store”. According to Google, it “was often used in the mid 17^th century in the title of books providing information useful to particular groups of people”. General Magazine was the title of the first magazine for the more modern definition. 

Psychological Filters Reflection

I find the discussion about mass communication very interesting, not only because of the intriguing nature of any topic related to journalism, but also because of its relevance to the modern day world. YouTube, which was the first example of the process of mass communication, is filled with videos that people from all over the world post and many viewers. Mass communication, because of its relevance, is very important.

The process of mass communication is stimulus, encoding, transmission, decoding, and internalization. There are many ways to enact these five steps, as there are many forms of mass communication.

In the last step, internalization, there are filters that prohibit the audience from actually internalizing. Filters are very interesting because they come from internalization itself, unlike impediments that only block the communication in the encoding, transmission, and decoding stages.

There are three kinds of filters: physical, psychological, and informational filters. Physical means "I cannot". That means a person physically cannot internalize the form of communication. Psychological means "I will not". This means that the reader has a bias against what is being communicated. Informational means "I don't understand". This means the audience is not clear as to what is being communicated.

Psychological filters are interesting because they have to do with people's opinions. I find human nature very interesting, and since this topic has to do with human nature, I am intrigued. There are many examples of psychological filters throughout America. There are many people that choose not to listen to scientists when they uncover evidence that disproves their claims. In fact, though around 97% of scientists believe humans greatly affected global warming, far less of the general population agrees. This is an example of a psychological filter where the audience refuses to listen to the form of communication, which is data that proves humans greatly influenced global warming that is shared online.

Mass communication is very important, and therefore very intriguing. There are many interesting parts to this topic that have not been thoroughly addressed, but I still believe that psychological filters are the most interesting parts.

Reflection

I found it interesting on the day in which class discussed the influence of the printing press that there was such a huge impact on the world. I particularly found the split of the Christian religion because of this invention to be interesting. The influence of the Catholic Church was so great that people's lives were centered around it. For it to be split into many sections because of this new knowledge that people have received is so very intriguing.

I am still confused about one part of this topic. Since Martin Luther, the man who pointed out the flaws of the Church, was a priest, he would have already been literate. How, then, did the printing press making literacy common have an effect on the split?

It may be because when he wrote the list of these flaws, a greater number of people could read it. They could also read the bible and realize that what he said was true. This would influence a greater amount of people to come together and create a new Christian religion.