1.What are the social functions of the mass media?

List them and briefly comment on them

Political tool (instrument of power);
- The mass media is the vehicle through which the government informs, explains, and tries to win support for its programs and
policies,
- Educating the masses. Education on the policies of governments and on the rights and responsibilities could be carried out
through the mass media.
- Since the media are concentrations of power and also represent large concentrations of power, they dont necessarily try to
respect the rights of persons. What they first and foremost have to do is to try to survive in the struggle and competition with other
concentrations of power.
Public sphere (deliberative democracy);
- The mass media not only report the results of public opinion surveys conducted by outside organizations but also increasingly
incorporate their own polls into their news coverage.
- Mobilization function. This function of the mass media is very important to developing communities everywhere. It seeks to
bring the people together and helps to advance national development.
Commercial interests (maximizing profit);
- the media is an enormous industry that supports a lot of persons with the subject of their needs and desires, such as a good job
and the possibility to support their children, etc.
- Commercial institutions use mass media to increase sales of products.
Representation of knowledge (truth);
- the vehicles providing information to society
Normativity (common-sense, morality);
- Transmission of social heritage. By communicating information through the mass media we are transmitting social and cultural
values, which aim at sustaining the society;
- Mass media plays an important role in transmitting social values such as appropriate behavior and attitudes.
Entertainment and escapism;
The mass media also entertain the public by providing emotional relaxation, intrinsic and cultural enjoyment (i.e. provision of
momentary escape from problems) and killing boredom;
Celebrity (fame);
- on the one hand it seems that a significant amount of the media information we use to
learn about the world involves celebrities. On the other hand we live in a culture that is uniquely unlike past cultures
dominated by
celebrities (due to mass media).
2.Explain the variety of definitions of culture in the context of various disciplines.
Cultural Studies an interdisciplinary field of study: Ethnography, Ethnology, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, History,
Literary studies, Linguistics
Cultural Studies - interdisciplinary field concerned with the role of social institutions in the shaping of culture today cultural
studies is recognized as a discipline or area of concentration in many academic institutions and has had broad influence in
sociology, anthropology, historiography, literary criticism, philosophy, and art criticism. Among its central concerns are the place
of race (or ethnicity), class, and gender in the production of cultural knowledge.
3. Characterize the types of culture that can be distinguished and studied.
1. genetic (cultivation/nature) 2.historical (tradition/knowledge/accumulation), 3. psychological (learning/needs/perception), 4.
distributional (variability of cultural patterns) 5. normative (models/standards/values/norms)
4. What are the main tenets (zasady) /doktryny)of Antonio Gramscis hegemony theory?
Gramsci and Hegemony
[...] the dominant group is co-ordinated concretely with the general interests of the subordinate groups, and the life of the state is
conceived of as a continuous process of formation and superseding of unstable equilibria [...] between the interests of the

fundamental group and those of the subordinate groups equilibria in which the interests of the dominant group prevail, but only
up to a certain point, i.e. stopping short of narrowly corporate economic interest. (Gramsci)
What is Hegemony?

from the Greek egemon meaning ruler or leader (usually in regards to the state)
in the 19th c. it was used in reference to one states dominance over another
Gramsci changed usage of the word hegemony changed in the 20th c.
it refers to the ability of dominant classes to exercise social and cultural leadership
- Capitalist society is reproduced not only thru. economic means (i.e. the mode of production) but also thru. cultural means
- Hegemony as the key to understanding the cultural side

Gramscis innovation was to focus not on the force of dominant power (i.e. coercion) but on consent

Consent attained by the ongoing construction of a symbolic force field that establishes the common sense :

denotes the exercise of power via social, cultural, and intellectual leadership or direction
primarily power as persuasion, inducement, and incitement
thus culture (and media) are key to gaining hegemony
Summary of the key characteristics of hegemony:
1. dominant classes exercise social and cultural leadership
2. done in part thru. gaining consent form subordinate classes
3. dominant classes need to form temporary coalitions to attain such consent
4. key strategy therein is making particular interests (i.e. Of capitalists) seem universal
5. functions on both the cultural and institutional level
6. functions best when it seems most natural
7. never fully set once and for all
8. complex arrangement of alliances or blocs, constantly formed and reformed

Z PREZENTACJI:
According to Antonio Gramsci,
Three categories of ideologies:
-common-sense, superficial taken-for-granted beliefs,
-philosophies, sets of coherent beliefs
-dominant/ hegemonic ideology (religion, Fordism)
Hegemony vs. dominance the winning of consent from the subordinated, universalizing the interests of the dominant agroup as
the interests of the whole society
Hegemony needs to be organized and maintained by constant negotiations and incorporations (evolution rather than revolution),
organic intellectuals, the battlefield of popular culture;
Cultural resistance counter-hegemony

5.What are the main approaches to popular culture proposed by John Storey?
Content analysis
narrative analysis
thematic analysis
semiotic analysis
ideological analysise
typological analysis

6.Explain the implications and problems of adopting quantitative and qualitative

definitions of popular culture.
Quantitative methods are those which are based on numerical information or quantities, and are typically asociated with
statistical analyses. This method embrace (obejmowa) several different kinds of research traditions, including survey
reseach, network analysis and mathematical modelling. Quantitative reseach is often discounted (odrzucana) by its
opponents as being overly (nadmiernie)concerned with numbers and as being untheoretical and uncritical.Quantitative
methods are often attacking as vulgar and clumsy (nieudolny).
Qualitative methods are those which are based on narrative analysis, genre analysis and critical evaluation of texts. This
method embrace (obejmowa) several different kinds of research such as focus groups, interviews, investigate how
audience understand media and cultural texts. These methods are subject to criticism from supporters of quantitative
methods for their lack of objectivity.
Z prezentacji:
Quantitative -measured by quantitative indexes (sales, market research, attendance/ viewing figures).
Problems: How to measure approval, How to establish the threshold of popularity?
Qualitative- Culture that failed to meet the required standards to qualify as high culture:
evaluated in terms of e.g. formal complexity, difficulty, moral worth, relations to tradition and aesthetic
canons, exclusivity
Problems: Who makes those value judgments? How objective they are?
Dodatkowe:
These two broad paradigms of research are both used to investigate media and cultural studies and are
often seen to be distinct and mutually exclusive.
Comparison:
Quantitative
Qualitative
- Considered a hard science
- Considered a soft science
-objective
- subjective
- Deductive
reasoning
used
to - inductive reasoning used to synthesize data
synthesize data
- Focus: concise and narrow
- Focus: complex and broad
- Basis on knowing: cause and effect
- Basis
on
knowing:
meaning,
relationship
discovery
- Analysis: numbers and statistical
- Basis elements of analysis: words,
analyses
narrative
- Single reality can be measured and
- Multiple realities that are continually
generalized
changing
with
individual
interpretation
( most typically associated with the
American tradition of mass communication,
Scholars of cultural studies are often particularly vociferous in
attacking quantitative approaches, which they condemn as vulgar and clumsy. They criticize cultural studiem for being
subjective and lacking any rigour.
The literal defnitions of these are simple: a quantitative method is any kind of inquiry which uses numerical values,
such as statistical research, certain kinds of survey research or any method which generates numbers.These are largely
about measurement of one kind or another. However, it is difficult to measure some disciplines: e.g. popularity because
standards change or some areas of interests are more prestigious and exclusive.
In contrast,
Qualitative research is based on the interpretation of the world according to concepts which are typically not given
numerical values, such as ethnomethodology or certain kinds of interview. These methods are considered to be

interpretive . Who makes judgements? There are evaluated according to formal criteria: e.g. complex/ high culture.
Depends on how the work is interpreted and may not be particularly valid according to researchers steeped in the
objectivity of some social science research. Interpretive research acknowledges the limitations of enquiry and does not
aspire to be all-knowing (a criticism sometimes made by such researchers of the more objective approach). The
interpretive scholar relies on insight and judgement. The persuasiveness of an interpretive study depends on the
rhetorical force with which the case is made. Examples include analyses of television programmes which focus on the
themes and character portrayals. `Interpretive' studies are less factual and more analytical in focus than their `objective'
counterpart.
Quantitative
Number
Social science
Positivist
Empirical
Most typical of:
Mass communication/
Archetypal method: Survey
Concerned with:
Roots in:
Epistemology:

Qualitative
Meaning
Humanities
Humanist
Interpretive
Cultural studies
Hermeneutics

7. Explain the implications and problems of adopting the definitions of popular culture as imposed from above
and imposed from above.

imposed from above connected with mass culture,

Commercial- produced for mass consumption,
Vulgar/ formulaic ( bodility function)
Manipulative (romantic)
Inauthentic- created for culture industry (patology)
Consumed passively and automatically
Problems: How to explain market failure/ selection/ escapism?

imposed from above connected with folk culture

Originates from the people and is produced for the people
o authentic folk culture e.g. Muzeum Wsi Opolskiej,
o culture of the working classes; subversive, underground subcultures (e.g. garage bands
Problems:
o how to delineate the people,
o should we reject all commercial movies in production (because folk is better) ?

8. In what way is popular culture an arena of hegemony?

That is an area where ideological struggle between the dominant and subordinate classes takes place:
o articulation of oppositional meaning- very rich/ unemployed, equilibrium / lack of balance
o cultural resistance
o negotiation and incorporation to achieve compromise/ equilibrium
power infuses various components of the social world; power plays a role in the reproduction and possible
transformation of social relations, for example, and in daily and longer-term social practices.
Problems: How to delimit class, the position of the researcher?
9. Characterize postmodern popular culture.

Culture that blurrs distinctions between authentic and commercial

The only culture that we know
Characterized by simulation, kitsch, pastiche, parody
Commodified everything is for sale
Empowering individuals beyond class distinctions
How to account its value, merit? What categories to use? What is the value of untypical items/
products of postmodern culture such as a dress made of credit cards?

 Postmodern conditions:
diversity, flexible division of labour, decentring, localism, desire, play, individualism, indeterminacy,
immateriality, services, reproduction, deconstruction, strategy, androgyny, image, charisma, rhetoric, spectacle,
symbolic capital, dispersal, self-reference, fiction, ephemerality
10.
What are culture industries?
The term culture industry was coined by the critical theorists Theodor Adorno (19031969) and Max Horkheimer
(18951973), and was presented as critical vocabulary in the chapter The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception, of the book Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), wherein they proposed that popular culture is akin to a
factory producing standardized cultural goods films, radio programmes, magazines, etc. that are used to
manipulate mass society into passivity. Consumption of the easy pleasures of popular culture, made available by the
mass communications media, renders people docile and content, no matter how difficult their economic circumstances.
11.

How do market economy and legislation influence culture/media institutions?

12.

What are the main methods of investigating culture/media institutions?

document
research
(
documents
that
will
tell
us
about
production)
- historical research (what kind were done or produced, the evolution of culture industry)
interviews
(interviewing
someone
who
is
in
the
production)
participant
observation
(the
making
of)
- oral history (interviewing average people about what the remember)
13.

Explain the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods of textual research.
Qualitative Methods

Quantitative Methods

structured
interviews
&
Methods include focus groups, Surveys,
in-depth
interviews,
and observations, and reviews of records or
reviews of documents for documents for numeric information
types of themes
Primarily inductive process Primarily deductive process used to test
used to formulate theory or pre-specified concepts, constructs, and
hypotheses
hypotheses that make up a theory
More subjective: describes a More objective: provides observed effects
problem or condition from the (interpreted by researchers) of a program
point of view of those on a problem or condition
experiencing it
Text-based

Number-based

More in-depth information on Less in-depth but more breadth of

a few cases
information across a large number of cases
Unstructured
or
semi- Fixed response options
structured response options
No statistical tests

Statistical tests are used for analysis

Can be valid and reliable: Can be valid and reliable: largely depends
largely depends on skill and on the measurement device or instrument
rigor of the researcher
used
Time expenditure lighter on Time expenditure heavier on the planning
the planning end and heavier phase and lighter on the analysis phase
during the analysis phase
Less generalizable

More generalizable

14.
What are the advantages/limitations of studying media/cultural texts?
Advantages: Texts themselves are readily accessible (many media artefacts are available in the form of videotapes,
DVDs etc. which make it easier to access to wide range of texts).
Media texts are part of our world: they are social phenomena and often part of the debates about society going around
the world outside the university that makes them also more topical and socially relevant, in turn giving a greater sence
of relevance to our work.
Studying texts can improve our understanding of cultural life of how things mean.
Disadvantages: It requires repeated access to object of analysis so it is time consuming. You need to pay particular
attention to the time management of your project. Many large scale studies have been conducted by teams of several
researchers and the methods employed which can be labour-intensive.
Subjectivity of some methods of analysis- ex. semiotic analysis is very interpretative, and different readers do not
always share the same interpretation.
If you are not very confident of your rhetorical skills we should steer clear of using methods reliant on good analytical
skills which are suitable to strong writers.
A good textual analysis depends on the persuasiveness of the argument and this often depends on good writing skills. If
your writing skills are poor you can expose your weaknesses.
15.
What is content analysis? What are its aims, applications, procedures?
"a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of manifest content of communications"
. Content analysis is typically called a
`quantitative' method because it involves counting and summing phenomena. Content analysis is a research tool focused
on the actual content and internal features of media. It is used to determine the presence of certain words, concepts,
themes, phrases, characters, or sentences within texts or sets of texts and to quantify this presence in an objective
manner. One of the advantages of content analysis is that it enables you to conduct your primary research and come up
with your own facts and figures to use as evidence in your argument. It can be used to compare media content at
different points in time to make an argument about historical change, to argue that there is more, or less, of something
than there used to be.We can do comparative or diachronic analysis in this analysis e.g. how media changed?.
Procedures: (to co powiedziaa Pani I mam w notatkach)
- Identify a problem
- Choose your material
- Review the literature
- Get acquainted with the material
- Define your categories
- Do a pilot analysis
- Code your categorises and caunt/calculate them
- Present your findings
To co jest w ksice Stokes:
1. Establish your hypothesis.
2. Read widely.
3. Define your object of analysis.
4. Define your categories.
5. Create a coding sheet to record your findings.
6. Test your coding categories.
7. Collect your data.
8. Sum your findings.
9. Interpret your data.
10. Relate back to your question.
11. Present your findings.
12. Discussion.
13. Calculating percentages
14. Combining content analysis with other methods
16.
What is thematic analysis? What are its aims, applications, procedures?
Ta analiza, jej wytumaczenie jest na kartkach, ktre dostalismy od Pani Molek. Ja tej kartki nie mam, pewnie gdzie
zgubiam. Nie chce spisywa z innych rde, bo moe si okaza le. To jest kartka kopiuj wklej z wikipedii,
musicie sobie znale, bo po prostu tego nie mam;/. Przepraszam.
17.
What is narrative analysis? What are its aims, applications, procedures?
Narrative inquiry or narrative analysis emerged as a discipline from within the broader field of qualitative research in
the early 20th century.Narrative inquiry uses field texts, such as stories, autobiography, journals, field notes, letters,

conversations, interviews, family stories, photos (and other artifacts), and life experience, as the units of analysis to
research and understand the way people create meaning in their lives as narratives.
In narrative analysis, we take as our object of analysis the entire text, focusing on the structure of the story or narrative.
Narrative analysis requires us to uncover the structure of cultural artefacts. Paying attention to the narrative requires
that we do not get `carried away' by the story, but resist the temptation to suspend disbelief. We interrupt the story in
order to analyse and dissect it. A good story always hides its mechanism, so we need to prevent the text from doing its
job of making us forget it is a narrative. In analysis, we need to adopt a critical distance in order that we can better
understand how the story is structured.
Procedures: (Stokes)

Select your text(s) carefully.

Become very familiar with the text.

Define your hypothesis.

Write out the skeleton of the plot as it happens in the text.

Using the plot outline, write down the story as it happens chronologically.

Identify the `equilibrium' at the beginning and at the end of the text.

Define characters according to their `function' in the plot.

Relate your findings to your hypothesis.

19.
What are ideological approaches?
An ideology is a system of ideas or beliefs, and all media artefacts are the products of an ideology. The ideological
position being put forward may be explicitly spelled out, as it is in religious tracts or political manifestos. But more
often the ideology is implicit and one has to read into the text in order to find the ideology at work..
The purpose of discovering the `ideology' or `system of belief' underlying a message is at the root of most forms of
textual analysis: the purpose is usually to find the hidden meanings and values which may not be explicit at a first
reading. Thus, most methods of analysis, like all methods of production, are `ideological' in that they are informed by
systems of ideas and thinking whether the analysts are explicit about it or not. It is impossible to do any kind of research
without having an ideology. Ideology is to analysis what accent is to speech: you cannot be understood unless you have
one, but if you make it too obvious or strident, no one except your closest allies is going to understand you.
20.
What are typological approaches?
It deals with various methods used to think about media texts as belonging to a set or type. All these various approaches
are labelled typological because the similarities in approach between the methods are so great. The methods such as
genre studies, star studies and auteur all derive from film studies, but they all can, and should, be applied to other areas
of media and cultural studies. A key element in our understanding and analysis of cultural products is the notion of type.
Usually, people are well aware of the type of work they are making; most people who use media and cultural products
do so fully aware of what type of product they are using. Classifying media texts according to type is not difficult.
Types are convenient categories for creators and consumers of media and cultural texts, and they are used to label and
classify material across the entire range of media output.
Most typological studies are based on a few very basic structures:
how far a particular text fits (or does not fit) a given type
whether a text is of one type or another (for example, is it a thriller or a comedy?)
whether a text is one category of type or another (for example, is it the product of its star or its auteur?)
how an existing classification of a type needs to be redefined in the light of recent developments in the medium.
21.

What is genre analysis? What are its aims, applications, procedures?

Genre analysis can be used be in film studies or any other area of media analysis.
In conducting our own genre analysis, we can apply a similar approach to a different text. If we want to investigate the
extent to which a text (or set of texts) belongs to two different genres, we could follow the following method. We can
try to check out what features does our text share with two different types that we consider. To test our hypothesis, we
first need to establish the codes and conventions of the relevant genres, by reference to the literature and to a wide range
of texts. Next we need to analyse how far the text under investigation is typical of the genres in question. We should
identify the main characteristics of the relevant genres from the literature and from our own knowledge. Then we need
to analyse carefully the texts to see to what extent they have features in common with one or another genres.
STOKES.
22.

Define audience. What types of audience are there?

In media and cultural studies, the term `audience' is used in the everyday sense to refer to the people who attend a
particular performance or who view a film or programme on television. But we also use the term to refer in a broader
sense to people who are exposed to, or who respond to, media culture.
Particular (real) audiences
In rhetoric, particular audiences depend on circumstance and situation, and are characterized by the individuals that
make up the audience. Particular audiences are subject to persuasion and engage with the ideas of the speaker.
Ranging in size and composition, particular audiences can come together to form a "composite" audience of
multiple particular groups.
Immediate audiences
An immediate audience is a type of particular audience that is composed of individuals who are face-to-face subjects
with a speaker and a speakers rhetorical text or speech. This type of audience directly listens to, engages with, and
consumes the rhetorical text in an unmediated fashion. In measuring immediate audience reception and feedback, one
can depend on personal interviews, applause, and verbal comments made during and after a rhetorical speech.
Mediated audiences
In contrast to immediate audiences, mediated audiences are composed of individuals who consume rhetorical texts in a
manner that is different from the time or place in which the speaker presents a text. Audiences who consume texts or
speeches through television, radio, and Internet are considered mediated audiences because those mediums separate the
rhetor and the audience. Understanding the size and composition of mediated audiences can be difficult because
mediums such as television, radio, and Internet can displace the audience from the time and circumstance of a rhetorical
text or speech. In measuring mediated audience reception and feedback (a practice called audience measurement), one
can depend on opinion polls and ratings, as well as comments and forums that may be featured on a website.
Theoretical (imagined) audiences
Theoretical audiences are audiences that are imagined for the purpose of helping the speaker compose, or a critic to
understand, a rhetorical text or speech.
Self as audience (self-deliberation)
When a rhetor deeply considers, questions, and deliberates over the content of the ideas they are conveying, it can be
said that these individuals are addressing the audience of self, or self-deliberating. Scholars Chaim Perelman and L.
Olbrechts-Tyteca, in their book The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation,[3] argue that the rhetor "is in a better
position than anyone else to test the value of his own arguments." The audience of self, while not serving as the ends to
all rhetorical purpose or circumstance, nevertheless acts as a type of audience that not only operates as a function of
self-help, but as instrument used to discover the available means of persuasion.
Universal audience
The universal audience is an imagined audience that serves as an ethical and argumentative test for the rhetor. It
requires the speaker to imagine a composite audience that contains individuals from diverse backgrounds and to discern
whether or not the content of the rhetorical text or speech would appeal to individuals within that audience. Scholars

Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca ascertain that the content addressed to a universal audience "must convince the reader
that the reasons adduced are of a compelling character, that they are self-evident, and possess an absolute and timeless
validity".[3] The concept of the universal audience has received criticism for being idealistic because it can be
considered as an impediment in achieving persuasive effect with particular audiences. Yet, it still may be useful as an
ethical guide for a speaker and a critical tool for a reader or audience.
Ideal audience
An ideal audience is a rhetor's imagined, intended audience. In creating a rhetorical text, a rhetor imagines a target
audience, a group of individuals that will be addressed, persuaded, or affected by the speech or rhetorical text. This type
of audience is not necessarily imagined as the most receptive audience, but as the future particular audience that the
rhetor will engage with. Imagining such an audience allows a rhetor to formulate appeals that will grant success in
engaging with the future particular audience. In considering an ideal audience, a rhetor can imagine future conditions of
mediation, size, demographics, and shared beliefs among the audience to be persuaded.
Implied audience
An implied audience is an imaginary audience determined by an auditor or reader as the text's constructed audience.
The implied audience is not the actual audience, but the one that can be inferred by reading or analyzing the text.
Communications scholar Edwin Black, in his essay, The Second Persona, presents the theoretical concept of the implied
audience using the idea of two personae. The first persona is the implied rhetoric (the idea of the speaker formed by the
audience) and the second persona is the implied audience (the idea of the audience formed by and utilized for
persuasion in the speech situation). A critic could also determine what the text wants that audience to become or do after
the rhetorical situation.Is a group of people who enjoy listening to various music or speeches.The person who
empowers them the most.
Kasia:
23. What are the problems in studying media effects?
We have very many variety of effects research which makes comparisons across studies difficult. These include
empirical effects design (experimental, correlational, field study, etc), type of effect studied (short-term or long-term
effects, media-induced change or reinforcement effects, effect on beliefs or behaviour, cognitions or emotions, etc.),
target population studied (childeren, adolescents, young offenders, etc.), type of media studied (films, violent cartoons,
adverts, news reports, etc.). Differences between studies must also be understood in their historical context: the media
have themselves changed over the past 50 years of research, in terms of technology, content, availability and relation to
the changing practices of everyday life. In this meaning the first huge problem of studying media effects is the volume
of research. It is difficult to know what beliefs people might have espoused but for the medias construction of those
needs and desires which in turn motivate viewers to engage with the media as they are rather than as they might be.
There are, then, difficulties in conducting empirical research on both change and reinforcement conteptions of media
effect. Effects of media are very difficult to analyse, to do that scientist use different methods. Most of them are
criticized, because of its artificial method of analysing, for exaple, they use of artificial stimuli rather than real
programmes (in analysisng influences of TV), and for their measurement of short-term effects, with few follow-up
studies.
The way in which viewers selectively interpret what they see, depending on their own experiences and socicultural
background, is often taken to undermine media effects. While audience reception research has yet to establish how and
when programmes constrain viewers selections and interpretations, it is argued that the relative freedom of viewers to
make sense of television in different ways has substantial implications for media effects.
24. What is the purpose of studying audience reception?
Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes the reader's reception of a literary text.
It is more generally called audience reception in the analysis of communications models. Audience reception studies
focus on the interpretative relation between audience and medium, where this relation is understood within a broadly
ethnograpic context. The media are constantly identifying our needs for information and entertainment. Once the media
have identified a new need, they work quickly to develop all kinds of messages thet will attract people with that need, in
this way, they create audiences. Than once a media company has developed an audience, it works hard to condition that

audience for repeat exposures. When we are well aware of our needs, we can use the mass media as a rich resource to
satisfy every conceivable need. But if we are not self-aware, the most aggressive of the mass media will herd us into
audiences for their most profitable messages. Increasing media literacy give you more control so you can use the mass
media as a tool in achieving your needs, rather than allowing the mass media to use you as a tool to achieve their needs.
Audience research is undertaken at the initial stages of a communication campaign to understand the intended
audiences needs, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, barriers or constraints to a recommended basket of options. At
this stage, information is also obtained on audience preferences for communication channels or formats and usage
frequency and schedule. Audience analysis enables the communication planner to determine the types of incentives and
barriers that the audience perceive to exist, their most preferred channels or formats, the most credible sources, segment
an audience into groups with similar information needs and preferences, select the objectives most appropriate for an
audience, select the best media channels to reach an audience, develop concepts or messages to achieve the
communications objectives and plan for communication impact assessment. Moreover, researchers find themselves in
the position of needing to show how the micro-level processes of audience reception are of importance for macro-level
societal and cultural processes.
25. What are the main ways of reading of cultural texts, according to Stuart Hall.
-dominant- the viewer takes away that meaning from the TV show and accept what has been shown to us this is what
the media whants us to have, also called a preferred reading
-negotiated- when the viewer negotiates the viewpoint or idea (we tend to agree with this idea but also disagree with it
because of something else. E.g professional sport athletes: the negotiated reading would be that they are good role
models for young people and that because of their existance this enables them to actively take part in sport and
encourage them to keep fit and be healthy. ) - this is when I'd accept the advertisment, but not in the way it's shown
-oppositional- when we disagree with or dismiss that idea or meaning outright by completely rejecting what we have
seen on TV. We dont accept what has been shown and neighter do we take that idea as being either definite, geniue
or right this is when I reject compeletely
26.
What ethical guidelines must be observed in audience research?
a) The Likert Scale, developed by Rensis Likert, is a technique for measuring attitudes. The key feature of this method
is that respondents are asked to rate the extent of their agreement or disagreement with a set of statements about the
attitude object. A set of statements or items are usually collected about a chosen area, then a set of respondents are asked
to express the extent of their agreement or disagreement with each of the items. Responses are measured in terms of
strength of agreement or disagreement and a respondent's agreement ratings are summed to obtain a score representing
his or her attitude.
b) The Semantic Differential, asks respondents to rate the attitude object on a set of bipolar adjective scales. This is
done by placing a tick or a cross in one of the seven spaces on each of the rating scales. The ratings are scored and the
scale scores are summed or averaged to obtain an overall index of attitude. In contrast to the Likert Scale, the Semantic
Differential focuses on simple evaluative beliefs and is suited to measuring affective and behavioural aspects of attitude.
A strength of the Semantic Differential is the ease and speed with which it can be used,
c) Scales proposed by Thurstone.
The point of this method is to decipher exactly what questions need to be asked to adequately measure the attitude
domain of interest.
For example: I want to measure attitudes toward completing the Study Guide. What questions do I ask? How do I
combine answers to the questions to come up with one score?
Thurstone would have me first talk to "experts" on this topic who, together with me, would generate a whole bunch of
topic-relevant statements to present to my sample.
Then, I'd have a group judge each statement as to how favorable, unfavorable, or neutral each statement is vis vis the
attitude topic. These judgments determine the value of the item in the entire survey (e.g., on a 10-point scale from very
unfavorable to very favorable,one item's value might be 7.5; another's might be 3.4, etc.).
Second, you ask your target sample to simply identify each item that they agree with (OR disagree with); you do one or
the other; not both.
Third, for each respondent, you tally the scale values of the items that the respondent identifies as "agreed with," based
on the independent judges' estimates.
Darek:

27.
What are the most appropriate methods of researching audiences attitudes and behaviors
Observation ( behaviours of people in their own environments). Based on observation, there are many methods of
observing audience behavior, including laboratory research, ethnography and participant observation.
a) LABORATORY RESEARCH directly derived from science. When scientists report their findings, they are careful
to describe their method fully because one of the measures of successful research
is the extent to which it is replicable. Scientists can say that they have a reliable experiment if the work can be repeated
by others and the same
findings made.
b) ETHNOGRAPHY- used to observe audience behaviour. might involve observing how people behave when they are
actually watching television (Lull, 1990), shopping (Miller, 1998), dancing (Rietveld, 1998) and so on. To conduct good
ethnography, you must be detached and removed from the situation, and you observe others without allowing your
presence to intervene in the situation. But of course, this is impossible while people are being observed they
necessarily behave differently than they would in private.
Survey (Peoples respponses to questions) if you want to nd out about people's ideas, opinions and attitudes, there is
no substitute for asking them. Most social science research is based on people's reports of their actions in surveys or
some kind of questionnaire. It is important to remember that the subjects are relaying information to the researcher
about their world and are thus observing on the researcher's behalf. A key to making sure that respondents give accurate
reports lies in the design of the questions asked.
Interview (Audiences reports of behaviours). Interviewing is a very good way of nding out about people's behaviour
and their attitudes to the past as well as the present.
Focus group (Attitudes, opinions and behaviours of groups) The focus group is a good way of researching the
responses, ideas and opinions of people in greater depth than a survey. A focus group is an organized discussion of a
small group of people on a given topic. If you want to nd out why people believe what they do, understand more of
the nuanced reasons behind their answers or question them about their opinions of particular media texts, focus groups
are probably the best approach. Andrea Millwood Hargrave's team used focus groups to nd out more about which
words people found offensive
Oral history (Memories of past behaviours and attitudes) Oral history is an approach which relies for its primary
research on interviews with people about their past experiences. The method can be used to good effect to investigate
audiences in the past.
28.
Discuss the evolution of models of media influence.
Models are simplified representations of some aspect of reality. Models of media effects focus on explanations of the
impact of mass communication. Different models provide different explanations and emphases for how the mass media
affect the audience. The history of the study of media effects is typically viewed as a series of models that differ in the
relative power they ascribe, respectively, to the media and to the audience.
This historical view of media effects serves an organizing function for mass communication research. These models
might very well reflect their historical eras. For example, the uncertainty of a society between two world wars might
have given the media more power. There are, however, critics of this historical approach. The limited-effects phase, for
example, was useful to the broadcast industry, which was resisting substantial government regulation at the time. This
historical view illustrates that different models of media effects place different emphasis on either the media or audience
as the prime explanation for media effects. The study of media effects is now driven by a range of theories or specific
explanations that assert direct connections between various aspects of media content and specific outcomes of media
use. Now, scholars find it useful to organize their thinking about media effects along specific dimensions. Some of these
dimensions delineate the type of effects; others elaborate the conditions of media impact.
29.
What were the scientific bases of the hypodermic needle model?
The hypodermic needle model is a model of communications also referred to as the magic bullet perspective.
Essentially, this model holds that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The
model emerged from the Marxist Frankfurt School of intellectuals in the 1960s to explain the rise of Nazism in
Germany.
The hypodermic needle model is a model of communications also referred to as the magic bullet perspective.
Essentially, this model holds that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The
model emerged from the Marxist Frankfurt School of intellectuals in the 1960s to explain the rise of Nazism in
Germany.
The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The
mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change. Several factors
contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication, including: the fast rise and popularization of radio and
television, the emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda, the Payne Fund studies of

the 1930s, which focused on the impact of motion pictures on children, and Hitler's monopolization of the mass media
during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party.
The most famous example of what would be considered the result of the magic bullet or hypodermic needle model was
the 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds and the subsequent reaction of its mass American audience.
This model, characterized as a direct effects model of media effects, viewed the audience as helpless to resist the
well-crafted messages of powerful sources.
models of media effects, mass media messages were seen as powerful stimuli that could directly and quickly
evoke predictable responses from passive and socially isolated audience members
Darek:
30. What does the uses and gratifications model tell us about media influence?
'Uses and Gratifications Theory' is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more
focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking what people do with media rather
than what media does to people. It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in
interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for
choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfil specific gratifications.
This theory would then imply that the media complete against other information sources for viewers' gratification. Uses
and gratifications theory is based on these basic ideas: that media audiences are active rather than passive; that their
media choices depend on perceived needs, satisfactions, wishes, or motives; and that audiences are formed on the basis
of similarities of need, interest, and taste.
Uses and gratifications theory is based on these basic ideas: that media audiences are active rather than passive; that
their media choices depend on perceived needs, satisfactions, wishes, or motives; and that audiences are formed on the
basis of similarities of need, interest, and taste.
The audience is considered to be active rather than passive in media consumption; initiative in linking need gratification
and media choice lies with the audience member; the media compete with other sources of need satisfaction; many of
the goals of mass media use can be derived from data supplied by audience members themselves; and value judgments
about the cultural significance of mass communication should be suspended while audience orientations are explored
The uses and gratifications approach has been criticized for not providing predictive ability, for being nontheoretical
and vague in defining key concepts, for using self-reports to determine motives, and for relying on psychological
concepts such as need.
31. What does the cultivation theory tell us about media influence?
Cultivation theory proposes that heavy television viewing contributes to beliefs about the real world. The more
television people watch, the more their beliefs and assumptions about life and society will tend to be congruent with
television's most stable and repetitive messages.
The theory of cultivation emphasizes the role that storytelling plays in the process of socialization. Storiesfrom
myths and legends to soap operas and cop showstend to express, define, and sustain (i.e., cultivate) a culture's central
assumptions, expectations, values, and interpretations of social reality. Much of what we know comes not from personal
or direct experience but from many forms and modes of storytelling. Today, television is the dominant storyteller.
Television's stories must fit into and reflectand thereby sustain and cultivatethe facts of life that most people take
for granted. Cultivation analysis, explores whether and how television viewing contributes to audience members'
conceptions of social reality.
Cultivation is part of a continual, dynamic, ongoing process of interaction among messages and contexts. Television
viewing usually relates in different ways to different groups' life situations and worldviews. For example, personal
interaction with family and peers makes a difference, as do real-world experiences. A wide variety of sociodemographic and individual factors produce sharp variations in cultivation patterns. The most common of these is a
phenomenon called mainstreaming, whereby heavy television viewing tends to erode differences in people's
perspectives that stem from other factors and influences.
32. What are the assumptions behind the agenda-setting hypothesis?
Agenda-setting theory describes the "ability [of the news media] to influence the salience of topics on the public
agenda." That is, if a news item is covered frequently and prominently the audience will regard the issue as more
important. Agenda-setting theory was formally developed by Dr. Max McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw in a study on the
1968 presidential election. In the 1968 "Chapel Hill study," McCombs and Shaw demonstrated a strong correlation,

between what 100 residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina thought was the most important election issue and what the
local and national news media reported was the most important issue. By comparing the salience of issues in news
content with the public's perceptions of the most important election issue, McCombs and Shaw were able to determine
the degree to which the media determines public opinion. Since the 1968 study, published in a 1972 edition of Public
Opinion Quarterly, more than 400 studies have been published on the agenda-setting function of the mass media, and
the theory continues to be regarded as relevant
The agenda-setting concept identifies a high correlation between the priority that media-makers assign to specific issues
and the importance that their audiences place on those same issues. According to agenda-setting theory, the media might
not tell us what to think about such an issue as abortion rights, for example, but they do influence our becoming aware
of the issue, assigning it a high degree of importance, and eventually forming an opinion on it.Within the tradition of
media effects research, agenda setting is arguably a middle-of-the-road theory in terms of media influence it describes.
It does not argue that audience attitudes and behaviors are largely unaffected by the media, as did the limited effects
theories of the 1950s. Neither does it seek to minimize the existence of individual agency in the media consumption
process (like the magic bullet theory of the 1940s and the more sophisticated powerful effects theories of the 1990s).
The agenda-setting concept draws on an understanding of media-makers (particularly journalists) as gatekeepers of
information, whose priorities and decisions shape the issue coverage that is available to the public. It formulates a
connection between news items that are allowed through the gate onto TV screens and into newspapers and the issues
audiences hold to be of importance.
Three Types of Agenda-Setting
1) Public agenda setting- Is in which most important public issues or problems are measured by public opinion and
agenda.Example (people's strong beliefs)
2) Media agenda setting- Is the pattern in which news coverage print and broadcast news gets measured through the
importance and depth of the story. Example (Presidential race information)
3) Policy agenda setting- Is more scientific in its nature its the thought in which we pay more attention to how the
media or public might influence elite policy makers. Example (President, Congress, Religion)
Criticisms
1) Agenda setting is an inherently causal theory, but few studies establish the hypothesized temporal order (the media
should set the public's agenda).
2) The measurement of the dependent variable was originally conceptualized as the public's perceived issue "salience,"
but subsequent studies have conceptualized the dependent variable as awareness, attention, or concern, leading to
differing outcomes.
3) Studies tend to aggregate media content categories and public responses into very broad categories, resulting in
inflated correlation coefficients.
33. What are the assumptions behind the agenda-cutting hypothesis?
Agenda cutting is the process by which deserving news topics are neglected. The phenomenon of agenda setting is well
established and refers to processes by which topics get preferred attention in news provision. A natural corollary of this
is that other topics will receive less attention than they may deserve (a topic or story can be said to deserve attention
if it deeply affects the lives or interests of a substantial segment of the population or could do so). This process of
agenda cutting differs from censorship, in which an administration or authority uses punitive sanctions to block
coverage of matters that it desires or is required to keep from public knowledge or attention.
Agenda cutting can be found not only in print media but in the data elicited by Internet searches. For example, Bradley
S. Greenberg of Michigan State University notes that a Google search on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, provides
evidence for and even quantification of the phenomenon. He found that a Google search using the keyword Sullivan's
Island brought up about 100 websites describing Sullivan's Island's vacation amenities, history involving Edgar Allan
Poe, and a stirring fight against the British in 1776. But one has to enter a further search descriptor, slavery, before it
then becomes clear that Sullivan's Island, near Charleston, was the first stop for many Africans who were brought to the
New World as slaves.
An article by Roy Greenslade (2004) in the Guardian newspaper described an example of agenda cutting in the British
press. The article noted that, for many years, newspapers treated the topic of child abuse as taboo, barely reporting on
cases unless the assaults were carried out by strangers. Editors thought abuse within the family was too rare to warrant

coverage and that intimate details of such crimes should remain private.
Another part of the reason the agenda is narrowed lies in our own preferences and behavior as viewers and readers.
Teenagers more often watch music and entertainment on television, rather than news. Viewers who create the swelling
market for systematically misnamed reality programs prefer to engage with human relations trivia rather than with
problems of profound substance and impact on society. They may correctly identify the reported romances of movie and
music stars, while remaining unaware of the composition of the U.S. Supreme Court or the location of Guantanamo and
the controversies concerning suspected terrorists held there by the United States. Thus, viewer preferences can provide
commercialized mass message systems with a rationale for agenda cutting.
34.

What types of media effects are distinguished in media effects research literature?

- Individual/social
- long/short
- Positive/negative
- Immediate/permanent
- Change/reinforcement
- Behavior/attitude
- Emotion/believe
Cognition/physiology
35. What is wartime/peacetime propaganda?
Wartime propaganda is rumors and information of questionable nature spread by the government to gain the public's
support.
General Sun Tzu eliminate resistance,
Genghis Khan build rulers reputation,
George Washington foment discontent,
Lord Northcliffe journalism as propaganda,
Vladimir Lenin acts of terror to control morale,
Adolf Hitler eliminate doubts, build on prejudice,
Joseph Goebbels be consistent and dynamic, synchronize propagandas
PEACETIME PROPAGANDA
Nowadays propaganda is defined as a form of political communication that is characterized as one-directional,
asymmetrical, strategic/purposeful, aiming to amend peoples beliefs, attitudes or behaviours, and treating them as
objects in that process.
As generally understood, propaganda is opinion expressed for the purpose of influencing actions of individuals or
groups. More formally, the Institute for Propaganda Analysis has defined propaganda as "expression of opinion or
action by individuals or groups deliberately designed to influence opinions or actions of other individuals or groups
with reference to predetermined ends.
36. Exemplify how media technologies influenced propaganda.
Social/political propaganda can be horizontal or vertical, respectively and use techniques that derive from:
Advertising,
Marketing,
Public relations,
Social psychology,
Rhetoric
In the ancient times the only media were public readings of important news and new laws so the audience (which was
not very big, mostly rich and influential people) could hear about some selected events. In the XVII c- elite press, only
for those who could read and could afford it. Second part of the XVII c and the XVIII c- people in power started to use
first newspapers for propaganda (Louis XIII in France tried to improve the way people saw him), more people could
afford newspapers. After the industrial revolution: mass press, first proto cameras, more and better education, so the

propaganda was wider. The cinema- first talking films, widely used in Nazi propaganda (ideology hidden in movies,
very effective) ? Joseph Goebbels. Radio in 1910- mostly in USA (commercial, used by politicians- Roosevelt?s
program) and Nazi Germany (national radio). TV propaganda in 1950. 1960- election campaign- president debate
Kennedy
(Irish
catholic)
vs.
Nixon
(veteran
of
politics).
37. What types of propaganda are there?
Types of propaganda: preparatory (attitude building), operational (call for specific action), follow-up (reinterpretation,
re-evaluation of action).
White propaganda (dropping leaflets behind frontlines promising good treatment of POWs)
Grey propaganda (disinformation/rumour from masked/unknown sources about military failures, likely shortages of
supplies, etc)
Black propaganda (false identity of the source, partly false information, to cast doubt on the legitimacy of military
strategy, war effort, leadership)
38. List and briefly discuss some common propaganda devices.
- Assertion - Bandwagon - Card stacking, - Glittering generalities - The lesser of two evils Name calling
Pinpointing the enemy - The plain folks -Testimonials - Transfer
(wybierzcie sobie kilka, ktre chcecie z pord tych 7)
COMMON PROPAGANDA DEVICES:
Bandwagon is an appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well. Bandwagon
propaganda is, essentially, trying to convince the subject that one side is the winning side, because more people have
joined it. Since the average person always wants to be on the winning side, he or she is compelled to join in. However,
in modern propaganda, bandwagon has taken a new twist. The subject is to be convinced by the propaganda that since
everyone else is doing it, they will be left out if they do not. Thus, subjects of bandwagon are compelled to join in
because everyone else is doing so. When confronted with bandwagon propaganda, we should weigh the pros and cons
of joining in independently from the amount of people who have already joined.
Card stacking, or selective omission, involves only presenting information that is positive to an idea or proposal and
omitting information contrary to it. Card stacking is used in almost all forms of propaganda, and is extremely effective
in convincing the public. Although the majority of information presented by the card stacking approach is true, it is
dangerous because it omits important information. The best way to deal with card stacking is to get more information.
Glittering generalities occur very often in political propaganda. They are words that have positive meanings for most
individuals, as they are linked to highly valued cultural concepts. When these words are used, they demand approval
without thinking, simply because such an important concept is involved. For example, when a person is asked to do
something in "defense of democracy" they are likely to agree. The concept of democracy has a positive connotation.
Words often used as glittering generalities are honor, glory, love of country, and especially in the United States,
freedom. When coming across glittering generalities, we should especially consider the merits of the idea itself when
separated from specific words.
Name calling is the use of derogatory language or words that carry a negative connotation when describing an enemy
or an opponent. The propaganda attempts to arouse prejudice among the public by labeling the target something that the
public dislikes. Often, name calling is employed using sarcasm and ridicule, and shows up often in political cartoons or
writings. When examining name calling propaganda, we should attempt to separate our feelings about the name and our
feelings about the actual idea or proposal. Se also labeling
The plain folks propaganda device is an attempt by the propagandist to convince the public that his views reflect those
of the common person and that they are also working for the benefit of the common person. The propagandist will often
attempt to use the accent of a specific audience as well as specific idioms or jokes (or imperfect pronunciation,
stuttering, and a more limited vocabulary). Imperfections help add to the impression of sincerity and spontaneity. This
technique is usually most effective when used with glittering generalities to convince the public that the propagandists
views about highly valued ideas are similar to their own and therefore more valid. When confronted by this type of
propaganda, the subject should consider the proposals and ideas separately from the personality of the presenter.
Testimonials are quotations or endorsements, in or out of context, which attempt to connect a famous or respectable
person with a product or item. Testimonials are very closely connected to the transfer technique, in that an attempt is
made to connect an agreeable person to another item. Testimonials are often used in advertising and political
campaigns. When coming across testimonials, the subject should consider the merits of the item or proposal
independently of the person of organization giving the testimonial
Transfer is often used in politics and during wartime. It is an attempt to make the subject view a certain item in the
same way as they view another item, to link the two in the subjects mind. Although this technique is often used to
transfer negative feelings for one object to another, it can also be used in positive ways. However, in politics, transfer is
most often used to transfer blame or bad feelings from one politician to another of his friends or party members, or even
to the party itself. When confronted with propaganda using the transfer technique, we should question the merits or
problems of the proposal or idea independently of convictions about other objects or proposals.

http://houdaglobalcom.blogspot.com/2008/07/seven-common-propaganda-devices.html
Karolina:
39.

Explain the terms ethos, logos, pathos in persuasion.

Ethos: the source's credibility, the speaker's/author's authority

Logos: the logic used to support a claim (induction and deduction); can also be the facts and statistics used to help
support the argument.
Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details.
40.

In what ways has the US presidential rhetoric evolved?

anti-intellectual: it makes few references to cognitive and evaluative processes and states and eschews formal word
choices for more colloquial ones;
abstract: it relies significantly on religious, poetic, and idealistic references;
assertive: it is activist, it adopts a realist preoccupation with the language of power and is very confident;
democratic: it is enthusiastically people-oriented, compassionate, inclusive, and egalitarian;
and
conversational: it uses a language that engenders an intimacy between the rhetor and his audience, focuses on the
trustworthiness of the rhetor, and is highly anecdotal.