Media in Every Day Life

Mass Media: A term that emerged in the 1920s to describe media forms designed to reach larger audiences, audiences that supposedly share the same interests, likely interests that are the same as dominant ideologies. It came into common practice in the post WWII era. It generally has negative connotations, where the media aims to supply messages that support dominant ideologies to passive, large groups of undifferentiated people. The authors say mass media culture is reflective of increased industrialization and modernization.

Public Sphere: A site where public discusses or debates current, relevant issues. There are different definitions of the public sphere, but they have been primarily influenced by German theorist Jurgen Habermas. He viewed the public sphere as a group of private persons who came together to discuss matters of public interest -- the public sphere being symbolic or emblematic of a democracy, where citizens could discuss regardless of their social status and where said discussions could result in beneficial social change.

Convergence: A term used in the 1990s to describe the coming together, or converging, of different media forms. Previously differentiated media technologies like the photo camera, video camera, audio device, Internet and screen have been coming together, resulting in the redistributions and mergers between different industries (motion picture, television, computer, telecommunications).

Critique: A judgement or analysis of something in the mass media, which can be based on cultural context or resistant to normative ways of looking. Some critiques described in the reading include denouncing the mass media as a form of propaganda, or that the media denounces the masses by promoting mass ideology and seeing the audience as one simple entity easily manipulated by media messages.

New digital culture has changed the media paradigm, in that now distinctions amongst media industries and sectors are blurred. Digital technologies have resulted in convergence, as previously described, and everything is moving into digital form. With the internet though, there are a lot of opportunities for media consumption to be less centralized and "monolithic." There are opportunities for the normal consumer to become active with new media and telecommunications forms, as evidenced by the authors with the Chinese student rebellion. Students banded together using new media to protest.