Chapter 2 Main points:

Origins of the Internet:
This chapter begins by discussing the evolution of a new mass medium: the internet. It talks about how it originated as a military-government project with national security goals. It continues by outlining the beginnings of email, world wide web, html, ISP's, web browsers, Search engines, and instant messaging.

Digital Technology and Converging Media:
This section talks about technological breakthroughs throughout the early years of internet, microprocessors and fiber-optic cable. It also discusses how media convergence created new markets and practices for the way information is shared.

Ownership Issues on the Internet:
This section talks about the development of open-source software, and how it protected software from amateur hackers. It goes on to discuss the development of online encyclopedias, social networking websites and blogs.

Free Expression, Security, and Access:
This section outlines the fine line between freedom of expression ad objectional material, and how pornography has continued to flourish despite repeated attempts to censor it. It also talks about the problem of keeping personal information private accross the internet. It goes on to discuss the widening access of the internet, specifically wireless interenet and the growing market that is.

Two Chapter Ones

Professor Breedlove -

Chapter 1 is summarized twice due to an organizational mistake I made (Sorry Jeff...). Just a heads up.

~Carrie

Chapter 9 Main Points

The Early History of Magazines:
The first section of this chapter outlines the early history of magazines from colonial magazines to the arival of national magazines and pictorial pioneers.

The Development of Modern American Magazines:
This section explores how magazines in America came to be what they are today. It talks about the social reform magazine era, as well as the rise of special interest magazines. It highlights some of the longest running and most successful magazines of the last 50 or so years.

The Domination of Specialization:
This section talks about how magazines began to focus and specialize on certain niches, in order to reach a certain demographic. Mens magazines, sports, cooking, do-it-yourself, celebrity, and travel are just a few of the different types of these specialization magazines.

Chapter summaries

Chapter 1 “Mass communication”

• Mass media consist of cultural industries “channels of communication,” that are distributed trough different ways. The ways of distributing information today is the same as historical ways; the underlying difference is, today we have such advancement in technology, information can be distributed to mass amounts of people much faster.

• The media has the power to alter society perception of events and attitudes. Media is in the storytelling business. This has a great impact on everyday life.

• Critiquing media and culture requires a working knowledge of the particular information and way it is being presented. It is important to understand how where the information is coming from and who is it being presented to.

Chapter 8 “Newspapers”

• Historically news and stories have been passed down from generation to generation orally. The first written news was by Julius Caesar, it informed his people what was going on in and around his area.

• “Objectivity,” The more a newspaper didn’t take sides, the more readers is had. This is true today in a sense, the newspaper that covers a wide variety, is most likely to have more readers.

• There is newspapers that cover a wide Varity of ethnic groups, most of them are weekly or monthly. They are usually published outside the public mainstream and contain viewpoints that are not targeted towards the white upper-class.

Chapter 12 “Public Relations”

• At the beginning of the chapter, there is a really good example about blue jeans PR. In the early 50’s denim jeans sales dropped drastically because it was thought it represented delinquency in kids. The biggest denim maker hired a PR firm to change the image of jeans. The PR firm got denim sales to skyrocket in the early 60’s. There is a big difference between advertising and public relations.

• These days, there are a lot of PR firms, most in the United States. Their job is to help an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.

• PR has made reporters jobs easier, they can just wait for a PR handout or a tip instead of going out and getting the story to an extent

Chapter 14: Culture of Journalism

1. A large part of journalism is attempting to balance a story. The difficulty comes in when it becomes impossible to represent all sides or opinions of a story. The other difficulty is trying to eliminate personal bias in journalistic writing, which (if done correctly) can create an authoritative, neutral voice that the reader can depend on.

2. Another common trait in journalism is an adversarial attitude towards the authority figures or large institutions that a reporter is covering. This can lead to the classic reporter persona most of us carry around with us; a hard questioning, tenacious, and often rude reporter that never seems satisfied with the information they're getting. When a reporter uses hard questioning all the time, they often ignore the fact that the quality of their political stories can take a hit.

3. Among news anchors, it has become the norm to be young, attractive and read off scripted witty banter between stories. Anchors that have not adhered to these requirements have often been let go. The reason for this "happy-talk" was to distract from all the bad news being hurled at t.v. watchers.

Chapter 10: Books

1.) The first books were produced in Ancient Egypt on papyrus, which was derived from a species of river reed. Eventually, parchment (treated animal skin) replaced papyrus because of its strength and durability. The Roman codex was the first book that was cut into sheets and sewn together down the side in a format that closely resembles the books of today. In the Middle Ages, manuscripts were meticulously lettered, decorated and bound by hand. Some of these manuscripts were illuminated (i.e., illustrated and beautifully decorated on each page.)

2.) The Gutenberg printing press totally revolutionized book production. They first printed Bibles but then moved on to other works. This process was the forerunner to mass production. The availability of books also increased education across the board. By the 1830's, paperbacks and dime novels were introduced.

3.) There are seven categories of books today: Trade books, professional books, text books, mass market paper backs, religious books, reference books and university press books.

Chapter 4: Sounds and Images

1.) The radio originally began as Morse code via the telegraph. Later, radio waves were discovered and utilized to create the earliest forms of the radio we have today. The wireless versions of the early telegraph were designed to help ships at sea communicate with each other and with the people on land. By 1910 via the Wireless Ship Act, many vessels were required to be equipped with wireless telegraphs for safety reasons.

2.) The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) monopolized radio by 1919 in order to make sure that America had control over transmitter and receiver manufacturing. Pretty soon, RCA was able to give the U.S. almost complete control over the new medium of broadcasting. Eventually, the RCA/NBC monopoly was disbanded by the Federal Trade Commission in 1932.

3.) The radio gained popularity in the average American home and was the source for news and entertainment. News shows, speeches, music, and evening programs. One evening program caused a brief bout of hysteria; Orson Wells' reading of War of the Worlds. Unfortunately, many listeners tuned in after the disclaimer had been aired and thought that the news of an alien invasion was the real deal.

Chapter 7 Main Points

Movies

• Starting back in the late 1800's, American films had a huge social and cultural impact on society.
• Throughout the 20th century films helped moviegoers sort through experiences that either affirmed or deviated from their own values. These movies outlined the boundaries between the "permitted and forbidden."
• Although the production of a fim can take a year or two, the movie industry reacts quickly to social events and cultural shifts (for example: The September 11th attacks).
• In the late 1910's the movie industry had three basic economic divisions: production, distribution and exhibition.
• Starting in 1946 and for the next seven years the movie industry had a hard time. Over fifty theaters shut down in New York City alone. The 90 million people that went to see movies weekly in 1946 came to less than 25million by 1963.
• The mid 1950's had some large cultural and social changes with the wide availability of television.

Chapter 5 Main Points

Television

Early development of TV- In 1948 only 1% of American households had TV's in their homes. This went to more than 50% in 1953 to 90% by the early 1960's. This came about from Americans moving away from radio and TV establishing its own identity. This happened for two reasons: a major change in the advertising and sponsorship structure of television, and more significantly, a major cultural scandal.

Major programming trends in the TV age- From 1955 through 1957, three major networks moved their entertainment divisions to Los Angeles because of its proximity to Hollywood production studios. News stations, however, remained to be located in New York. These cities came to represent the two major branches of TV programming: entertainment and information.

The Decline of the Network Era- The Network era is what most historians consider to be from the late 1950's to the end of the 1970's. This is when networks gained control over the TV's content. TV networks made up 95% of all prime time viewing during this time. By 2005, this figure has dropped bellow 45%. The decline of the network era was basically because of three factors: technological changes, government regulations, and the development of new networks.

The Economics of Television- Although these network's audiences have declined, they continue to attract larger audiences than their cable or online competitors. The key to the television's industry is its ability to offer programs that Americans will watch on a weekly basis.

The Public, Television, and Democracy- Television has undergone massive changes here in the 20th century. There new idea is to recycle "reality" TV. Public television is also perceived as "less attractive" to commercial networks and advertisers.

Chapter 6, 11, 16

Chaper 6

1. Cable was one of the most influential inventions for television and changed our modern culture.

2.Sattellites changed the cable industry to expand to evey type of consumer imaginable.

3. CNN and MTV influenced culture world wide by providing 24 hour entertainment and News which proved to be a huge market.

Chapter 11

1.Advertising changed dramatically in the 20th century and became and influential part of American culture.

2. Advertising helped influence visual culture by setting the standard of "cool"

3. Political advertising influenced people to see what democracy wanted them to see and kept a veneer of good precendece over elections.

Chapter 16

1. Under the first ammendment, Americans have the right to free speech, and free press.

2. Without the ammendment, our government would control the media and every form of entertainment.

3. The sixth amendment is clashing with rights of our free speech, concedeing that only certain things can be considered free.

Week Four Stories

1.) Exit polls show sharp divide among Democrats by CNN
Some voters would pick McCain if their Democratic candidate didn't win. Cities report strong but not record-breaking turnout at polls. Clinton is still ahead in many polls, but Obama has cut away at her lead. 54 percent of voters said the economy was the top issue for them.
-Ashley Trbovich

2.) Sen. Hillary Clinton is arguing that she is ahead of rival Sen. Barack Obama when it comes to the popular vote. "I'm very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anyone else," Clinton said Wednesday, one day after her decisive win in Pennsylvania.
-James Cole

3.) "Ron Paul supporters for John McCain"
Texas congressman Ron Paul is still officially in the presidential race, despite Arizona Republican John McCain winning enough delegates to become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
-Jeff Kieburtz

4.) Seattle Times
It’ finally in! It was reported that it was final on Tuesday night that Hillary Clinton has won over Pennsylvania. She won with 53% of the votes to Obama only receiving 47%. She celebrated by knocking down a shot of whiskey.
-Jessica Edmisten

5.) Time Magazine: Obama is Flush, Clinton in Debt.

Because of Barack Obama's superior fund-raising, he is now ahead of Hillary Clinton by around 30 million dollars as of the beginning of April. Even John McCain is ahead of Clinton by a solid million dollars. Although Obama has been a heavier spender, even in the states that he lost super delegates in, he still is better off monetarily than debt-striken Clinton, who still has loans to pay off.
-Carrie Potter

Week Three Stories

1. Barack + GOP = 'Obamacans'
This article discussed the endorsement of Barack Obama by former president Eisenhower's granddaughter- a Republican. It talked about the trend of crossover voters, those who do not necessarily denounce their party, they simply vote for the other guy based on a variety of issues.
-James Cole

2.)"2008 through a European lens"
Some Europeans have traveled to the U.S. to support the three candidates and find out what American politics is all about. The biggest difference, the young Europeans said, is that American politics is much more open and flexible than politics at home, and has been thoroughly transformed and dynamized by the Internet.
-Jeff Kieburtz

3.) The gap between Clinton and Obama is slowly shrinking in Pennsylvania. Obama has 40% of voters while Clinton is at 46%. Clinton might be taking Pennsylvania in the primary.
-Jessica Edmisten

4.) MSNBC.com

McCain: It's a Recession

McCain agrees with many economists in that America is indeed in a recession. He says that the American people are "hurting." In the same talk, he also discussed the matter of confidential news sources remaining confidential.
-Carrie Potter

5.) Blacks in Philadelphia Split over Democratic Race by NPR.com
In Philadelphia, prominent African-Americans are split over the two Democratic presidential candidates. The division reflects both the differences between the two contenders for the nomination and the changing priorities within the city's black power structure.
-Ashley Trbovich

Chapter 3 Main Points

Technology and the Development of Sound Recording:
The first main area of this chapter discusses the evolution of sound recording, from wax cylinders and flat disks, to audiotapes and CDs, to DVDs and MP3s, and the conversion from analog to digital recording. It goes on to talk about how as radio stations began to play recorded music over its airwaves, there was a hate-then-tolerate relationship between record companies and radio stations in the beginning.

U.S. Popular Music and the Formation of Rock:
This section talks about the rise of pop music, with such legendary musicians as Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. It goes on to discuss how Rock gained popularity starting in the 1950's, and how race, gender, and geography, among other things, shaped it.

A Changing Industry: Reformations in Popular Music:
This section discusses how popular music changed over the years. It starts out by talking about the British invasion, namely the Beatles. It talks about the evolution of rock from the begining to mainstream, and everything in between including metal, punk, and grunge. It then talks about the evolution of rap and hip hop.

The Business of Sound Recording:
This section talks about the major recording labels and how they gained control of the market. It also discusses distribution and profiting from sound recording. It goes on to talk about the problems today of bootlegging and pirating music.

progress reports

You're doing a good job. Be sure to discuss the knowledge claims so that you all are showing evidence of having read the chapters. :)

Keep up the good work.

Chapter 15 Main Points

Media Effects and Cultural Approaches to Research

1. Early developments in Media Research - There were Four main ways that information was gathered in the 1920's and 1930's. (1) Propaganda Analysis was used after WWI to see if in fact all of the propaganda was true. (2) Public opinion research expanded past propaganda to get the opinions of the citizens by surveys and polls. (3) Social Psychology studies measured individual behavior and cognition to support their research. (4) Marketing Research was primarily private and was developed through efforts of advertisers and product companies.

2. Research on Media Effects - In the 20th century today researchers look at the who, what, when and where questions in our daily experiences. Researchers use a scientific method with seven steps to determine the objectivity, reliability and validity.

3. Cultural Approaches to Media Research - Cultural research focuses on the investigation of daily experiences, especially on issues of race, gender, class and sexuality, and on the unequal arrangements of power and status in today's society.

4. Media Research, Ivory Towers, and Democracy - This topic addresses the term jargon, which on an academic level helps you understand the importance of being well trained in each academic subject. Today many Universities have a broadened sense of subjects that are required to get your desired degree. Like Central for example, you have to take two years of Pre-requisite classes before you can focus on your specialization.

Week Two Briefing Stories:

1.) Poll: McCain could win Washington state
In the race for the presidency, Washington State could well be in play, thanks to a nominee who is more in the mold of Washington state Republicans like Attorney General Rob McKenna and former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, both of whom campaigned for Sen. John McCain. According to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, McCain would beat Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the state and is within spitting distance of Sen. Barack Obama.Washington, which hasn't gone for a Republican presidential candidate since voting for President Ronald Reagan in 1984, is considered a "blue" state in most people's electoral calculus, but McCain's general election viability here is a continued trend.

-James Cole

2.) CNN News
It was reported that it has been 1,528 days since Obama has spoken to the gay press while Clinton converts the gay vote. Obama has agreed with Clinton that the “don’t ask don’t tell” law shall be abolished if he takes office but some are saying he refuses to talk with the gay press.

-Jessica Edmisten

3.) Petraeus Meets His Match by Joe Klein of Time Magazine
Senator Joseph Lieberman has become something of an agent provocateur in the semiannual Petraeus-Crocker hearings staged by the U.S. Senate. This semester he chose to open his remarks by chastising unnamed colleagues for having a "hear no progress ... see no progress ... speak no progress" attitude about the war in Iraq. The debate had finally moved on to more fertile turf: If things were going so well, why were Crocker and Petraeus so reluctant to come home? The Senator who mined this turf most profitably was ... Barack Obama. Obama hit Petraeus and Crocker with an artful series of questions about the two main threats: Sunni terrorists like al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Iran. He noted that al-Qaeda had been rejected by the Iraqi Sunnis and chased to the northern city of Mosul. If U.S. and Iraqi troops succeeded there, what was next? He proposed: "Our goal is not to hunt down and eliminate every single trace of al-Qaeda but rather to create a manageable situation where they're not posing a threat to Iraq." Petraeus said Obama was "exactly right."

-Ashley Trbovich

4.) With oil prices hitting new highs, McCain on Tuesday called for a summer vacation from federal gas taxes. McCain said that temporarily lifting the gas tax of 18 cents a gallon between Memorial Day and Labor Day would give Americans a break at every fill-up during the busy summer driving season.

-Jeff Kieburtz

5.) Young Obama Backers Twist Parents’ Arms
With his largest audience being in the under-30 range, young Barack Obama supporters have been pestering their parents with a barrage of e-mails, videos, quotes, etc. to try and win them over to Obama. So far, their wheedling strategy is working and there hasn’t been a time in recent memory when the opinions of the young have influenced those of the old this heavily.

-Carrie Potter

Chapter 13 Important Points

Okay, here's for Ch. 13:

1. Synergy has a huge impact on the media on an international level. It allows media to be distributed in various ways across a media conglomerate. This way, the conglomerate milks as much money as humanly possible from a single product.

2. The social issues involved in media economics range from Antitrust Laws to Cultural Imperialism. It is important to note how the economics of media effect us as the consumer and to realize that even media products that originated in America have spread to the rest of the world.

3. The merged corporations that make up the media as a whole will continue to control more and more aspects of production and distribution (this line is almost exactly out of the book because I couldn't think of a better way to word it...) Sometimes for the average media consumer, it is easy to overlook the fact that there are very few major players when it comes to the distribution of media, but there may come a time when the industry is completely monopolized by merged companies.

Agenda again...

Jeff - Online
Jessica - Newspaper
Ashley - Radio
James - Tv
Me - Books and Mags

Top Five Stories for Week 1

Carrying Primary Scars into the General Election

This article discusses historical examples of bitter primary battles like the one this year between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, that have eventually led to that party losing the general election. Thie biggest example was President Carter vs. Edward Kennedy, in which they had a prolonged and bitter battle that ultimately ended up in a loss in November. Many Democrats are worried that the same thing will happen this November if the primary battle is not resolved soon.

(James Cole)

TIME magazine
McCain, Obama and Clinton will have a chance to ask Army Gen. David Petraues questions about the Iraq war on Tuesday during his assessment of the Iraq war. McCain and Clinton are on the Armed Services Committee, while Obama is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

(Jessica Edmisten)

Obama Trims Clinton's Lead in Pa. By Devlin Barrett and Beth Fouhy, Seattle Times
Barack Obama was endorsed Wednesday by a labor union and two Democratic superdelegates, as a poll showed he has cut Hillary Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania almost in half since mid-February as he strives to deny her a victory in the state's presidential primary.

(Ashley Trbovich)

NPR Radio

March 27th
Although Senator John McCain supports staying in the war with Iraq, he does not agree with many of President Bush's current policies. He very much wants to regain the collaborative efforts of our foreign allies. He resents the fact that we did not take our foreign friends' ideas into account before going to war without them. He believes that the U.S. cannot lead by power alone.

(Carrie Potter)

In Annapolis Maryland, John Mccain had a speech at the naval academy that he graduated from 50 years ago. He spilled the beans that he had a list of names of about 20 running mates he is considering. James Dobson, a prominent conservative criticized Mccain of not unifying the Republican Party and not drawing conservatives into his fold.

(Jeff Kieburtz)

Agenda

Okay, so here's the new and improved agenda...

For briefing sheets this week:

Jeff - Newspaper
Jessica - Radio
Ashley - TV
James - books/magazines
Me - Online

Post these on your own blog, as usual. Please post them in time so that we can all start reading each other's by Wednesday after class. We need to get a more regular schedule going if we want to catch up and stay caught up. If you have briefing sheets that you still haven't posted, please post them as soon as humanly possible. We can't really find our five most important stories if people aren't participating when they're supposed to.

Reading assignments for the rest of the quarter:

Jessica: Ch 15, 5, 7
Ashley: Ch 16, 11, 6
Jeff: Ch 12 and 8
James: Ch 3 and 9
Me: Ch 13, 4, 10

Check the syllabus for when each of your chapters are due. I think if we read and post these over the weekend that it shouldn't effect getting our briefing sheets done too much. If we can comment efficiently enough from Wednesday to Friday on each other's briefing sheets, we should be able to have each week's five stories up before class on Monday for the following week.

We've all fallen a little behind, including myself, on commenting as well as reading, so let's do our best to get caught up by Wednesday at the latest so we don't have this hanging over our heads for too much longer.

Like I said in class, if this commenting stuff becomes too big of a problem after we've all made a sincere effort, we'll have to see what we can get accomplished together in the library.

If I've forgotten anything, practice your new comment writing skills and add it as a comment. :p

Thanks,

~Carrie

Notice!

Okay, just so everyone's on the same page for Wednesday...

**For this week's briefing sheets (on your own blog):

Jeff: Radio
Jessica: TV
Ashley: Books/Magazines
James: Online
Me: Newspaper

**Also, our five most important stories from last week are due Wednesday, so everyone start commenting and making proposals for which ones are the best.

**I've posted three points about Chapter 1, please someone else do Chapter 2, 13 and 14 just so we're caught up. If there's any disagreement or discussion about the points, don't be afraid to comment about them. Also, just to make things easier, please sign your posts with your name so we know who's talking.

**Last but not least, please everyone try to check the blog at least once a day. I know that sounds stupid and time consuming, but since class is only on Mondays and Wednesdays, it's important that we try to communicate as best and as fast as we possibly can. Hopefully we'll be commenting on each others crap all the time pretty soon and that means that we're all going to have to check the blog and our e-mails on a fairly regular basis.

Hope that wasn't too preachy and I hope we have everyone on here who needs to be very soon.

Thanks! :)

~Carrie

Couple of points about Chapter 1 to get the ball rolling

So as I looked through the reading, it seems to me that three of the biggest points made in Chapter 1 was that:

1.) Culture inspires the media and the media in turn effects the culture that created it.

2.) Communication is one of the most important aspects of human existence.

3.) Since the broadening of mass media, our cultural values have changed significantly.

Alright, so tell me what you think of those, especially if you disagree (don't be afraid, I won't bite you) and then someone else propose a couple new points either about this chapter or Chapter 2.

Thanks!

~Carrie

They call me...Tater Salad...

Well, no one cared what I named our group, so we're officially Team Tater Salad ala the Ron White joke. If you haven't heard this joke, listen to the madness unfold here at youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=u7WLfY2455o No, it's nothing nasty. Don't be silly.

Okay, so our group members go as follows in no particular order:

Ashley Trbavich
Jessica Edmisten
Carrie Potter
Jeff Kieburtz
James Cole

If you want to contact us individually, you can fish out our blogs from the class blog and do it there. The e-mail account that I (Carrie) used to set up this blog is my comcast account since they wouldn't let me use my CWU one, so I'd prefer being e-mailed at potterca@cwu.edu.

Thank you kindly, hope you like our political posts in the near future.

~Carrie