Media Today by Joseph Turow Summary chapters 1-6
Chapter 1: Understanding mass media, convergence and the importance of
media literacy
A trademark is adistinctive sign or phrase that businesses connect to a product or service to
tag with a special name and personality.
Media are platforms or vehicles that industries have developed for the purpose of creating ans
sending messages. Examples: telephones, tv, movies, magazines.
Convergence occurs when two or more things come together.
Media convergence takes place when products typically linked to one medium show up on
many media. Example: Baseball game is on tv as well as streaming on laptop.
Until recently, media convergence was not a common activity.
When movies come from books, this involves negotiation between companies from different
industries. Moving the technology from one another was difficult to do. Example you can’t
put your magazine in the tv and let it appear there. Nowadays companies that were from one
particular media now want to be in the face of the target audience as much as possible.
All companies are involved in mass media.
Media convergence is a central aspect of mass communication.
Introducing mass communication
From the mid-19th century new technologies were developed. Those audiences are very large.
They were dispersed geographically, were quite diverse and anonymous.
Nowasays this approach doesn’t fit anymore.
The reason is the arrival of many channels led to audience fragmentation (= dividing an
audience into segments base on background and lifestyle in order to send them targeted
messages)
What really separates mass communication from other communication is not the size of the
audience, it’s the way the content is created.
Mass production process: the industrial process that creates potential for reaching billion of
diverse people at the same time.
It’s the industrial nature from mass communication what differences them even when the
audience is small.
The elements of communication
The word communication refers to people interacting in ways that at least one of the parties
involved understands as messages (= collection of symbols that appear organized
(meaningful) to those receving or sending them)
The signals you send are both verbal and nonverbal.
The interaction is typically described as interpersonal communication. That involves two or
three individuals signalling to each other through voices, facial and hand gestures and other
signs to convey meaning.
Mediated interpersonal communication can be described as interpersonal communication
that is assisted by a medium (= part of a technical system that helps in transmission,
Chapter 1: Understanding mass media, convergence and the importance of
media literacy
A trademark is adistinctive sign or phrase that businesses connect to a product or service to
tag with a special name and personality.
Media are platforms or vehicles that industries have developed for the purpose of creating ans
sending messages. Examples: telephones, tv, movies, magazines.
Convergence occurs when two or more things come together.
Media convergence takes place when products typically linked to one medium show up on
many media. Example: Baseball game is on tv as well as streaming on laptop.
Until recently, media convergence was not a common activity.
When movies come from books, this involves negotiation between companies from different
industries. Moving the technology from one another was difficult to do. Example you can’t
put your magazine in the tv and let it appear there. Nowadays companies that were from one
particular media now want to be in the face of the target audience as much as possible.
All companies are involved in mass media.
Media convergence is a central aspect of mass communication.
Introducing mass communication
From the mid-19th century new technologies were developed. Those audiences are very large.
They were dispersed geographically, were quite diverse and anonymous.
Nowasays this approach doesn’t fit anymore.
The reason is the arrival of many channels led to audience fragmentation (= dividing an
audience into segments base on background and lifestyle in order to send them targeted
messages)
What really separates mass communication from other communication is not the size of the
audience, it’s the way the content is created.
Mass production process: the industrial process that creates potential for reaching billion of
diverse people at the same time.
It’s the industrial nature from mass communication what differences them even when the
audience is small.
The elements of communication
The word communication refers to people interacting in ways that at least one of the parties
involved understands as messages (= collection of symbols that appear organized
(meaningful) to those receving or sending them)
The signals you send are both verbal and nonverbal.
The interaction is typically described as interpersonal communication. That involves two or
three individuals signalling to each other through voices, facial and hand gestures and other
signs to convey meaning.
Mediated interpersonal communication can be described as interpersonal communication
that is assisted by a medium (= part of a technical system that helps in transmission,
