Potter, Introduction to Media Literacy 1e 1
Introduction to Media Literacy, 1st edition
W. James Potter
Chapter 3: Mass Media Industries: Historical Perspective
Lecture Notes
Learning Objectives:
1. Apply the life cycle pattern to organize information about mass media by describing
how the media grow, mature, peak, decline, and adapt.
2. Identify the stages of development for each of the mass media.
3. Identify the factors currently strongest in each mass medium that are responsible for its
current stage of development.
Outline:
I. Pre–mass media people communicated orally and with symbols.
A. People have always communicated with one another, but how they communicate
has changed greatly over time.
i. Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century.
books.
ii. Technological innovations allowed for the creation of mass media.
a. Mass media have mass audiences. Mass audiences have the same
needs and respond the same way to messages.
II. The development of mass media can be explained through a pattern referred to in the
text as a life cycle.
A. The innovation stage includes a technological development that allows a medium
to exist.
i. On its own, a technological innovation may fail without marketing
innovations.
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a. Marketing innovations are successful when a need in society is
identified.
B. The penetration stage is characterized by the growing acceptance of a medium.
C. The peak stage is characterized by maximum penetration.
D. The decline stage is characterized by erosion of the audience.
E. The adaption stage is characterized by the redefining of a medium.
i. Radio lost its audience to TV, so it stopped trying to compete with TV and
started playing music.
III. Current picture
C. Convergence
i. Technological convergence refers to how innovations about storing and
transmitting information have brought about changes to the mass media
industries.
c. There are many benefits to digital coding.
A digital code can be read by any medium, while an analog
code is medium specific.
Digital coding allows for more data to be stored on smaller
devices.
In the United States, 9 out of 10 adults have a mobile
phone.
ii. Marketing convergence
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With technological convergence, the message is now more
important than the medium.
Individuals who are exposed to a message in one channel
are primed for exposure in another channel.
b. Marketing convergence has also affected programming.
iii. Psychological convergence
a. Psychological convergence refers to changes in people’s
perceptions about barriers that previously existed that are now
breaking down due to recent changes in media.
Social networking sites allow people to connect and
communicate when they are not in the same physical space.
People are not only consumers of convergent content but
also producers.
D. Profile of mass media workforce
i. Media industries employ 2 million people, or 1% of adults, in the United
States.
ii. Demographic patterns
a. Although the number of working women is increasing, women are
still outnumbered by men in the media industries.
b. In the film industry, 40% of workers are women, but the
production sector is made up of 95% men.
iii. Journalism
IV. Increasing media literacy
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A. Knowledge of the mass media industries can help you understand how media
change and how convergence will affect the future of mass media.