Mass Media
What is the mass media? • “Mass media” is a collective term that describes the means through which companies, presidents, and other large organizations try to communicate with and influence the opinions of mass audiences. • The mass media intends to communicate with a mass audience through mass communication.
Words to know: • Collective: (Adjective, прилагательное) communal, shared, joint, together – “It was a collective effort. ” “Asians live in a collective culture, versus Americans, who live in an individualistic culture. ” • Term: (Noun, существительное) phrase – Collective term: a phrase that describes a group of things or ideas
Words to know (continued): • To communicate (verb, глагол): to share information, news, and ideas Communication: noun, существительное • To influence (verb, глагол): to try to change something. You can try to influence someone’s opinion if you want them to think in a certain way.
Words to know (continued): • Massive (adjective, прилог. ) – very large, very big • Mass (noun)- Used in special contexts and means “a large group” “Masses of animals… masses of planets… masses of stars” – The masses (noun, сущест. ): all groups of people. • Audience (noun): the group that is listening, watching, reading, etc. • Mass (adjective) – Used in special contexts – Mass audience: Many large groups of people that are watching, listening, reading, etc. – Mass communication: Many ways in which you can communicate with people – Examples: The food deficits resulted in mass starvation/mass starvation was the result of food deficits. Hiring a new manager resulted in mass improvements within the business. • To intend: (Verb, Глагол) to want, to try, to aspire
Mediums of the Mass Media • The mediums of the mass media are the ways the media communicates with the masses. • Such mediums include televised news, newspapers, journals, advertisements, internet resources, movies, etc. • “Printed news” versus “televised news”
Words to know: • Medium(s) (Noun, сущест. ): the way or ways you do something. Specifically, the way through which you do something (literally or metaphorically). – Companies communicate through advertisements (metaphorically, so to speak); therefore, the medium of communication for a company is advertisement. – Sound travels through the air (literally); therefore, the medium of sound is air.
Words to know (continued): • “Televised news”: news that is on TV – Television (TV) = noun – Televised = adjective (прелег. ) – To broadcast (to televise, but we don’t usually use the verb “to televise”): verb, глагол – To show or play something on TV, the internet, the radio, etc. The news is broadcasted through many public mediums. • “Printed news”: news that is printed on paper – Printer: noun, принтер – To print (verb): what a printer does – Printed: adjective. Printed news, printed documents, etc.
Advertisements • Advertising is a form of communication in marketing, wherein the marketer wants to encourage or persuade an audience. • Inside advertisements we find: – Propaganda – Bias and Opinions – Strategies of advertising/advertising strategies
Words to know: • Advertisement (Advertising): noun, сущест. - реклама • To advertise (verb, глагол): to bring attention to a product, to yourself, to an idea, and etc. • Market (Marketing): Noun – It can mean a market, such as a fish or outdoor market (рынок) – It is also a category and means the general idea of trying to sell something. Kiosks, clothing stores, internet stores, stocks, and etc. are all within the category of marketing. – “To market a product” is to try to advertise the product enough so that people will buy it – Marketer (noun): the person who is trying to market the product. (It is the same as an “advertiserer, ” the person who advertises, but we don’t use the word “advertiserer. ”)
Words to know (continued): • To persuade (verb, глагол): to convince someone, to change someone’s mind, to influence someone’s opinion, and etc. To persuade someone usually involves some effort. “I persuaded my friend to move to Hawaii with me. ” • To encourage (verb): to encourage is similar to “persuade, ” but it is gentler. A parent might encourage but not force their child to go to college; teachers encourage students to study and friends encourage one another. • To tempt (verb): “to tempt” is gentler than to persuade or to encourage (a synonym is “to tease”). “The candy salesman tempted me to buy his candy by offering a discount. ” “I was tempted to buy new shoes after I received my paycheck. ” “That is a tempting offer. ”
Words to know (continued): • Bias: it is a one-sided opinion – “One-sided” (adjective): If there are two conflicting, opposite ideas, you only acknowledge/address/talk about one of them. If you speak one-sidedly, you are not acknowledging/admitting that the other opinion could be correct, and you are not respecting other people’s standpoints. – Standpoint (noun): A “standpoint” is a figurative (not literal) position. Your standpoint is how you view a situation because of your opinion. – Viewpoint (noun): A “viewpoint” can be a literal or figurative position. Your viewpoint can be from your opinion, or from where you are standing in the street. • Biased (adjective) = one-sided – “That is a biased opinion. ” “That article is biased. ”
Phrases/Words You Might See in Newspapers, Journalism, and etc. • A writer can “tell the whole story, ” “tell part of the story, ” hide the truth, or reveal/expose the truth. • The verbs “to hide” and “to reveal” are antonyms; similarly, “to cover (up)” and “to expose” are antonyms. – Examples of “to hide”: I am hiding behind a chair. I hid my money in a safe. You can hide from other people, you can hide from the truth, you can hide behind the lies, and you can hide behind your mask.
(Continued) • “To cover (up)” is to physically put something else over an object so that it can’t be seen. You can cover an object; however, you can also cover up the truth in order to hide information. You can also “cover up for someone —for example, if your friend commits a crime, and you tell the police that nothing happened, you are covering up for your friend so that he/she doesn’t get in trouble. • VERY IMPORTANT: “To cover” and “To cover up” can both mean to cover something physically (in this context, they are interchangeable). However, when you are hiding information, you only use the verb “To cover up. ” • Here’s why: when you are talking about the news or telling a story, it is very important to know the difference between “to cover a story” and “to cover up a story. ” • If a reporter “covers the story, ” it simply means that they witnessed and wrote about it. If a reporter “covers up a story, ” it means that they are hiding the truth about it. Don’t mix them up! If you do, it completely changes the meaning.
(Continued) • Thankfully, the verbs “to reveal” and “to expose” are synonyms, and are often interchangeable; however, “to expose” something is more serious and powerful. “To reveal” is used more commonly. • Furthermore, journalists, writers, and reporters may want “to appeal to a certain audience. ” “To appeal” in this context means “to please, ” or “to make the audience happy. ” For example, a magazine called “Psychology Today” would probably try to appeal to intellectuals, while a magazine called “Tractors Weekly” is probably appealing to farmers.
(Continued) • Advertisements also try to appeal to a certain audience! Advertisements for stuffed animals appeal to children; advertisements for men’s shaving cream try to appeal to men’s interests and needs, and etc… – (Stuffed animals = toys, specifically toys of animals that are filled with something soft)
Phrases/Words You Might See in Televised News: • Reporter(noun) – when you watch television, the reporter is the person speaking about the news. • To report (verb) – to relay, pass on, to publicly announce the information • A reporter goes to the scene of the crime or to the place of interest, or conducts an interview. – The “scene of the crime” is a classic phrase in novels that simply means “where the crime happened/took place. ” The “place of interest” is also a classic phrase that simply means “a place where something interesting is happening. ”
(Continued) • To conduct (verb): synonyms are “to control” or “to lead. ” However, you can’t “conduct” individual people. You can control your temper, you can lead your team to victory, but you can only conduct LARGE groups, such as a tour, an orchestra, or a hearing (a special type of meeting, often in court). However, you can conduct certain controlled events—you can conduct an interview, an experiment, an examination, and etc.