JMC 1100 1st Edition Lecture 3 History of media effects part 2 Media Effects Today U of Wisconsin budget cuts o Gov Walker s plans slashes 300 million from school Other governors watching his move might affect us here at Iowa o Provides 220 million for new bucks arena Millionaires giving money to other millionaires news screams about this The movie Selma o If we don t speak about our problems no one will Why do I care Last time o o o Gutenberg 1900 o Little concern about media effects 1900s Movies and newspapers create mass media as a concept Payne Study powerful effects model magic bullet hypodermic needle o Inject our minds with messages Today o o o Radio storms the nation Powerful effects under fire Opinion leaders and the two step flow of information o How we get and trust the information we get 1930 s Radio Family Friend o Great depression fuels radio popularity o 60 of people in the us owned a radio o Unemployment meant no way of going to entertainment o Centerpiece of morning evening entertainment o FDR and fireside chats o Sooth the nation weekly show that still happens Tells the nation his plans o Programs in place to fix the problem War of the Worlds o Orson Welles 23yrs produces a radio show based on H G Wells novel These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Goal increase audience for the Mercury Theater on the Air o Also provide listeners with something new and exciting The show must go on o October 30 1938 Welles broadcast War of the Worlds 1 in 4 Americans o Talked about an alien invasion o Scared many Americans that didn t tune in right away believed it was real America loses its mind o Oct 30 1938 An innocent radio program causes national panic o People close to the story flee their homes and call police and gov t agencies Could it Happen Today o 2009 Balloon boy in Colorado o Entire nation believed boy will fall to his death wanted to save him o 1999 The Blair Witch Project made with home cameras and promoted with website o 60 000 film earned 140 million because people were terrified o Maryland had to announce the film was fake because people were scared o Actually scared actors o Paranormal Activity o Same idea as Blair Witch used with home cameras o People not used to see false things in the media Study 1 The Princeton Studies o War of the Worlds Caused a panic because People trusted Radio Information o Failed to believe news could format report something false o Similar types of people panicked o Less critical ability o Less self confidence and emotionally secure o Strong religious beliefs Because of the second coming Limited Effects Theories Take Over o Key Finding Not everyone panicked o First direct evidence that people react differently to mass media messages o Limited effects theories mass media messages don t influence directly o More of a trigger that can influence behavior and belifs o Key Media doesn t tells us what to think but what to think about Study 2 People s Choice Study o o o o o o Studied voters before 1940 election Panel study of 2 400 voters Strategically Campaigns couldn t change attitudes reinforced attitudes People chose their media for same reason called selective exposure o Same holds true for internet content choices today We trust our social networks to provide us information Opinion Leaders o An opinion leader is o An active media user o Held in high esteem by their friends and families o Usually considered an expert in a domain Two Step Flow How it happens o Two step flow ideas flow from the media to leaders then to general public o Opinion leaders have a lot of influences over what we thing and how we behave Two step flow in action o 2011 study on twitter users o 50 of tweets consumed are generated by 20 000 elite users also o people like people like them Celebrities More evidence against power effects o War propaganda o Us in WW1 Nazis in WWII o Us less successful in WWII why o Ceiling effect high motivation dampens media effect people already Limited affects theory rules o TV reveals more types of effects depend on o Message o Audience o The medium chosen media from Today effects vary between o Macro vs Micro level o Macro how it effects you as an indivual o Content specific vs diffuse general o Violent content makes you more aggressive content o Overall effect of the medium diffuse general o Watching tv not working out o Attitudinal vs behavorial cognitive effects o Does your attitude change because of media o Alteration vs stabilization of opinion o Does it change the way your mind works Conclusion o o o Limited effects media does not finluence people equally or ina powerful way Opinon leaders drive our media beliefs People also selectively expose themsevesl to content that agrees witht ehm