Fragmentation and Other Concepts in Media..

Fragmentation involves the audience which feeds off the corporate source.  The most common example of a highly-fragmented point of distribution is the television.  Internet is also emerging because of the immense amount of users.  From a corporate point-of-view everything is centrally related to the internet.  Fragmentation is on the mind of policy makers around the world because internet is an influence all around the globe.

Media is used to promote nationalism. i.e. CBC News 'The National'.

Norms change through time.  Media has always been the main communication of what is normal.

John Fisk argues that corporate media is progressive but never revolutionary.  Resistance is not just a theoretical concept but also a day-to-day struggle.  As Dr. Strangelove explained, the system prefers to keep people busy working.  This keeps them exhausted and occupied of there time and abundance.  

A segmented audience is the best audience for business, not even politicians are trying to reach out to everyone.  

Trust is extremely important in news and this is shown by how strong of a trust many people have in certain media sources.  

Social construction of reality; right wing view of media: Do not worry if a small amount of firms own the majority of media sources.  You can trust the marketplace, its no threat.  =  WRONG!  MEDIA IS POWER!

Appropriation: Modification of advertisement in media to get a certain point across.  Corporations hate this, according to Dr. Strangelove and he makes a valid point.  No one will dispute that corporations have a strong influence on our culture.  This will be obvious with our kids as we will be able to compare the influence of corporations today with the next generation.  Characteristics of professional art is appropriation. 

Cultural convergence is best explained through example.  The culture of the West and East combined when Bert (the muppet) is compared to Osama Bin Laden:

   

Sociology has two key structures; 1) Agency- What can you/we do?

                                                      2) Structure- What institutions and beliefs make up sociology?

20th Century Media Viewer; 'Couch potato'.  Very passive.

21st Century and Present Day Internet and Media Viewer; Producer and aggressive with his or her interpretation and opinion.