Media Construct Reality

The Key Concepts of The Key Concepts of MediaMedia

1. 1. Media Construct Media Construct RealityReality

• We all have a construct: the picture we have built up in our heads—since birth—through observations and experiences, of what the world is and how it works


• a major part of those observations and experiences come to us pre-constructed by the media


• much of what we know and believe about the world we have learned through the media


Did you know?

• 65% of Americans spend more time with their computer than their spouse

• teens spend an average of 31 hours per week—about 4 hours a day—online (UK study)


Did you know?

• 2.5 billion text messages are sent each day in the USA (people send, on average, 357 text messages per month)

• the average person spends 4 hours and 45 minutes a day watching television


Did you know?

• In November of 2009, it was reported that the average web user - went on the web 51 times… - visited 86 domains… - clicked through 2,603 web pages… - spent an average of 57 seconds on any one web page!

http://www.digitalhome.ca/2009/12/u-s-web-users-spent-66-hours-on-the-web-last-month/



Low- TechNeck Care

Low- TechNeck Care


• the media have built-in attitudes, interpretations, and conclusions








• therefore, THE MEDIA, rather than ourselves, are constructing our reality


• For example, our impression of a city or country, as shaped by the media, may be quite different from the impression we get when we actually visit the place



Another Example:Laugh Tracks! Television shows often

superimpose “audience laughter” when theydeem appropriate. Would the shows be as

funny without the tracks?


Popular shows with laugh tracks…

• The Flintstones • The Jetsons • Scooby-Doo• Bewitched• The Beverly Hillbillies • The Muppet Show• I Love Lucy


Even today!


Is this funny?


Or this?


Or this?


The previous examples were constructs of “reality” through selection.

• Media creators select certain images and information to create a unified picture


However, this reality is also created through omission

• Media creators omit (leave out) certain images and information to create a limited picture


For example: “Florida Woman Calls 911 three timesAfter McDonald's Runs Out of McNuggets”


A 20:1 ratio of footage shot to footage usedis common.


That means, for every 20 minutes shot, viewerssee 1 minute of what was recorded.


Questions producers ask themselves:

• What content will have the most audience appeal?• What material looks best?• How should a person, object, animal, or event be presented?• what will grab—and hold—the audience’s attention?


In the end, you have to ask

yourself…




Documents

Media Construct Reality