Image and sound media dependency

Our society is media dependent. Photography and videography are all around us with myriad uses in business, education, science and art. We are hooked on sounds and images, both still and moving.

Pixar story on Wired magazine cover on iPad

We are infatuated with many spinoffs from digital still photography and digital videos — animation, machinima, fandom, cyberculture, feminist films, visual ethnography and a wide variety of other offshoots.

In fact, electronic moving images have been one of the great innovations of the past 75 years.

International media flicker with images of nations everywhere

We Americans tend to be ethnocentric. Many believe our nation is most important and other nations are measured in relation to ours.

Sports day in Haiti

Researchers refer to this as American exceptionalism — the theory that the United States occupies a special niche among the nations of the world.

Restraints on media

Some people think of American media as freewheeling — free of restraints or rules — maybe even cheerfully irresponsible about the money they make.

Freedom of the Press postage stamp

But, are media actually free spirits without restraints? I think not. Ask any media manager and you will hear a litany of rules and regulations and ethics codes that constrain media and restrict the scope and extent of media activities.

What are we doing here?

We’re looking for the social implications of mass media.

Emerging and social media of mass communication are on the Internet

Media are pervasive in our lives.  Messages transmitted through media about our society, our culture, our politics, our bodies, our traditions, our beliefs — our very way of life — can be both a reflection of our values and a force for change. Those changes can be for good and for bad.

Welcome to Media and Society at UNCP!

Welcome to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke where learning gets personal!  This blog has been established for the UNCP course Media and Society (MCM-3600), but is open to anyone interested in our topic.

UNCP Braves

This is a place where students and faculty share information about the social implications of mass media. Everyone, not just students, is welcome to share in the discussion here.  Please give us your ideas, suggestions and comments. They will be welcomed and valued.