"Social media is a good thing. There's absolutely, positively no doubt about that. Except when it's a terrible thing, of course."

Kissmetrics Blog - "50 Ways Social Media Can Destroy Your Business"

"What's going on? How can we have things so wrong, and be so sure that we're right? Part of the answer lies in the way our brains are wired. Generally, people tend to seek consistency. There is a substantial body of psychological research showing that people tend to interpret information with an eye toward reinforcing their preexisting views."

The Boston Globe - "How Facts Backfire"

The Internet has revolutionized mass communications by rewriting the rules. Instead of "a complex organizations sending public messages to large audiences to influence an action", you now have individuals sending public messages to narrow (but global) audiences to influence an action.

WordZWorth Blog - "Types of Publishing"

"As the field of self-publishing matures, the quality of both content and format for many of these titles is becoming indistinguishable from those published by traditional houses."

The Wall Street Journal - "The Lessons of Lady GaGa"

"The 360 model hasn't launched big stars yet - with a few exceptions, including Gaga. From concerts, including four sold-out nights at Radio City Music Hall this month, a percentage of her take goes to her label, Universal's Interscope Records. The label also gets a cut of her revenue from Polaroid, Estée Lauder's MAC and other corporate partners. Does Gaga validate the 360 model for other artists? While she pockets relatively less money on tour, Interscope puts more muscle behind her than it would have in the old days. "Would she be in the position to play in front of 20,000 people a night if the record company had not put up the marketing dollars?" says Gaga's manager Troy Carter."

The New York Times -"1,700 Bands, Rocking as the CD Industry Reels."

Corporations are concerned about the internet across a wide range of media. They are, after all, middlemen whose business is built on an isthmus between the artist and the audience. The internet is a bridge between the two groups which cuts out the middleman.

A musician who has also produced for U2 and Bob Dylan notes: "We can record something at night, put it on the site for breakfast and have the money in the PayPal account by 5. With all due respect for my very great friends who have come up in the record-company environment, it's nice to see that technology has opened the doors to everybody."

The Atlantic - "The Shazam Effect. Record companies are tracking download and search data to predict which new songs will be hits. This has been good for business - but is it bad for music?"

"The top 1 percent of bands and solo artists now earn 77 percent of all revenue from recorded music, media researchers report. And even though the amount of digital music sold has surged, the 10 best-selling tracks command 82 percent more of the market than they did a decade ago. The advent of do-it-yourself artists in the digital age may have grown music's long tail, but its fat head keeps getting fatter."

Click here to read "After Charlottesville, tech companies are forced to take action against hate speech" from Mashable.

"Since tech companies are private entities by law they have the right to take action on their terms of service. They can make choices based on the demands of their customers and the needs of the market. "

PBS NewsHour, - "Exhibit chronicles manipulated news photos".

"A New York exhibit chronicles prominent cases of images altered by journalists and asks: If seeing is believing, how often are you, the viewer or reader, being misled? "

The Washington Post - "New FDA rules will greatly restrict tobacco advertising and sales"

"The FDA tried to restrict tobacco advertising in 1996, but the tobacco industry successfully challenged those efforts in court and argued that the agency has overstepped its authority. That laid the groundwork for a 13-year effort by public health groups to win passage of a new tobacco-control law."

Buzzfeed - "Here Are 50 Of The Biggest Fake News Hits On Facebook From 2016".

"A Buzzfeed investigation traced some of these fake publishers to a small town in Macedonia called Veles - where it discovered that over 140 fake news sites are based. "

The Atlantic - "The Death of Music Sales: If CDs are "dead," so is iTunes."

"And if CDs are truly dead, then digital music sales are lying in the adjacent grave. Both categories are down double-digits in the last year, with iTunes sales diving at least 13 percent."

Some media critics think, however, that the public doesn't care about errors.

Click here to read "Mistakes in news reporting happen, but do they matter?" from The Washington Post

"But Jurkowitz says readers and viewers have a short memory for any specific mistake. Just as the public doesn't remember which news outlet got a story first, it also doesn't remember which one got the story wrong, he says. 'I'd be skeptical that there is lasting damage for any news organization unless they made a habit of this,' Jurkowitz says."

"On the other hand, the bad news about bad reporting, he says, is that mistakes damage the media generally. 'To the extent that people are aware of the mistakes, it just reinforces the public's distrust' of the media, he says. 'It just amplifies the sense that the media doesn't care about getting things right, that all it cares about is ratings, that accuracy doesn't matter. . . . The public's opinion of the media isn't high to begin with. And this doesn't help.'

Tow Center for Digital Journalism - "Lies, Damn Lies, and Viral Content"

"News websites dedicate far more time and resources to propagating questionable and often false claims than they do working to verify and/or debunk viral content and online rumors. Rather than acting as a source of accurate information, online media frequently promote misinformation in an attempt to drive traffic and social engagement."

"Our nation has always relied on a press that is free, considering it nothing less than a foundation of our democracy. But we have always paid the price for that freedom, allowing voices that are reckless or bigoted or plain wrong to be heard too. Finding the news you can trust has always been every citizen's job. It has just gotten more complicated. And above all, remember that media is biased because people are biased. Every one of us is biased; we all see the world through the lenses of our personal beliefs and predispositions, and we all like to hear news in a way that supports our own preexisting views, reinforcing our own biases that we may not even know exist. As Gladstone puts it, "News consumers say they want objectivity, but they choose news outlets that reflect their views." That's just human nature."

The Saturday Evening Post - "Balancing Act".

False Hope

Click here to read Medscape.com - "No Evidence for Most TV Medical Advice, Study Shows."

"In many cases, investigators found that specific details on the magnitude of benefit or harm and the cost and inconvenience of following recommendations were lacking, and evidence supporting them was contradictory or absent. Viewers had little basis for informed decision making."

Inflated Status

"The Kardashians are brilliant when it comes to the art of the personal brand. They know how to get themselves straight into the spotlight and leverage their personal brands into money-making machines."

Click here to read "The Ingenious Way the Kardashians Turned Themselves Into Celebrities," especially point number 10.

Interpretation

Pew Research Journalism Project - "News Use Across Social Media Platforms"

The Internet has greatly increased our ability to receive news but also greatly increased the channels of interpretation. Social media is the newest source of endless interpretation. For each "news posting" you have dozens, hundreds of posts interpreting that information.

"As of August 2017, two-thirds (67%) of Americans report that they get at least some of their news on social media &150; with two-in-ten doing so often"

Linkage

ABC News - "Social media gets the word out during Irma emergency"

"People engaging with Irma from well beyond the danger zone use social media "like huddling together during bad times," said public relations expert Richard Laermer, author of "Trendspotting."

Social media makes people feel like they are doing something, as opposed to nothing," he said."

CNN.com - "The popular cruelty of 'Idol'."

"Anyway, what's wrong with a little honesty, even when conveyed with brass knuckles? There's nothing wrong with a wakeup call -- however unlikely its recipients will heed it."

"The wrong part, if any, is this: putting it on TV. Putting it on TV can be cruel. Which makes "American Idol" a pretty cruel show. If it weren't, the most appalling contestants would be weeded out beforehand, safely out of view -- not hand-picked to face the judges' on-camera scorn."

"Anyway, what's wrong with a little honesty, even when conveyed with brass knuckles? There's nothing wrong with a wakeup call -- however unlikely its recipients will heed it.

The wrong part, if any, is this: putting it on TV. Putting it on TV can be cruel. Which makes "American Idol" a pretty cruel show. If it weren't, the most appalling contestants would be weeded out beforehand, safely out of view -- not hand-picked to face the judges' on-camera scorn."

The New York Times - "They Want Their Mean TV"

"I think reality TV may be symptomatic of a broader trend toward cultural nastiness that crept up on us with the advent of Jerry, Maury, Ricki, Montel and the other professional talkers who specialize in bleeping and screaming, as "guests" are subjected to verbal assaults from former spouses or secret gay admirers. (In the notorious Jenny Jones case, an actual off-camera murder ensued.) The tears and curses and venomous exchanges make any outlandish soap opera plot pale by comparison.

But the question remains: what makes Americans watch? Is it a kind of bizarre revival of slapstick, a banana-peel joke raised to a surreal pitch? Is it an offshoot of the politics of accusation, exposé, sleaze and attack ads that dominated the Clinton years? Is Monica Lewinsky the mother of Fox? Is this what TV is all about for today's undergraduates?"

Entertainment

The New York Times - "A Radio Station Just for You."

"Currently, the most compelling online radio is interactive. Services like Pandora, Last.fm and Slacker evaluate your musical tastes, then serve up a continuous stream of programming to match. They mix familiar songs with new material you might like. They all do it by harnessing the technological forces of social networking, data mining and music analysis, though each uses a slightly different technique."

"Joining the struggling industry's trend toward centralization, the Hartford paper announced plans this month to outsource all copy editing and design to Tribune Co.'s Chicago Tribune, eliminating 19 newsroom positions - about half related to the outsourcing - according to Rich Graziano, the Courant's CEO and publisher."

Chicago Tribune - "Media giants centralize editing, design operations"

Bloomberg.com - "Is There Any Hope for Broadcasters Throttled by Consolidation?"

"If you think your local radio station sounds like it's being run by aliens, you may be right.

As Eric Klinenberg reports in 'Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media,' consolidation in the radio industry has produced creatures we might call the omnipresent jocks: on- air personalities who do 'local' shows from several states away and may have never set foot in the markets they pretend to broadcast from."

ABC News - "Why Are Concert Ticket Prices So High?"

"A big company like Clear Channel has every opportunity to sort of take over every edge of the business,Dave Matthews said. And that's exactly what some people say Clear Channel is doing. Clear Channel is No. 1 in radio station ownership, the concert promotion industry, and ownership of concert arenas. Since Clear Channel started buying up the industry, the average concert ticket price has risen by one-third. The sharp increase was so alarming, it triggered a Senate investigation last month."

The New York Times - "Young Chinese Drawn to Hip-Hop"

"But American music and fashion need no such high-level emissaries to win the hearts and minds of China's people -- particularly the children of its growing economic elite.

American chain restaurants and coffee shops have opened even in remote provincial cities. Hollywood movies are so popular that the government limits their number to protect domestic film makers. American brand-name outdoor wear and university sweat shirts are almost as common in Shanghai as New York."

BBC Future - "Does Globalization Mean We Will Become One Culture?"

This opinion piece, from the BBC, suggests the formation of a global culture is a good thing.

"Against this backdrop the seemingly unstoppable and ever accelerating cultural homogenization around the world brought about by travel, the internet and social networking, although often decried, is probably a good thing even if it means the loss of cultural diversity ..."

The New York Times - "As Internet TV Aims at Niche Audiences, the Slivercast Is Born"

"In the last six months, major media companies have received much attention for starting to move their own programming online, whether downloads for video iPods or streaming programs that can be watched over high-speed Internet connections.

Perhaps more interesting - and, arguably, more important - are the thousands of producers whose programming would never make it into prime time but who have very dedicated small audiences. It's a phenomenon that could be called slivercasting".

In These Times - "Digital Revives the Indie Pop Star"

"In this new age of satellite radio and personalized playlists, only 35 percent of 18-to- 34-year-olds are turning to the once mighty FM radio to find new artists. Meanwhile, online music sales nearly doubled last year to about $2 billion, or 10 percent of all sales.

The reason, says Ben Zalman, radio promotion manager of the Planetary Group, a Boston based music promoter, is simple. 'Although I don't think radio's days are numbered, people are getting more used to the on-demand style of consumption. If someone is in the mood to listen to Modest Mouse, they no longer have to hear the new Red Hot Chili Peppers hit five times before they can.'"

The following excerpt from a "2014 Pew Political Polarization & Media Habits" study points out the growing Selective Perception and Loss of Credibility in the news media.

"When it comes to getting news about politics and government, liberals and conservatives inhabit different worlds. There is little overlap in the news sources they turn to and trust. And whether discussing politics online or with friends, they are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals, according to a new Pew Research Center study."

Click here to read Pew Research Center - "Political Polarization & Media Habits"

The article below, from "The New York Times", shows the concept of synergy has moved beyond media. It also reflects vertical integration, since the three networks mentioned have a single owner. The publishing company and the production company were also owned by the same group until recently. Finally, it is a good example of partnerships between disparate organizations like media companies, non-profit science organizations, and museums.

The New York Times - "Seeking a Missing Link, and a Mass Audience"

"But the event, which will coincide with the publishing of a peer-reviewed article about the find, is the first stop in a coordinated, branded media event, orchestrated by the scientists and the History Channel, including a film detailing the secretive two-year study of the fossil, a book release, an exclusive arrangement with ABC News and an elaborate Web site."

"‘Any pop band is doing the same thing,’ said Jorn H. Hurum, a scientist at the University of Oslo who acquired the fossil and assembled the team of scientists that studied it. ‘Any athlete is doing the same thing. We have to start thinking the same way in science.’"

The New York Times - "The Multimedia Synergistic Slumber Party"

"In October their debut album, full of upbeat anthems aimed at 9- to 13-year-old listeners, will be released by Geffen Records. Still want more? You can watch for continuous music and video updates on KOL, a children-theme AOL channel, or wait for a made-for-television movie and a second television series planned for the following months.

All of which makes the Slumber Party Girls - motivated, energetic and soon to be ubiquitous - an embodiment of the latest way to reach young consumers in their so-called 'tween years: using every possible avenue at once."

Symbiosis - Cross-promotion

The New York Times - "Comcast and NBCUniversal Open Cross-Promotional Ad Strategy"

"When Microsoft wanted to promote its Surface Pro 3 tablet during the last holiday season, it turned to NBCUniversal for help. Together, the companies came up with a sweeping marketing campaign, with pieces showing up across NBCUniversal's broadcast and cable channels, social media platforms, websites and within the company's shows."

Convergence - Distribution

Electronic Media - "More local TV, newspapers on the same page"

"This kind of synergy between print and TV rivals appears to be the future of electronic media. 'It's definitely the way things are going,' Mr. De Wolk said.

He believes there will always be a rivalry between print and television, but convergence is inevitable. 'The Chronicle cannot do television, and KTVU cannot do newspapers -- we need each other,' he said. 'We're not doing it just for next Sunday or the next sweeps, we're doing it for the next generation. When everything changes, we'll be in position.'"

Convergence - Content

The New York times - "Out of Hollywood, Rising Fascination With Video Games"

"Computer games represent one of the fastest-growing, most profitable entertainment businesses. Making movies, by contrast, is getting tougher and more expensive, now costing, with marketing fees, an average of $103 million a film. That is one reason, among others, that those with power in Hollywood are avidly seeking to get into the game business while also reshaping standard movie contracts so they can grab a personal share of game rights."

The Associated Press - "Radio, radio: Where did all the music go?"

"When it comes to commercial radio, it appears everybody has a gripe — except the corporations atop the multibillion-dollar industry. Their stations, they say, are just following the advice of the Kinks' Ray Davies: Give the people what they want.

"We play what people want to hear," said John Hogan, president and chief operating officer of Clear Channel Radio and its 1,200 stations. "And if we play too little of what people want to hear, they're going to go somewhere else."

They already are — although it's not necessarily to other radio stations. Radio listeners are listening less. In 1993 they spent an average of 23 hours per week with the radio on, last year it was down to 20 hours, according to Arbitron numbers."

The Rolling Stone - "Clear Channel Limits Live CDs"

"But in a move expected to severely limit the industry, Clear Channel Entertainment has bought the patent from the technology's inventors and now claims to own the exclusive right to sell concert CDs after shows. The company, which is the biggest concert promoter in the world, says the patent covers its 130 venues along with every other venue in the country."

One negative consequence of Cognition is when the source of news is wrong or influenced.

"Dramatic reductions in advertising and subscription revenue in recent years mean news outlets are even less likely to push back against commercial intrusions in the functioning of the newsroom. Journalists trying to hold on to their jobs in a shrinking newsroom are less likely to speak up about interference from owners or other powerful interests."

Click here to read "Fear & Favor 10th Annual Report - Hidden interference in the newsroom."

The Christian Science Monitor - "What women want - to read"

"Cravings for "authenticity" and "fulfillment" are a hot topic. Words like "spirituality" and "mean-ingful" get heavy use. And praise abounds for a firsthand narrative by a woman who recently rediscovered the joy of prayer.

If this sounds like a convention of New Age religious writers — held at a cabin in the woods or a commune in the desert — think again.

The setting is a trendy downtown Manhattan restaurant. The participants, perched confidently on tall stools and collectively projecting an air of understated chic, are editors at high-profile mass-market women's magazines.

A growing body of work in neuroscience suggests that these diversions, along with advertising motivation, are tied to a single brain chemical, dopamine. Media, marketers, even politicians and teachers, know how to manipulate dopamine levels to encourage desired behavior.

"Many of the most popular technologies of our time tap into the powerful reward mechanisms in our brains. And while most researchers stop short of calling video games and modern tech addictive, there's evidence that these technologies alter how our brains work and change how we behave."

Listen to this story from NPR which explains in more detail. "Online Marketers Take Note of Brains Wired for Rewards."

Social Utility

One of the most powerful tools at the Media's command is our need to be part of something ("Be Like Mike").

This is rooted in a deep fear of being alone. We'll study in detail later, how advertisers make us want material objects by preying on this fear.

The New York Times - "Magazines Push Images Over Words"

"The shorthand suffices because the great majority of readers are up to date on the handful of luminous beings that constitute the raw material in most mass magazines, whether the focus is entertainment, fashion, music or sports (or more commonly, some mix of all those things). Celebrities have become the people that everyone has in common, and as long as images give the hoi polloi a sense of intimacy, the readers are more than happy to supply both text and subtext."

Pew Internet & American Life Project - "Social Media Usage: 2005-2015"

"...the rise of social media has affected such things as work, politics and political deliberation, communications patterns around the globe, as well as the way people get and share information about health, civic life, news consumption, communities, teenage life, parenting, dating and even people’s level of stress."

"Along the way, he discovered a fact that many small-scale recording artists are coming to terms with these days: his fans do not want merely to buy his music. They want to be his friend. And that means they want to interact with him all day long online. They pore over his blog entries, commenting with sympathy and support every time he recounts the difficulty of writing a song. They send e-mail messages, dozens a day, ranging from simple mash notes of the 'you rock!' variety to starkly emotional letters, including one by a man who described singing one of Coulton's love songs to his 6-month-old infant during her heart surgery. Coulton responds to every letter, though as the e-mail volume has grown to as many as 100 messages a day, his replies have grown more and more terse, to the point where he's now feeling guilty about being rude."

Bloomberg News - "Tweeting About Twerking Seen as Lifeline for TV Industry."

In television, the much derided "couch potato" has been replaced by an active "second screen" experience. The new way to experience television is to interact online with friends and peers while viewing programs. Applications such as "GetGlue", Twitter, and even Facebook encourage this behavior as a way to strengthen their own media channels. This becomes a type of virtual "Social Utility"

"People were tweeting about Miley, going, 'I gotta see this,' Dauman said. 'It's a great symbiotic relationship where we drive the conversation on Twitter, and that conversation on Twitter drives people back to watch our shows.

The show altogether generated 18.5 million tweets, accounting for 90 percent of the Twitter conversation about TV that evening, according to Social Guide, the unit of Nielsen that measures social media. The show's ratings were up 53 percent over the previous year as well, Nielsen found."