Media Agencies- Agencies who produce media. Also media institutions and businesses.

Genre- Specific kinds of media content, e.g., entertainment, information, news, advertising, etc. Each category is defined with traditional conventions, but categories may overlap.

Technology- Hardware used to create and communicate with media, e.g., radio, computers, telephones, satellites, printing presses, pencils, etc.

Media Languages- Media conventions, formats, symbols and narrative structures which cue the audience to meaning. The symbolic language of electronic media work much the same way as grammar works in print media.

Representation- The relationship between actual places, people, events and ideas and media content. Stereotypes are a common form of media representation.

Mass Media- Any form of communication produced by a few for consumption by many people. Mass media are channels of communication through which messages flow. As the messages go through the channels, they are distorted. When people receive media messages they have no opportunity for immediate feedback with the producers of the messages.

Face-to-Face Communication- The sender and receiver of information are in contact. The receiver may disagree, ask a question, or repeat information. The sender and receiver can engage in a dialogue about the message. There is an opportunity for feedback.

Feedback- The process of communication whereby a person can disagree, ask a question, repeat information for understanding, or otherwise talk back in the communication process.

Gatekeepers- Those in control of the flow of information. The gatekeeper can choose to accept or reject a piece of information for public consumption. Newspaper publishers, editors and reporters, television producers, radio station owners and broadcasting executives have all been cited as examples of media gatekeepers.

Media Targets- Audiences are media targets. Audiences are targeted, sold and delivered to advertisers by media agencies. Groups are targeted on the basis of demographics, media use patterns, zip codes, and polling by those who wish to sell or persuade.

Narrowcasting- Producing and designing media content in order to target a highly specific segment of the audience. Opposite of broadcasting.

Broadcasting- Producing and designing media content to appeal to a broad audience segment. The technology of broadcasting only applies to content carried through the airwaves.

Cablecasting- The delivery of media content through underground or overhead cables. Refers only to the technology of cable, but content production and design resembles narrowcasting.

Media Content- Messages which are produced by the few for the many and delivered to large audiences simultaneously.

Objective- The ideal that the media producer is representing a balanced viewpoint on issues. The ideal that media producers are fair, accurate and conduits for information. Opposite of subjective.

Media Use- The way people interact with media. Media use varies from person to person, group to group and at various times during an individual's life.

Bullet Theory- A commonsense theory, much debunked, that people are passive recipients of media information. That media can touch people and change them directly.

Mass Communication- See mass media

Media Messages- See media content.

Medium- Singular for media. A television is a mass medium. Radios, televisions and newspapers are mass media.

Media- Any physical object used to communicate. Common media are televisions, radios, telephones, and newspapers. Less common articles are building materials, paint, sculpture, dance and other conventions for communicating ideas. Singular, medium.

Media Log- A record of media use, often used to assess and control personal media use.

This page is still being developed. Please send us other defintions and thoughts about Media Literacy. Thank you.