Language and Media Dictionary of Key Terms (April 2016) Martin Montgomery

network² => social network.

news media n. information and commentary on contemporary events as subjects of ongoing public interest. Most media channels – whether print or digital – contain a high proportion of this kind of output which has a long history of being institutionalized and controlled for commercial gain, for reasons of state or in the public interest. mmo

newspaper media n. a printed publication issued at regular intervals (such as daily or weekly) that provides wide coverage of a range of topics of immediate public interest. The emergence of the modern newspaper is closely linked to the introduction of the printing press, though many newspapers are now transferring their publishing activity online, while striving to maintain their traditional print identity. mmo

objectivity media n. criterion used for judging the truthfulness of various kinds of text, but most particularly those of journalism. Statements that are objective are faithful to the object or phenomena that they describe which they thereby render without personal prejudice and uninfluenced by emotion. Objectivity is often explicitly incorporated into the codes of professional journalism as a guarantee of truth, but also to foreground the merits of journalistic independence. => subjectivity. mmo

open text media n. any text that seems designed to sustain a variety of interpretations, the availability of which may be said to enrich (rather than diminish) the reading experience. Umberto Eco, the Italian semiotician () thought of the work of art as an ‘open work’, which he described as a dynamic ‘work in movement’, effectively open to an unlimited range of interpretations and possible readings. See also Barthes and the concept of the readerly text. => closed text mmo

opinion poll a survey of opinion of a given population. Polls may be carried out verbally, through ballots, or through telecommunications. SJ => public opinion.