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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Roland Barthes said myths are how culture turns history into “nature.” They’re not false, but ideological: they hide power behind everyday signs. A suit isn’t just clothes, it’s authority. Myth makes the constructed feel inevitable.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

In semiotics, a myth isn’t a lie, it’s a cultural story hidden in plain sight. It’s how meanings get naturalized. Example: A luxury car = not just transport, but success. Myth turns signs into social truths

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Denotative meaning is the literal, dictionary definition of a word. Connotative meaning includes the emotions or associations a word carries. For example, "home" denotes a place to live, but connotes warmth, family, and comfort.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Every day, we navigate a maze of codes: spoken words, body language, fashion, rituals, genres, media styles, even ideologies. From math to memes, eye contact to isms, communication is a complex dance of signs we decode without even noticing.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Saussure’s theories laid the faundation for semiotics. Language was seen as a way to name things and by putting together signs it’s possible create complete messages. Each sign has two parts - the signifier - sound image and signified - the concept.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Semiotics is more than signs—it’s how we make meaning. From emojis to traffic lights, symbols shape our reality. Every image, word, and gesture carries a message. Look closer, nothing is ever just what it seems

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Representation theory is about how media shows people, places, and events. It explores who creates these images, how they're shown, and what ideas or stereotypes they promote, helping us understand how media shapes our view of the world. Example: an image of something is not the same as that thing.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Cultivation theory suggests that long-term exposure to media, especially TV, shapes our perception of reality. The more we watch, the more we believe the real world mirrors what's on screen—often leading to distorted views of violence, relationships, or social norms.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Cognitive Dissonance is the mental discomfort felt when our beliefs or actions conflict with each other. In communication, it creates discomfort that can lead to persuasion. It also affects social collaboration, as we react differently to various social cues, sometimes making it harder to interact.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Framing in news reporting can influence how audiences interpret events. When stories emphasize certain angles or details, it can distort understanding, shape public opinion, and impact policy decisions. Being aware of framing helps maintain a more accurate view of reality.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Bias framing theory explains how media frames subtly push certain interpretations by highlighting some facts and ignoring others. It’s not fake news—it’s selective truth. How a story is told can sway public opinion just as much as the story itself.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Semantic framing theory shows how the words we choose shape how people interpret information. Say “freedom fighters” vs “rebels”—same action, different vibe. Framing influences emotion, judgment, and decisions without changing the facts. It’s language as power.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

“Trump: Let’s Tweet Again” is an documentary that examines how former U.S. President Donald Trump’s use of Twitter disrupted traditional diplomacy and communication. The film explores the implications of his unfiltered tweeting style on international relations and political discourse

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Framing theory explains how media shapes our perception by highlighting certain aspects of a story while downplaying others. It’s not just what is said, but how it’s said that influences public opinion. It means FRAMING the reality, you are sending the attention to a particular spot.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Media gatekeepers are agents that determine whether an event goes into the main news or not. Anyone who works on managing media has the ability to choose. It's more concerning if you take into account that this is accessible for the government or people in positions of power with their own agendas

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

We experimented on how media divides groups by shaping their agendas. The shocking result: though people saw similar news, each read it from different sources. Our conclusion was that everyone receives information differently, shaping their perspectives uniquely.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Agenda-setting is the media’s ability to influence what people think about by highlighting certain topics. It doesn’t tell people what to think, but it shapes public perception by focusing attention on specific issues, influencing public discourse and policy debates.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) was a renowned political columnist. In Public Opinion (1922), he argued that mass media reduces complex issues to slogans, making it harder for citizens to judge public affairs rationally. His insights remain relevant in today's fast-paced media landscape.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

The Two-Step Flow Theory suggests that media influence flows from mass media to opinion leaders, who then pass it to the wider public. It highlights how interpersonal communication shapes opinions more than direct media exposure, emphasizing the role of influencers in shaping public perception.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Audiences often imitate what they see in media, raising concerns about its influence. Some argue that censorship is necessary to protect viewers from harmful content. Countries like the UK (BBFC) or Germany (FSK) regulate films to control exposure and minimize potential negative effects on society.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

The story of The Emperor’s New Clothes is like the Spiral of Silence Theory. People stay quiet because they fear being judged. In the story, no one admits the emperor has no clothes. In real life, people sometimes hide their opinions if they think others disagree.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Another example, Jan Palach, a Czech student, self-immolated in 1969 to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. His act shocked the nation, but fear led to silence. Over time, he became a symbol of resistance, inspiring future protests, including those that helped bring down communism in 1989

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

The initial silence after George Floyd’s murder aligns with the spiral of silence theory, where individuals hesitate to speak out due to fear of isolation or public reaction. As online outrage grew, the perceived majority opinion shifted, breaking the silence and sparking huge protests across the US

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence theory explains why people may stay quiet on controversial issues: fear of isolation and feeling of being minority keeps unpopular opinions in the shadows. The media plays a key role in shaping what’s ‘safe’ to say.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Proto-straw polls emerged in the 1824 U.S. presidential election due to political shifts and democratization. While many credit modern polling to Gallup in 1936 or Literary Digest polls from 1916, Gallup traced polling origins to 1824, citing pre-election tallies in North Carolina and Delaware.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

The Czech Republic's first election was in 1992 for the Czech National Council under universal suffrage. In 1993, it became the Chamber of Deputies, shaping the new nation’s future. The first presidential election followed in 1993, with Václav Havel elected by Parliament.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

The 1812 elections, under the Constitution of Cádiz, had a census-based system where only men over 25 with local ties could vote, excluding women and slaves. Universal male suffrage remained until 1933, when thanks to Clara Campoamor, women voted in Spain’s general elections for the first time.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution introduces its goals and principles with "We the People." Written by Gouverneur Morris in 1787, it reflects the Founders' vision but grants no powers or limits. Instead, it serves as guidance rather than legal authority in court decisions.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Public opinion emerged in the 17th century with liberalism and individual rights. The 18th-century revolutions emphasized government by the people. In the 19th century, newspapers used polls to shape views. The 1920s saw market research grow, and Gallup’s 1935 founding introduced scientific polling.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

We need to recognize propaganda patterns that have already been present in past forms of media and are now found in modern platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, and online communities. We can't simply trust each other when information is repeatedly shared and diffused; we must learn from these patterns

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

The Hypodermic Needle Theory states that Mass media has a strong direct effect on audiences, it states that they are passive and they all react the same way, we could compare it, for example, to sheep, naive and gullible.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Jane Addams was a social reformer and activist, founded Hull House to support the poor. She advocated for labor rights, child welfare, and women's suffrage. She opposed WWI and co-founded the Women's International League for Peace. She became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

The Chicago School of Sociology shaped mass communication research but faced rejection as the field evolved toward quantitative methods. Though marginalized, its influence persisted through incorporation into wartime propaganda research and later rediscovery by journalism and cultural studies.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Walter Benjamin believed that when art is copied many times, like in films, it loses its special “aura”—its uniqueness and originality. Instead of being rare and meaningful, it becomes part of mass culture, changing its purpose from tradition to entertainment.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Today in class we learned about Chicago, the third-largest city in the U.S., It's known for its rich history and innovation. The Chicago School of sociology, emerging in the early 20th century, revolutionized urban studies and shaped how we understand cities, crime, and social behavior

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

In class, we saw some propaganda examples to understand the pessimismistic view about mass media among the Frankfurt School authors, some examples in classic cinema are "The Triumph of the Will" (1935) by Leni Riefenstahl, or "Frente de Madrid" (1940) by Edgar Neville, from Spain.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Benjamin's opinion about media is similar to Herbert's, he focused on cinema and said that montage and the "camera eye" strips it from authenticity. Also, this blurs the line between original and copy, making it harder to appreciate art in the usual way, or turn it into something valuable to sell.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

The Frankfurt School was pessimistic about mass media, Herbert Marcuse said that the entertainment and information world have a high ideologic charge behind them, and these products have a high potential when it comes to manipulating people's perspectives and opinions.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Structuralism is an anthropology theory by Claude Lévi-Strauss (1940s). He urged studying cultural elements like myths together. Rather than isolated customs, it seeks patterns in societies, viewing language and culture as systems where meaning comes from relationships.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Walter Benjamin was a German philosopher and writer. One of his most famous essays, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, discusses how technology changes the way we see and experience art. His Work often combined history and political ideas, especially Marxism.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Sean Illing's article says that the Frankfurt School's critical theory explains Trump's rise. Thinkers like Adorno warned about mass media manipulation, authoritarianism, and how capitalism fosters irrationality. Their insights reveal how fear, propaganda, and cultural decay shape modern politics.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Wooden movable-type printing is a traditional Chinese printing technique that goes back to the 11th century. The process involves carving individual characters on small blocks of wood, they are then arranged to form pages and printed. Nowadays this technique is endangered by modern printing methods.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Modern journalism goes beyond the traditional 5Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why). It provides context for events, verifying information from reliable sources, and maintaining objectivity in reporting.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Jacobson’s paradigm is a communication model that defines six functions of language: referential,emotive,conative,phatic,metalingual,and poetic. It explains how messages are shaped by the sender, receiver, and context. It analyzes types of communication, from everyday speech to media and literature

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Nowadays we have to be alert even on social media, because they're biased and controlled by powerfull political and external powers. A very present censure is hidden in plain sight, for example leaving out minorities and letting people attack them without consequences, or culture erasure.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

It's important to factcheck global information because disinformation is on the rise. Take for example the manipulation and the crisis USA is facing since Trump is in office. Fox News spreads disinformation about their political oponents without repercussions, to fight this you need to stay informed

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Lasswell’s model breaks communication into Who (Sender) → Says What (Message) → In Which Channel (Medium) → To Whom (Receiver) → With What Effect (Outcome). It highlights the importance of analyzing each element to understand how messages influence audiences in media, politics, and beyond.

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MIRIL communication group @miriltheories.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

We talked about a new communication model, we call it the transactional model. This means that this system suggests that the communication process is cooperative. What people say is mainly influenced by their past experience. Its important to understand the influence of one message on another.

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