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Media Research Methods Understanding Metric And Interpretive Approaches 1st Edition Anderson
NOTE TO AUTHOR/EDITOR: Pages i and iii are placeholders only; the final half-title and title pages will be created by the art department later in the process. Please confirm that you want your name to appear as follows and that your affiliation is accurate. Media Research Methods
Media Research Methods Understanding Metric And Interpretive Approaches 1st Edition Anderson
Media Research Methods Understanding Metric and Interpretive Approaches James A. Anderson University of Utah SAGE Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington, DC
Copyright © 2012 by SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anderson, James A. Media research methods : understanding metric and interpretive approaches / James A. Anderson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 978-1-4129-9956-4 (pbk.) 1. Mass media—Research—Methodology. I. Title. P91.3.A58 2012 302.2301—dc22 2011011487 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FOR INFORMATION: SAGE Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 E-mail: order@sagepub.com SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 Acquisitions Editor: Matthew Byrnie Associate Editor: Nathan Davidson Editorial Assistant: Elizabeth J. Borders Copy Editor: Melinda Masson Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. Proofreader: Indexer: Cover Designer: Janet Kiesel Marketing Manager: Liz Thornton Permissions: Karen Ehrmann
Brief Contents Preface xviii Acknowledgments xxi SECTION I: OVERVIEW 1 1. Exploring the Mediascape 3 2. Mapping the Mediascape 23 3. Methods of Exploration: Asking Questions 37 4. Methods of Exploration: Finding Answers 63 SECTION II: FOUNDATIONS OF RESEARCH PRACTICE 81 5. From Concepts to Data 83 6. Research Questions and Hypotheses 106 7. Literatures and Databases 133 SECTION III: DESIGNING PROTOCOLS IN METRIC RESEARCH 157 8. Sampling 159 9. Statistics and Statistical Analysis 181 10. Designing Surveys 218 11. Protocols for Experiments 239 SECTION IV: CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN THE INTERPRETIVE PARADIGM 271 12. Coding Text 273 13. Discursive Protocols: Creating Texts 300 14. Critical Interpretive Methods: Social Meanings and Media Texts 323
15. Ethnographic Methods 351 16. An Excursion Into Writing 374 Appendix A: A Short History of Media Innovations 394 Appendix B: One Hundred Studies 406 Glossary 411 References 418 Index 000 About the Author 000
Contents Preface xviii Acknowledgments xxi SECTION I: OVERVIEW 1 1 Exploring the Mediascape 3 Chapter Preview  3 What’s It All About?   3 What Are the Major Topics?   3 What Special Terms Are Used?   4 Introduction  4 Communication Domains  4 Mass Communication  5 Media Studies  6 Mediated Communication  7 Scholarly Communities of the Mediascape   11 Science and Scholarship   11 Scientific, Proprietary, and Personal Research   12 Understanding Methodological Differences   12 Methodologies  13 The Empirical  13 The Metric  14 The Hermeneutic  14 The Critical  15 Epistemological Foundations  15 Assaying the Differences   20 Moving On  21 Reflections  21 What Are Some Points to Remember?   21 Why Does It Matter?   21 What Else Could We Talk About?   22 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   22
2 Mapping the Mediascape 23 Chapter Previw  23 What’s It All About?   23 What Are the Major Topics?   23 What Special Terms Are Used?   24 Introduction  24 Four Corners of Analysis   24 Properties  25 Processes  27 Consequences  28 Character  29 Putting It Together: Friends in Social Networking Sites   31 Properties  32 Processes  32 Consequences  34 Character  34 Moving On  35 Reflections  36 What Are Some Points to Remember?   36 Why Does It Matter?   36 What Else Could We Talk About?   36 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   36 3 Methods of Exploration: Asking Questions 37 Chapter Preview  37 What’s It All About?   37 What Are the Major Topics?   37 What Special Terms Are Used?   38 Introduction: Primacy of the Problem   38 Preliminaries  39 Commonalities  39 Creating Public Knowledge   39 What About the Truth of the Matter?   39 Theory and Method   40 The Process of Research   41 Initiating Issues and Preliminary Investigations   43 Refining the Problem   49 Literature Review  58 Problem Statement  59 The Ethics of the Problem   60 Moving On  61 Reflections  62
What Are Some Points to Remember?   62 Why Does It Matter?   62 What Else Could We Talk About?   62 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   62 4 Methods of Exploration: Finding Answers 63 Chapter Preview  63 What’s It All About?   63 What Are the Major Topics?   63 What Special Terms Are Used?   64 Introduction  64 An Introduction to Empirical Methods   65 Cataloguing Methods  66 Metric Methods  67 Interpretive Methods  70 Hybrid Methods  73 Mixed Methods  75 Considering Purposes Beyond Method   77 Moving On  79 Reflections  79 What Are Some Points to Remember?   79 Why Does It Matter?   80 What Else Could We Talk About?   80 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   80 SECTION II: FOUNDATIONS OF RESEARCH PRACTICE 81 5 From Concepts to Data 83 Chapter Preview  83 What’s It All About?   83 What Are the Major Topics?   83 What Special Terms Are Used?   84 The Foundations of Argument in Research   84 Assumptions Prior to Data   85 Assumptions About Media/Texts/Audiences   85 Assumptions About Culture/Society/Individuals   87 Summary of Assumptions   89 Postassumptive Theory  90 Theory Types  90 Levels of Approach   91 Initiating Concepts  91 Epistemic Divisions  91
Concepts and Constructs   92 Engagement, Evidence, Claim, and Trustworthiness   93 Metric Evidence  94 Metric Trustworthiness: Reliability, Precision, Accuracy, and Validity   99 Interpretive (and Hybrid) Evidence   100 Interpretive Trustworthiness: Coherence, Resonance, and Vraisemblance   104 Moving On  104 Reflections  105 What Are Some Points to Remember?   105 Why Does It Matter?   105 What Else Could We Talk About?   105 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   105 6 Research Questions and Hypotheses 106 Chapter Preview  106 What’s It All About?   106 What Are the Major Topics?   106 What Special Terms Are Used?   107 Creating a Research Study   107 Things and Properties: Questions of “What?”   108 Methods and Practices: Questions of “How?”   108 Causes and Consequences: Questions of “Why?”   109 Character and Value: Questions of “So What?”   109 Research Questions and Hypotheses   110 Metric Studies  110 Interpretive Studies  111 Hybrid Studies  111 Community-Based Research  112 Proprietary Research  113 Contemporary Examples  113 Questions of Properties   114 Questions of Praxis   117 Questions of Consequence   119 Questions of Character   122 Implications for Developing Research Questions   124 Anticipating Institutional Review   125 Competent Scholarship  126 Informed Consent  127 Informed Consent and Interpretive Studies   127 Tensions  128 Commentary on Methods and Implications   129 Moving On  131 Reflections  131
What Are Some Points to Remember?   131 Why Does It Matter?   132 What Else Could We Talk About?   132 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   132 7 Literatures and Databases 133 Chapter Preview  133 What’s It All About?   133 What Are the Major Topics?   133 What Special Terms Are Used?   134 Introduction  134 Metric, Interpretive, and Hybrid Literature Reviews   135 Reviews in Metric Research   135 Reviews in Interpretive Research   135 Hybrid Reviews  136 In the Beginning, For the Beginner   137 Issue-Based Indexes    137 Archives and Databases in Mediated Communication   140 Conducting Professional, Problem-Based Literature Searches   142 Writing to Read   142 Research Literatures  144 Literatures and Databases   146 Professional Practices in Search Strategies   149 Managing Citations  152 The Ethics of Literature Reviews   154 Moving On  155 Reflections  155 What Are Some Points to Remember?   155 Why Does It Matter?   156 What Else Could We Talk About?   156 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   156 SECTION III: DESIGNING PROTOCOLS IN METRIC RESEARCH 157 8 Sampling 159 Chapter Preview  159 What’s It All About?   159 What Are the Major Topics?   159 What Special Terms Are Used?   160 Introduction  160 Understanding Sampling  164 Probability Sampling  164
Nonprobability Sampling  166 Critique and the Question of Representativeness   168 Sampling Methods  171 Probability Sampling  171 Nonprobability Sampling  174 Sampling Things, Texts, Processes, and Episodes   175 Best Practices  176 Power or Size Counts   177 Moving On  179 Reflections  179 What Are Some Points to Remember?   179 Why Does It Matter?   180 What Else Could We Talk About?   180 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   180 9 Statistics and Statistical Analysis 181 Chapter Preview  181 What’s It All About?   181 What Are the Major Topics?   181 What Special Terms Are Used?   182 Introduction  182 Descriptive Statistics  185 Inferential Statistics  193 Significance and Public Decision Making   193 Common Tests of Difference   197 Common Measures of Relationship   206 A Peek Into Structure and Modeling   211 The Ethics of Analysis   215 Moving On  216 Reflections  216 What Are Some Points to Remember?   216 Why Does It Matter?   217 What Else Could We Talk About?   217 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   217 10Designing Surveys 218 Chapter Preview  218 What’s It All About?   218 What Are the Major Topics?   218 What Special Terms Are Used?   219 Introduction  219 Measuring Properties: Developing Content   220 Understanding Communication Variables   220
Statement-Based Scales  221 Descriptor-Based Scales  222 Qualifying, Exploratory, Analytical, and Focal Measures   223 Demo- and Psychographics   225 Format  227 Anticipating Analysis and Data Handling   227 Methods of Data Collection   228 Accessibility  228 Gaining and Sustaining Participation   230 Ensuring and Testing Quality Responses   231 Testing Quality  234 The Ethics of Survey Design   234 Moving On  236 Reflections  237 What Are Some Points to Remember?   237 Why Does It Matter?   237 What Else Could We Talk About?   237 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   238 11Protocols for Experiments 239 Chapter Preview  239 What’s It All About?   239 What Are the Major Topics?   239 What Special Terms Are Used?   240 Introduction  240 Components of Experimental Design   242 Causality  242 Theory  244 Control  245 Ecological Validity  246 Creating the Protocol   248 Variables  248 Treatments and Equivalence   253 Respondents  256 Analysis  258 An Invented Example   263 The Ethics of Experiments   269 Conclusion  269 Moving On  270 Reflections  270 What Are Some Points to Remember?   270 Why Does It Matter?   270 What Else Could We Talk About?   270 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   270
SECTION IV: CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN THE INTERPRETIVE PARADIGM 271 12Coding Text 273 Chapter Preview  273 What’s It All About?   273 What Are the Major Topics?   273 What Special Terms Are Used?   274 Introduction to Coding Texts   274 Symbolic and Discursive Protocols   276 Four Intentions  276 Analysis of Intentionalities   278 Elements of Content Protocols   280 Metric Coding  281 Cases  282 Unit of Analysis   284 Codes  285 Issues in Reliability and Validity   286 Interpretive Coding  287 Selection of Texts   287 Close Reading  288 Cases and Units of Analysis   289 Coding  289 Issues in Trustworthiness   291 Common Elements in Coding   291 Computer-Aided Analysis  292 Coding Digitized Texts   294 Moving On  298 Reflections  298 What Are Some Points to Remember?   298 Why Does It Matter?   299 What Else Could We Talk About?   299 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   299 13Discursive Protocols: Creating Texts 300 Chapter Preview  300 What’s It All About?   300 What Are the Major Topics?   300 What Special Terms Are Used?   301 Introduction  301 Producing and Coding Research Texts   301 Long-Form Interviews  302 Focus Groups  305 Protocol Analyses  306
Narratives  307 Noninteractive Observation  309 Coding Texts: Pulling It All Together   310 The Texts of the Problem   311 Approach to Analysis   311 Unit of Analysis   311 Coding  312 Analysis  313 Implications and Conclusions   314 Objectivity and Vraisemblance   315 Critical Question Checklist   315 Critical Answers for Metric Studies   317 Critical Answers for Hermeneutic and Hybrid Studies   319 Moving On  321 Reflections  321 What Are Some Points to Remember?   321 Why Does It Matter?   321 What Else Could We Talk About?   321 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   322 14 Critical Interpretive Methods: Social Meanings and Media Texts 323 Chapter Preview  323 What’s It All About?   323 What Are the Major Topics?   323 What Special Terms Are Used?   324 Introduction  324 Goals  326 Identifying Issues and Texts   328 Selection  329 Single Text  330 Time-Based  330 Comparative Within Time   331 Comparative Across Time   331 Comparative Across Media   331 Thematic  332 Textual Capture  332 Interpretive Reading  334 Gaining Intimate Familiarity   334 Textual Regularities  334 Developing a Content Log   335 A Theoretical Starting Point   336 Systematic Analysis of Meaning Construction   336 The Play of Signs   336 Patterns of Organization   340 Linkages to Context   343
Emergence and Confrontation   345 Finely Grained Examination   345 Crafting the Argument   346 Is the Analysis Insightful?   346 Is the Analysis Valid?   347 Is the Analysis Valuable?   348 Moving On  349 Reflections  349 What Are Some Points to Remember?   349 Why Does It Matter?   350 What Else Could We Talk About?   350 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   350 15Ethnographic Methods 351 Chapter Preview  351 What’s It All About?   351 What Are the Major Topics?   351 What Special Terms Are Used?   352 Introduction  352 Member Understanding  353 Participant Observation  354 Hybrid Forms  355 Adaptive Strategies in Ethnographic Research   355 Understanding an Ethnographic Problem   355 The Membership  358 Gaining Access  361 Fieldwork I: Achieving Member Knowledge   362 Fieldwork II: Supervised Performance and Reflexive Writing   366 Making Sense of It All: The Ethnographic Argument   368 Emerging Forms of Argument   371 The Ethics of Ethnography   372 Moving On  372 Reflections  373 What Are Some Points to Remember?   373 Why Does It Matter?   373 What Else Could We Talk About?   373 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   373 16An Excursion Into Writing 374 Chapter Preview  374 What’s It All About?   374 What Are the Major Topics?   374 What Special Terms Are Used?   375
Introduction  375 Professional Writing  375 Get Connected  375 Develop Skills  376 Assemble Technology  377 Develop Good Practices   378 Doing the Writing   378 Dealing With Writer’s Block   380 Manuscript Preparation  380 Background Practices: Foundational Reviews   382 The Garden-Variety Literature Reviews   382 Meta-Analyses  383 Foundational Reviews  383 Developing the Archive   385 Setting Domain Boundaries   387 Building the Archive   387 Capturing the Wily Source   388 Coding the Work   388 Approaches to Coding   389 Software Support  389 The Value of Coding   389 An Example From the Media Effects Archive   390 Closing Foundational Reviews   392 A Final Ethical Note   392 Reflections  392 What Are Some Points to Remember?   392 Why Does It Matter?   393 What Else Could We Talk About?   393 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   393 Appendix A: A Short History of Media Innovations 394 Appendix B: One Hundred Studies 406 Glossary 411 References 418 Index 000 About the Author 000
xviii Preface This book is a coming-of-age story about managing a career conducting and teaching research in an era of radical changes in methodology. Each change seems to be ushered in with great promise, and although there are some benefits gained by the discipline, the basic questions remain unanswered. Each new method presents itself as a solution to the ills that plagued the previous one, and yet upon close examination, the glosses, contradictions, and improbabilities begin to appear. Ideologues from every side attempt to advance their own agenda by pointing out the weaknesses of others. Nonetheless, this is not the story we tell our students. In the classroom, we are typically the wizards of science and scholarship; our discipline is really the best; and the answers, if not in hand, are there for the next study that comes along. Our textbooks consistently pres- ent this picture, often directly but certainly in the silences, in what authors choose to praise and refuse to criticize. I wrote this book because I thought it was time to grow up. This is neither a neutral nor a dogmatic text. It adopts a critical point of view that is both postmodern and constructionist and does not shy away from noting the glosses, compro- mises, and contradictions that allow research and scholarship to move forward, even as they are imperfectly developed and executed. Consequently, this text is not a “Yellow Brick Road” book where all problems will be solved if one just follows the directed path. At the same time, it attempts to identify the moments when that positional voice is explicitly speaking in order that students may decide on its value and instructors can point out alter- native points of view. It offers no more comfort or distress to either side of the metric- interpretive boundary. I use both methodologies extensively and have an experienced practitioner’s understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each. I also believe the text is grounded in a realist view of the effectiveness of communication research. That view is that our approaches have a low level of instrumentality, which is a central reason why there are so many different methodological approaches available. No single method or set of methods has been able to provide compelling answers to the issues that have been before us from ancient thought to the present. This is a book neither of myths nor of method advocacy. It is a book for grown-ups. READERS AND COURSES This book is designed for the reader who has had some instruction and, perhaps, some expe- rience in doing research and is now ready to put together both the methods and the issues of research and scholarship. Its presumed reader may be an upper-division undergraduate
Preface xix about to go into a corporate world under the influence of Six Sigma data-based management that has also become more and more dependent on the interpretive analysis of its customers and clients. Or that reader might be the entering graduate student struggling with the great variations of research methodologies available to the academic researcher today. In either case, this book provides the reader with an exploration of what is available in sufficient detail that actual research can be produced from either a metric (quantitative) or an interpretive (qualitative) perspective. The book begins with an overview of the study of media, is filled with examples from media, and reviews considerable research in media. It is most at home in journalism, media studies, mediated communication, and all the other disciplinary forms that house the study of media. It works in methods courses that are beyond the introduction to research or as a more sophisticated introduction to research and scholarship for the graduate student. FEATURES AND ORGANIZATION I’ve attempted a conversational style throughout, pulling the reader in with comments and stories that present the process of scholarship as a human endeavor in which, for the most part, we struggle to do our best but are continually faced with the limitations of time and money. The compromises we make are real and have consequences for the quality of the work but are necessary nonetheless. The message is that this is what we have, and it may be as good as it gets. Each chapter begins with a preview that consists of an overview paragraph, a list of the major topics, and a set of terms that are in use and may be unfamiliar to the readers. Each chapter ends with a “So what?” paragraph (“Why Does It Matter?”), a list of the points to remember, additional points for discussion, and a reference or two for further reading. In each of these sections, I have attempted to offer a little different slant—an expansion, if you will, of the main text. It’s not throwaway writing. The issues for further discussion are deliberately provocative. They often challenge typical practice or even the position taken in the main text of the chapter. This reflexivity is a postmodern strategy to leave things that are fundamentally unsettled unresolved. The push is always toward complexity and nuance. The book is divided into four parts: overview, foundational practices, metric protocols, and interpretive scholarship. The overview section starts with two discussions. The first takes up the disciplinary differences that exist within the research and scholarship directed toward media; the second focuses on the methodological differences and their epistemo- logical foundations. The section then takes up the process of research, moving through the classes of problems to the processes that develop an actual problem for study. The last chapter of this section works through metric, interpretive, critical-empirical hybrids, and the mixed methods of qualitative-quantitative combinations. The foundational practices section, as one might expect, works through the activities that any research has to take up: making the move from theory to analysis; dealing with issues of validity and trustworthiness; developing the research focus or topic; developing
MEDIA RESEARCH METHODS xx the research question or hypothesis; and, in the third chapter of this section, describing practices appropriate to contemporary literatures and databases. The metric section deals with the practices of quantitative research. Its four chapter topics are sampling, statistical analysis, surveys, and experimental protocols. In this sec- tion, I have adopted a Monte Carlo approach assuming that every student will be able to put together the resources to connect to useful websites and to have a basic data handling application such as Excel or Calc available. This approach is based on the assumption that media students do not always have sufficient mathematical background to address the issues in metric research, but they can see those issues in action with constructed data sets. The interpretive section starts with traditional content analysis in order to provide a side- by-side comparison of metric coding and interpretive coding. The purpose is to lower the rhetoric and to raise the clarity of understanding of the differences between them. These twin chapters also adopt the position that a text is a text. It does not matter if the text is industrially produced content or the responses of participants in interviews or narrative constructions. Coding has to address the same issues throughout. The second set of two chapters steps clearly over the metric-interpretive boundary into the critical-empirical hybrid of textual analysis for the first and then to the domain of ethnography for the second. The last chapter of the book returns to a foundational practice: writing and its deep preparation in foundational reading. The approach is not toward the one-off writer or sometime scholar, but to the person who sees her or his career filled with processes of writing and scholarship. AUXILIARY FEATURES Studies done at the University of Utah indicate that almost all upper-division and graduate students have personal access to the Internet, usually through multiple platforms, and the remaining few can readily access it at a school or public library. In order to take advantage of that access, this text has developed a website that greatly enlarges the opportunities for learning. To my mind, the most exciting pedagogical aspect of the website is the demon- strations. These demonstrations allow the student to access literature, design surveys, draw samples, conduct statistical analysis, transcribe interviews, and code text—in short, do all of the things they read about in the text. Each of the Monte Carlo examples in the text is also there so that students can reproduce those data and results. My experience is that students learn much more and have a deeper understanding of what they learn by reading and doing rather than just one or the other. Last, the website provides a regular update of the information provided in the chapters on databases and the literature. These chapters are vulnerable to becoming outdated sim- ply because of the nature of the topics. This regular update service (which, unlike Microsoft, does not shut down your computer) eliminates that concern.
xxi Acknowledgments No book finds its way without a lot of help. I wish to thank my colleagues and graduate students at Utah, Janet Colvin, Autumn Garrison, and Keith Massie, along with Glen Feighery and Jim Fisher who read drafts and gave the gift of insightful criticism. Thanks too are due to the students of the undergraduate and graduate research classes who helped refine the demonstrations and Monte Carlo exercises. I offer my deep appreciation to the reviewers, Barbara L. Baker (University of Central Missouri), Brad J. Bushman (University of Michigan), Georgina Grosenick (Carleton University), Sharon Kleinman (Quinnipiac University), Thomas R. Lindlof (University of Kentucky), Timothy P. Meyer (University of Wisconsin–Green Bay), David W. Park (Lake Forest College), Norma Pecora (Ohio University), and Christopher F. White (Sam Houston State University), whose collective efforts greatly advanced the revisions of the work. While all acknowledged are responsible for much of what is good, whatever that remains that is not is solely of my own doing. Finally, my thanks to the fine folks at Sage. Their support and professionalism are outstanding.
Media Research Methods Understanding Metric And Interpretive Approaches 1st Edition Anderson
1 S e c t i o n I Overview Section I is a set of four introductory chapters that intends to provide an overview of the empirical study of mediated communication. Chapter 1 starts to explore the “lay of the land” by considering the disciplines that are currently home to the study of media. Chapter 2 picks out the properties that make the mediascape a unique territory of analysis. Chapters 3 and 4 show how the research process comes together in the conceptual forms of the mediascape.
Media Research Methods Understanding Metric And Interpretive Approaches 1st Edition Anderson
3 C H A P T E R 1 Exploring the Mediascape What’s It All About? Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter. Introductory chapters do the work of positioning the reader inside the playing field of the writer. I am striving to provide you with an understanding of the overall approach as well as an overview of the targets, methods, and foundations of the metho­ dologies we will study in this book. What Are the Major Topics? This chapter first takes up the negotiation of what we will mean when we talk about communica­ tion and media. The alternative terms mass communication and media studies are considered and gently set aside in favor of the more inclusive mediated communication. Mediated communication includes all media, modes of presentation, audiences, technologies, and texts past, present, and to come and is contrasted with in-person, face-to-face communication. This contrast is drawn out by considering the unique characteristics of face-to-face communication. Next, readers are quickly reminded that communication is a diverse field, and what counts as a field of study at one institution may not count as such at another. Further, there are divisions across what is believed to be science, good scholarship, and good research. I argue that good research can and should happen anywhere and that the arguments about science and scholarship are often more ideological (heat) than instrumental (light). You don’t have to accept this posi­ tion, but I will try to hold it throughout. The next section takes up the center of the work by looking at methodological differences. A number (and a growing one at that) of scientific and scholarly methods are widely practiced in communication. Primarily concerned with two methodologies residing inside the empirical domain, metric and interpretive, Chapter 1 also takes notice of emerging hybrid forms as well as the critical-analytical. (Continued) CHAPTER PREVIEW
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 4 INTRODUCTION Communication is a particularly demanding field of study, and communication scholars are just beginning to learn how to explore it. This book is about the methods of exploration, and the mediascape will be the territory of that exploration. The methods examined come from the careful practices of science and scholarship. Science is the systematic exploration of the world around us. And scholarship is the crafting of well-constructed arguments that meet the tests of good evidence and justified conclusions. COMMUNICATION DOMAINS To begin an exploration of the mediascape, we first need to know who we are. Scholars and scientists have divided up the world of communication into different domains. These domains carry such familiar names as interpersonal, intercultural, organizational, and, in our case, mediated communication. Communication itself is not really different in one (Continued) The chapter ends by guiding the reader through the epistemological foundations of each of these methodologies. These foundations are the belief systems that underlie the justified application of a methodology. For the individual researcher, these belief systems might be all-encompassing—that is, accepting one requires the rejection of all others. For other researchers, the belief systems form the standards under which one approach is selected over another. It is hard for the professional to be that flexible because real, expert knowledge is required for any given approach. The chapter mostly follows a given approach and tries to be on speaking terms with everything else. Students of methods have an advantage here because they do not have the overburden of extensive invested effort. Now’s the time to try stuff out. What Special Terms Are Used?1 Analytical methods Atomism Critical rhetorical theory Critical theory Epistemology Frankfurt School Hermeneutics Interpretive empiricism Metric empiricism Synthetic variable Technological determinism Transcendental Universalism Variable 1 These are terms that might not be in ordinary usage. Definitions can be found in the glossary.
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 5 domain or the other, but the focal points of interest and sometimes the methods of study are different. And, certainly, those differences make a difference to those who study com- munication. In mediated communication, we don’t even have to cross the border to encounter some dispute. We, who explore this territory, are in the process of a name change. Our field is called by many “mass communication” (or “mass communications”), by others “media studies,” and by this book “mediated communication.” Like my own name, if you call me James, Jim, or Jimmy, it makes a difference. Mass Communication Mass communication is the oldest term for our field of study.2 It developed prominence in the decade just prior to World War II when U.S. and European scholars were concerned with totalitarian governments, propaganda, revolutionary social movements, and the pre- sumed decline of culture represented by the popular media. It supported a strong, objective press that would contain the excesses of government and promoted a message-based analysis. In the tradition of mass communication, the mediascape was described by industrially produced messages that were delivered to large, heterogeneous audiences. For 50 years the concept of mass communication made a lot of sense. Motion pictures, popular magazines, radio, and then television were industries with relatively few sources of produc- tion that had huge audiences. The concept of one-to-many or a few-to-millions seemed to describe what was going on. Starting in the early 1950s, the large audience part of these conditions began to erode, and by the early 1980s, the landscape was radically restructured. The motion picture indus- try was broken apart by antitrust action, and its traditional forms disintegrated under the onslaught of television. Radio networks withered, and with the advent of FM broadcasting, dozens of independent stations were competing in every market of size. Changes in regula- tions have allowed reconcentration of ownership, but programming can still be quite local. We have yet to see what satellite radio will bring and may not get the chance, given the state of its financial health. Magazine circulations declined, and magazines themselves returned to more specialized content. Newspaper circulations declined, the independent paper became a part of a chain, and bankruptcy has claimed more than a few. The monolith of television was fractured first by cable and then by satellite distribution of subscription services. TV has gone from three channels that controlled nearly all of the audience to an audience distributed across hun- dreds of channels, and it is now moving toward liberating content from channels altogether as well as seeing the end of free (broadcast) television. It is the Internet that causes the most problems for the term mass communication. Mass communication is built on the premise that a few outlets control most of the available content. In mass communication, content is scarce and access limited. The Internet, how- ever, is built on the premise that everything is available to everybody and anybody can 2 The plural—mass communications—appeared in schools particularly interested in the content of the media and, perhaps initially, less interested in the process of media. The battle over the s seems to be waning as more surrender to the argument that the study of communication versus the study of communications is like the study of medicine versus the study of medicines. There are fine schools, nonetheless, that uphold the tradition of the s.
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 6 produce the content. The technology that supports all this is less than 20 years old, but it essentially writes the end of the mass communication story. That doesn’t mean that there will not be a lot of people watching a particular show or listening to a kind of music. It does mean that a population can no longer be character- ized by its media content. For example, one can extrapolate from ratings data that close to 30 million U.S. citizens have watched something from the reality show genre. That is a lot of people, but it is also (depending on when you are reading this) less or substantially less than 10% of the U.S. population. The phrase everybody’s watching has always been false, and is even more so now. Throughout its history mass has always meant something more than size (though size counts). Mass has also meant less: less able to understand, resist, manage, and control the forces and influence of the media. And in that sentence media became the media—some entity working purposefully toward some end. Remember that mass communication comes from an era when social activists were concerned about the susceptibility of the under- educated and poor to communist (Stalinist) and fascist propaganda. The masses were those people. As mass audience has meant less capable, so media has always meant something more than various delivery systems. Media has referenced an institution under the governance of the state (in so-called socialist countries) or of a market ideology (in so-called capitalist countries) that promoted particular social, political, and economic goals. Media were the conspiratorial forces that would deceive and misdirect those people. The term mass communication became linked to the scientific study of media messages when it was appropriated from the social critics (of the Frankfurt School and elsewhere) in the late 1930s by the social scientists funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation, at that time the premier source of social science funding, was committed to an antipropaganda agenda and was funding studies that promised control of mass media effects. Those scientists then migrated to the Office of War Information and other U.S. government agencies during World War II. By the end of that war, mass communication was firmly established in the United States as a scientific rather than critical enterprise, although the legacy of audiences for popular media as less and the media as a coherent, conspiratorial entity remained. Media Studies Media studies was first popularized in Great Britain where a strong, and mostly successful, program in media literacy has developed in primary and secondary education (U.S. terms). There, media studies “involves the close analysis of the images, sounds and text that we experience via the media.”3 Exported to the United States, it has become the catchall term that manages the difficult alliances that constitute the contemporary academic interests in media, texts, and audiences (see, for example, The Sage Handbook of Media Studies, 2004). Media studies recovers the critical in the study of media while providing a mostly unhappy home for the mass communication scientist. 3 http://www.mediaknowall.com/index.html. Accessed January 6, 2010; now an archived site.
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 7 Depending on where you study media studies, it can take an outsider or insider perspec- tive. The outsider perspective views media and their texts as at least potentially corrosive if not always so. This is the perspective typical of (but not necessary for) critical rhetorical theory, cultural studies, and media effects. In most of this scholarship whether analytical or empirical, the emphasis is on the potential for harm across issues of class, race, ethnic- ity (colonization), gender, economic justice, bias, aggression, sexuality, and the like. This perspective elevates the scholar above the audience and considers the media to be under a common set of influences. It is a continuation of the Frankfurt School legacy. The insider position takes a more neutral stance vis-à-vis the audience as evidenced in uses and gratifications or social action theory and works a more celebratory critique. It often adapts an industry perspective in regard to the media, considering questions of mes- sage effectiveness (instead of effects), audience behavior, and return on investment. Its view of the media as an industry is generally much more complex, recognizing the ecology of writers, actors, producers, craft unions, narrative forms, technologies, distribution chan- nels, competitions, and collusions that are behind what an audience sees and hears. Mediated Communication Mediated communication (or sometimes the more ambiguous media communication)4 is yet another take on our domain of study and is the perspective of this book. The term began to appear in the early 1980s when it became apparent that mass was no longer going to be an adequate descriptor of the communication processes of interest. The term presumes that face-to-face communication is the alternate form and that all other forms of commu- nication involve some intermediary of technology that constitutes real differences. Old media, new media, emerging media, and converging media, static or interactive, are all included. If it is not just face-to-face, then it is part of the purview of mediated communica- tion. Our first task, then, is to understand how mediated communication is different from face-to-face communication. Comparing Mediated and Face-to-Face Communication We can get to that understanding by looking at the unique requirements of face-to-face communication. Those are usually listed as (a) the copresence of communicators, (b) the necessity of an intercommunicant relationship based on a set of mutual obligations, (c) the consequential management of that relationship, (d) the reciprocal production of the text, and (e) the mutual supervision of the interpretation of that text. Copresence. Copresence means that the communication activity is occurring at the same time and place for all communicators. The issue is not so much togetherness but that the totality of message information is in play (vocal articulation, tonality, other sounds, facial 4 Both terms are not without their critics. Some point out that all communication is mediated in some way—sound requires some medium to be transmitted. To this media communication supporters reply, “Yeah, right.” Media communication is criticized for actually pointing to communication between media. To this its supporters reply, “Whatever.”
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 8 Intercommunicant relationship. The intercommunicant relationship component is built on the notion that face-to-face communication always involves a relationship between the individuals producing the communication event. That relationship may be one between friends, intimate partners, or even strangers at a bus stop. Whatever the relationship, it is present to the communicants and necessarily affects the event itself. The industrial act of producing a textbook—which I am participating in by writing at my computer at this moment—does not offer me that context of performance. Certainly, there are many relationships that impinge on the writing, including with my reviewers, my editor, my coauthor, and my colleagues, but none of those relationships is at risk in the writing of this sentence, if for no other reason than none of those people consider expression, body position and action, and the possibility of odors, pheromones, and touch). Those rules mean that not all copresence is equal. A lecturer talking to 400 students may approach copresence with some of her class, but the student scrunched down in the back- most row clearly isn’t copresent. Consequently, not all interpersonal communication is face-to-face communication. Mediated communication to date, however, always involves some reduction in these cues, but also the addition of others. For example, you can mis- pronounce a word in speaking, but not in writing, and you cannot “mystpell” a word in ordinary talk. In writing to you, I can use different fonts and colors and pictures that are not available to me in ordinary conversation, but I have lost all the physical aspects of myself with which to communicate. Further, in this writing I do not know who you are or even if there will be a “who” out there to do the reading. Photo 1.1
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 9 this sentence directed toward them, and it will pass between many other hands before seeing the light of print. There are mediated communication practices encoded in the relationship. E-mail is an excellent example. I’m betting that all of us have written an e-mail that has gotten us in trouble, relationally. A hasty message composed while emotionally upset, a carelessly worded sentence, the thoughtless composition that forgets just to whom you are writing— all can do relational damage at work, home, or play. The potential for damage can be heightened because of the lack of consequential management that is typical of mediated communication. Consequential management. Consequential management recognizes that in face-to-face communication each turn has to manage both its content and the relational consequences of that content because both the performance of the relationship and the production of the content are fully integrated in the speech act in immediate and ongoing reciprocity. Certainly, individuals consider their relationships in what they write, include in a message, or say—or at least ought to—in mediated communication, but, as you have seen, (a) there is often no necessity of a relationship to produce the content, (b) the content can freely move across relationships, and (c) there is usually no immediate feedback loop. Consider these examples: a blog that no one reads (a); the playful excess of a social network posting that leads to unintended consequences at the job site (b); or any case where content intended for one sort of presentation of self is appropriated for other ends completely without permission, supervision, or the ability to manage the consequences (c). This dis- connection is the reason for the Miranda warning that whatever you say may be used against you. It should be posted on every social networking site. Reciprocal production. Reciprocal production means that each action of all participants in face-to-face communication contributes to the text that is produced. Even silence by one is telling. Here, your action in reading will not affect my action of writing, although it may affect the economic success of the book itself. (The reading by the reviewers and my copy editor, however, will make a big difference in the final text.) Industry estimates suggest that about 50% of all books bought (not just textbooks) are not read by the buyer. Mutual supervision. Last, mutual supervision of interpretation means that each participant will strive to produce an internal coherence to the performance by engaging and respond- ing to the actions of the other as the conversational text is produced. Only the telephone conversation (not machine tag) or the chat room allows this mutual supervision with any facility. Certainly I anticipate a reader’s response—you might be thinking, “Why we are going through all this face-to-face stuff?” (Because you need it; trust me.) But you are not here to help me say it better or to stop me from continuing on. The Mediascape of Mediated Communication Mediated communication, then, becomes any communicative process (a term yet to be defined) that not only meets but also adds something to the requirements of face-to-face communication. In mediated communication, picking up the telephone, doing an instant
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 10 chat, or text messaging is each within the domain of study, as are 25 million people watching American Idol. Mediated communication enlarges the mediascape beyond the boundaries of mass communication or media studies, although it includes both. No longer are research- ers limited to the industrial productions that were the primary territory of mass communi- cation and media studies—the texts of individually produced blogs can be of interest. No longer are communicants limited by the requirement of a large, heterogeneous audience— in fact no audience at all is needed if we look at the auto-communication properties of those blogs, for example. And it is those blogs and the other products of the Internet that require researchers—and us—to look wider, in order not to miss the most important aspect of contemporary communication processes. But, clearly, not all instances of mediated communication are equally interesting. Most people probably are not interested in your latest tweet (although the government might be, and so might others, if you become famous). Researchers, are however, interested in the consequences of the elevated connectivity provided by text messaging on, say, intimate relationships (Yin Tong, 2007). Do you still have a text message treasure from a long- departed partner? Have you used text messaging to manage a relationship because you didn’t want to do it in person? In the techno-slang of the early 21st century, are you a “CrackBerry” flirt? Media researchers are also interested in how organizational members use text messag- ing as a backstage management of, say, a meeting in progress, or how corporations use national advertising campaigns to define the organization for its members. It is these prac- tices of mediated communication that require us to look wider and will take us further than either mass communication or media studies. We would miss the most important aspect of contemporary communication processes if we didn’t follow its lead. New Media and Old Media Communication scholars are now watching another mitotic division within the field, split- ting it between new media and old. Old media are the media of mass communication. New media are the media of interactive networking. Old media are message-oriented, vertically organized, one-directional, cyclical, and fixed in time and often material. New media are flowing, horizontally distributed, self-organizing, performance-oriented, multidirectional, and virtual. New media invoke new theories and will require and may well provide new methods of study. Such theories and methods will have to be much more focused on pro- cess and performance than on content and effects. Methodologies may be able to take advantage of both the networked and the interactive properties of new media to develop an emergent form of data that has depth instead of being a cross-sectional slice taken in a moment of time. Convergence is the concept that marks the intersection between new and old media. The basic idea is that all information and entertainment becomes distributable to any dis- play form from the wide-screen to the Kindle to the smart phone via wireless networking. The technology appears to be inevitable; what is taking longer is the business model, where technologists, content providers, and distributors all make money. Convergence is an example of technological determinism where the force of the tech- nology produces change in society. Those changes are not welcomed by all or good for all.
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 11 In many markets, the physical newspaper is disappearing with attendant loss of jobs and the practices that surrounded the “reading of the newspaper” as a communal and sharing activity. (“You done with the comics yet?”) We have very little information on the flip side issues of how families manage computer access and other screen resources. Our typical visions are very much on the upscale side of the digital divide and well within the digital enclosure. Scholarly Communities of the Mediascape Communication scholars manage the scope of this great landscape of study through com- munities of interest. There are communities of interest attached to all aspects of mediated communication—its practitioners, audiences, technologies, industries, textual and sym- bolic forms, narrative structures, social consequences—everything. Where I work, there are feminist scholars interested in body image, cultural studies scholars working on the repre- sentation of the Arab world, journalists studying bias within the pictorial narrative, cogni- tivists looking at the processing of information, and social action scholars investigating families’ changing media use. These folks work at the same institution, but their scholarly communities are well beyond its walls. (In fact, the virtual community of scholarship is a mediated study all its own.) The folks at your institution are each the local node of some community-of-interest network. They will gravitate toward some questions and lack inter- est in others, as will you. The result is that the book will offer you more than you want and will reach beyond my expertise as its author. But that is what explorations are all about. Science and Scholarship The problem of what is science and what is not is called the demarcation problem in the philosophy of science. Philosophers haven’t been able to solve the problem, and we won’t either. At this point in most methods books there is a list of the characteristics of scientific work (see Keyton, 2006, pp. 10–11, for a list of 12 characteristics). It is testable, empirical, systematic, public, replicable, parsimonious, and the like. The problem with these lists is that a lot of what is considered science doesn’t meet the criteria and, like much of theo- retical physics, may never meet the criteria. In the methodology wars, science has been used as a club to beat down one’s rivals, a flag to wrap one’s smug self in, and an unreach- able talisman to demonstrate one’s quixotic commitment. I’d like to dial down the rhetoric on whether something is scientific or not and put the emphasis on doing careful, mindful work based on a foundation of empirical evidence, being open to review and the possibility of error, producing results of instrumental value, and maintaining a modesty of claim. If we can do that, whether it is science or not won’t matter. Good science or good scholarship of any sort meets the nine-I test. It is inquisitive, intel- ligent, investigative, informed, insightful, and implicative and not imitative, idiosyncratic, or ideological Good work from any domain of inquiry asks questions that present the world and ideas to us in interesting ways. It investigates the answers to those questions inside a framework of evidence to provide new knowledge that is trustworthy, entailing, and socially significant. It’s heady work.
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 12 Scientific, Proprietary, and Personal Research Scientific research and academic scholarship are part of the public knowledge production apparatuses and are often considered top-of-the-line as far as practices and credibility are concerned. (There are issues, of course, that we take up in our various ethics discussions.) We will use the criteria of scientific practice as the basis of our descriptions, while recogniz- ing that most likely few using this book will become communication scientists. Nonetheless, at some time or another, each of us will have questions we want to answer and that would benefit from the good practices of science and scholarship. Business has a great demand for the skills that produce reliable and useful information. A company may want to test out the ease of navigation on its website, or the effectiveness of a training program or, perhaps, of an advertising campaign. Companies have to make all sorts of decisions concerning the cost-effectiveness of cell phone usage, Internet services, software adoptions, and even the number and size of computer monitors to put on employees’ desks. And, of course, people trained in communication research methods can provide those answers. This research is usually proprietary, which means that it is to be used by those conducting (or paying for) it and no one else. Our personal lives can be affected as well. The characteristics that generate good research—curiosity, skepticism, systematic investigation, recognizing the possibility of error—can serve each of us well in meeting the challenges of daily life (properly applied and in moderation, of course). Consequently, academic, business, and personal examples will be used throughout this book to illustrate the conduct of research. It is important to understand the differences. Scientific scholarship intends to produce information with the widest application or gen- eralizability. It is a public activity, subject to peer review.5 Proprietary research might aim at high generalizability but often is focused on problems that are particular to the company, and rarely is it open to review or independent of the political processes of organizational decision making. Personal research, of course, is very local in its purview, the value of which depends on the particular people for which it is developed. But the academy, the corporation, and the individual are all part of the mediascape, and each needs to know about it. That process starts now with a review of the different ways to gain knowledge about the mediascape. UNDERSTANDING METHODOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES There are four methodological communities within the field of communication that come within the scope of this book: metric empiricism, interpretive (or hermeneutic) empiricism, critical-cultural hybrids, and analytical criticism. This book has a primary interest in the first two, a secondary interest in the third, and an instrumental acquaintance with the fourth. 5 It is important to separate scientific research from university research. One is a standard; the other is a practice. Good proprietary research is often better funded, better designed, and better executed than much of the research from the academy, where the economics of tenure, the needs of the discipline, and the absence of adequate funding, time, and other resources distort the process.
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 13 Metric empiricism is what is commonly called quantitative methods; interpretive empiri- cism is typically called qualitative research; critical-cultural hybrids form a newly and rap- idly developing area that couples (as you might guess) critical advocacy arguments with empirical methodologies (usually interpretive); and analytical criticism methods are the sort that make up film criticism, rhetorical criticism, and literary criticism. Let’s take the time to put some definitions in order before beginning to explore these different methodologies. Methodologies A methodology is a set of more or less standardized practices for producing knowledge. A methodology includes an epistemological foundation and associated rules of evidence for making a claim as well as a set of practices for generating that evidence. The word methods is sometimes a synonym for methodology but more often used to describe a subset of activi- ties within a methodology. Communication scholars talk both of quantitative methods as the whole class of metric methodology and of statistical methods as a subset of practices residing in metric methodology. A method, such as analysis of variance, is a set of procedures within a set of methods within a methodology. All the nesting and terminology can be a bit confus- ing, but the basic rule is that if it describes a set of practices, it is a method; if it describes a global process of constructing knowledge, it is a methodology. Most of what appears in the journals are methods even if the author grandly claims them as methodologies. Standardization means that the designated authorities of a scholarly community have operated individually and jointly to establish the requirements of good practice. These authorities are the methodologists—people who study, test, and report on methods; the methods and ethics committees of professional organizations (of which communication associations have none); journal editors (of which communication associations have lots); journal reviewers; and even textbook authors. The sum of this social process establishes the standards of competent work, the boundaries of what belongs and what does not, and takes up the policing of those borders. In our methodologies of interest, metric empiricism is the most standardized, critical- cultural hybrids is the least, and methods that mix those are still in discussion. As they move down the level of standardization, the practitioners of these methods are not in agree- ment as to what constitutes the methods, let alone their good practice. Consequently, as an author I am most secure in telling you what the methods of metric empiricism are, reason- ably secure in interpretive approaches, least secure in what the hybrid methods are, and can only speculate what the latest mash-ups—which at present are an analytic strategy, not a methodology—might turn out to be. Reader take notice. The Empirical The empirical has to do with our experience and the things and conditions that we experi- ence. Our experience is the result of our interaction with the material and ideational world. The concept of empirical looks like it might be hard-edged, but it gets fuzzy in communica- tion because so many of the things and conditions in which individuals have interest take their final form inside some cognitive and/or social-interpretive process. For example, the words you are reading off this page are deposits of carbon—that is their material reality—but
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 14 they become words in a semiotic process that involves both the cognitive processes of semiosis and the social action of language. The words gain their meaning in some interpre- tation. Interpretation puts the words into the service of some instrumental action. If you are reading these words as a copy editor, you have a fistful of blue pencils at the ready. If you are reading these words for a class, you may thinking, “Will this be on the test?” The way we will make use of the words in our subsequent behavior—their meaningfulness—is responsive to the cognitive and action processes, not to the carbon deposits. Consequently, communica- tion processes may start with material conditions and facts, but they quickly move into the ideational and constituted worlds of social action where the empirical is much less secure. One very important thing to note about the empirical is that its definition says nothing about numbers. Empirical research is about our interaction with the material and ide- ational world of which we are a part, but do not contain. Numbers play a central part in a particular form of empirical research, popularly called quantitative research, that depends on the logic of metrics and utilizes the characteristics of numerical scales in its analysis. This book takes up that form next. The Metric Metric methods involve the systematic identification of variables and the procedures of assigning quantitative values to the states or conditions of those variables. The variables themselves are either discovered or constituted. To be discovered, a variable has to preexist theoretical interest in it and be directly addressable. It is very controversial (in some quar- ters) as to whether this preexistence or direct addressability is possible. Most of the vari- ables studied are not naturally occurring but rather are synthetic. They are created in some interaction between the action and its measurement. For example, say we were counting hits to a blog site. The variable is a “hit.” But what is a “hit”? Is it the simple connection between a browser and a server? Does it have to include the completion of a file-sending action by the server? Does it count if the browser is a robot rather than a person? All of these issues have to be reconciled in the definition of a “hit,” and those definitions will constitute the synthetic variable, even though there is an independent activity going on. Quantification adopts the characteristics and logical entailments of number systems and applies them to variables and variable states (all of these topics are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 5). Because variables don’t show up with numbers attached to them, some translation method is required. In the example on blog hits, we could attach a hit counter to the home page. A “hit” then becomes defined as an action of the hit counter, and what- ever the counter counts equals one hit. The number of hits we get is the number reported by this quantification device. The Hermeneutic The major alternative to metric research, popularly called qualitative research, falls in the branch of scholarship called the hermeneutic. Hermeneutics is the systematic application of interpretation, and in empirical research, it depends on the logic of narrative and the characteristics of action to make its claims. Interpretation is the understanding that devel- ops out of the analysis of our experience. Interpretation makes sense of that experience.
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 15 Sense making locates experience in the matrix of our knowledge. For example, one hears a sharp sound while watching television. Was it something from the television or some- thing that signals a problem in the house? The interpretation of the sound (the story of the sound) will depend on one’s analysis of what is on television and what a subsequent search of the house might reveal. This interpretation is done pretty much unproblematically in the above example. In research, this interpretation is systematically guided by the conventions of the research community. For example, an analyst might be interested in the values expressed in celeb- rity advertising in Chinese, European, and U.S. magazines. Current interpretive methods would suggest two or more coders for each cultural group who would first code separately through grounded methods and then reconcile differences in discussion, arriving at a con- sensus of understanding. The Critical Edward Said (1983) has said that the critical takes what appears to be and reveals what it is. Present-day critical analyses are mostly interested in revealing the underlying power relationships and mechanisms of control that media texts and social action practices encode. For example, consumerism is a social practice that not only drives the economy but also structures society into a hierarchy of haves and have-nots. For the critic this creates a condition of social injustice and a power imbalance. The critical-empirical, in this exam- ple, then, would focus on the material practices of consumerism for the empirical side and the social justice consequences of materialism for the critical side. It is amped-up interpre- tation with an advocacy edge. Epistemological Foundations Methodologies are public processes that develop out of our fundamental understandings of the world, ourselves, and what we can know about them. These are called the epistemo- logical foundations of method. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. There are a number of things that distinguish one methodological field from another. People take on member- ships in different communities, and the emblematic or signature practices of these com- munities are different (even with poaching and cooption), the character of the argument (e.g., the journal article) is different, but most important the methods encode a different understanding of the world and one’s knowledge of it. I’m going to spend a little time talk- ing about these differences because they are the best way to understand why people do the things they do. In drawing these differences, I will approach the center of each of a set of overlapping communities. So, can a metric empiricist and an interpretive empiricist stand in exactly the same methodological space? Yes, but both would be a good distance from the center of their governing epistemology. Metric Empiricism At its center metric empiricism is based on a belief in an independent, objective, material reality that has direct consequences in people’s interaction with it. The qualifying effort of
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 16 metric methods is to describe that material reality. That reality is tangible, durable, stable, and reliable. The accurate descriptions produced will have similar characteristics. They will reach across time and place. They are called transcendental and context-free. Those descriptions are true because of what is, and they are independent of what ought to be. The surface of that reality—the action and objects that one can see and encounter—is not composed of a single piece, but rather is a composite of causally related components. There are many layers of these composites. As we drill down, we will find structures that are composed of molecules that are composed of atoms that are composed of particles that are composed of . . . until we reach some finite number of elemental building blocks upon which the whole structure of reality stands. This is the principle of atomism: that the world is built up from a set of components operating in causal relationships. What one sees as the presented product is not really where the action is. For example, if an analyst was studying those people who have established a blog on the Internet, he or she would not start with the assumption that each person has a unique set of reasons for establishing a blog. Rather, the analyst would argue that there are character- istics held in common by these individuals that predict or explain their action. The scien- tific interest is not in the people (it doesn’t matter who the people are) but in the characteristics. The general term for these characteristics and all such components is vari- able, which is why metric empiricism is also known as variable-analytic—metricians ana- lyze things through variables. A variable is simply a characteristic that can take different values across different cir- cumstances. The reason for interest in studying variables is the assumption that everything is connected in causal chains. Each variable is the result of some other variable(s) and is the cause or partial cause of yet another variable. The more one learns about variables, the more one will know about the world. Consequently, metric methods are designed to collect information about variables—to identify their appearance, to measure their values, to investigate their relationships, and to determine their function in some causal structure. Interpretive Empiricism The foundational shift that occurs when one crosses the boundary from metric empiricism to interpretive empiricisms has to do with the change from metric empiricism’s interest in the objective characteristics of the world to an effort to represent the multiple meanings held for these characteristics. For the hermeneut (love that funny name), the objective characteristics are part of the analysis but not the whole of it. The other part—the part that has caused all this struggle—develops out of the antiuni- versalist movement that has characterized the social, political, philosophical, and scientific activities of the last half of the 20th century (sometimes called the “interpretive turn”). Universalism holds to a final truth of the matter—a transcendental claim is possible. The response to universalism most interesting for purposes of this book is social construction- ism. In its opening development (Berger Luckmann, 1967), social constructionism had to do with the development of human knowledge. The argument was that all knowl- edge is developed and sustained through human practices. There might be an independent objective reality out there, but it is engaged only through the material practices of human beings. Consequently, what we know depends not on reality alone but also on the material
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 17 practices of knowledge production. Knowledge is relative to what we do to produce it; a claim lasts only as long as the practices that sustain it. That basic idea has been escalated to the principle that whatever is known (or whatever is true) requires a community of knowers to produce it, sustain it, and implement it. Consequently, knowledge changes from one community to another.6 When knowledge about entities, processes, consequences, and values changes, human action toward and within these entities, processes, consequences, and values changes as well. Therefore if we are to understand human action, we need to understand the knowledge system under which it is produced. This principle has been applied from the most global cultural distinc- tions (even extraterrestrial) down to the very local knowledge practices of the group. The amulet of achieving this understanding is member knowledge. To achieve member knowl- edge one must participate and become competent in the material practices by which this knowledge is produced, maintained, and implemented. What I am demonstrating (or attempting to demonstrate) here is the difference between the principle of an objective knowledge set and a socially constructed one. Metric empiri- cism depends on an objective knowledge set. It makes little sense to do a survey of televi- sion usage unless the prior concept of television is the same for everyone. Interpretive empiricism presumes a socially constructed knowledge set and would approach the con- cept of television as a variable concept. The question that remains is “When does that dif- ference make a difference? When can the analyst say, ‘Well, television is television, and it’s television for everyone’?” You might think that the hard-core hermeneut’s answer would be “Never; the difference always makes a difference.” But that can’t be true, or individuals would all be walled off from each other by their particular memberships. The key to the application of metric and hermeneutic methods is to know when the difference makes a difference. Interpretive empiricism’s rejection of the universal has created some movement of interpretation toward critical goals and some openings in empirical methods that defy some of the traditional criteria of science. This rejection of universalism has encouraged the reformulation of one criterion that is nearly axiomatic in the physical sciences and that is the separation of what is from what ought to be. This principle, known as Hume’s gap (after 18th-century British empiricist David Hume), has been taken to claim that the busi- ness of science is to describe what is and not to take sides on what ought to be. Working from the principle of the social construction of knowledge, however, Hume’s gap closes with a snap as all knowledge requires social processes with their attendant political under- pinnings to exist. Any claim of what is is also a claim of what ought to be, given whatever social processes of knowledge construction are in place. That shift introduces a critical component into interpretive-empirical work. Just as the antiuniversalist and social constructionist characteristics of the interpretive move analysts away from the true and transcendental of the metric, the critical component in this set moves them away from their independence of what ought to be and jams their feet directly in 6 This is sometimes called the social construction of reality, which unfortunately leads to all sorts of silly arguments—for example, if the table is socially constructed, why can’t one walk through it? The material character of the table is not socially constructed; what is known as a table and what characteristics constitute a table are socially constructed.
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 18 the moral morass. The critical holds that every study advances some political purpose and that social science practitioners need to come clean and explicitly examine their social agenda. OK, the gloves are off now. You see, Hume’s gap provides a protection for the traditional social scientist: As long as there is a separation between what is true and what is right, the scientist is not responsible for the consequences of a claim achieved through competent scientific methods. The scientist can make a claim (in fact must make the claim) because it is true; it doesn’t matter if it is morally right. This principle collapses in social construction- ism because what is true depends on the community of knowers that makes it so. So, the European American scientists who make claims about African American respondents within a racist society must be concerned about their potential contribution to racism. For the radi- cal critic, if a claim gives comfort to racist practices, it is racist. The critical makes researchers responsible for the consequences of their work—both intended and unintended—in ways rarely accepted by the traditional scientist. When this critical impulse becomes the primary activity within interpretive empiricism, it becomes a hybrid methodology. Hybrid Methodologies Consequently, the parsing of empirical methodologies does not end with only metric and interpretive. Just as the interpretive has entered the critical, so has the critical entered the empirical. During the past decade a family of critical-empirical methodologies has appeared. These are hybrid methodologies that apply cultural-critical-interpretive meth- ods to empirical texts (I’ll explain texts in a few lines below). The parentage of these hybrids is multiple. They are influenced by the social commentary heritage of rhetorical analysis now mostly known as critical rhetoric; they show and often embrace the post- modern rejection of the universal narrative (aka the True); they accept the requirement of some empirical grounding, but are less interested in telling the what or how of text than in understanding the cultural force of a class of texts or in promoting what ought to be the cultural consequences of their engagement; and they associate mostly with the hermeneutic side of empiricism although some metric applications are present as well. These hybrid methodologies go by a number of different names—discourse analysis, dialogic analysis, rhetorical field studies, critical studies, colonial and race studies, cul- tural studies, interpretive studies, and the like—and it is all very much in flux. Empirical methodologies, both metric and interpretive, have been around for over 100 years. A pretty good agreement exists among practitioners as to how these methodologies should be conducted (at least in comparison with the hybrid forms). A couple more decades are needed to reach a level of conventionalization in the hybrid forms, which by their nature resist conventionalization. Critical-Analytical Critical-analytical methods are in use in this text in the service and toward the better- ment of the empirical. Let me spend just a few paragraphs talking about the difference between empirical and critical-analytical methods because this difference can be a source of a lot of confusion.7 This difference hinges first on whether the ascendant 7 Admittedly, this may be more of a cautionary tale for an instructor than any source of confusion for a student.
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 19 evidence is formal or empirical— whether it is derived through reason or discovered in observation.8 For exam- ple, I could argue analytically that the color of that swan you have in a box (I have no idea why you would have a swan in a box) must be white. I would say all swans are white; you have a swan in the box; therefore, its color is white. I would not need to look in the box to know the color of your swan. I could logically declare the color of your swan with no need for empirical evidence. It’s a big advantage as long as my first premise is true. Alas, in the history of this famous syllogism, black swans were discovered in Australia. Consequently, I can no longer say that your swan is white, but there is still a great deal I can say. For example, I can say with certainty that it is not red. Empiricist distrust of the analytical stems from the possibility that red swans may be discovered in the back jungles of Indonesia (where several new species— none of them swans—were recently found). In fact, most first premises of the analytical—statements that are held to be axiomatically true—can be questioned for their empirical content. Any state- ment that starts with “audiences for real- ity programming,” “children,” “media programmers,” or “voters” or that makes use of similar, constructed aggregates (such as “any statement”) is invariably an analytical statement that can be chal- lenged for its empirical foundation (as can this statement). When we add the critical on top of this foundation, we can see that it is akin to advocat- ing a social policy on the basis of universal principles. This might work fine for the consti- tutions of nation-states, but it does not work at all to claim that all children are at risk from, say, digital games because of some analytically derived universal principle. 8 The language of “discovery” is as contested as that of exploration. As the example that follows this note suggests, the issue is whether you open the box and look at the swan to determine its color. Photo 1.2 Photo 1.3
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 20 On the other hand, if the empiricists gave up everything except that which was empiri- cally demonstrated, they would be reduced to a pretty banal field of knowledge9 with no implications for the future and little understanding of the past. In fact, as we will see, even the plainest of empiricists depend on analytical methods to achieve any consequential results for their research. As you read the literature, you will find that empiricists celebrate their objective experience while quietly practicing analytical interpretations, and hybridists celebrate their critical intentions while quietly grounding them in the objective character- istics of the text. we will, therefore, find the analytical firmly on the table in Chapter 3. We need to know these methods. Assaying the Differences Learning a methodology means taking up both the epistemology of its foundation and the ideology of its social practice. Methodologies are designed to produce evidence for a par- ticular class of claims and to fit inside arguments of a certain kind that are themselves grounded in ways of knowing. Metric empiricists base their arguments on the logic of mathematics. Interpretive empiricists base theirs on the logic of the narrative. Metric empiricists quantify their observations; interpretive empiricists narrativize them. When researchers quantify an observation, they first unitize it by constructing secure boundaries around it. It starts at some point and ends at another. Researchers can then count each observation, put it in some order with other observations, space these observations along some dimension, or put them in some relationship. They can then use the tools of arithmetic and mathematical logic to make the observations sensible: It all adds up. When analysts narrativize an observation, they create a discursive line that brings in character, action, agency, and scene.10 The observation becomes sensible within the logic of a narra- tive form: It tells a credible story. You can pretend that it doesn’t matter and use methodologies outside their proper domain or poach from one domain into another. It’s done all the time, but it is not careful, mindful work. When a methodology is transported from its “natural” domain, such as using surveys in an interpretative approach or participant observation in an experiment, the recognition of its transformation has to be carefully described and justified. Over the years, there has been a lot of argument over which of these approaches is bet- ter. Much of that argument had to do with the business of researchers and scholars creating and preserving space and resources to conduct their research. These professionals are now in a kind of uneasy coexistence with excursions and border patrols and even some osten- sible cooperation, which still is considered suspiciously by many (including me) as coop- tion. Practitioners do tend to be of one sort or another. And you can sort that out for yourself as you develop experience in the approaches. 9 Consider opening the box and declaring, “Your swan is not red!” 10 This is a cultural studies update of Burke’s pentad, placing more emphasis on cultural subjectivity than individual identity.
CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 21 MOVING ON This chapter started out by looking at the communities of scholars and researchers who generate the research published in the journals and textbooks of communication, psychol- ogy, sociology, and other social sciences as well as those of critical and social scholarship. The three distinct communities usually called mass communication, media studies, and mediated communication were described, and while the present advice is to be a good citizen of all three, the affinities of this writing would tend toward mediated communication because it is the most inclusive of the three. It was acknowledged that a good deal of research goes on in the proprietary halls of corporations, regulatory agencies, nonprofits, and nongovernmen- tal agencies, and you could benefit from adopting the systematic investigation for your per- sonal mediascape. The most intensive discussion focused on detailing the epistemological differences among metric, interpretive, and hybrid methodologies, hoping to demonstrate that it is these foundational differences in epistemologies that result in the different method- ological practices that occur. As I close this summary, I think all the ramping-up to the topic is finally done, and we are ready to get on with it. The next chapter will begin by considering the properties, processes, consequences, and character of the mediascape. REFLECTIONS What Are Some Points to Remember? • • There are multiple perspectives on what is variously called mass or mediated communication. These perspectives make a difference on what is considered important to study and how those important things should be studied. • • A good understanding of mediated communication can be gained by comparing it with face-to-face communication. • • The lines between science, scholarship, and proprietary research have more to do with ideology and membership than with good practices of inquiry. • • A methodology is a class of inquiry practices. Empirical methodologies require a connection to experi­ ence. Metric empirical methodologies depend on a logic of quantities and rates; interpretive empiricism depends on the logic of narrative. Hybrids mix the critical-rhetorical with the empirical. • • Any methodology depends on a set of “truth-making” rules that govern the relationship between evi­ dence and claim. Across methodologies, practices may seem the same or may be appropriated, but the epistemological foundations are not. Why Does It Matter? Introductions of the sort that you just read matter because both the discipline of communication and the methods of its science and scholarship are not under any consensus of agreement. Consequently, for me
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 22 to write honestly to you and for you to successfully use this book, we need to co-orient to common posi­ tions. There are controversies in the positions I adopt, but that is because there are controversies in the field—not, I would hope, because of any idiosyncrasies of mine. In some way or another, you will have to resolve those for yourself. This is a book for grown-ups. What Else Could We Talk About? Higher education is notoriously nonreflexive. In classrooms and textbooks, there is a move to gloss con­ tradictions and explanatory absences. Part of the motive for this nonreflexivity is the demand for answers and the shared belief that practitioners of the field are supposed to have them. What Else Might Be Interesting to Read? Park, D. W., Pooley, J. (Eds.). (2008). The history of media and communication research: Contested memories. New York: Peter Lang.
23 C H A P T E R 2 Mapping the Mediascape What’s It All About? Chapter 2 continues our introduction to this field of study, turning to the topics of what we study and how we study them. We are introduced to properties, processes, consequences, and charac- ter as the targets of analysis and to surveys, sequential measurement, and experimental design as well as close reading, participant observation, and hybrid critical analysis as the methods appropriate to those targets. An extended example using social networking sites is presented to show the types of research questions that could be generated over the properties, processes, consequences, and character of such sites. What Are the Major Topics? Properties are the elements and entities that characterize the mediascape. They are usually measured by surveys to describe what is there for metric research and by close reading in inter- pretive analysis. Processes focus on the practices that appear within the mediascape across production, recep- tion, participation, social impact, and so on. The proper metric measurement of processes requires sequential measurement methodologies that involve repeated measurements over time. Interpretive approaches would be centered on participant observation. Consequences are generally known as the effects that occur within the mediascape. Conse- quences appear as the result of some action by an agent inside a causal relationship. The best metric approach is through experimental methods, but often the logically weaker survey methods have to be used. There is no experimental analogue in interpretive research, but consequences are studied and done best in participant observation. (Continued) CHAPTER PREVIEW
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 24 INTRODUCTION As I trudge up the trail in the Deep Creek Mountains to the west of Salt Lake City, I will be passing through five different ecoscapes generated by climatic changes associated with altitude and physical structure. I enter the trail from a Sonoran desert subject to high heat and little moisture. At the top of the trail, I will be in alpine meadows. Each ecozone has its characteristic geology, plants, and animals that form an ecology quite unlike the next. The research methods of this book are the tools and techniques of exploration, and the territory of our exploration is called the mediascape. Like the mountains in western Utah, the mediascape is a complex and changing communication ecology. Depending on where we are, we will find different media industries, technologies, audiences, texts, symbolic values, and cultural understandings (to name just a few elements)—all interacting and interdependent. We will also find ourselves, as we are an integral part of the mediascape as individuals, as aggregates of type and kind, and as members of communities, including those that practice research. FOUR CORNERS OF ANALYSIS We will likely end up exploring only some small part of what is possible, but it is good to start with something of the larger picture. As the number of elements is overwhelming, we need some organizing principles to explore the mediascape. Let’s start with a four-corner compass. (Continued) The character of the mediascape is the value we attach to its various elements, processes, and effects. Metric research treats character as a variable attribute in survey and experimental methods. The interpretive analysis of value generally requires some type of critical analysis, which, when coupled with empirical methods, constitutes a hybrid research form. These are our newest, least conventionalized, and (therefore) most controversial methodologies. The last section of the chapter takes us through an example using social networking sites. The example compares and contrasts the similarities and differences across properties, processes, consequences, and character. It develops research questions appropriate to each of these and provides some insight on ways answers to those questions might be generated. What Special Terms Are Used? Agency Attribute Character Consequences Mediascape Processes Properties Social construction
CHAPTER 2   Mapping the Mediascape 25 The compass points to the properties, processes, consequences, and charac- ter of the mediascape, and each is analogous to the same elements one would find in any landscape. Properties The properties of any domain are the elements and enti- ties that characterize that domain. The elements and entities of our mediascape are not rocks, plants, and ani- mals but such items as indus- tries, technologies, texts, rules and regulations, ratings, jobs, and even media1 them- selves. They are also audi- ences,producers,stockholders, managers, artists, and craft unions as well as the individuals who belong to each category. In increasing levels of abstrac- tion, they are domains of activity, interactive ecologies, and economic niches. All of the items listed and more are objects and entities that we can poke at, classify, and describe in a classic scientific manner. For example, I was interested in finding out something about reality television. It was being presented in the literature as if it were a unitary classification—that we could think about reality TV as a single thing in the same way we might think about local evening news as a single entity. One answer to this question might come from a careful examination of content to see if the forms, structures, and narratives show the same consistency across programs as the evening news does across markets—it is, after all, news, weather, and sports from Fargo to Miami. But I was more interested in audiences, so the question I asked was whether the audience showed the same constitution across different reality programs. Our primary information about television audiences comes from the ratings industry (not academic scholarship), and Nielsen Media Research is, perhaps, the premier member of that industry. As a professional courtesy, I asked the firm to prepare a special report on the average audiences for a set of 12 programs (listed here in order of popularity): American Idol, Extreme Makeover, The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, American Inventor, Cops, Blind Date, Starting Over, Girls Behaving Badly, American Chopper, Date My Mom, and Unsolved Mysteries. To my delight, the fine folks there did. 1 Most complex objects can be approached as processes, as consequences, and according to their character as well. Figure 2.1 Mediascape Compass P r o c e s s e s C h a r a c t e r Consequences Properties Mediascape
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 26 As you look at that list, I presume you have all sorts of questions: Why those programs and not others? What makes those programs reality television? And whoever heard of Girls Behaving Badly? As a scholar writing a research report, I would be expected to answer those questions in such a manner that would establish the credence of the research. And of course I will, but right now I want to get to the juicy bits. In order to test the composition of the audience, I looked at three ratios: (a) the ratio of people to households to get a measure of the amount of coviewing in a given household, (b) the ratio of women to men, and (c) the ratio of adults to children. American Idol had the highest proportion of coviewing (3 viewers for every 2 households) and the highest per- centage of children (ages 2–17) in the audience (17%). Starting Over—a daytime reality program about six women starting over with the aid of a life coach, on the other hand, was mostly solitarily viewed, by more women than men (2.7:1) and with less than 10% of the audience being children. Finally, American Chopper—Discovery Channel’s coverage of a father-and-son team of custom motorcycle builders—flipped the male-female ratio to 2:1 with nonetheless a reasonably healthy coviewing of 4 viewers, 11% of whom were chil- dren, for every 3 households (which was also the overall average). Two interesting findings: (a) The ratio of women to men across all reality programming was 3:2. Only Cops and American Chopper shifted the balance to men. (b) The average percent- age of children across these programs was 13.5%; the lowest percentage of children (7%) was for The Apprentice—Donald Trump’s intoning of “You’re fired”; the highest percentage of chil- dren (48%) appeared for Date My Mom—an MTV program in which an 18- to 24-year-old dates the mother of an eligible son or daughter to decide whether to date the son or daughter (hey, it must work for somebody)—and the 12- to 17-year-old group was the largest audience segment. The consistency of the ratio of women to men (with only two exceptions) suggests that there is a communality of some sort in the content (that it is really about relationships, perhaps). On the other hand, we know that young men are migrating from television to the Net.2 Consequently, the ratio may just be a function of more women watching television than men generally. I certainly have more work to do to understand the audiences of real- ity programs. Nonetheless, I would conclude that reality television is more complex than singular and that the classification can be only loosely used. Metric Methodologies for Properties The study of properties is a study of characteristics and quantities. Survey methodologies— questionnaires, diaries, and even automated data collections such as Internet cookies, credit card sales, and grocery store value cards—are the primary methodologies of the study of properties. They all reveal the properties of the mediascape according to the lens of the survey instrument. Properties may exist independently, but they appear in the mea- surement in use. In our example on reality programming, the 18- to 24-year-old audience appears because the A. C. Nielsen measurement process classifies people that way. There is a 19- to 23-year-old audience as well, but we cannot access it, because the measurement does not report it. We are very early in this discussion, but how you ask a question (or take any measurement) matters to your understanding of what is out there. Suffice it to say at 2 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64439,00.html. Accessed December 27, 2006.
CHAPTER 2   Mapping the Mediascape 27 this point that a survey is not just a survey. It also defines into existence the characteristics that will fill our reports. In a very real way, if we don’t measure it, it doesn’t exist for us. Interpretive Methodologies for Properties Interpretive methodologies are primarily immersive methods that require an extensive engagement with the object, group, or practice of interest—methods such as close reading for texts and participant observation for groups and practices. The properties of interest to the analyst are those that are somehow meaningful. To use a very simple example, that a light hanging over a road is green is of no importance except that it grants legal passage. The interpretive analyst starts with material properties but as a foundation for understand- ing the meaningful properties of an object or entity. That statement is not to say that the metric scholar has no interest in such meaning, but there is a shift in analytic obligation. It might be sufficient for the metric analyst to report that the 2010 premiere of Dancing with the Stars had an audience of nearly 21 million viewers as the highest-rated program of the week. That report, however, would not be sufficient for the interpretive scholar, who would carry the responsibility for outlining the attractiveness (meaningfulness) of the program. That attractiveness and meaningfulness could be claimed by analyzing the content, but the better work would be to find them in the audience. Processes The study of properties is necessary and important. It fills about 60% of the research archive. But such study is a static enterprise, and communication is much more a dynamic process. One lesson that we can learn from the analysis of reality programs is that as we explore the entities that occupy, inhabit, and constitute the mediascape, we become more sophisticated in understanding how the mediascape is a set of processes, which themselves are more or less integrated systems of practice. We could, for example, be interested in describing the vertical integration characteristics of media industries in contrast to the horizontal, leveling characteristics of technology. That might lead us to question how these processes function. Peer-to-peer file downloading is a good example of a process that demonstrates tech- nology’s leveling effect. Sony’s much criticized music copy protection encoding scheme demonstrated an industry response to this leveling effect in an effort to maintain vertical control. From a strictly technological point of view, neither the artist nor the consumer needs Sony anymore. And that should scare Sony a lot. Sony and all content distributors survive by producing artificial scarcities through the manipulation of supply and demand. (That claim would make a fine research question for an excellent study.) Metric Process Methods Processes require sequential measurement methodologies that are measurement dense. Measurement density is achieved through the number of different measures taken, the number of times those measurements are repeated, and the time span between repetitions. Because processes involve real-time interactions in which significant change can happen at any moment, true process methodologies require something that approaches continuous measurement. We are not even close to this ability in measuring mediated communication
SECTION I  OVERVIEW 28 processes. As in the case of our example on copy protection, we often can simply describe different sets of circumstances as Step A and Step B without knowing the intervening steps that connect them. Processes and the properties involved in them combine with other processes to create systems. Program production, for example, is a system that involves the processes of writ- ing, scripting, scene construction, prop work, costuming, makeup, camera and actor block- ing, acting, directing, and editing. And then there are systems of systems such as the advertising system that generates the money that provides for much of the program pro- duction itself. Systems at this level quickly overwhelm our ability to collect empirical data on their functioning. We are often left with formal analysis that constructs logical connec- tions according to reasonable speculations but not real data. Interpretive Process Methods The difficulty of process study means that we do not know a lot about the processes that attend to mediated communication. For example, 90% of us live in multiperson households (single-person householders tend to be either in their 20s or past the decade of their 60s). That necessarily means that media use is an ongoing accommodation among household mem- bers. We know very little about what those accommodation processes are, however, because the best method to find out about them is to actually observe and in some way participate in them, to carefully detail both the observation and the participation, and finally to interpret the meaningful interconnections that fuse acts into action. There are metric and hybrid alternatives—extensive survey instruments, long-form interviews, place- ment of diaries, protocol analysis or sequential data collections (that now use cell phones and could use Twitter)—but generally these are less successful in capturing the continuities and discontinuities that populate actual practice. Consequences The consequences of the media for 21st-century life are enormous. The economic value of the global media industry is approaching a trillion dollars. Every other industry has to account for the media in some way. The character of global and local politics is inalterably changed from campaigns to methods of governance. Many of the ways we earn our living and conduct our work depend on media and the technologies of communication. And certainly our recreation and entertainment are marked by media. We also know there are consequences (or effects as they are often called) that result from each individual’s participation in mediated communication. If nothing else, participation in mediated communication leads to a reduced ability to participate in face-to-face communication (leading to the new rule of etiquette of taking out at least one earpiece—even if grudgingly— when addressed). But certainly there is more. We attribute the increasing obesity of U.S. citizens to the choice of media over exercise. We insist that media violence increases social aggression even in the face of falling violent crime rates. We claim addictions to pornogra- phy, to the Internet, to materialism, to playing games. We claim that our version of the world around us is shaped by media—our sense of race, ethnicity, gender, and even self-worth. (Generally, scholars find all that media influence off-putting, as if there was some better way—some real way—in which our sense making could be accomplished.)
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costrinsero a sottomettersi. Passarono di poi alla terra della Pergola, dove era guarnigione di Federigo conte d'Urbino, e in pochi giorni l'ebbero ubbidiente ai loro voleri. Andarono poscia a postarsi solamente circa cinque miglia lungi dal campo, in cui colle poche sue truppe si era fortificato il conte Francesco su quel di Fossombrone. Trovavasi allora in Pesaro il conte Alessandro Sforza fratello del conte Francesco, e signore di quella città [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.], e, veggendosi cinto da ogni intorno dalle armi nemiche, giudicò meglio, nel dì 25 di luglio, di venire ad un accordo col cardinale Lodovico legato del papa: risoluzione, di cui sommamente il conte Francesco si dolse, come di fiera ingratitudine, dacchè egli col suo proprio danaro avea acquistata quella città al fratello. Ma Alessandro si scusò colla necessità, assicurando il conte della sua non interrotta fedeltà ed amore: in segno di che mandò Bianca Visconte di lui moglie ad Urbino, contuttochè se gli opponesse non poco il cardinale. Fu ridotto in questi tempi così alle strette il conte Francesco Sforza, che si vide forzato a ritirarsi fino alle mura d'Urbino, mancandogli forze da poter fermare i progressi delle armi pontificie e duchesche, che gran guasto davano a quel territorio, e presero varie terre. Non contento Filippo Maria duca di Milano della guerra ch'egli facea nello Stato della Chiesa contra del conte Francesco suo genero, si lasciò così trasportare dalla pazza passione, che, credendo venuto il tempo di potergli anche togliere Cremona [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.], quantunque città a lui ceduta con titolo di dote, si mise in punto per eseguir questa impresa. Era ciò espressamente contro i capitoli della pace fatta co' Veneziani e Fiorentini: non importa; sopra ogni altra riflessione andava lo sregolato empito dell'odio suo. Però, messo in piedi un esercito di cinque mila cavalli e mille fanti sotto il comando di Francesco Piccinino e di Luigi del Verme, lo spedì, sul principio di maggio, contro Cremona, di cui Orlando Pallavicino gli avea fatto sperar l'acquisto per una segreta cloaca. Impiegò questa gente alquanto tempo in prendere Soncino ed altre terre del Cremonese: nel qual mentre i Veneziani, veduta rotta la pace dal non mai quieto duca, ebbero tempo di potere spignere qualche soccorso d'armati in Cremona. Arrivato colà il Piccinino, vi trovò, più di quel che credeva, gente disposta alla difesa; laonde si accampò
intorno ad essa città, sperando di costringerla colla fame alla resa. In questo tempo i Veneziani, giacchè con un'ambasciata non aveano potuto rimuovere il duca da questo disegno, ordinarono a Michele Attendolo da Cotignola, lor generale, di mettere insieme tutta l'armata, e di marciar contro ai ducheschi. Avea inoltre spedito il duca, per voglia di togliere anche Pontremoli al conte suo genero, Luigi da San Severino e Pietro Maria Rossi; ma altro non poterono far questi, che mettere a sacco il paese, perchè i Fiorentini, coll'inviare per tempo a quella terra un rinforzo di milizie, la salvarono. Ridotto a tali termini stava intanto il conte Francesco nel territorio d'Urbino, quando avvenne novità che il fece assai respirare. Guglielmo fratello di Giovanni marchese di Monferrato dimorava in Castelfranco del Bolognese con Alberto Pio da Carpi, e con una brigata di quattrocento cavalli e di cento fanti in servigio del duca di Milano [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital. Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 8, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Perchè passavano fra lui e Carlo Gonzaga de' disgusti a motivo di precedenza, si lasciò egli guadagnare dalle proferte di più lucrosa condotta che gli fecero i Veneziani e Bolognesi, e se l'intese con Taddeo marchese e con Tiberio Brandolino capitani de' primi. Perciò nella notte del dì 5 di luglio diede la tenuta di Castelfranco ai Bolognesi, ed unito con essi e co' Veneziani nel dì seguente cavalcò a San Giovanni in Persiceto, nella cui rocca egli teneva presidio, mentre nella terra alloggiava Carlo da Gonzaga con un grosso corpo di gente duchesca. Venuto alle mani con esso Gonzaga, lo sconfisse, e mise a saccomano tutta quella gente di armi, e prese anche la terra: per la qual vittoria tornarono poco appresso all'ubbidienza di Bologna quasi tutte le altre castella e terre di quel distretto. Parimente avvenne che i Fiorentini fecero largo partito a Taliano Furlano generale del duca di Milano contra di Francesco Sforza, offerendogli il generalato dell'esercito loro [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital. Ammirat., Istor. Fiorentina, lib. 22.]. Fosse accidente, o un tiro malizioso di essi Fiorentini, si riseppe il trattato, nè ci volle di più, perchè Taliano, d'ordine del duca e del cardinale legato, fosse preso nel mese d'agosto, e condotto a Rocca Contrada, dove gli fu recisa la testa. Pel medesimo motivo ebbe dipoi
mozzato il capo anche Jacopo da Gaibana, altro condottiere d'armi. Nacquero forti sospetti al duca di Milano che anche Bartolomeo Coleone suo condottier d'armi tenesse delle intelligenze co' Veneziani; e furono questi cagione ch'egli venisse preso ed inviato nelle carceri di Monza. Sì fatti accidenti sconcertarono alquanto i felici andamenti dell'armata pontificia e duchesca, la quale intanto faceva alla peggio nel territorio d'Urbino. Unironsi poi colla armata veneta le genti d'armi di Taddeo marchese d'Este, di Tiberto Brandolino e di Guglielmo di Monferrato [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 8, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; ed allora fu che Michele da Cotignola generale dei Veneziani marciò contro l'armata duchesca accampala intorno a Cremona. Fece questo esercito non solamente ritornar molte terre alla divozione del conte Francesco, ma anche ritirare Francesco Piccinino dall'assedio di Cremona, con portarsi a Casalmaggiore, dove fece fabbricare un Ponte sul Po per aver viveri e strame dal Parmigiano. Era ivi nel fiume un mezzano ossia un'isola, dove la di lui armata si stese, e fortificossi con bastioni e bombarde. Ora Micheletto Attendolo colle sue genti arrivò colà con pensiero di dar loro la mala Pasqua. Il Simonetta scrive che ciò avvenne tertio kalendas octobris, cioè nel dì 29 di settembre. L'autore degli Annali di Forlì [Annales Foroliv., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.], nel dì primo di ottobre. Ma Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.] e le Croniche di Rimini [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.] e di Bologna [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.], e il Rivalta negli Annali di Piacenza [Annales Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.] ci danno quel fatto di armi nel dì 28 di settembre. Non potendo le genti venete penetrare i trincieramenti fatti alla testa del ponte, trovarono per avventura non essere tanto alta l'acqua del Po, che non potessero arrivare al mezzano suddetto, dove, come in una città, si erano fatti forti i ducheschi. A quella volta dunque animosamente s'inviò la cavalleria veneta con fanti in groppa per l'acqua che arrivava sino alle selle dei cavalli, ed attaccarono la mischia con tal bravura, che misero in poco d'ora i nemici in iscompiglio. Se ne fuggirono i capitani ducheschi di là dal Po; ma perchè non v'era se non il ponte, per cui potesse salvarsi la sconfitta gente, e questo ancora, per paura d'essere inseguiti, fu rotto d'ordine di essi capitani; però la maggior parte di que' soldati rimase
prigioniera colla perdita di tutto il bagaglio, munizioni e carriaggi, che fu d'immenso valore. Scrive Marino Sanuto [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.] che in sua parte toccarono a Micheletto generale cavalli ottocento, a Guglielmo di Monferrato cento, a Taddeo marchese secento, a Gentile figliuolo di Gattamelata ottocento, a Tiberio Brandolino quattrocento, a Guido Rangone quattrocento, a Cristoforo da Tolentino e ad altri altra parte, di maniera che più di quattro mila cavalli vennero alle lor mani. Gran festa si fece per così segnalata vittoria in Venezia e per tutte le terre della repubblica. Or questa gran percossa fece rientrare in sè stesso il poco saggio duca di Milano, che nel dì 5 d'ottobre spedì per un suo messo segreta lettera alla repubblica veneta chiedendo pace, ed esibendosi pronto a cedere tutto quanto egli avea preso nel Cremonese colla giunta di Crema. Tardò poco a comprendere, essere bensì in mano d'ognuno il cominciare una guerra, ma non essere poi così il finirla. I Veneziani, che avevano il vento in poppa, e ben conosceano la debolezza, a cui era ridotto il duca, sprezzata ogni proposizione d'accordo, ordinarono al loro generale di proseguire innanzi. Pertanto egli, dopo aver ricuperato Soncino, Caravaggio e tutte le castella del Cremonese, passò il fiume Adda, e ruppe di nuovo nel dì 6 di novembre [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Ital. Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital. Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, tom. 21 Rer. Italic.] le milizie del duca, che gli si vollero opporre, con prendere circa secento cavalli, e far prigioni circa mille e ducento fanti. Corse dipoi sul Milanese, saccomanando il paese; ebbe Cassano colla rocca, e mirabilmente fortificò quella terra; finalmente andò a quartiere di inverno. Se stesse bene allora lo sconsigliato duca, non occorre ch'io ne avvisi il lettore. Dacchè egli ebbe la fiera sconfitta di Casalmaggiore, spedì al papa e al re Alfonso le più calde preghiere per ottener soccorso. Cominciò ancora con più e più lettere a pregare il prima tanto odiato e perseguitato suo genero, cioè il conte Francesco Sforza, acciocchè non l'abbandonasse in sì pericolosa congiuntura. Era sul principio d'ottobre arrivato ad esso conte un buon rinforzo di milizie, a lui inviate da' Fiorentini, e ciò bastò a farlo uscire in campagna contro le genti pontificie comandate da Lodovico
cardinale e patriarca. Ma, non potendo mai tirarle a battaglia, imprese lo assedio di Gradara in quel di Pesaro, terra forte occupata già da Sigismondo signore di Rimini. Nello stesso tempo Alessandro Sforza signor di Pesaro, per opera di Federigo conte d'Urbino, rimesso in grazia del conte Francesco suo fratello, voltata casacca, ripigliò le armi contra di Sigismondo e de' pontifizii. Per mancanza di polvere da fuoco non potè il conte insignorirsi di Gradara; e perchè niun soccorso di danaro gli veniva con tutte le sue istanze nè da Venezia nè da Firenze, si ritirò in fine a Pesaro a dar riposo alle sue troppo stanche genti. Intanto papa Eugenio, il re Alfonso e Sigismondo Malatesta, avendo consentito il conte ad una tregua (per cui entrarono in grande sospetto di lui i Veneziani), spedirono circa quattromila cavalli in aiuto del duca di Milano nel mese di dicembre. Cesare da Martinengo, uno dei caporali di questa gente posta a svernare sul Parmigiano [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.], abbagliato dalla fortuna de' Veneziani, passò dipoi nel febbraio susseguente, se non prima, colle sue schiere al loro servigio. Altrettanto fece colle sue anche Rinaldo da Montalbotto.
Anno di Cristo mccccxlvii. Indiz. x. Niccolò V papa 1. Federigo III re de' Romani 8. Avea fin qui menata sua vita, pien di pensieri di guerra, e tormentato da affanni per cagion dello scisma di Basilea, il pontefice Eugenio IV, quando Iddio il chiamò a sè nel dì 23 di febbraio in Roma [Petroni, Istor., tom. 24 Rer. Ital. Vita Eugenii IV, P. II, tom. 3 Rer. Ital.], città da lui beneficata dopo il suo ritorno colà, perchè vi ristorò le principali chiese che erano in rovina, vi mantenne buona pace e giustizia, e la sua mano era sempre aperta alle indigenze de' poveri. Fu pontefice di rare qualità; e benchè alquanto sfortunato negli affari sì spirituali che temporali, pure di gran cose operò sì nell'una che nell'altra parte. Memorabile restò la sua ricordanza, per aver uniti alla Chiesa cattolica i Greci, i Maroniti ed altre nazioni cristiane d'Oriente, e tentato di unire insino gli Etiopi. Eppure ebbe la disgrazia di lasciar la Chiesa latina in disordine per lo scisma nato in Basilea. Fu uomo di testa dura e di raggiri politici; nè alcun menomo eccesso si mirò in lui per ingrandire i suoi parenti, come ebbero in uso altri suoi predecessori. Tutto il suo studio era in conservare o ricuperare gli Stati della Chiesa romana: nel che impiegò molti tesori; ed ebbe anche singolar premura per reprimere la sempre più crescente baldanza e potenza dei Turchi: nel che profittò poco per la disunione e guerre delle potenze cristiane. Entrati i cardinali nel conclave, ed accordatisi nel dì 5 di marzo, elessero Tommaso da
Sarzana, vescovo di Bologna, creato cardinale da Eugenio nell'anno precedente. Di bassa nascita era egli; ma questo immaginario difetto era senza paragone compensato dalle mirabili sue belle doti sì d'animo che d'ingegno, e dal suo universal sapere; di modo che personaggio non si potea scegliere più degno e più atto al pontificato di lui. Prese egli il nome di Niccolò V, e nel dì 18 d'esso mese fu solennemente coronato. Appena era mancato di vita papa Eugenio, che il re Alfonso, sotto pretesto di vegliare alla sicurezza di Roma, sen venne a Tivoli [Raynaldus, Annal. Eccles.], e quivi si piantò. Una delle prime cure del novello pontefice fu quella di fare sloggiare di là il re, e di estinguere lo scisma dell'antipapa Amedeo di Savoia: al qual fine impegnò Carlo re di Francia, promettendogli di confiscare tutti gli Stati d'esso Amedeo, se non ubbidiva, per concederli al medesimo re. Adoperossi per ricuperare affatto la marca di Ancona [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Quivi non riteneva più il conte Francesco Sforza, se non la città di Jesi, che gli era sempre stata fedele. Le premure del duca di Milano, angustiato in questi tempi fieramente dai Veneziani, fecero mutar massime al medesimo conte e al re Alfonso, perchè il duca, trovandosi in grave pericolo, implorava quotidianamente il soccorso del genero. Però non fu difficile il tirare in fine ad un accordo il conte, che in sì urgente congiuntura si trovava necessitoso di pecunia. Trentacinque mila fiorini d'oro, ben pagati al conte, l'indussero a rilasciar quella città al pontefice, e a richiamarne la sua guarnigione. Similmente non tardò esso papa, siccome di genio pacifico, ad interporsi tosto per ismorzare il terribile incendio di guerra nato in Lombardia fra i Veneziani e il duca di Milano; ma cotali accidenti occorsero dipoi, che restarono vani tutti i paterni desiderii e disegni del buon pontefice. La prosperità delle armi venete, che, dopo aver fabbricato un ponte sull'Adda, non trovavano ritegno alcuno, e portavano le desolazione sino ai borghi di Milano, avea messo in tal costernazione lo animo del poco saggio duca Filippo Maria, che a mani giunte non cessava di raccomandarsi al re Alfonso, a papa Eugenio allora vivente e a' Fiorentini. Ricorse fino al re di Francia, con esibirsi di restituire al duca d'Orleans la città d'Asti. Ma le sue maggiori
speranze erano riposte nel credito e nel valore del conte Francesco Sforza, cioè in quel medesimo ch'egli sì lungamente avea perseguitato, e ridotto, co' suoi maligni maneggi, e colle armi e co' danari, a perdere l'intera marca d'Ancona, e con volerlo anche spogliare di Cremona. A lui lettere, a lui messi andavano di tanto in tanto, pregandolo e scongiurandolo di soccorso, e sollecitandolo a venire, senza lasciar indietro offerta e promessa alcuna che il potesse muovere, e soprattutto mettendogli davanti la succession de' suoi Stati. Perchè a questi andamenti teneano ben l'occhio aperto i Veneziani, anch'essi gli inviarono Pasquale Malipieri per tenerlo saldo nella lor lega, con fargli anche essi delle larghe esibizioni. E perciocchè il conte non dava categoriche risposte, si avvidero ben per tempo que' saggi signori ch'egli era per anteporre alla loro antica amicizia la nuova riconciliazione col suocero [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Italic. Corio, Istor. di Milano.]. Presero dunque la risoluzione di non aspettare ch'egli si dichiarasse, e di torgli intanto Cremona, se veniva lor fatto. Ordinato prima un trattato con alcuni Guelfi di quella città. Michele Attendolo lor generale nel dì 4 di marzo si presentò segretamente con quattromila cavalli e grossa fanteria alla porta d'Ognisanti di Cremona, credendosi di trovarla aperta. Gli andò fallito il colpo. Foschino Attendolo da Cotignola governatore, e Giacomazzo da Salerno capitano de' soldati del conte Francesco furono tosto in armi, raddoppiarono le guardie alle porte, alle mura, alle torri, cosicchè nè i cittadini osarono di far movimento; e i Veneziani, dopo avere scoperto il loro buon animo, si ritirarono colla bocca asciutta. Questo tentativo, oltre ad altri motivi che aveva il conte Francesco d'essere poco contento dei Veneziani, per averlo essi abbandonato nelle passate sue disavventure, e la segreta inclinazione da lui ben capita dei Fiorentini [Ammirati, Istor. Fiorent., lib. 22.], a' quali non piaceva che i Veneziani s'ingrandissero di troppo col mettere il duca in camicia, servì a lui di scusa per istrignere il trattato col suocero, a condizione che gli fosse pagato annualmente tanto di salario, quanto gli davano i Veneziani, ascendente a ducento quattro mila fiorini d'oro; e che gli fosse dato col titolo l'autorità di generale d'armata per tutti i di lui Stati. Pertanto alcune somme di danaro gli furono mandate da Milano, altre pagate in Roma: col quale rinforzo
cominciò a mettere in ordine e ad accrescere le sue truppe. Ma mentre si crede di marciare a dirittura a Milano, alcuni de' cortigiani del duca, e i due Piccinini Francesco e Jacopo, invidiosi dell'innalzamento del conte, sparsero tai semi di diffidenza nel debolissimo duca, che più danaro non corse; e il duca andava ordinando al conte di passare o nel Padovano o nel Veronese, a motivo di fare una diversione, dando con ciò assai a conoscere di non volerlo in sua casa: tutti imbrogli che ritardarono la mossa del conte, e maravigliosamente giovarono ai Veneziani per tentar cose maggiori contra del duca. Venne l'armata loro pel ponte di Cassano nel cuore del Milanese, scorse tutta la Martesana, e andò finalmente ad accamparsi sotto a Milano, per le speranze date da alcuni di que' cittadini al general veneziano d'introdurlo a tradimento in quella città. Chiarito Micheletto, esser quelle parole vane, passò alle parti del monte di Brianza [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], dove sconfisse Francesco Piccinino, ed altri capitani milanesi e le loro brigate. Mise dipoi l'assedio al forte castello di Lecco, dove spese circa quaranta giorni, con istrage e grave incomodo di sua gente, senza poterlo far piegare alla resa. Conosceva intanto ogni di più il duca l'infelice suo stato, e l'imminente pericolo suo, ma ricercato e voluto; nè esservi altra speranza che l'aiuto del genero Sforza. Pertanto gli spedì affrettandolo a venire, e pregò il papa e il re Alfonso di provvederlo di danaro. Altro non fecero essi, se non ciò che s'è detto di sopra, dell'avere carpito dalle mani del conte la città di Jesi per la somma già accennata di danaro, con cui egli allestì la sua armata, e da Pesaro si mise in viaggio nel dì 9 d'agosto [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.]. Aveva egli dianzi, nel dì 11 di marzo, insieme col conte Federigo d'Urbino fatto tregua con Sigismondo signor di Rimini, e con Malatesta Novello da Cesena di lui fratello. Consisteva l'esercito del conte in quattro mila cavalli e due mila fanti, co' quali venne a riposarsi alquanto a Cotignola. Ma eccoti un improvviso cambiamento di scena. Circa il dì 7 d'esso mese d'agosto cadde infermo Filippo Maria Visconte duca di Milano, e nel dì 13 diede compimento alla vita presente nel castello di porta Zobbia, senza
lasciar dopo di sè prole maschile. Portato il suo corpo con poca pompa al duomo, potè allora quel popolo mirarlo morto, dopo averlo potuto vedere sì poco quando era in vita. Fu creduto che gli affanni e pericoli ne' quali si trovava involto, e ch'egli s'era colla sua balordaggine tirati addosso, il conducessero al sepolcro. S'egli avesse saputo prevalersi del regalo che la fortuna gli avea fatto di un genero, qual era il conte Francesco Sforza, cioè del miglior capitano che fosse allora in Italia, e fors'anche in Europa, poteva egli sperare di atterrar tutti i suoi nemici. Con fare sì scioccamente tutto il contrario, s'era ridotto alla vigilia di perdere colla riputazione anche tutti i suoi Stati. E qual fosse l'animo suo verso Bianca sua figliuola e verso il conte Francesco suo genero, che solo veniva per assistergli in sì grave urgenza, si diede ancora a conoscere nel fine di sua vita, se pure è vero ch'egli dichiarasse erede de' suoi Stati non già il conte Francesco Sforza, ma bensì Alfonso re d'Aragona e delle Due Sicilie [Bonincontrus, Annal., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], i cui uffiziali certo è che presero tosto il possesso del castello di Milano e della rocchetta. Dimorava il conte in Cotignola, quando nel dì 15 di agosto da Lionello d'Este marchese di Ferrara gli giunse segreto avviso della morte del duca: colpo che stranamente sconcertò le sue misure. Crebbe molto più la costernazione sua dacchè intese che il popolo di Milano, troppo stanco e disgustato del gravoso governo del duca defunto, avea gridato: Viva la libertà, e presa la risoluzione di reggersi a repubblica. Oltre a ciò, poteano pretendere quegli Stati il re Alfonso in vigore del testamento suddetto, se pur fu vero; e Carlo duca d'Orleans, per ragione di Valentina Visconte. Quel che era più, con tante forze si trovavano i Veneziani addosso allo Stato di Milano, senza che egli avesse nè danaro nè gente bastante a far grandi imprese. Oh qui sì che v'era bisogno d'ingegno. Contuttociò nel dì seguente marciò alla volta del Parmigiano, per quivi meglio considerare qual piega prendessero le cose, e qual volto mostrasse la fortuna a' suoi interessi in una sì strepitosa mutazion di cose. Incredibile allora fu la rivoluzion dello Stato di Milano; tutto si riempiè di sedizioni, ed ognuno prese l'armi [Platina, Histor. Mant., lib. 6.]. Como, Alessandria e Novara aderirono alla repubblica milanese.
Pavia si rimise in libertà senza voler dipendere da Milano. Parma si mostrò anch'essa inclinata al medesimo partito, e diede sol buone parole al conte Francesco, che tentò di averla. Anche Tortona negò ubbidienza ai Milanesi. All'incontro i Veneziani seppero così ben profittare di quell'universal disordine, che la città di Lodi loro si diede. Ebbero poscia il forte castello di San Colombano, situato tra Lodi e Pavia. Regnava allora gran discordia fra i cittadini di Piacenza [Ripalta, Hist. Placentin., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.]. Nel loro consiglio la fazion più potente la vinse, ed avendo spedito ai Veneziani per sottomettersi al loro imperio, non durarono fatica ad ottener quanto desideravano, e con patti i più vantaggiosi del mondo; per la qual cosa fecero poi gran festa e falò. Nel dì 20 d'agosto Taddeo marchese d'Este con mille e cinquecento cavalli veneti prese il possesso di Piacenza, e nel dì 22 arrivò colà con più gente Jacopo Antonio Marcello provveditore de' Veneziani. Intanto i Milanesi tutti d'accordo, con avere per loro capi Antonio Trivulzio, Teodoro Bossio, Giorgio Lampugnano ed Innocenzo Cotta [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 6, tom. 21 Rer. Ital. Corio, Istor. di Milano.], la prima cosa che fecero, fu di cavar dalle mani degli uffiziali del re Alfonso il castello e la rocchetta. Col regalo di diciassette mila fiorini d'oro ebbero queste fortezze, e tosto le spianarono da' fondamenti. L'ambasciata da essi inviata al campo veneto per ottener pace e far lega, fu accolta quasi con riso. Si tenevano allora i Veneziani quasi in pugno tutta la Lombardia. E però si rivolsero i Milanesi al conte Francesco Sforza, che era passato alla sua città di Cremona, pregandolo di voler assumere la difesa della lor libertà nella guisa ch'egli era per servire al defunto duca, offerendogli il comando della lor armata col titolo e con gli onori di generale. Non era lo Sforza solamente insigne per la sua perizia e bravura nell'armi; possedeva anche un'ammirabil accortezza nei politici affari; e però, quantunque gli potesse parere strano di doversi sottomettere ad un popolo, per comandare al quale egli era venuto; pure accettò l'offerta, e si accordarono le condizioni del suo generalato. Ebbe anche forza la sua lingua di trarre nella sua amicizia Francesco e Jacopo Piccinini, non ostante l'antico odio che passava fra le loro case e persone. Ciò fatto, uscì egli in campagna, ed, unite le sue truppe con quelle de' Milanesi, alle quali aggiunse
ancora Bartolomeo Coleone fuggito dalle carceri di Monza dopo la morte del duca, avendolo affidato e guadagnato al suo servigio, andò all'assedio del castello di San Colombano. Mentr'egli quivi dimorava, erano in continua dissensione i Pavesi, aspirando alcuni a prendere per loro principe Lodovico duca di Savoia, altri Giovanni marchese di Monferrato, ed altri Lionello d'Este marchese di Ferrara. Ma non vi mancava il partito di coloro che anteponevano il darsi al conte Francesco, padrone di Cremona e sì celebre nel mestier della guerra, ossia al di lui figliuolo Galeazzo Maria [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.]. Volle la fortuna del conte che si trovasse castellano in Pavia Matteo Bolognini Bolognese, e ch'egli per le istanze di Agnese dal Maino, parente di Bianca Visconte, trattasse segretamente di cedere al conte quella fortezza. Perciò al conte da lì a poco si diedero la città e cittadella di Pavia, con che egli assumesse il titolo di conte di Pavia, nè quel popolo fosse più suggetto a Milano. Ed ancorchè, presentita cotal intenzione de' Pavesi, fossero venuti gli ambasciatori milanesi per lamentarsene, e per esigere, secondo i patti, che le città prese dal conte si sottomettessero non a lui ma alla loro repubblica: tali scuse, belle parole e promesse sfoderò il conte, che eglino, benchè mal contenti, se ne tornarono a Milano, nè credettero ben fatto il litigar oltre, e molto meno il rompere la buona armonia col loro generale, giacchè non riuscì loro con nuova spedizione ai Veneziani d'indurli a verun accordo. Trovò lo Sforza nella cittadella di Pavia danari, gioie, assaissimo grano e sale, e gran copia d'attrezzi militari, tutto con gran fedeltà a lui consegnato dal Bolognini. Nè perdè egli punto di tempo ad ordinar la fabbrica di quattro galeoni e di altri legni, col disegno già conceputo di formar l'assedio di Piacenza. Intanto il castello di San Colombano, non potendo più reggere, e disperando il soccorso, se gli rendè. Sul principio d'ottobre imprese il conte Francesco l'assedio di Piacenza per terra [Ripalta, Annal. Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.], assistito nel Po dall'armata navale, ben provveduta di cannoni e d'altre macchine militari, e condotta da Bernardo e Filippo Eustachi da Pavia. Nell'esercito suo si contavano i due fratelli Piccinini Francesco e Jacopo, Guidantonio ossia Guidazzo signor di Faenza, Carlo da
Gonzaga, Alessandro Sforza suo fratello, il conte Luigi del Verme, il conte Dolce dall'Anguillara, ed altri valenti capitani. Alla difesa di Piacenza stavano Gherardo Dandolo provveditore de' Veneziani, e Taddeo marchese d'Este lor capitano con un numeroso presidio. Molti assalti furono dati a quella città, giocavano incessantemente le artiglierie; ma niuna apparenza v'era di superare così grande, così popolata e ben difesa città. I Veneziani, poichè mancava loro maniera di fare un ponte sul Po, per recar soccorso alla città suddetta, si accinsero a fabbricare una potente flotta di galeoni e d'altri legni da condursi per Po a quella volta. E intanto Michele Attendolo lor generale coll'esercito suo dava il guasto al territorio di Milano, prendendo anche varie castella, per veder pure di distorre lo Sforza da quell'assedio. Ma questi, dopo essere stato circa sei settimane sotto Piacenza, ed aver fatto coi suoi grossi cannoni una larga breccia nelle mura, e fatto cader due torri, determinò di dare un generale assalto alla città; e tanto più perchè udiva che si era già posta in cammino l'armata navale de' Veneziani per venire a sturbarlo. Scrive il Simonetta [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 10, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.] che il giorno di sì fiera azione fu ad sextumdecimum kalendas decembris, cioè nel dì 16 di novembre. Così pure ha la Cronica Piacentina del Rivalta [Ripalta, Annal. Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.]. Cristoforo da Soldo dice nel dì 15 di novembre [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; ma, soggiugnendo che fu in giovedì, si vede che quel numero è scorretto, e vuol dire anch'egli nel dì 16, che cadde in giovedì. Fierissimo fu quell'assalto, crudelissima la battaglia, e durò molte ore, avendo anche i galeoni del conte dalla parte del Po, che era allora grossissimo, fatta gran guerra alla città. Finalmente verso le ore venti il vittorioso esercito del conte Francesco entrò nella misera, anzi sopra ogni credere infelicissima città; imperocchè fu lasciata in preda ai soldati, e dato il sacco a tutte le case e chiese; non vi fu salvo l'onore delle vergini e delle matrone: di modo che non parvero cristiani, ma turchi coloro che tante iniquità commisero, colla desolazione di quella nobil città. E durò questa barbarie, se crediamo al Ripalta, molto tempo, senza che il conte vi mettesse freno, per quell'empia massima di tener contente le soldatesche, e di animarle ad altri simili fatti d'armi. Dieci
mila cittadini rimasero prigionieri, e convenne riscattarsi a chiunque fu creduto capace di pagare. Il Simonetta, parziale del conte, confessa, è vero, le immense iniquità in tal occasione commesse; ma aggiugne avere il conte Francesco inviate persone a salvare i monisteri delle sacre vergini, ed aver comandato sotto pena della vita la restituzion delle donne, e fatto impiccare chi non ubbidì. E veramente Antonio Ripalta, che si trovò in mezzo a quell'orrida tragedia, e restò prigione, neppur egli parla de' monisteri. Perciò resto io dubbioso se s'abbia a prestar fede a Cristoforo da Soldo, allorchè scrive che le monache tutte furono svergognate, stracciate e malmenate. Con esso scrittore bresciano non di meno s'accordano l'autore della Cronica di Bologna [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.] e lo storico di Rimini [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.]. Si rifugiarono nella cittadella Gherardo Dandolo provveditor veneto, Taddeo marchese ed Alberto Scotto conte di Vigoleno, con assai loro gente; ma non trovandovi provvisione di viveri che per due giorni, non tardarono a rendersi prigionieri, essendo non di meno riuscito ad Alberto di fuggirsene, e di arrivar salvo sul Reggiano. Perchè poi di questa gran perdita fu incolpato (non so se a ragione o a torto) esso marchese, rimesso che fu in libertà, e tornato al campo veneto, nel dì 21 di giugno dell'anno seguente, d'improvviso cadde morto, non senza sospetto che gli fosse stata abbreviata la vita. Scrive santo Antonino [S. Antonin., P. III, tit. 22.], essersi nell'espugnazione della città di Piacenza il conte Francesco trovato in mezzo alla grandine delle palle e dei sassi nemici, di maniera che parve prodigioso l'aver egli salvata la vita. Con questa impresa, che gli fece grande onore presso i rettori della repubblica milanese, terminò egli la campagna presente, e si ritirò a Cremona, angustiata non poco sì per terra, come per Po dalle armi venete. Nè si vuol tacere, che avendo Carlo duca d'Orleans dopo la morte del duca Filippo Maria, ricuperata la città d'Asti, mandò un gran corpo di cavalleria e fanteria, forse tre mila persone, concedutegli dal re di Francia sotto il comando di Rinaldo di Dudresnay. E perch'egli pretendeva all'eredità del duca defunto, siccome figliuolo di Valentina Visconti, perciò questo suo governatore portò la guerra
sull'Alessandrino, prese molte castella, e si diede ad assediar la terra del Bosco. Verso la metà d'ottobre fu colà inviato dai reggenti di Milano Bartolomeo Coleone, che con circa mille cinquecento cavalli diede battaglia a quei Franzesi [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.], e li mise, nel dì 14 d'ottobre, in isconfitta, con far prigione lo stesso lor condottiere Rinaldo; vittoria non di meno che costò ben cara anche ai vincitori [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 10, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. E gli Alessandrini, perchè i Franzesi non aveano dato quartiere alla lor gente, trucidarono poi quanti d'essi aveano fatti prigioni. Passò dipoi Bartolomeo a Tortona, e costrinse quel popolo a prestare ubbidienza a Milano. Non fu esente in quest'anno da novità la sempre inquieta città di Genova [Giustiniani, Istoria di Genova, lib. 5.]. V'era doge Raffaello Adorno. Ad istanza di molti suoi emuli rinunziò egli il governo nel dì 4 di gennaio. Venne sostituito a lui Barnaba Adorno, ma per pochi giorni, perchè nel dì 30 d'esso mese entrato in Genova Giano da Campofregoso, benchè con poca gente, ebbe tal senno e forza, che, detronizzato Barnaba, si fece proclamar doge di quella città. L'aiutarono a questa impresa i Franzesi, con aver egli fatto credere loro di rimettere Genova sotto il loro dominio, ma si trovarono poi beffati. Soggiacque alla guerra in questo anno anche la Toscana. S'era, mentre vivea il duca Filippo Maria, trattato non poco di pace in Ferrara colla mediazione del marchese Lionello d'Este fra i ministri d'esso duca e del re Alfonso, e i Veneziani e Fiorentini. Parea condotto a buon segno il negoziato, quando, per la morte del duca, avendo i Veneziani cangiata massima, andò per terra ogni speranza d'accordo [Ammirati, Istor. di Firenze, lib. 22.]. Ora il re Alfonso, dacchè vide impegnati i Veneziani nella guerra contro lo Stato di Milano, ossia per disegno di fare una potente diversione con assalire i Fiorentini lor collegati, oppure per voglia d'insignorirsi della Toscana, all'uscita d'ottobre con circa quindici mila tra fanti e cavalli venne in persona contra d'essi Fiorentini, in aiuto de' quali accorse il conte Federigo d'Urbino con secento cavalli e mille fanti [Neri Capponi, Comment., tom. 18 Rer. Ital. Poggius, Histor., lib. 8.]. Per quanto facesse il re affine di smuovere i Sanesi dalla lor libertà, o dall'amicizia de' Fiorentini, altro non potè ottenere che provvisione di vettovaglie. Entrato in quel di Volterra, vi prese alcune castella, ed altre nel
Pisano. Simonetto, che dal soldo de' Fiorentini era passato a quello del re, per terza ebbe Castiglione della Pescaia, luogo forte: dopo le quali poche prodezze il re Alfonso ridusse le sue genti a quartiere, alloggiandone la maggior parte nel Patrimonio, ossia negli Stati pontificii. Tornò Bologna in quest'anno [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.] all'ubbidienza della Chiesa, perchè i Bolognesi amavano molto papa Niccolò, che poco anzi era stato lor vescovo. Ne riportarono vantaggiosi capitoli. Siccome già accennai, avea il conte Federigo d'Urbino comperata la città di Fossombrone, e pacifico possessor d'essa quivi signoreggiava [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.]. Per tradimento d'alcuni di que' cittadini Sigismondo Malatesta signor di Rimini verso il principio di settembre v'entrò dentro, e cominciò l'assedio della rocca. Ma eccoti giugnere, nel dì 3 di quel mese, il conte Federigo con tutte le sue forze, ed attaccar la battaglia. Fu rotto il signor di Rimini, e Federigo, per castigo de' traditori, mise a sacco tutta la città ravvolgendo nel medesimo eccidio tanto i rei che gl'innocenti. Nella state dell'anno presente la peste fece non poca strage nella città di Venezia [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.]. Mirabil cosa pare che con tanto bollore e miscuglio di guerre non si diffondesse questo malore per tutta la Lombardia. Ma ne vedremo gli effetti nell'anno seguente.
Anno di Cristo mccccxlviii. Indiz. xi. Niccolò V papa 2. Federigo III re de' Romani 9. Abbondò più che mai di strepitosi avvenimenti l'anno presente per la guerra de' Veneziani contra dello Stato di Milano. Avea quella potente repubblica sommamente accresciuta di gente la sua armata di terra, e specialmente colla giunta di Lodovico da Gonzaga marchese di Mantova, che in loro aiuto condusse mille e secento cavalli [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. II, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Teneva inoltre a Casalmaggiore una formidabil flotta sul Po, da cui veniva stretta e continuamente infestata la città di Cremona. Riuscì ai lor maneggi di staccare da' Milanesi Bartolomeo Coleone di Bergamo. Se ne fuggì egli nel dì 15 di giugno con circa mille e cinquecento cavalli, e andò a rinforzare l'esercito veneto. Dall'altra parte il conte Francesco Sforza provava non pochi affanni, perchè dovea dipendere dal provvedimento e dalle risoluzioni del governo repubblicano de' Milanesi, che erano fra loro discordi. Sotto mano ancora i due figliuoli di Niccolò Piccinino Francesco e Jacopo, sì per l'odio antico, come per l'invidia presente, attraversavano tutti i suoi disegni, consigliando specialmente il governo di Milano di accordarsi co' Veneziani e di far pace. Infatti più e più ambasciatori furono spediti da Milano a tentar di questo i Veneziani. Ma in Venezia il medesimo chiedere pace facea crescere la altura e le pretensioni di quel senato. Tuttavia si sarebbono indotti i Milanesi ad ingoiar delle pillole amare, purchè
seguisse accordo; tanta paura e diffidenza cacciavano loro addosso i malevoli del conte Francesco, con far credere ch'egli facesse la guerra col danaro di Milano, per sottomettere poi Milano a sè stesso. In somma si sarebbe probabilmente conchiusa pace (benchè Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Ist. Brescian., tom. 21 Rer. Italic.] creda che tutte queste fossero finzioni), se un dì gli abitanti di porta Comasina in Milano non avessero fatta una sollevazione contra chi la proponeva: laonde fu ripigliata la risoluzione di continuare la guerra. Uscito in campagna sul principio di maggio il conte Francesco, tolse ai nemici Monzanega, Vallate e Triviglio; e soprattutto fu considerabile l'acquisto da lui fatto di Cassano, perchè luogo di molta importanza pel passaggio dell'Adda. Vennero alle sue mani anche Melzo e Pandino; e quantunque Cremona si trovasse in molte angustie e pericoli per le continue molestie dell'armata navale de' Veneziani; pure, premendo più a' Milanesi Lodi che Cremona, gli convenne passare coll'esercito sotto quella città. Nulla quivi avendo fatto, andò a Casalmaggiore, dove s'era ritirata e fortificata la suddetta flotta veneta comandata da Andrea Querino e da Niccolò Trivisano. Nè perchè venisse a postarsi in quelle vicinanze Michele Attendolo general veneto dell'armata di terra, lasciò egli di assalir la loro flotta. Fece a questo fine discendere per Po l'armata de' galeoni pavesi, e dopo aver la notte fatto piantare dieci cannoni sulla riva del Po, nel dì 16 di luglio cominciò a far giocare le artiglierie, che faceano grande strage dei Veneziani. Non poteano andar innanzi, nè retrocedere i galeoni veneti, ed, essendo durata quella tempesta tutto il dì, nella notte il Querino, dopo aver fatto trasportare in Casalmaggiore le armi e le robe delle navi, con sette galeoni e una galea se ne fuggì, avendo prima fatto attaccare il fuoco al resto delle navi: il che fu una perdita e danno immenso per li Veneziani. Arrivato a Venezia, fu messo a riposar ne' camerotti, e condannato a tre anni di prigionia. Andò poscia, nel dì 29 di luglio, il conte Francesco all'assedio di Caravaggio, e furono a vista le due armate nemiche; anzi vennero a caldissime mischie nei dì 15 e 30 d'agosto, che costarono molto sangue all'una e all'altra parte. Stava forte a cuore a' Veneziani la
conservazione di Caravaggio, oltre al parer loro di perdere la riputazione, se lo lasciavano cadere sotto gli occhi della loro armata, che tra fanti, cavalli e cernide ascendeva a circa ventiquattro mila persone. Benchè fossero diversi i pareri de' capitani, pure, appigliatisi a quello del conte Tiberto Brandolino, comandarono al lor generale di venir ad un fatto di armi. All'alba dunque del dì 15 di settembre ordinate le schiere, improvvisamente diedero principio alla zuffa in tempo che il conte Francesco ascoltava messa, oppure pranzava. Passata per una palude molta cavalleria veneta, cioè per dove non aspettava il conte alcuna molestia, arrivò sino al di lui padiglione, e quasi mise in rotta la di lui gente. Ma si cangiò, dopo gran combattimento, il viso della fortuna. Due mila cavalli spediti dal conte per un bosco, nè scoperti, arrivarono addosso alla retroguardia del campo veneto, e la sbaragliarono: il che servì a mettere in fuga il restante delle loro brigate [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 13, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Fu spaventosa quella sconfitta, e delle più memorabili di questo secolo. Di circa dodici mila cavalli veneti, secondo l'attestato di Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], appena ne scamparono mille e cinquecento; gli altri furono presi. Molto meno è scritto da altri. Vi rimasero prigionieri Roberto da Montalbotto condottiere di mille e ducento cavalli; il conte Guido Rangone da Modena capitano di settecento cavalli; Gentile da Lionesso capitano di mille e settecento cavalli, e i due provveditori veneti Almorò Donato e Gherardo Dandolo, dopo la perdita di Piacenza rimesso in libertà, con una gran torma d'altri uffiziali, oltre all'acquisto del ricchissimo bagaglio, per cui arricchì ogni menomo fantaccino. Questa insigne vittoria portò lo spavento a tutto il territorio di Brescia e di Bergamo, di modo che il conte Francesco, dopo aver preso Caravaggio, ed essere passato nel dì 20 di settembre oltre al fiume Oglio, vide portarsi le chiavi di quasi tutte le castella di que' due contadi. Perchè ne' patti da lui stabiliti colla comunità di Milano v'era che fosse sua Brescia, se per avventura l'avesse presa, a quella volta marciò egli, ben sapendo quanto essa fosse mal provveduta di guarnigione, di viveri e di fortificazioni. Ma ecco attaccar seco lite gli ambasciatori di Milano, che volevano vincere Lodi, e non Brescia. Non potè egli impedire che i due fratelli
Piccinini con quattro mila cavalli, secondando le istanze de' Milanesi, e partendosi da lui, passassero all'assedio di Lodi. Questa discordia co' Milanesi, i quali sospettavano, e non a torto, che il conte pensasse a farsi signor di Milano; e l'aver egli scoperto ch'essi erano tornati a trattar di pace co' Veneziani; coll'aggiugnersi ancora che gli stessi Veneziani con incredibil prontezza e spese rimettevano in ordine la loro armata, ed aveano rinforzati i luoghi forti, ed aspettavano da' Fiorentini due mila cavalli condotti da Sigismondo signor di Rimini, e mille fanti comandati da Gregorio da Anghiari: tutto ciò mise a partito il cervello del conte, uomo di somma avvedutezza e di rari ripieghi. Mandò segretamente a proporre accordo a' Veneziani, e fu non solo ascoltato, perchè ad essi parea di star male non poco, dacchè aveano perduto tante terre e castella del Bresciano e Bergamasco; ma si concertò anche nel dì 18 di ottobre (seppur non fu nel dì 19) concordia e lega fra loro. Doveva il conte restituir tutti i prigioni e le terre prese nel Bresciano e Bergamasco. Crema si doveva cedere ad essi. Tutto il rimanente dello Stato di Milano avea da essere dello Sforza, con obbligarsi i Veneziani d'aiutarlo con gente e danaro a tale acquisto. La pubblicazione di questo accordo fece rimaner estatico ognuno. Ma quando il conte si credea di cominciar a goderne i primi frutti colla consegna di Lodi che gli si dovea dare da' Veneziani, trovò che nel dì innanzi, cioè nel dì 17 di ottobre, quella città s'era renduta a Francesco Piccinino per ordine della reggenza di Milano. Se i Veneziani giocassero netto in tal congiuntura non si sa. Eseguì bensì prontamente il conte tutto quanto egli avea promesso, col restituire ogni terra e prigione. Fuggì da lui in questi tempi Carlo da Gonzaga con circa mille e ducento cavalli, e cinquecento fanti; ma nel dì primo di novembre [Benvenuto da S. Giorgio, Istoria del Monferrato, tom. 23 Rer. Ital.] tirò il conte al suo servigio Guglielmo fratello di Giovanni marchese di Monferrato, che si obbligò di servirlo con sette cento lancie da cavalli tre per lancia, in tutto cavalli due mila e cento, e con cinque cento fanti per otto mesi. Nella capitolazione seguita fra loro Francesco Sforza, secondo l'uso di coloro che promettono molto per eseguire poscia poco e nulla, non vi fu condizione che non accordasse a Guglielmo: cioè di dargli la città d'Alessandria, e in oltre quelle di Torino e d'Ivrea con una
gran copia d'altre terre specificate, se pur venissero alle mani d'esso conte. Lodovico duca di Savoia anch'egli in questi tempi facea guerra allo Stato di Milano, ed avea occupato varie castella. Quanto alla Toscana, infestata in quest'anno dall'armi del re Alfonso [Neri Capponi, Comment., tom. 18 Rer. Ital. Ammirat., Ist. di Firenze, lib. 22.], i Fiorentini si studiarono di rinforzarsi col prendere quanta gente poterono al loro soldo. Fra gli altri a sè tirarono Sigismondo Malatesta signor di Rimini, uomo abbondante di valore, ma più di vizii. Costui s'era acconciato col re Alfonso, menando seco secento lancie da tre cavalli per lancia, e quattrocento fanti. N'avea anche ricavato trenta mila scudi. Ma, fattegli più vantaggiose offerte dai Fiorentini, lasciando burlato il re, si ridusse al loro servigio, e per opera loro si pacificò col conte Federigo d'Urbino nemico suo. Fu preso anche al loro soldo Taddeo de' Manfredi da Faenza con mille e ducento fanti. Morì appunto in quest'anno, a dì 18 oppure 22 di giugno [Annales Foroliviens., tom. 22 Rer. Ital. Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.], Guidantonio ossia Guidazzo suo padre ai bagni di Petriolo sul Sanese, con lasciare esso Taddeo ed Astorre ossia Astorgio figliuoli suoi successori nel dominio. Faenza pervenne ad Astorgio; Imola a Taddeo. Ora il re Alfonso andò a mettere l'assedio alla riguardevole terra di Piombino, posseduta allora da Rinaldo Orsino per le ragioni di Caterina da Appiano sua moglie. Era egli raccomandato da' Fiorentini, e questi non mancarono di spedirgli per mare qualche rinforzo di gente, e di munizioni da bocca e da guerra. Consumò il re tutta la state intorno a Piombino [Bonincontrus, Annal., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], con incredibil valore difeso da Rinaldo, che specialmente sostenne un furioso assalto dato nel settembre a quella terra: finchè la cattiva aria di quel paese fece tal guerra colle malattie alla gente d'esso re, che fu forzato a levare il campo, e a ritornarsene a casa; minacciando nondimeno i Fiorentini di vendicarsi di loro all'anno nuovo. Attese in quest'anno il pontefice Niccolò V a rimetter la pace nella Chiesa di Dio [Labbe, Concil., tom. 13.], e ad estinguere lo scisma d'Amedeo ossia di Felice V antipapa. La Germania, lasciata andare la neutralità, rendè ubbidienza al legittimo pastore della greggia di Cristo; e Carlo VII re di Francia, vigorosamente entrato nell'affare
della pace della Chiesa, ridusse a buon termine le cose; tanto che nell'anno seguente vedremo composte le differenze tutte. Nel presente, a dì 4 di agosto, [Annales Foroliviens., tom. 22 Rer. Ital. Cronica di Ferrara, tom. 24 Rer. Italic.] Antonio degli Ordelaffi signore di Forlì compiè il corso di sua vita, e gli succederono nella signoria Cecco e Pino suoi figliuoli. Era afflitta in questi tempi la loro città dalla peste, che portò al sepolcro circa sei mila persone. In altre città d'Italia lo stesso malore si provò con grande mortalità di persone. Ci richiama di nuovo il conte Francesco Sforza, colle cui imprese voglio terminar l'anno presente. Non volea egli mai perdere tempo, e sapea secondare il buon volto della fortuna. Dacchè dunque fu accordato co' Veneziani, ed ebbe fatta una spedizione a Firenze, a Venezia e a Lionello Estense per aver soccorso di danari, s'inviò verso Piacenza, con far calare per Po nello stesso tempo i galeoni di Pavia. Avvegnachè i Piacentini fossero ben ricordevoli dell'infinito danno recalo loro nel precedente anno, pure non mancò fra loro chi consigliò di prenderlo per padrone; e a questo consiglio diede maggior peso la di lui armata di terra e del Po [Annales Placentini, tom. 20 Rer. Italic.]. Gli spedirono dunque di concorde volere ambasciatori; ed egli, nel dì 23 d'ottobre, v'entrò, con far grandi carezze a quel popolo, esentarlo per quattro anni da ogni tributo e gravezza, e concedere a chiunque era bandito il ritorno alla patria, fra' quali fu Alberto Scotto conte di Vigoleno. Passò dipoi la Sforza a Novara, e, nel dì 20 di dicembre, quella città gli presentò le chiavi [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 15, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Nè terminò il presente anno che anche Alessandria se gli diede con tutte le sue castella. L'acquisto di Piacenza, dove il conte Luigi del Verme possedeva molte castella e beni, servì a maggiormente assodarlo colle sue truppe nel servigio del conte. E in vigore poi della convenzione stabilita da Guglielmo di Monferrato, lo Sforza, benchè contro cuore, gli diede il possesso d'Alessandria, a titolo nondimeno di feudo. Benvenuto da San Giorgio [Benvenuto da S. Giorgio, Istoria del Monferrato, tom. 23 Rer. Ital.] riferisce lo strumento fatto da quel popolo con esso Guglielmo. Vennero ancora al servigio dello Sforza da Milano tre fratelli da San Severino con circa ottocento cavalli. Per isvernar le sue milizie, il conte Francesco le ripartì nel territorio della città di
Milano, dove egli s'era impadronito di Binasco, Biagrasso, Busto, Legnano, Cantù e di altre terre. Mancò di vita nel dicembre di quest'anno [Giustiniani, Istor. di Genova, lib. 5.] Giano da Campofregoso doge di Genova, in cui luogo fu sostituito Lodovico suo fratello.
Anno di Cristo mccccxlix. Indiz. xii. Niccolò V papa 3. Federigo III re de' Romani 10. Ebbe in quest'anno il buon papa Niccolò V la consolazione di veder estinto lo scisma, formato già dai sediziosi prelati del concilio di Basilea [Raynaldus, Annal. Eccl. Labbe, Concil., tom. 13.]. Per finir questa scandalosa briga, la di lui prudenza non ebbe difficoltà di accordar vantaggiosa capitolazione all'antipapa Felice V, concedendogli il cappello cardinalizio, il grado di legato e vicario in tutte le terre del duca di Savoia, e la preminenza sopra gli altri porporati. Conservò ancora la lor dignità ad alcuni cardinali creati da lui, e rimise ne' primieri onori chiunque nel concilio suddetto avea offesa la santa Sede romana. Essendo poi ritornato il non più antipapa Amedeo al ritiro di Ripaglia, quivi attese a passare il resto dei suoi giorni in opere di pietà, finchè, secondo il Guichenone [Guichenon, Hist. de la Maison de Savoye, tom. 1.], nel dì 7 di gennaio dell'anno 1451 Dio il chiamò all'altra vita, mentre egli si trovava in Ginevra [Bonincont., Annal., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Già vivente lui era succeduto nel ducato di Savoia e principato del Piemonte Lodovico unico suo maschio figliuolo. Avea questo novello duca nelle turbolenze dello Stato di Milano occupato Romagnano, buona terra del Novarese [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 15, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; nè avendolo voluto restituire, il conte Francesco inviò colà il conte Luigi del Verme con parte del suo esercito, il quale così ben condusse la faccenda, che
fece prigionieri tutti i Savoiardi e gli abitanti della terra. Se vollero la libertà, convenne loro riscattarsi, e se ne ricavò tal somma di danaro, che giovò non poco all'armata del conte. Negli Annali di Piacenza [Annales Placentini, tom. 20 Rer. Ital.] è attribuita questa impresa a Bartolomeo Coleone, inviato con altri capitani e con molte squadre d'armati in aiuto del conte Francesco dai Veneziani. Era lacerata in questi tempi da gravi dissensioni la città di Milano per le fazioni contrarie de' Guelfi e Ghibellini. Coi primi s'era unito Carlo da Gonzaga, e questi non lasciò indietro arte e trama alcuna per indurre il popolo a dargli il principato della città. Ma non mancavano fautori del conte Francesco, e n'erano i caporali il conte Vitaliano Borromeo, Teodoro Bosio e Giorgio Lampugnano. In sì fatti torbidi, vedendosi Francesco Piccinino decaduto dalla primiera autorità, prese la risoluzione di passare al servigio di Francesco Sforza, e di condurvi anche Jacopo suo fratello, il quale poco prima avea impedito ad Alessandro Sforza l'acquisto di Parma, il conte, quantunque, sapesse quanto questi due fratelli in addietro avessero operato contra di lui, e che non per elezione, ma per necessità si gittavano nelle sue braccia, e qual fosse l'odio antico della lor casa contro la propria, pure, siccome uomo che sapea ben maneggiar le carte, pensando che per qualche tempo gli potevano esser utili, colle più vistose carezze gli accettò, promettendo di tenerli come figliuoli, e promise in moglie a Jacopo Drusiana sua figliuola naturale, rimasta poco fa vedova di Giano da Campofregoso doge di Genova. Gli Annali Piacentini dicono che i due Piccinini vennero a lui nel dì 15 di gennaio con tre mila cavalli e due mila fanti, gagliardo rinforzo alla di lui armata. Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.] ci dà questo fatto al dì 19 di dicembre. Ma non tarderemo a conoscere qual fosse la loro fede. Sul principio del suddetto mese di gennaio anche la città di Tortona con tutto il suo distretto inalberò le insegne del conte Francesco. La Storia del Simonetta è difettosa perchè di rado assegna i tempi delle imprese. Succederono in questi tempi in Milano non poche crudeltà di Carlo da Gonzaga e de' Guelfi suoi aderenti, contra di chi procurava o desiderava di dare la città allo Sforza. Tagliato fu il capo ad alcuni
nobili, depresso il governo de' Ghibellini, molti de' quali furono mandati a' confini; ed altri chi qua e chi là fuggendo si misero in salvo. Andò tant'oltre l'odio di costoro contra d'esso Sforza, che pubblicamente diceano doversi spendere tutto per non averlo per loro signore; e che in fine meglio era darsi al demonio o al Turco, che a lui [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 17, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Aveano fin qui sostenuta i Parmigiani la loro libertà, e contuttochè Alessandro Sforza fratello del conte Francesco, unito con Pier-Maria de Rossi conte di San Secondo, gl'inquietasse forte con un corpo di milizie, e tentasse anche un dì di prendere la lor città per tradimento (il che costò la vita a molti di que' cittadini autori del trattato); nondimeno dacchè il conte Francesco ebbe invialo colà Bartolomeo Coleone con due mila cavalli e cinquecento fanti, cominciarono a sbigottirsi. Si vollero dare al marchese di Ferrara Lionello d'Este; ma perchè questi ne fu dissuaso dai Veneziani, non accudì alla esibizione. Perciò in fine si diedero nel mese di febbraio ad Alessandro Sforza, che ne prese il possesso a nome del fratello. Per tutto il mese di gennaio avea il conte Francesco già presa la maggior parte delle castella del distretto di Milano. Per isperanza dunque che anche la città di Milano gli si dovesse rendere, giacchè non mancavano a lui delle persone benevole in quella città, determinò di accostarsi alla medesima e di bloccarla, acciocchè, se non valeva l'amore e il buon consiglio, la forza riducesse i suoi avversarli. Pose a questo fine il campo in più siti lungi dalla città, per impedire che non v'entrassero vettovaglie. Nel qual tempo anche i Veneziani, de' quali dovea essere la Geradadda e Crema [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], uscirono in campagna di buon'ora, cioè nel gennaio dell'anno presente, con sommo aggravio de' Bresciani, e loro disagio per la cattiva stagione. Ebbero nel febbraio Caravaggio ed altri luoghi, e messo poscia il campo intorno a Crema, dirizzarono le batterie contra di quella nobil terra. Avea il conte Francesco anch'egli durante il verno inviati Francesco Piccinino, Luigi del Verme ed altri capitani con un buon corpo d'armati ad assediare l'insigne terra di Monza. Carlo da Gonzaga, che faceva allora il generale dei Milanesi, fu spedito con soldatesche al soccorso. Entrò egli una notte senza essere osservato in Monza, e la mattina seguente diede loro
addosso, in maniera che li sconfisse, con prendere almen trecento cavalli, i cannoni e tutto il loro bagaglio. Fu osservato che Francesco Piccinino non si volle muovere colle sue truppe per soccorrere gli assaliti, segno che egli già ordiva un tradimento. Per tal vittoria alzarono forte la testa i Milanesi; e molto più perchè, essendosi collegati con Lodovico duca di Savoia, era loro data speranza che calerebbe dalle Alpi un nuvolo di cavalleria contra dello Sforza. Venne in fatti l'armata savoiarda, ma non mirabile, come s'era creduto, contra Novara [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 18, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; nè avendo potuto sorprendere quella città, s'impadronì di quasi tutte le castella del distretto, commettendo immense crudeltà e saccheggi. Erano circa sei mila cavalli. Cristoforo da Soldo li fa il doppio, secondo le voci spesso favolose de' tempi di guerra. Contra di loro il conte Francesco spedì Bartolomeo Coleone, e si andò badaluccando fra loro per molti giorni, finchè, passati i Savoiardi con più di tre mila cavalli ad assediare Borgo Mainero, Bartolomeo, benchè inferiore di gente, fu forzato nel dì 20 d'aprile a prendere battaglia. Fu questa assai sanguinosa sì per l'una che per l'altra parte; tuttavia rimasero in fine sconfitti i Savoiardi con prigionia di mille cavalli e presa del bagaglio. Bastò questa vittoria, perchè il duca Lodovico desistesse dal dar più molestia allo Stato di Milano. Circa questi tempi il conte Francesco, venuta già la primavera, era uscito in campagna, ed avea ordinato a Francesco Piccinino e a Guglielmo di Monferrato di tornare all'assedio di Monza. Allora fu che si palesò l'infedeltà del Piccinino e di Jacopo suo fratello, perchè amendue, nel dì 14 oppure 15 di aprile, fatto prima segreto accordo colla reggenza di Milano [Ripalta, Annal. Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.], ed aperte loro le porte di Monza, con tutte le lor truppe v'entrarono. Ciò saputo, Guglielmo non tardò a ritirarsi di là con buon ordine, e a ridursi all'armata sforzesca. Con tre mila cavalli e mille fanti passarono dipoi i Piccinini a Milano con gran festa di quel popolo; e perchè Crema, assediata dai Veneziani, era oramai ridotta all'agonia, ebbero ordine di soccorrerla. Colà s'inviarono essi insieme con Carlo da Gonzaga, e con tali forze, che Sigismondo Malatesta, capitano de' Veneziani a quell'impresa, giudicò meglio di non aspettarli, e sciolse
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  • 1. Media Research Methods Understanding Metric And Interpretive Approaches 1st Edition Anderson download https://ebookbell.com/product/media-research-methods- understanding-metric-and-interpretive-approaches-1st-edition- anderson-53996896 Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com
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  • 5. NOTE TO AUTHOR/EDITOR: Pages i and iii are placeholders only; the final half-title and title pages will be created by the art department later in the process. Please confirm that you want your name to appear as follows and that your affiliation is accurate. Media Research Methods
  • 7. Media Research Methods Understanding Metric and Interpretive Approaches James A. Anderson University of Utah SAGE Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington, DC
  • 8. Copyright © 2012 by SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anderson, James A. Media research methods : understanding metric and interpretive approaches / James A. Anderson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 978-1-4129-9956-4 (pbk.) 1. Mass media—Research—Methodology. I. Title. P91.3.A58 2012 302.2301—dc22 2011011487 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FOR INFORMATION: SAGE Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 E-mail: order@sagepub.com SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 Acquisitions Editor: Matthew Byrnie Associate Editor: Nathan Davidson Editorial Assistant: Elizabeth J. Borders Copy Editor: Melinda Masson Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. Proofreader: Indexer: Cover Designer: Janet Kiesel Marketing Manager: Liz Thornton Permissions: Karen Ehrmann
  • 9. Brief Contents Preface xviii Acknowledgments xxi SECTION I: OVERVIEW 1 1. Exploring the Mediascape 3 2. Mapping the Mediascape 23 3. Methods of Exploration: Asking Questions 37 4. Methods of Exploration: Finding Answers 63 SECTION II: FOUNDATIONS OF RESEARCH PRACTICE 81 5. From Concepts to Data 83 6. Research Questions and Hypotheses 106 7. Literatures and Databases 133 SECTION III: DESIGNING PROTOCOLS IN METRIC RESEARCH 157 8. Sampling 159 9. Statistics and Statistical Analysis 181 10. Designing Surveys 218 11. Protocols for Experiments 239 SECTION IV: CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN THE INTERPRETIVE PARADIGM 271 12. Coding Text 273 13. Discursive Protocols: Creating Texts 300 14. Critical Interpretive Methods: Social Meanings and Media Texts 323
  • 10. 15. Ethnographic Methods 351 16. An Excursion Into Writing 374 Appendix A: A Short History of Media Innovations 394 Appendix B: One Hundred Studies 406 Glossary 411 References 418 Index 000 About the Author 000
  • 11. Contents Preface xviii Acknowledgments xxi SECTION I: OVERVIEW 1 1 Exploring the Mediascape 3 Chapter Preview  3 What’s It All About?   3 What Are the Major Topics?   3 What Special Terms Are Used?   4 Introduction  4 Communication Domains  4 Mass Communication  5 Media Studies  6 Mediated Communication  7 Scholarly Communities of the Mediascape   11 Science and Scholarship   11 Scientific, Proprietary, and Personal Research   12 Understanding Methodological Differences   12 Methodologies  13 The Empirical  13 The Metric  14 The Hermeneutic  14 The Critical  15 Epistemological Foundations  15 Assaying the Differences   20 Moving On  21 Reflections  21 What Are Some Points to Remember?   21 Why Does It Matter?   21 What Else Could We Talk About?   22 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   22
  • 12. 2 Mapping the Mediascape 23 Chapter Previw  23 What’s It All About?   23 What Are the Major Topics?   23 What Special Terms Are Used?   24 Introduction  24 Four Corners of Analysis   24 Properties  25 Processes  27 Consequences  28 Character  29 Putting It Together: Friends in Social Networking Sites   31 Properties  32 Processes  32 Consequences  34 Character  34 Moving On  35 Reflections  36 What Are Some Points to Remember?   36 Why Does It Matter?   36 What Else Could We Talk About?   36 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   36 3 Methods of Exploration: Asking Questions 37 Chapter Preview  37 What’s It All About?   37 What Are the Major Topics?   37 What Special Terms Are Used?   38 Introduction: Primacy of the Problem   38 Preliminaries  39 Commonalities  39 Creating Public Knowledge   39 What About the Truth of the Matter?   39 Theory and Method   40 The Process of Research   41 Initiating Issues and Preliminary Investigations   43 Refining the Problem   49 Literature Review  58 Problem Statement  59 The Ethics of the Problem   60 Moving On  61 Reflections  62
  • 13. What Are Some Points to Remember?   62 Why Does It Matter?   62 What Else Could We Talk About?   62 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   62 4 Methods of Exploration: Finding Answers 63 Chapter Preview  63 What’s It All About?   63 What Are the Major Topics?   63 What Special Terms Are Used?   64 Introduction  64 An Introduction to Empirical Methods   65 Cataloguing Methods  66 Metric Methods  67 Interpretive Methods  70 Hybrid Methods  73 Mixed Methods  75 Considering Purposes Beyond Method   77 Moving On  79 Reflections  79 What Are Some Points to Remember?   79 Why Does It Matter?   80 What Else Could We Talk About?   80 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   80 SECTION II: FOUNDATIONS OF RESEARCH PRACTICE 81 5 From Concepts to Data 83 Chapter Preview  83 What’s It All About?   83 What Are the Major Topics?   83 What Special Terms Are Used?   84 The Foundations of Argument in Research   84 Assumptions Prior to Data   85 Assumptions About Media/Texts/Audiences   85 Assumptions About Culture/Society/Individuals   87 Summary of Assumptions   89 Postassumptive Theory  90 Theory Types  90 Levels of Approach   91 Initiating Concepts  91 Epistemic Divisions  91
  • 14. Concepts and Constructs   92 Engagement, Evidence, Claim, and Trustworthiness   93 Metric Evidence  94 Metric Trustworthiness: Reliability, Precision, Accuracy, and Validity   99 Interpretive (and Hybrid) Evidence   100 Interpretive Trustworthiness: Coherence, Resonance, and Vraisemblance   104 Moving On  104 Reflections  105 What Are Some Points to Remember?   105 Why Does It Matter?   105 What Else Could We Talk About?   105 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   105 6 Research Questions and Hypotheses 106 Chapter Preview  106 What’s It All About?   106 What Are the Major Topics?   106 What Special Terms Are Used?   107 Creating a Research Study   107 Things and Properties: Questions of “What?”   108 Methods and Practices: Questions of “How?”   108 Causes and Consequences: Questions of “Why?”   109 Character and Value: Questions of “So What?”   109 Research Questions and Hypotheses   110 Metric Studies  110 Interpretive Studies  111 Hybrid Studies  111 Community-Based Research  112 Proprietary Research  113 Contemporary Examples  113 Questions of Properties   114 Questions of Praxis   117 Questions of Consequence   119 Questions of Character   122 Implications for Developing Research Questions   124 Anticipating Institutional Review   125 Competent Scholarship  126 Informed Consent  127 Informed Consent and Interpretive Studies   127 Tensions  128 Commentary on Methods and Implications   129 Moving On  131 Reflections  131
  • 15. What Are Some Points to Remember?   131 Why Does It Matter?   132 What Else Could We Talk About?   132 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   132 7 Literatures and Databases 133 Chapter Preview  133 What’s It All About?   133 What Are the Major Topics?   133 What Special Terms Are Used?   134 Introduction  134 Metric, Interpretive, and Hybrid Literature Reviews   135 Reviews in Metric Research   135 Reviews in Interpretive Research   135 Hybrid Reviews  136 In the Beginning, For the Beginner   137 Issue-Based Indexes    137 Archives and Databases in Mediated Communication   140 Conducting Professional, Problem-Based Literature Searches   142 Writing to Read   142 Research Literatures  144 Literatures and Databases   146 Professional Practices in Search Strategies   149 Managing Citations  152 The Ethics of Literature Reviews   154 Moving On  155 Reflections  155 What Are Some Points to Remember?   155 Why Does It Matter?   156 What Else Could We Talk About?   156 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   156 SECTION III: DESIGNING PROTOCOLS IN METRIC RESEARCH 157 8 Sampling 159 Chapter Preview  159 What’s It All About?   159 What Are the Major Topics?   159 What Special Terms Are Used?   160 Introduction  160 Understanding Sampling  164 Probability Sampling  164
  • 16. Nonprobability Sampling  166 Critique and the Question of Representativeness   168 Sampling Methods  171 Probability Sampling  171 Nonprobability Sampling  174 Sampling Things, Texts, Processes, and Episodes   175 Best Practices  176 Power or Size Counts   177 Moving On  179 Reflections  179 What Are Some Points to Remember?   179 Why Does It Matter?   180 What Else Could We Talk About?   180 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   180 9 Statistics and Statistical Analysis 181 Chapter Preview  181 What’s It All About?   181 What Are the Major Topics?   181 What Special Terms Are Used?   182 Introduction  182 Descriptive Statistics  185 Inferential Statistics  193 Significance and Public Decision Making   193 Common Tests of Difference   197 Common Measures of Relationship   206 A Peek Into Structure and Modeling   211 The Ethics of Analysis   215 Moving On  216 Reflections  216 What Are Some Points to Remember?   216 Why Does It Matter?   217 What Else Could We Talk About?   217 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   217 10Designing Surveys 218 Chapter Preview  218 What’s It All About?   218 What Are the Major Topics?   218 What Special Terms Are Used?   219 Introduction  219 Measuring Properties: Developing Content   220 Understanding Communication Variables   220
  • 17. Statement-Based Scales  221 Descriptor-Based Scales  222 Qualifying, Exploratory, Analytical, and Focal Measures   223 Demo- and Psychographics   225 Format  227 Anticipating Analysis and Data Handling   227 Methods of Data Collection   228 Accessibility  228 Gaining and Sustaining Participation   230 Ensuring and Testing Quality Responses   231 Testing Quality  234 The Ethics of Survey Design   234 Moving On  236 Reflections  237 What Are Some Points to Remember?   237 Why Does It Matter?   237 What Else Could We Talk About?   237 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   238 11Protocols for Experiments 239 Chapter Preview  239 What’s It All About?   239 What Are the Major Topics?   239 What Special Terms Are Used?   240 Introduction  240 Components of Experimental Design   242 Causality  242 Theory  244 Control  245 Ecological Validity  246 Creating the Protocol   248 Variables  248 Treatments and Equivalence   253 Respondents  256 Analysis  258 An Invented Example   263 The Ethics of Experiments   269 Conclusion  269 Moving On  270 Reflections  270 What Are Some Points to Remember?   270 Why Does It Matter?   270 What Else Could We Talk About?   270 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   270
  • 18. SECTION IV: CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN THE INTERPRETIVE PARADIGM 271 12Coding Text 273 Chapter Preview  273 What’s It All About?   273 What Are the Major Topics?   273 What Special Terms Are Used?   274 Introduction to Coding Texts   274 Symbolic and Discursive Protocols   276 Four Intentions  276 Analysis of Intentionalities   278 Elements of Content Protocols   280 Metric Coding  281 Cases  282 Unit of Analysis   284 Codes  285 Issues in Reliability and Validity   286 Interpretive Coding  287 Selection of Texts   287 Close Reading  288 Cases and Units of Analysis   289 Coding  289 Issues in Trustworthiness   291 Common Elements in Coding   291 Computer-Aided Analysis  292 Coding Digitized Texts   294 Moving On  298 Reflections  298 What Are Some Points to Remember?   298 Why Does It Matter?   299 What Else Could We Talk About?   299 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   299 13Discursive Protocols: Creating Texts 300 Chapter Preview  300 What’s It All About?   300 What Are the Major Topics?   300 What Special Terms Are Used?   301 Introduction  301 Producing and Coding Research Texts   301 Long-Form Interviews  302 Focus Groups  305 Protocol Analyses  306
  • 19. Narratives  307 Noninteractive Observation  309 Coding Texts: Pulling It All Together   310 The Texts of the Problem   311 Approach to Analysis   311 Unit of Analysis   311 Coding  312 Analysis  313 Implications and Conclusions   314 Objectivity and Vraisemblance   315 Critical Question Checklist   315 Critical Answers for Metric Studies   317 Critical Answers for Hermeneutic and Hybrid Studies   319 Moving On  321 Reflections  321 What Are Some Points to Remember?   321 Why Does It Matter?   321 What Else Could We Talk About?   321 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   322 14 Critical Interpretive Methods: Social Meanings and Media Texts 323 Chapter Preview  323 What’s It All About?   323 What Are the Major Topics?   323 What Special Terms Are Used?   324 Introduction  324 Goals  326 Identifying Issues and Texts   328 Selection  329 Single Text  330 Time-Based  330 Comparative Within Time   331 Comparative Across Time   331 Comparative Across Media   331 Thematic  332 Textual Capture  332 Interpretive Reading  334 Gaining Intimate Familiarity   334 Textual Regularities  334 Developing a Content Log   335 A Theoretical Starting Point   336 Systematic Analysis of Meaning Construction   336 The Play of Signs   336 Patterns of Organization   340 Linkages to Context   343
  • 20. Emergence and Confrontation   345 Finely Grained Examination   345 Crafting the Argument   346 Is the Analysis Insightful?   346 Is the Analysis Valid?   347 Is the Analysis Valuable?   348 Moving On  349 Reflections  349 What Are Some Points to Remember?   349 Why Does It Matter?   350 What Else Could We Talk About?   350 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   350 15Ethnographic Methods 351 Chapter Preview  351 What’s It All About?   351 What Are the Major Topics?   351 What Special Terms Are Used?   352 Introduction  352 Member Understanding  353 Participant Observation  354 Hybrid Forms  355 Adaptive Strategies in Ethnographic Research   355 Understanding an Ethnographic Problem   355 The Membership  358 Gaining Access  361 Fieldwork I: Achieving Member Knowledge   362 Fieldwork II: Supervised Performance and Reflexive Writing   366 Making Sense of It All: The Ethnographic Argument   368 Emerging Forms of Argument   371 The Ethics of Ethnography   372 Moving On  372 Reflections  373 What Are Some Points to Remember?   373 Why Does It Matter?   373 What Else Could We Talk About?   373 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   373 16An Excursion Into Writing 374 Chapter Preview  374 What’s It All About?   374 What Are the Major Topics?   374 What Special Terms Are Used?   375
  • 21. Introduction  375 Professional Writing  375 Get Connected  375 Develop Skills  376 Assemble Technology  377 Develop Good Practices   378 Doing the Writing   378 Dealing With Writer’s Block   380 Manuscript Preparation  380 Background Practices: Foundational Reviews   382 The Garden-Variety Literature Reviews   382 Meta-Analyses  383 Foundational Reviews  383 Developing the Archive   385 Setting Domain Boundaries   387 Building the Archive   387 Capturing the Wily Source   388 Coding the Work   388 Approaches to Coding   389 Software Support  389 The Value of Coding   389 An Example From the Media Effects Archive   390 Closing Foundational Reviews   392 A Final Ethical Note   392 Reflections  392 What Are Some Points to Remember?   392 Why Does It Matter?   393 What Else Could We Talk About?   393 What Else Might Be Interesting to Read?   393 Appendix A: A Short History of Media Innovations 394 Appendix B: One Hundred Studies 406 Glossary 411 References 418 Index 000 About the Author 000
  • 22. xviii Preface This book is a coming-of-age story about managing a career conducting and teaching research in an era of radical changes in methodology. Each change seems to be ushered in with great promise, and although there are some benefits gained by the discipline, the basic questions remain unanswered. Each new method presents itself as a solution to the ills that plagued the previous one, and yet upon close examination, the glosses, contradictions, and improbabilities begin to appear. Ideologues from every side attempt to advance their own agenda by pointing out the weaknesses of others. Nonetheless, this is not the story we tell our students. In the classroom, we are typically the wizards of science and scholarship; our discipline is really the best; and the answers, if not in hand, are there for the next study that comes along. Our textbooks consistently pres- ent this picture, often directly but certainly in the silences, in what authors choose to praise and refuse to criticize. I wrote this book because I thought it was time to grow up. This is neither a neutral nor a dogmatic text. It adopts a critical point of view that is both postmodern and constructionist and does not shy away from noting the glosses, compro- mises, and contradictions that allow research and scholarship to move forward, even as they are imperfectly developed and executed. Consequently, this text is not a “Yellow Brick Road” book where all problems will be solved if one just follows the directed path. At the same time, it attempts to identify the moments when that positional voice is explicitly speaking in order that students may decide on its value and instructors can point out alter- native points of view. It offers no more comfort or distress to either side of the metric- interpretive boundary. I use both methodologies extensively and have an experienced practitioner’s understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each. I also believe the text is grounded in a realist view of the effectiveness of communication research. That view is that our approaches have a low level of instrumentality, which is a central reason why there are so many different methodological approaches available. No single method or set of methods has been able to provide compelling answers to the issues that have been before us from ancient thought to the present. This is a book neither of myths nor of method advocacy. It is a book for grown-ups. READERS AND COURSES This book is designed for the reader who has had some instruction and, perhaps, some expe- rience in doing research and is now ready to put together both the methods and the issues of research and scholarship. Its presumed reader may be an upper-division undergraduate
  • 23. Preface xix about to go into a corporate world under the influence of Six Sigma data-based management that has also become more and more dependent on the interpretive analysis of its customers and clients. Or that reader might be the entering graduate student struggling with the great variations of research methodologies available to the academic researcher today. In either case, this book provides the reader with an exploration of what is available in sufficient detail that actual research can be produced from either a metric (quantitative) or an interpretive (qualitative) perspective. The book begins with an overview of the study of media, is filled with examples from media, and reviews considerable research in media. It is most at home in journalism, media studies, mediated communication, and all the other disciplinary forms that house the study of media. It works in methods courses that are beyond the introduction to research or as a more sophisticated introduction to research and scholarship for the graduate student. FEATURES AND ORGANIZATION I’ve attempted a conversational style throughout, pulling the reader in with comments and stories that present the process of scholarship as a human endeavor in which, for the most part, we struggle to do our best but are continually faced with the limitations of time and money. The compromises we make are real and have consequences for the quality of the work but are necessary nonetheless. The message is that this is what we have, and it may be as good as it gets. Each chapter begins with a preview that consists of an overview paragraph, a list of the major topics, and a set of terms that are in use and may be unfamiliar to the readers. Each chapter ends with a “So what?” paragraph (“Why Does It Matter?”), a list of the points to remember, additional points for discussion, and a reference or two for further reading. In each of these sections, I have attempted to offer a little different slant—an expansion, if you will, of the main text. It’s not throwaway writing. The issues for further discussion are deliberately provocative. They often challenge typical practice or even the position taken in the main text of the chapter. This reflexivity is a postmodern strategy to leave things that are fundamentally unsettled unresolved. The push is always toward complexity and nuance. The book is divided into four parts: overview, foundational practices, metric protocols, and interpretive scholarship. The overview section starts with two discussions. The first takes up the disciplinary differences that exist within the research and scholarship directed toward media; the second focuses on the methodological differences and their epistemo- logical foundations. The section then takes up the process of research, moving through the classes of problems to the processes that develop an actual problem for study. The last chapter of this section works through metric, interpretive, critical-empirical hybrids, and the mixed methods of qualitative-quantitative combinations. The foundational practices section, as one might expect, works through the activities that any research has to take up: making the move from theory to analysis; dealing with issues of validity and trustworthiness; developing the research focus or topic; developing
  • 24. MEDIA RESEARCH METHODS xx the research question or hypothesis; and, in the third chapter of this section, describing practices appropriate to contemporary literatures and databases. The metric section deals with the practices of quantitative research. Its four chapter topics are sampling, statistical analysis, surveys, and experimental protocols. In this sec- tion, I have adopted a Monte Carlo approach assuming that every student will be able to put together the resources to connect to useful websites and to have a basic data handling application such as Excel or Calc available. This approach is based on the assumption that media students do not always have sufficient mathematical background to address the issues in metric research, but they can see those issues in action with constructed data sets. The interpretive section starts with traditional content analysis in order to provide a side- by-side comparison of metric coding and interpretive coding. The purpose is to lower the rhetoric and to raise the clarity of understanding of the differences between them. These twin chapters also adopt the position that a text is a text. It does not matter if the text is industrially produced content or the responses of participants in interviews or narrative constructions. Coding has to address the same issues throughout. The second set of two chapters steps clearly over the metric-interpretive boundary into the critical-empirical hybrid of textual analysis for the first and then to the domain of ethnography for the second. The last chapter of the book returns to a foundational practice: writing and its deep preparation in foundational reading. The approach is not toward the one-off writer or sometime scholar, but to the person who sees her or his career filled with processes of writing and scholarship. AUXILIARY FEATURES Studies done at the University of Utah indicate that almost all upper-division and graduate students have personal access to the Internet, usually through multiple platforms, and the remaining few can readily access it at a school or public library. In order to take advantage of that access, this text has developed a website that greatly enlarges the opportunities for learning. To my mind, the most exciting pedagogical aspect of the website is the demon- strations. These demonstrations allow the student to access literature, design surveys, draw samples, conduct statistical analysis, transcribe interviews, and code text—in short, do all of the things they read about in the text. Each of the Monte Carlo examples in the text is also there so that students can reproduce those data and results. My experience is that students learn much more and have a deeper understanding of what they learn by reading and doing rather than just one or the other. Last, the website provides a regular update of the information provided in the chapters on databases and the literature. These chapters are vulnerable to becoming outdated sim- ply because of the nature of the topics. This regular update service (which, unlike Microsoft, does not shut down your computer) eliminates that concern.
  • 25. xxi Acknowledgments No book finds its way without a lot of help. I wish to thank my colleagues and graduate students at Utah, Janet Colvin, Autumn Garrison, and Keith Massie, along with Glen Feighery and Jim Fisher who read drafts and gave the gift of insightful criticism. Thanks too are due to the students of the undergraduate and graduate research classes who helped refine the demonstrations and Monte Carlo exercises. I offer my deep appreciation to the reviewers, Barbara L. Baker (University of Central Missouri), Brad J. Bushman (University of Michigan), Georgina Grosenick (Carleton University), Sharon Kleinman (Quinnipiac University), Thomas R. Lindlof (University of Kentucky), Timothy P. Meyer (University of Wisconsin–Green Bay), David W. Park (Lake Forest College), Norma Pecora (Ohio University), and Christopher F. White (Sam Houston State University), whose collective efforts greatly advanced the revisions of the work. While all acknowledged are responsible for much of what is good, whatever that remains that is not is solely of my own doing. Finally, my thanks to the fine folks at Sage. Their support and professionalism are outstanding.
  • 27. 1 S e c t i o n I Overview Section I is a set of four introductory chapters that intends to provide an overview of the empirical study of mediated communication. Chapter 1 starts to explore the “lay of the land” by considering the disciplines that are currently home to the study of media. Chapter 2 picks out the properties that make the mediascape a unique territory of analysis. Chapters 3 and 4 show how the research process comes together in the conceptual forms of the mediascape.
  • 29. 3 C H A P T E R 1 Exploring the Mediascape What’s It All About? Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter. Introductory chapters do the work of positioning the reader inside the playing field of the writer. I am striving to provide you with an understanding of the overall approach as well as an overview of the targets, methods, and foundations of the metho­ dologies we will study in this book. What Are the Major Topics? This chapter first takes up the negotiation of what we will mean when we talk about communica­ tion and media. The alternative terms mass communication and media studies are considered and gently set aside in favor of the more inclusive mediated communication. Mediated communication includes all media, modes of presentation, audiences, technologies, and texts past, present, and to come and is contrasted with in-person, face-to-face communication. This contrast is drawn out by considering the unique characteristics of face-to-face communication. Next, readers are quickly reminded that communication is a diverse field, and what counts as a field of study at one institution may not count as such at another. Further, there are divisions across what is believed to be science, good scholarship, and good research. I argue that good research can and should happen anywhere and that the arguments about science and scholarship are often more ideological (heat) than instrumental (light). You don’t have to accept this posi­ tion, but I will try to hold it throughout. The next section takes up the center of the work by looking at methodological differences. A number (and a growing one at that) of scientific and scholarly methods are widely practiced in communication. Primarily concerned with two methodologies residing inside the empirical domain, metric and interpretive, Chapter 1 also takes notice of emerging hybrid forms as well as the critical-analytical. (Continued) CHAPTER PREVIEW
  • 30. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 4 INTRODUCTION Communication is a particularly demanding field of study, and communication scholars are just beginning to learn how to explore it. This book is about the methods of exploration, and the mediascape will be the territory of that exploration. The methods examined come from the careful practices of science and scholarship. Science is the systematic exploration of the world around us. And scholarship is the crafting of well-constructed arguments that meet the tests of good evidence and justified conclusions. COMMUNICATION DOMAINS To begin an exploration of the mediascape, we first need to know who we are. Scholars and scientists have divided up the world of communication into different domains. These domains carry such familiar names as interpersonal, intercultural, organizational, and, in our case, mediated communication. Communication itself is not really different in one (Continued) The chapter ends by guiding the reader through the epistemological foundations of each of these methodologies. These foundations are the belief systems that underlie the justified application of a methodology. For the individual researcher, these belief systems might be all-encompassing—that is, accepting one requires the rejection of all others. For other researchers, the belief systems form the standards under which one approach is selected over another. It is hard for the professional to be that flexible because real, expert knowledge is required for any given approach. The chapter mostly follows a given approach and tries to be on speaking terms with everything else. Students of methods have an advantage here because they do not have the overburden of extensive invested effort. Now’s the time to try stuff out. What Special Terms Are Used?1 Analytical methods Atomism Critical rhetorical theory Critical theory Epistemology Frankfurt School Hermeneutics Interpretive empiricism Metric empiricism Synthetic variable Technological determinism Transcendental Universalism Variable 1 These are terms that might not be in ordinary usage. Definitions can be found in the glossary.
  • 31. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 5 domain or the other, but the focal points of interest and sometimes the methods of study are different. And, certainly, those differences make a difference to those who study com- munication. In mediated communication, we don’t even have to cross the border to encounter some dispute. We, who explore this territory, are in the process of a name change. Our field is called by many “mass communication” (or “mass communications”), by others “media studies,” and by this book “mediated communication.” Like my own name, if you call me James, Jim, or Jimmy, it makes a difference. Mass Communication Mass communication is the oldest term for our field of study.2 It developed prominence in the decade just prior to World War II when U.S. and European scholars were concerned with totalitarian governments, propaganda, revolutionary social movements, and the pre- sumed decline of culture represented by the popular media. It supported a strong, objective press that would contain the excesses of government and promoted a message-based analysis. In the tradition of mass communication, the mediascape was described by industrially produced messages that were delivered to large, heterogeneous audiences. For 50 years the concept of mass communication made a lot of sense. Motion pictures, popular magazines, radio, and then television were industries with relatively few sources of produc- tion that had huge audiences. The concept of one-to-many or a few-to-millions seemed to describe what was going on. Starting in the early 1950s, the large audience part of these conditions began to erode, and by the early 1980s, the landscape was radically restructured. The motion picture indus- try was broken apart by antitrust action, and its traditional forms disintegrated under the onslaught of television. Radio networks withered, and with the advent of FM broadcasting, dozens of independent stations were competing in every market of size. Changes in regula- tions have allowed reconcentration of ownership, but programming can still be quite local. We have yet to see what satellite radio will bring and may not get the chance, given the state of its financial health. Magazine circulations declined, and magazines themselves returned to more specialized content. Newspaper circulations declined, the independent paper became a part of a chain, and bankruptcy has claimed more than a few. The monolith of television was fractured first by cable and then by satellite distribution of subscription services. TV has gone from three channels that controlled nearly all of the audience to an audience distributed across hun- dreds of channels, and it is now moving toward liberating content from channels altogether as well as seeing the end of free (broadcast) television. It is the Internet that causes the most problems for the term mass communication. Mass communication is built on the premise that a few outlets control most of the available content. In mass communication, content is scarce and access limited. The Internet, how- ever, is built on the premise that everything is available to everybody and anybody can 2 The plural—mass communications—appeared in schools particularly interested in the content of the media and, perhaps initially, less interested in the process of media. The battle over the s seems to be waning as more surrender to the argument that the study of communication versus the study of communications is like the study of medicine versus the study of medicines. There are fine schools, nonetheless, that uphold the tradition of the s.
  • 32. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 6 produce the content. The technology that supports all this is less than 20 years old, but it essentially writes the end of the mass communication story. That doesn’t mean that there will not be a lot of people watching a particular show or listening to a kind of music. It does mean that a population can no longer be character- ized by its media content. For example, one can extrapolate from ratings data that close to 30 million U.S. citizens have watched something from the reality show genre. That is a lot of people, but it is also (depending on when you are reading this) less or substantially less than 10% of the U.S. population. The phrase everybody’s watching has always been false, and is even more so now. Throughout its history mass has always meant something more than size (though size counts). Mass has also meant less: less able to understand, resist, manage, and control the forces and influence of the media. And in that sentence media became the media—some entity working purposefully toward some end. Remember that mass communication comes from an era when social activists were concerned about the susceptibility of the under- educated and poor to communist (Stalinist) and fascist propaganda. The masses were those people. As mass audience has meant less capable, so media has always meant something more than various delivery systems. Media has referenced an institution under the governance of the state (in so-called socialist countries) or of a market ideology (in so-called capitalist countries) that promoted particular social, political, and economic goals. Media were the conspiratorial forces that would deceive and misdirect those people. The term mass communication became linked to the scientific study of media messages when it was appropriated from the social critics (of the Frankfurt School and elsewhere) in the late 1930s by the social scientists funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation, at that time the premier source of social science funding, was committed to an antipropaganda agenda and was funding studies that promised control of mass media effects. Those scientists then migrated to the Office of War Information and other U.S. government agencies during World War II. By the end of that war, mass communication was firmly established in the United States as a scientific rather than critical enterprise, although the legacy of audiences for popular media as less and the media as a coherent, conspiratorial entity remained. Media Studies Media studies was first popularized in Great Britain where a strong, and mostly successful, program in media literacy has developed in primary and secondary education (U.S. terms). There, media studies “involves the close analysis of the images, sounds and text that we experience via the media.”3 Exported to the United States, it has become the catchall term that manages the difficult alliances that constitute the contemporary academic interests in media, texts, and audiences (see, for example, The Sage Handbook of Media Studies, 2004). Media studies recovers the critical in the study of media while providing a mostly unhappy home for the mass communication scientist. 3 http://www.mediaknowall.com/index.html. Accessed January 6, 2010; now an archived site.
  • 33. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 7 Depending on where you study media studies, it can take an outsider or insider perspec- tive. The outsider perspective views media and their texts as at least potentially corrosive if not always so. This is the perspective typical of (but not necessary for) critical rhetorical theory, cultural studies, and media effects. In most of this scholarship whether analytical or empirical, the emphasis is on the potential for harm across issues of class, race, ethnic- ity (colonization), gender, economic justice, bias, aggression, sexuality, and the like. This perspective elevates the scholar above the audience and considers the media to be under a common set of influences. It is a continuation of the Frankfurt School legacy. The insider position takes a more neutral stance vis-à-vis the audience as evidenced in uses and gratifications or social action theory and works a more celebratory critique. It often adapts an industry perspective in regard to the media, considering questions of mes- sage effectiveness (instead of effects), audience behavior, and return on investment. Its view of the media as an industry is generally much more complex, recognizing the ecology of writers, actors, producers, craft unions, narrative forms, technologies, distribution chan- nels, competitions, and collusions that are behind what an audience sees and hears. Mediated Communication Mediated communication (or sometimes the more ambiguous media communication)4 is yet another take on our domain of study and is the perspective of this book. The term began to appear in the early 1980s when it became apparent that mass was no longer going to be an adequate descriptor of the communication processes of interest. The term presumes that face-to-face communication is the alternate form and that all other forms of commu- nication involve some intermediary of technology that constitutes real differences. Old media, new media, emerging media, and converging media, static or interactive, are all included. If it is not just face-to-face, then it is part of the purview of mediated communica- tion. Our first task, then, is to understand how mediated communication is different from face-to-face communication. Comparing Mediated and Face-to-Face Communication We can get to that understanding by looking at the unique requirements of face-to-face communication. Those are usually listed as (a) the copresence of communicators, (b) the necessity of an intercommunicant relationship based on a set of mutual obligations, (c) the consequential management of that relationship, (d) the reciprocal production of the text, and (e) the mutual supervision of the interpretation of that text. Copresence. Copresence means that the communication activity is occurring at the same time and place for all communicators. The issue is not so much togetherness but that the totality of message information is in play (vocal articulation, tonality, other sounds, facial 4 Both terms are not without their critics. Some point out that all communication is mediated in some way—sound requires some medium to be transmitted. To this media communication supporters reply, “Yeah, right.” Media communication is criticized for actually pointing to communication between media. To this its supporters reply, “Whatever.”
  • 34. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 8 Intercommunicant relationship. The intercommunicant relationship component is built on the notion that face-to-face communication always involves a relationship between the individuals producing the communication event. That relationship may be one between friends, intimate partners, or even strangers at a bus stop. Whatever the relationship, it is present to the communicants and necessarily affects the event itself. The industrial act of producing a textbook—which I am participating in by writing at my computer at this moment—does not offer me that context of performance. Certainly, there are many relationships that impinge on the writing, including with my reviewers, my editor, my coauthor, and my colleagues, but none of those relationships is at risk in the writing of this sentence, if for no other reason than none of those people consider expression, body position and action, and the possibility of odors, pheromones, and touch). Those rules mean that not all copresence is equal. A lecturer talking to 400 students may approach copresence with some of her class, but the student scrunched down in the back- most row clearly isn’t copresent. Consequently, not all interpersonal communication is face-to-face communication. Mediated communication to date, however, always involves some reduction in these cues, but also the addition of others. For example, you can mis- pronounce a word in speaking, but not in writing, and you cannot “mystpell” a word in ordinary talk. In writing to you, I can use different fonts and colors and pictures that are not available to me in ordinary conversation, but I have lost all the physical aspects of myself with which to communicate. Further, in this writing I do not know who you are or even if there will be a “who” out there to do the reading. Photo 1.1
  • 35. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 9 this sentence directed toward them, and it will pass between many other hands before seeing the light of print. There are mediated communication practices encoded in the relationship. E-mail is an excellent example. I’m betting that all of us have written an e-mail that has gotten us in trouble, relationally. A hasty message composed while emotionally upset, a carelessly worded sentence, the thoughtless composition that forgets just to whom you are writing— all can do relational damage at work, home, or play. The potential for damage can be heightened because of the lack of consequential management that is typical of mediated communication. Consequential management. Consequential management recognizes that in face-to-face communication each turn has to manage both its content and the relational consequences of that content because both the performance of the relationship and the production of the content are fully integrated in the speech act in immediate and ongoing reciprocity. Certainly, individuals consider their relationships in what they write, include in a message, or say—or at least ought to—in mediated communication, but, as you have seen, (a) there is often no necessity of a relationship to produce the content, (b) the content can freely move across relationships, and (c) there is usually no immediate feedback loop. Consider these examples: a blog that no one reads (a); the playful excess of a social network posting that leads to unintended consequences at the job site (b); or any case where content intended for one sort of presentation of self is appropriated for other ends completely without permission, supervision, or the ability to manage the consequences (c). This dis- connection is the reason for the Miranda warning that whatever you say may be used against you. It should be posted on every social networking site. Reciprocal production. Reciprocal production means that each action of all participants in face-to-face communication contributes to the text that is produced. Even silence by one is telling. Here, your action in reading will not affect my action of writing, although it may affect the economic success of the book itself. (The reading by the reviewers and my copy editor, however, will make a big difference in the final text.) Industry estimates suggest that about 50% of all books bought (not just textbooks) are not read by the buyer. Mutual supervision. Last, mutual supervision of interpretation means that each participant will strive to produce an internal coherence to the performance by engaging and respond- ing to the actions of the other as the conversational text is produced. Only the telephone conversation (not machine tag) or the chat room allows this mutual supervision with any facility. Certainly I anticipate a reader’s response—you might be thinking, “Why we are going through all this face-to-face stuff?” (Because you need it; trust me.) But you are not here to help me say it better or to stop me from continuing on. The Mediascape of Mediated Communication Mediated communication, then, becomes any communicative process (a term yet to be defined) that not only meets but also adds something to the requirements of face-to-face communication. In mediated communication, picking up the telephone, doing an instant
  • 36. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 10 chat, or text messaging is each within the domain of study, as are 25 million people watching American Idol. Mediated communication enlarges the mediascape beyond the boundaries of mass communication or media studies, although it includes both. No longer are research- ers limited to the industrial productions that were the primary territory of mass communi- cation and media studies—the texts of individually produced blogs can be of interest. No longer are communicants limited by the requirement of a large, heterogeneous audience— in fact no audience at all is needed if we look at the auto-communication properties of those blogs, for example. And it is those blogs and the other products of the Internet that require researchers—and us—to look wider, in order not to miss the most important aspect of contemporary communication processes. But, clearly, not all instances of mediated communication are equally interesting. Most people probably are not interested in your latest tweet (although the government might be, and so might others, if you become famous). Researchers, are however, interested in the consequences of the elevated connectivity provided by text messaging on, say, intimate relationships (Yin Tong, 2007). Do you still have a text message treasure from a long- departed partner? Have you used text messaging to manage a relationship because you didn’t want to do it in person? In the techno-slang of the early 21st century, are you a “CrackBerry” flirt? Media researchers are also interested in how organizational members use text messag- ing as a backstage management of, say, a meeting in progress, or how corporations use national advertising campaigns to define the organization for its members. It is these prac- tices of mediated communication that require us to look wider and will take us further than either mass communication or media studies. We would miss the most important aspect of contemporary communication processes if we didn’t follow its lead. New Media and Old Media Communication scholars are now watching another mitotic division within the field, split- ting it between new media and old. Old media are the media of mass communication. New media are the media of interactive networking. Old media are message-oriented, vertically organized, one-directional, cyclical, and fixed in time and often material. New media are flowing, horizontally distributed, self-organizing, performance-oriented, multidirectional, and virtual. New media invoke new theories and will require and may well provide new methods of study. Such theories and methods will have to be much more focused on pro- cess and performance than on content and effects. Methodologies may be able to take advantage of both the networked and the interactive properties of new media to develop an emergent form of data that has depth instead of being a cross-sectional slice taken in a moment of time. Convergence is the concept that marks the intersection between new and old media. The basic idea is that all information and entertainment becomes distributable to any dis- play form from the wide-screen to the Kindle to the smart phone via wireless networking. The technology appears to be inevitable; what is taking longer is the business model, where technologists, content providers, and distributors all make money. Convergence is an example of technological determinism where the force of the tech- nology produces change in society. Those changes are not welcomed by all or good for all.
  • 37. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 11 In many markets, the physical newspaper is disappearing with attendant loss of jobs and the practices that surrounded the “reading of the newspaper” as a communal and sharing activity. (“You done with the comics yet?”) We have very little information on the flip side issues of how families manage computer access and other screen resources. Our typical visions are very much on the upscale side of the digital divide and well within the digital enclosure. Scholarly Communities of the Mediascape Communication scholars manage the scope of this great landscape of study through com- munities of interest. There are communities of interest attached to all aspects of mediated communication—its practitioners, audiences, technologies, industries, textual and sym- bolic forms, narrative structures, social consequences—everything. Where I work, there are feminist scholars interested in body image, cultural studies scholars working on the repre- sentation of the Arab world, journalists studying bias within the pictorial narrative, cogni- tivists looking at the processing of information, and social action scholars investigating families’ changing media use. These folks work at the same institution, but their scholarly communities are well beyond its walls. (In fact, the virtual community of scholarship is a mediated study all its own.) The folks at your institution are each the local node of some community-of-interest network. They will gravitate toward some questions and lack inter- est in others, as will you. The result is that the book will offer you more than you want and will reach beyond my expertise as its author. But that is what explorations are all about. Science and Scholarship The problem of what is science and what is not is called the demarcation problem in the philosophy of science. Philosophers haven’t been able to solve the problem, and we won’t either. At this point in most methods books there is a list of the characteristics of scientific work (see Keyton, 2006, pp. 10–11, for a list of 12 characteristics). It is testable, empirical, systematic, public, replicable, parsimonious, and the like. The problem with these lists is that a lot of what is considered science doesn’t meet the criteria and, like much of theo- retical physics, may never meet the criteria. In the methodology wars, science has been used as a club to beat down one’s rivals, a flag to wrap one’s smug self in, and an unreach- able talisman to demonstrate one’s quixotic commitment. I’d like to dial down the rhetoric on whether something is scientific or not and put the emphasis on doing careful, mindful work based on a foundation of empirical evidence, being open to review and the possibility of error, producing results of instrumental value, and maintaining a modesty of claim. If we can do that, whether it is science or not won’t matter. Good science or good scholarship of any sort meets the nine-I test. It is inquisitive, intel- ligent, investigative, informed, insightful, and implicative and not imitative, idiosyncratic, or ideological Good work from any domain of inquiry asks questions that present the world and ideas to us in interesting ways. It investigates the answers to those questions inside a framework of evidence to provide new knowledge that is trustworthy, entailing, and socially significant. It’s heady work.
  • 38. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 12 Scientific, Proprietary, and Personal Research Scientific research and academic scholarship are part of the public knowledge production apparatuses and are often considered top-of-the-line as far as practices and credibility are concerned. (There are issues, of course, that we take up in our various ethics discussions.) We will use the criteria of scientific practice as the basis of our descriptions, while recogniz- ing that most likely few using this book will become communication scientists. Nonetheless, at some time or another, each of us will have questions we want to answer and that would benefit from the good practices of science and scholarship. Business has a great demand for the skills that produce reliable and useful information. A company may want to test out the ease of navigation on its website, or the effectiveness of a training program or, perhaps, of an advertising campaign. Companies have to make all sorts of decisions concerning the cost-effectiveness of cell phone usage, Internet services, software adoptions, and even the number and size of computer monitors to put on employees’ desks. And, of course, people trained in communication research methods can provide those answers. This research is usually proprietary, which means that it is to be used by those conducting (or paying for) it and no one else. Our personal lives can be affected as well. The characteristics that generate good research—curiosity, skepticism, systematic investigation, recognizing the possibility of error—can serve each of us well in meeting the challenges of daily life (properly applied and in moderation, of course). Consequently, academic, business, and personal examples will be used throughout this book to illustrate the conduct of research. It is important to understand the differences. Scientific scholarship intends to produce information with the widest application or gen- eralizability. It is a public activity, subject to peer review.5 Proprietary research might aim at high generalizability but often is focused on problems that are particular to the company, and rarely is it open to review or independent of the political processes of organizational decision making. Personal research, of course, is very local in its purview, the value of which depends on the particular people for which it is developed. But the academy, the corporation, and the individual are all part of the mediascape, and each needs to know about it. That process starts now with a review of the different ways to gain knowledge about the mediascape. UNDERSTANDING METHODOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES There are four methodological communities within the field of communication that come within the scope of this book: metric empiricism, interpretive (or hermeneutic) empiricism, critical-cultural hybrids, and analytical criticism. This book has a primary interest in the first two, a secondary interest in the third, and an instrumental acquaintance with the fourth. 5 It is important to separate scientific research from university research. One is a standard; the other is a practice. Good proprietary research is often better funded, better designed, and better executed than much of the research from the academy, where the economics of tenure, the needs of the discipline, and the absence of adequate funding, time, and other resources distort the process.
  • 39. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 13 Metric empiricism is what is commonly called quantitative methods; interpretive empiri- cism is typically called qualitative research; critical-cultural hybrids form a newly and rap- idly developing area that couples (as you might guess) critical advocacy arguments with empirical methodologies (usually interpretive); and analytical criticism methods are the sort that make up film criticism, rhetorical criticism, and literary criticism. Let’s take the time to put some definitions in order before beginning to explore these different methodologies. Methodologies A methodology is a set of more or less standardized practices for producing knowledge. A methodology includes an epistemological foundation and associated rules of evidence for making a claim as well as a set of practices for generating that evidence. The word methods is sometimes a synonym for methodology but more often used to describe a subset of activi- ties within a methodology. Communication scholars talk both of quantitative methods as the whole class of metric methodology and of statistical methods as a subset of practices residing in metric methodology. A method, such as analysis of variance, is a set of procedures within a set of methods within a methodology. All the nesting and terminology can be a bit confus- ing, but the basic rule is that if it describes a set of practices, it is a method; if it describes a global process of constructing knowledge, it is a methodology. Most of what appears in the journals are methods even if the author grandly claims them as methodologies. Standardization means that the designated authorities of a scholarly community have operated individually and jointly to establish the requirements of good practice. These authorities are the methodologists—people who study, test, and report on methods; the methods and ethics committees of professional organizations (of which communication associations have none); journal editors (of which communication associations have lots); journal reviewers; and even textbook authors. The sum of this social process establishes the standards of competent work, the boundaries of what belongs and what does not, and takes up the policing of those borders. In our methodologies of interest, metric empiricism is the most standardized, critical- cultural hybrids is the least, and methods that mix those are still in discussion. As they move down the level of standardization, the practitioners of these methods are not in agree- ment as to what constitutes the methods, let alone their good practice. Consequently, as an author I am most secure in telling you what the methods of metric empiricism are, reason- ably secure in interpretive approaches, least secure in what the hybrid methods are, and can only speculate what the latest mash-ups—which at present are an analytic strategy, not a methodology—might turn out to be. Reader take notice. The Empirical The empirical has to do with our experience and the things and conditions that we experi- ence. Our experience is the result of our interaction with the material and ideational world. The concept of empirical looks like it might be hard-edged, but it gets fuzzy in communica- tion because so many of the things and conditions in which individuals have interest take their final form inside some cognitive and/or social-interpretive process. For example, the words you are reading off this page are deposits of carbon—that is their material reality—but
  • 40. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 14 they become words in a semiotic process that involves both the cognitive processes of semiosis and the social action of language. The words gain their meaning in some interpre- tation. Interpretation puts the words into the service of some instrumental action. If you are reading these words as a copy editor, you have a fistful of blue pencils at the ready. If you are reading these words for a class, you may thinking, “Will this be on the test?” The way we will make use of the words in our subsequent behavior—their meaningfulness—is responsive to the cognitive and action processes, not to the carbon deposits. Consequently, communica- tion processes may start with material conditions and facts, but they quickly move into the ideational and constituted worlds of social action where the empirical is much less secure. One very important thing to note about the empirical is that its definition says nothing about numbers. Empirical research is about our interaction with the material and ide- ational world of which we are a part, but do not contain. Numbers play a central part in a particular form of empirical research, popularly called quantitative research, that depends on the logic of metrics and utilizes the characteristics of numerical scales in its analysis. This book takes up that form next. The Metric Metric methods involve the systematic identification of variables and the procedures of assigning quantitative values to the states or conditions of those variables. The variables themselves are either discovered or constituted. To be discovered, a variable has to preexist theoretical interest in it and be directly addressable. It is very controversial (in some quar- ters) as to whether this preexistence or direct addressability is possible. Most of the vari- ables studied are not naturally occurring but rather are synthetic. They are created in some interaction between the action and its measurement. For example, say we were counting hits to a blog site. The variable is a “hit.” But what is a “hit”? Is it the simple connection between a browser and a server? Does it have to include the completion of a file-sending action by the server? Does it count if the browser is a robot rather than a person? All of these issues have to be reconciled in the definition of a “hit,” and those definitions will constitute the synthetic variable, even though there is an independent activity going on. Quantification adopts the characteristics and logical entailments of number systems and applies them to variables and variable states (all of these topics are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 5). Because variables don’t show up with numbers attached to them, some translation method is required. In the example on blog hits, we could attach a hit counter to the home page. A “hit” then becomes defined as an action of the hit counter, and what- ever the counter counts equals one hit. The number of hits we get is the number reported by this quantification device. The Hermeneutic The major alternative to metric research, popularly called qualitative research, falls in the branch of scholarship called the hermeneutic. Hermeneutics is the systematic application of interpretation, and in empirical research, it depends on the logic of narrative and the characteristics of action to make its claims. Interpretation is the understanding that devel- ops out of the analysis of our experience. Interpretation makes sense of that experience.
  • 41. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 15 Sense making locates experience in the matrix of our knowledge. For example, one hears a sharp sound while watching television. Was it something from the television or some- thing that signals a problem in the house? The interpretation of the sound (the story of the sound) will depend on one’s analysis of what is on television and what a subsequent search of the house might reveal. This interpretation is done pretty much unproblematically in the above example. In research, this interpretation is systematically guided by the conventions of the research community. For example, an analyst might be interested in the values expressed in celeb- rity advertising in Chinese, European, and U.S. magazines. Current interpretive methods would suggest two or more coders for each cultural group who would first code separately through grounded methods and then reconcile differences in discussion, arriving at a con- sensus of understanding. The Critical Edward Said (1983) has said that the critical takes what appears to be and reveals what it is. Present-day critical analyses are mostly interested in revealing the underlying power relationships and mechanisms of control that media texts and social action practices encode. For example, consumerism is a social practice that not only drives the economy but also structures society into a hierarchy of haves and have-nots. For the critic this creates a condition of social injustice and a power imbalance. The critical-empirical, in this exam- ple, then, would focus on the material practices of consumerism for the empirical side and the social justice consequences of materialism for the critical side. It is amped-up interpre- tation with an advocacy edge. Epistemological Foundations Methodologies are public processes that develop out of our fundamental understandings of the world, ourselves, and what we can know about them. These are called the epistemo- logical foundations of method. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. There are a number of things that distinguish one methodological field from another. People take on member- ships in different communities, and the emblematic or signature practices of these com- munities are different (even with poaching and cooption), the character of the argument (e.g., the journal article) is different, but most important the methods encode a different understanding of the world and one’s knowledge of it. I’m going to spend a little time talk- ing about these differences because they are the best way to understand why people do the things they do. In drawing these differences, I will approach the center of each of a set of overlapping communities. So, can a metric empiricist and an interpretive empiricist stand in exactly the same methodological space? Yes, but both would be a good distance from the center of their governing epistemology. Metric Empiricism At its center metric empiricism is based on a belief in an independent, objective, material reality that has direct consequences in people’s interaction with it. The qualifying effort of
  • 42. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 16 metric methods is to describe that material reality. That reality is tangible, durable, stable, and reliable. The accurate descriptions produced will have similar characteristics. They will reach across time and place. They are called transcendental and context-free. Those descriptions are true because of what is, and they are independent of what ought to be. The surface of that reality—the action and objects that one can see and encounter—is not composed of a single piece, but rather is a composite of causally related components. There are many layers of these composites. As we drill down, we will find structures that are composed of molecules that are composed of atoms that are composed of particles that are composed of . . . until we reach some finite number of elemental building blocks upon which the whole structure of reality stands. This is the principle of atomism: that the world is built up from a set of components operating in causal relationships. What one sees as the presented product is not really where the action is. For example, if an analyst was studying those people who have established a blog on the Internet, he or she would not start with the assumption that each person has a unique set of reasons for establishing a blog. Rather, the analyst would argue that there are character- istics held in common by these individuals that predict or explain their action. The scien- tific interest is not in the people (it doesn’t matter who the people are) but in the characteristics. The general term for these characteristics and all such components is vari- able, which is why metric empiricism is also known as variable-analytic—metricians ana- lyze things through variables. A variable is simply a characteristic that can take different values across different cir- cumstances. The reason for interest in studying variables is the assumption that everything is connected in causal chains. Each variable is the result of some other variable(s) and is the cause or partial cause of yet another variable. The more one learns about variables, the more one will know about the world. Consequently, metric methods are designed to collect information about variables—to identify their appearance, to measure their values, to investigate their relationships, and to determine their function in some causal structure. Interpretive Empiricism The foundational shift that occurs when one crosses the boundary from metric empiricism to interpretive empiricisms has to do with the change from metric empiricism’s interest in the objective characteristics of the world to an effort to represent the multiple meanings held for these characteristics. For the hermeneut (love that funny name), the objective characteristics are part of the analysis but not the whole of it. The other part—the part that has caused all this struggle—develops out of the antiuni- versalist movement that has characterized the social, political, philosophical, and scientific activities of the last half of the 20th century (sometimes called the “interpretive turn”). Universalism holds to a final truth of the matter—a transcendental claim is possible. The response to universalism most interesting for purposes of this book is social construction- ism. In its opening development (Berger Luckmann, 1967), social constructionism had to do with the development of human knowledge. The argument was that all knowl- edge is developed and sustained through human practices. There might be an independent objective reality out there, but it is engaged only through the material practices of human beings. Consequently, what we know depends not on reality alone but also on the material
  • 43. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 17 practices of knowledge production. Knowledge is relative to what we do to produce it; a claim lasts only as long as the practices that sustain it. That basic idea has been escalated to the principle that whatever is known (or whatever is true) requires a community of knowers to produce it, sustain it, and implement it. Consequently, knowledge changes from one community to another.6 When knowledge about entities, processes, consequences, and values changes, human action toward and within these entities, processes, consequences, and values changes as well. Therefore if we are to understand human action, we need to understand the knowledge system under which it is produced. This principle has been applied from the most global cultural distinc- tions (even extraterrestrial) down to the very local knowledge practices of the group. The amulet of achieving this understanding is member knowledge. To achieve member knowl- edge one must participate and become competent in the material practices by which this knowledge is produced, maintained, and implemented. What I am demonstrating (or attempting to demonstrate) here is the difference between the principle of an objective knowledge set and a socially constructed one. Metric empiri- cism depends on an objective knowledge set. It makes little sense to do a survey of televi- sion usage unless the prior concept of television is the same for everyone. Interpretive empiricism presumes a socially constructed knowledge set and would approach the con- cept of television as a variable concept. The question that remains is “When does that dif- ference make a difference? When can the analyst say, ‘Well, television is television, and it’s television for everyone’?” You might think that the hard-core hermeneut’s answer would be “Never; the difference always makes a difference.” But that can’t be true, or individuals would all be walled off from each other by their particular memberships. The key to the application of metric and hermeneutic methods is to know when the difference makes a difference. Interpretive empiricism’s rejection of the universal has created some movement of interpretation toward critical goals and some openings in empirical methods that defy some of the traditional criteria of science. This rejection of universalism has encouraged the reformulation of one criterion that is nearly axiomatic in the physical sciences and that is the separation of what is from what ought to be. This principle, known as Hume’s gap (after 18th-century British empiricist David Hume), has been taken to claim that the busi- ness of science is to describe what is and not to take sides on what ought to be. Working from the principle of the social construction of knowledge, however, Hume’s gap closes with a snap as all knowledge requires social processes with their attendant political under- pinnings to exist. Any claim of what is is also a claim of what ought to be, given whatever social processes of knowledge construction are in place. That shift introduces a critical component into interpretive-empirical work. Just as the antiuniversalist and social constructionist characteristics of the interpretive move analysts away from the true and transcendental of the metric, the critical component in this set moves them away from their independence of what ought to be and jams their feet directly in 6 This is sometimes called the social construction of reality, which unfortunately leads to all sorts of silly arguments—for example, if the table is socially constructed, why can’t one walk through it? The material character of the table is not socially constructed; what is known as a table and what characteristics constitute a table are socially constructed.
  • 44. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 18 the moral morass. The critical holds that every study advances some political purpose and that social science practitioners need to come clean and explicitly examine their social agenda. OK, the gloves are off now. You see, Hume’s gap provides a protection for the traditional social scientist: As long as there is a separation between what is true and what is right, the scientist is not responsible for the consequences of a claim achieved through competent scientific methods. The scientist can make a claim (in fact must make the claim) because it is true; it doesn’t matter if it is morally right. This principle collapses in social construction- ism because what is true depends on the community of knowers that makes it so. So, the European American scientists who make claims about African American respondents within a racist society must be concerned about their potential contribution to racism. For the radi- cal critic, if a claim gives comfort to racist practices, it is racist. The critical makes researchers responsible for the consequences of their work—both intended and unintended—in ways rarely accepted by the traditional scientist. When this critical impulse becomes the primary activity within interpretive empiricism, it becomes a hybrid methodology. Hybrid Methodologies Consequently, the parsing of empirical methodologies does not end with only metric and interpretive. Just as the interpretive has entered the critical, so has the critical entered the empirical. During the past decade a family of critical-empirical methodologies has appeared. These are hybrid methodologies that apply cultural-critical-interpretive meth- ods to empirical texts (I’ll explain texts in a few lines below). The parentage of these hybrids is multiple. They are influenced by the social commentary heritage of rhetorical analysis now mostly known as critical rhetoric; they show and often embrace the post- modern rejection of the universal narrative (aka the True); they accept the requirement of some empirical grounding, but are less interested in telling the what or how of text than in understanding the cultural force of a class of texts or in promoting what ought to be the cultural consequences of their engagement; and they associate mostly with the hermeneutic side of empiricism although some metric applications are present as well. These hybrid methodologies go by a number of different names—discourse analysis, dialogic analysis, rhetorical field studies, critical studies, colonial and race studies, cul- tural studies, interpretive studies, and the like—and it is all very much in flux. Empirical methodologies, both metric and interpretive, have been around for over 100 years. A pretty good agreement exists among practitioners as to how these methodologies should be conducted (at least in comparison with the hybrid forms). A couple more decades are needed to reach a level of conventionalization in the hybrid forms, which by their nature resist conventionalization. Critical-Analytical Critical-analytical methods are in use in this text in the service and toward the better- ment of the empirical. Let me spend just a few paragraphs talking about the difference between empirical and critical-analytical methods because this difference can be a source of a lot of confusion.7 This difference hinges first on whether the ascendant 7 Admittedly, this may be more of a cautionary tale for an instructor than any source of confusion for a student.
  • 45. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 19 evidence is formal or empirical— whether it is derived through reason or discovered in observation.8 For exam- ple, I could argue analytically that the color of that swan you have in a box (I have no idea why you would have a swan in a box) must be white. I would say all swans are white; you have a swan in the box; therefore, its color is white. I would not need to look in the box to know the color of your swan. I could logically declare the color of your swan with no need for empirical evidence. It’s a big advantage as long as my first premise is true. Alas, in the history of this famous syllogism, black swans were discovered in Australia. Consequently, I can no longer say that your swan is white, but there is still a great deal I can say. For example, I can say with certainty that it is not red. Empiricist distrust of the analytical stems from the possibility that red swans may be discovered in the back jungles of Indonesia (where several new species— none of them swans—were recently found). In fact, most first premises of the analytical—statements that are held to be axiomatically true—can be questioned for their empirical content. Any state- ment that starts with “audiences for real- ity programming,” “children,” “media programmers,” or “voters” or that makes use of similar, constructed aggregates (such as “any statement”) is invariably an analytical statement that can be chal- lenged for its empirical foundation (as can this statement). When we add the critical on top of this foundation, we can see that it is akin to advocat- ing a social policy on the basis of universal principles. This might work fine for the consti- tutions of nation-states, but it does not work at all to claim that all children are at risk from, say, digital games because of some analytically derived universal principle. 8 The language of “discovery” is as contested as that of exploration. As the example that follows this note suggests, the issue is whether you open the box and look at the swan to determine its color. Photo 1.2 Photo 1.3
  • 46. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 20 On the other hand, if the empiricists gave up everything except that which was empiri- cally demonstrated, they would be reduced to a pretty banal field of knowledge9 with no implications for the future and little understanding of the past. In fact, as we will see, even the plainest of empiricists depend on analytical methods to achieve any consequential results for their research. As you read the literature, you will find that empiricists celebrate their objective experience while quietly practicing analytical interpretations, and hybridists celebrate their critical intentions while quietly grounding them in the objective character- istics of the text. we will, therefore, find the analytical firmly on the table in Chapter 3. We need to know these methods. Assaying the Differences Learning a methodology means taking up both the epistemology of its foundation and the ideology of its social practice. Methodologies are designed to produce evidence for a par- ticular class of claims and to fit inside arguments of a certain kind that are themselves grounded in ways of knowing. Metric empiricists base their arguments on the logic of mathematics. Interpretive empiricists base theirs on the logic of the narrative. Metric empiricists quantify their observations; interpretive empiricists narrativize them. When researchers quantify an observation, they first unitize it by constructing secure boundaries around it. It starts at some point and ends at another. Researchers can then count each observation, put it in some order with other observations, space these observations along some dimension, or put them in some relationship. They can then use the tools of arithmetic and mathematical logic to make the observations sensible: It all adds up. When analysts narrativize an observation, they create a discursive line that brings in character, action, agency, and scene.10 The observation becomes sensible within the logic of a narra- tive form: It tells a credible story. You can pretend that it doesn’t matter and use methodologies outside their proper domain or poach from one domain into another. It’s done all the time, but it is not careful, mindful work. When a methodology is transported from its “natural” domain, such as using surveys in an interpretative approach or participant observation in an experiment, the recognition of its transformation has to be carefully described and justified. Over the years, there has been a lot of argument over which of these approaches is bet- ter. Much of that argument had to do with the business of researchers and scholars creating and preserving space and resources to conduct their research. These professionals are now in a kind of uneasy coexistence with excursions and border patrols and even some osten- sible cooperation, which still is considered suspiciously by many (including me) as coop- tion. Practitioners do tend to be of one sort or another. And you can sort that out for yourself as you develop experience in the approaches. 9 Consider opening the box and declaring, “Your swan is not red!” 10 This is a cultural studies update of Burke’s pentad, placing more emphasis on cultural subjectivity than individual identity.
  • 47. CHAPTER 1   Exploring the Mediascape 21 MOVING ON This chapter started out by looking at the communities of scholars and researchers who generate the research published in the journals and textbooks of communication, psychol- ogy, sociology, and other social sciences as well as those of critical and social scholarship. The three distinct communities usually called mass communication, media studies, and mediated communication were described, and while the present advice is to be a good citizen of all three, the affinities of this writing would tend toward mediated communication because it is the most inclusive of the three. It was acknowledged that a good deal of research goes on in the proprietary halls of corporations, regulatory agencies, nonprofits, and nongovernmen- tal agencies, and you could benefit from adopting the systematic investigation for your per- sonal mediascape. The most intensive discussion focused on detailing the epistemological differences among metric, interpretive, and hybrid methodologies, hoping to demonstrate that it is these foundational differences in epistemologies that result in the different method- ological practices that occur. As I close this summary, I think all the ramping-up to the topic is finally done, and we are ready to get on with it. The next chapter will begin by considering the properties, processes, consequences, and character of the mediascape. REFLECTIONS What Are Some Points to Remember? • • There are multiple perspectives on what is variously called mass or mediated communication. These perspectives make a difference on what is considered important to study and how those important things should be studied. • • A good understanding of mediated communication can be gained by comparing it with face-to-face communication. • • The lines between science, scholarship, and proprietary research have more to do with ideology and membership than with good practices of inquiry. • • A methodology is a class of inquiry practices. Empirical methodologies require a connection to experi­ ence. Metric empirical methodologies depend on a logic of quantities and rates; interpretive empiricism depends on the logic of narrative. Hybrids mix the critical-rhetorical with the empirical. • • Any methodology depends on a set of “truth-making” rules that govern the relationship between evi­ dence and claim. Across methodologies, practices may seem the same or may be appropriated, but the epistemological foundations are not. Why Does It Matter? Introductions of the sort that you just read matter because both the discipline of communication and the methods of its science and scholarship are not under any consensus of agreement. Consequently, for me
  • 48. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 22 to write honestly to you and for you to successfully use this book, we need to co-orient to common posi­ tions. There are controversies in the positions I adopt, but that is because there are controversies in the field—not, I would hope, because of any idiosyncrasies of mine. In some way or another, you will have to resolve those for yourself. This is a book for grown-ups. What Else Could We Talk About? Higher education is notoriously nonreflexive. In classrooms and textbooks, there is a move to gloss con­ tradictions and explanatory absences. Part of the motive for this nonreflexivity is the demand for answers and the shared belief that practitioners of the field are supposed to have them. What Else Might Be Interesting to Read? Park, D. W., Pooley, J. (Eds.). (2008). The history of media and communication research: Contested memories. New York: Peter Lang.
  • 49. 23 C H A P T E R 2 Mapping the Mediascape What’s It All About? Chapter 2 continues our introduction to this field of study, turning to the topics of what we study and how we study them. We are introduced to properties, processes, consequences, and charac- ter as the targets of analysis and to surveys, sequential measurement, and experimental design as well as close reading, participant observation, and hybrid critical analysis as the methods appropriate to those targets. An extended example using social networking sites is presented to show the types of research questions that could be generated over the properties, processes, consequences, and character of such sites. What Are the Major Topics? Properties are the elements and entities that characterize the mediascape. They are usually measured by surveys to describe what is there for metric research and by close reading in inter- pretive analysis. Processes focus on the practices that appear within the mediascape across production, recep- tion, participation, social impact, and so on. The proper metric measurement of processes requires sequential measurement methodologies that involve repeated measurements over time. Interpretive approaches would be centered on participant observation. Consequences are generally known as the effects that occur within the mediascape. Conse- quences appear as the result of some action by an agent inside a causal relationship. The best metric approach is through experimental methods, but often the logically weaker survey methods have to be used. There is no experimental analogue in interpretive research, but consequences are studied and done best in participant observation. (Continued) CHAPTER PREVIEW
  • 50. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 24 INTRODUCTION As I trudge up the trail in the Deep Creek Mountains to the west of Salt Lake City, I will be passing through five different ecoscapes generated by climatic changes associated with altitude and physical structure. I enter the trail from a Sonoran desert subject to high heat and little moisture. At the top of the trail, I will be in alpine meadows. Each ecozone has its characteristic geology, plants, and animals that form an ecology quite unlike the next. The research methods of this book are the tools and techniques of exploration, and the territory of our exploration is called the mediascape. Like the mountains in western Utah, the mediascape is a complex and changing communication ecology. Depending on where we are, we will find different media industries, technologies, audiences, texts, symbolic values, and cultural understandings (to name just a few elements)—all interacting and interdependent. We will also find ourselves, as we are an integral part of the mediascape as individuals, as aggregates of type and kind, and as members of communities, including those that practice research. FOUR CORNERS OF ANALYSIS We will likely end up exploring only some small part of what is possible, but it is good to start with something of the larger picture. As the number of elements is overwhelming, we need some organizing principles to explore the mediascape. Let’s start with a four-corner compass. (Continued) The character of the mediascape is the value we attach to its various elements, processes, and effects. Metric research treats character as a variable attribute in survey and experimental methods. The interpretive analysis of value generally requires some type of critical analysis, which, when coupled with empirical methods, constitutes a hybrid research form. These are our newest, least conventionalized, and (therefore) most controversial methodologies. The last section of the chapter takes us through an example using social networking sites. The example compares and contrasts the similarities and differences across properties, processes, consequences, and character. It develops research questions appropriate to each of these and provides some insight on ways answers to those questions might be generated. What Special Terms Are Used? Agency Attribute Character Consequences Mediascape Processes Properties Social construction
  • 51. CHAPTER 2   Mapping the Mediascape 25 The compass points to the properties, processes, consequences, and charac- ter of the mediascape, and each is analogous to the same elements one would find in any landscape. Properties The properties of any domain are the elements and enti- ties that characterize that domain. The elements and entities of our mediascape are not rocks, plants, and ani- mals but such items as indus- tries, technologies, texts, rules and regulations, ratings, jobs, and even media1 them- selves. They are also audi- ences,producers,stockholders, managers, artists, and craft unions as well as the individuals who belong to each category. In increasing levels of abstrac- tion, they are domains of activity, interactive ecologies, and economic niches. All of the items listed and more are objects and entities that we can poke at, classify, and describe in a classic scientific manner. For example, I was interested in finding out something about reality television. It was being presented in the literature as if it were a unitary classification—that we could think about reality TV as a single thing in the same way we might think about local evening news as a single entity. One answer to this question might come from a careful examination of content to see if the forms, structures, and narratives show the same consistency across programs as the evening news does across markets—it is, after all, news, weather, and sports from Fargo to Miami. But I was more interested in audiences, so the question I asked was whether the audience showed the same constitution across different reality programs. Our primary information about television audiences comes from the ratings industry (not academic scholarship), and Nielsen Media Research is, perhaps, the premier member of that industry. As a professional courtesy, I asked the firm to prepare a special report on the average audiences for a set of 12 programs (listed here in order of popularity): American Idol, Extreme Makeover, The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, American Inventor, Cops, Blind Date, Starting Over, Girls Behaving Badly, American Chopper, Date My Mom, and Unsolved Mysteries. To my delight, the fine folks there did. 1 Most complex objects can be approached as processes, as consequences, and according to their character as well. Figure 2.1 Mediascape Compass P r o c e s s e s C h a r a c t e r Consequences Properties Mediascape
  • 52. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 26 As you look at that list, I presume you have all sorts of questions: Why those programs and not others? What makes those programs reality television? And whoever heard of Girls Behaving Badly? As a scholar writing a research report, I would be expected to answer those questions in such a manner that would establish the credence of the research. And of course I will, but right now I want to get to the juicy bits. In order to test the composition of the audience, I looked at three ratios: (a) the ratio of people to households to get a measure of the amount of coviewing in a given household, (b) the ratio of women to men, and (c) the ratio of adults to children. American Idol had the highest proportion of coviewing (3 viewers for every 2 households) and the highest per- centage of children (ages 2–17) in the audience (17%). Starting Over—a daytime reality program about six women starting over with the aid of a life coach, on the other hand, was mostly solitarily viewed, by more women than men (2.7:1) and with less than 10% of the audience being children. Finally, American Chopper—Discovery Channel’s coverage of a father-and-son team of custom motorcycle builders—flipped the male-female ratio to 2:1 with nonetheless a reasonably healthy coviewing of 4 viewers, 11% of whom were chil- dren, for every 3 households (which was also the overall average). Two interesting findings: (a) The ratio of women to men across all reality programming was 3:2. Only Cops and American Chopper shifted the balance to men. (b) The average percent- age of children across these programs was 13.5%; the lowest percentage of children (7%) was for The Apprentice—Donald Trump’s intoning of “You’re fired”; the highest percentage of chil- dren (48%) appeared for Date My Mom—an MTV program in which an 18- to 24-year-old dates the mother of an eligible son or daughter to decide whether to date the son or daughter (hey, it must work for somebody)—and the 12- to 17-year-old group was the largest audience segment. The consistency of the ratio of women to men (with only two exceptions) suggests that there is a communality of some sort in the content (that it is really about relationships, perhaps). On the other hand, we know that young men are migrating from television to the Net.2 Consequently, the ratio may just be a function of more women watching television than men generally. I certainly have more work to do to understand the audiences of real- ity programs. Nonetheless, I would conclude that reality television is more complex than singular and that the classification can be only loosely used. Metric Methodologies for Properties The study of properties is a study of characteristics and quantities. Survey methodologies— questionnaires, diaries, and even automated data collections such as Internet cookies, credit card sales, and grocery store value cards—are the primary methodologies of the study of properties. They all reveal the properties of the mediascape according to the lens of the survey instrument. Properties may exist independently, but they appear in the mea- surement in use. In our example on reality programming, the 18- to 24-year-old audience appears because the A. C. Nielsen measurement process classifies people that way. There is a 19- to 23-year-old audience as well, but we cannot access it, because the measurement does not report it. We are very early in this discussion, but how you ask a question (or take any measurement) matters to your understanding of what is out there. Suffice it to say at 2 http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64439,00.html. Accessed December 27, 2006.
  • 53. CHAPTER 2   Mapping the Mediascape 27 this point that a survey is not just a survey. It also defines into existence the characteristics that will fill our reports. In a very real way, if we don’t measure it, it doesn’t exist for us. Interpretive Methodologies for Properties Interpretive methodologies are primarily immersive methods that require an extensive engagement with the object, group, or practice of interest—methods such as close reading for texts and participant observation for groups and practices. The properties of interest to the analyst are those that are somehow meaningful. To use a very simple example, that a light hanging over a road is green is of no importance except that it grants legal passage. The interpretive analyst starts with material properties but as a foundation for understand- ing the meaningful properties of an object or entity. That statement is not to say that the metric scholar has no interest in such meaning, but there is a shift in analytic obligation. It might be sufficient for the metric analyst to report that the 2010 premiere of Dancing with the Stars had an audience of nearly 21 million viewers as the highest-rated program of the week. That report, however, would not be sufficient for the interpretive scholar, who would carry the responsibility for outlining the attractiveness (meaningfulness) of the program. That attractiveness and meaningfulness could be claimed by analyzing the content, but the better work would be to find them in the audience. Processes The study of properties is necessary and important. It fills about 60% of the research archive. But such study is a static enterprise, and communication is much more a dynamic process. One lesson that we can learn from the analysis of reality programs is that as we explore the entities that occupy, inhabit, and constitute the mediascape, we become more sophisticated in understanding how the mediascape is a set of processes, which themselves are more or less integrated systems of practice. We could, for example, be interested in describing the vertical integration characteristics of media industries in contrast to the horizontal, leveling characteristics of technology. That might lead us to question how these processes function. Peer-to-peer file downloading is a good example of a process that demonstrates tech- nology’s leveling effect. Sony’s much criticized music copy protection encoding scheme demonstrated an industry response to this leveling effect in an effort to maintain vertical control. From a strictly technological point of view, neither the artist nor the consumer needs Sony anymore. And that should scare Sony a lot. Sony and all content distributors survive by producing artificial scarcities through the manipulation of supply and demand. (That claim would make a fine research question for an excellent study.) Metric Process Methods Processes require sequential measurement methodologies that are measurement dense. Measurement density is achieved through the number of different measures taken, the number of times those measurements are repeated, and the time span between repetitions. Because processes involve real-time interactions in which significant change can happen at any moment, true process methodologies require something that approaches continuous measurement. We are not even close to this ability in measuring mediated communication
  • 54. SECTION I  OVERVIEW 28 processes. As in the case of our example on copy protection, we often can simply describe different sets of circumstances as Step A and Step B without knowing the intervening steps that connect them. Processes and the properties involved in them combine with other processes to create systems. Program production, for example, is a system that involves the processes of writ- ing, scripting, scene construction, prop work, costuming, makeup, camera and actor block- ing, acting, directing, and editing. And then there are systems of systems such as the advertising system that generates the money that provides for much of the program pro- duction itself. Systems at this level quickly overwhelm our ability to collect empirical data on their functioning. We are often left with formal analysis that constructs logical connec- tions according to reasonable speculations but not real data. Interpretive Process Methods The difficulty of process study means that we do not know a lot about the processes that attend to mediated communication. For example, 90% of us live in multiperson households (single-person householders tend to be either in their 20s or past the decade of their 60s). That necessarily means that media use is an ongoing accommodation among household mem- bers. We know very little about what those accommodation processes are, however, because the best method to find out about them is to actually observe and in some way participate in them, to carefully detail both the observation and the participation, and finally to interpret the meaningful interconnections that fuse acts into action. There are metric and hybrid alternatives—extensive survey instruments, long-form interviews, place- ment of diaries, protocol analysis or sequential data collections (that now use cell phones and could use Twitter)—but generally these are less successful in capturing the continuities and discontinuities that populate actual practice. Consequences The consequences of the media for 21st-century life are enormous. The economic value of the global media industry is approaching a trillion dollars. Every other industry has to account for the media in some way. The character of global and local politics is inalterably changed from campaigns to methods of governance. Many of the ways we earn our living and conduct our work depend on media and the technologies of communication. And certainly our recreation and entertainment are marked by media. We also know there are consequences (or effects as they are often called) that result from each individual’s participation in mediated communication. If nothing else, participation in mediated communication leads to a reduced ability to participate in face-to-face communication (leading to the new rule of etiquette of taking out at least one earpiece—even if grudgingly— when addressed). But certainly there is more. We attribute the increasing obesity of U.S. citizens to the choice of media over exercise. We insist that media violence increases social aggression even in the face of falling violent crime rates. We claim addictions to pornogra- phy, to the Internet, to materialism, to playing games. We claim that our version of the world around us is shaped by media—our sense of race, ethnicity, gender, and even self-worth. (Generally, scholars find all that media influence off-putting, as if there was some better way—some real way—in which our sense making could be accomplished.)
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  • 56. costrinsero a sottomettersi. Passarono di poi alla terra della Pergola, dove era guarnigione di Federigo conte d'Urbino, e in pochi giorni l'ebbero ubbidiente ai loro voleri. Andarono poscia a postarsi solamente circa cinque miglia lungi dal campo, in cui colle poche sue truppe si era fortificato il conte Francesco su quel di Fossombrone. Trovavasi allora in Pesaro il conte Alessandro Sforza fratello del conte Francesco, e signore di quella città [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.], e, veggendosi cinto da ogni intorno dalle armi nemiche, giudicò meglio, nel dì 25 di luglio, di venire ad un accordo col cardinale Lodovico legato del papa: risoluzione, di cui sommamente il conte Francesco si dolse, come di fiera ingratitudine, dacchè egli col suo proprio danaro avea acquistata quella città al fratello. Ma Alessandro si scusò colla necessità, assicurando il conte della sua non interrotta fedeltà ed amore: in segno di che mandò Bianca Visconte di lui moglie ad Urbino, contuttochè se gli opponesse non poco il cardinale. Fu ridotto in questi tempi così alle strette il conte Francesco Sforza, che si vide forzato a ritirarsi fino alle mura d'Urbino, mancandogli forze da poter fermare i progressi delle armi pontificie e duchesche, che gran guasto davano a quel territorio, e presero varie terre. Non contento Filippo Maria duca di Milano della guerra ch'egli facea nello Stato della Chiesa contra del conte Francesco suo genero, si lasciò così trasportare dalla pazza passione, che, credendo venuto il tempo di potergli anche togliere Cremona [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.], quantunque città a lui ceduta con titolo di dote, si mise in punto per eseguir questa impresa. Era ciò espressamente contro i capitoli della pace fatta co' Veneziani e Fiorentini: non importa; sopra ogni altra riflessione andava lo sregolato empito dell'odio suo. Però, messo in piedi un esercito di cinque mila cavalli e mille fanti sotto il comando di Francesco Piccinino e di Luigi del Verme, lo spedì, sul principio di maggio, contro Cremona, di cui Orlando Pallavicino gli avea fatto sperar l'acquisto per una segreta cloaca. Impiegò questa gente alquanto tempo in prendere Soncino ed altre terre del Cremonese: nel qual mentre i Veneziani, veduta rotta la pace dal non mai quieto duca, ebbero tempo di potere spignere qualche soccorso d'armati in Cremona. Arrivato colà il Piccinino, vi trovò, più di quel che credeva, gente disposta alla difesa; laonde si accampò
  • 57. intorno ad essa città, sperando di costringerla colla fame alla resa. In questo tempo i Veneziani, giacchè con un'ambasciata non aveano potuto rimuovere il duca da questo disegno, ordinarono a Michele Attendolo da Cotignola, lor generale, di mettere insieme tutta l'armata, e di marciar contro ai ducheschi. Avea inoltre spedito il duca, per voglia di togliere anche Pontremoli al conte suo genero, Luigi da San Severino e Pietro Maria Rossi; ma altro non poterono far questi, che mettere a sacco il paese, perchè i Fiorentini, coll'inviare per tempo a quella terra un rinforzo di milizie, la salvarono. Ridotto a tali termini stava intanto il conte Francesco nel territorio d'Urbino, quando avvenne novità che il fece assai respirare. Guglielmo fratello di Giovanni marchese di Monferrato dimorava in Castelfranco del Bolognese con Alberto Pio da Carpi, e con una brigata di quattrocento cavalli e di cento fanti in servigio del duca di Milano [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital. Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 8, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Perchè passavano fra lui e Carlo Gonzaga de' disgusti a motivo di precedenza, si lasciò egli guadagnare dalle proferte di più lucrosa condotta che gli fecero i Veneziani e Bolognesi, e se l'intese con Taddeo marchese e con Tiberio Brandolino capitani de' primi. Perciò nella notte del dì 5 di luglio diede la tenuta di Castelfranco ai Bolognesi, ed unito con essi e co' Veneziani nel dì seguente cavalcò a San Giovanni in Persiceto, nella cui rocca egli teneva presidio, mentre nella terra alloggiava Carlo da Gonzaga con un grosso corpo di gente duchesca. Venuto alle mani con esso Gonzaga, lo sconfisse, e mise a saccomano tutta quella gente di armi, e prese anche la terra: per la qual vittoria tornarono poco appresso all'ubbidienza di Bologna quasi tutte le altre castella e terre di quel distretto. Parimente avvenne che i Fiorentini fecero largo partito a Taliano Furlano generale del duca di Milano contra di Francesco Sforza, offerendogli il generalato dell'esercito loro [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital. Ammirat., Istor. Fiorentina, lib. 22.]. Fosse accidente, o un tiro malizioso di essi Fiorentini, si riseppe il trattato, nè ci volle di più, perchè Taliano, d'ordine del duca e del cardinale legato, fosse preso nel mese d'agosto, e condotto a Rocca Contrada, dove gli fu recisa la testa. Pel medesimo motivo ebbe dipoi
  • 58. mozzato il capo anche Jacopo da Gaibana, altro condottiere d'armi. Nacquero forti sospetti al duca di Milano che anche Bartolomeo Coleone suo condottier d'armi tenesse delle intelligenze co' Veneziani; e furono questi cagione ch'egli venisse preso ed inviato nelle carceri di Monza. Sì fatti accidenti sconcertarono alquanto i felici andamenti dell'armata pontificia e duchesca, la quale intanto faceva alla peggio nel territorio d'Urbino. Unironsi poi colla armata veneta le genti d'armi di Taddeo marchese d'Este, di Tiberto Brandolino e di Guglielmo di Monferrato [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 8, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; ed allora fu che Michele da Cotignola generale dei Veneziani marciò contro l'armata duchesca accampala intorno a Cremona. Fece questo esercito non solamente ritornar molte terre alla divozione del conte Francesco, ma anche ritirare Francesco Piccinino dall'assedio di Cremona, con portarsi a Casalmaggiore, dove fece fabbricare un Ponte sul Po per aver viveri e strame dal Parmigiano. Era ivi nel fiume un mezzano ossia un'isola, dove la di lui armata si stese, e fortificossi con bastioni e bombarde. Ora Micheletto Attendolo colle sue genti arrivò colà con pensiero di dar loro la mala Pasqua. Il Simonetta scrive che ciò avvenne tertio kalendas octobris, cioè nel dì 29 di settembre. L'autore degli Annali di Forlì [Annales Foroliv., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.], nel dì primo di ottobre. Ma Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.] e le Croniche di Rimini [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.] e di Bologna [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.], e il Rivalta negli Annali di Piacenza [Annales Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.] ci danno quel fatto di armi nel dì 28 di settembre. Non potendo le genti venete penetrare i trincieramenti fatti alla testa del ponte, trovarono per avventura non essere tanto alta l'acqua del Po, che non potessero arrivare al mezzano suddetto, dove, come in una città, si erano fatti forti i ducheschi. A quella volta dunque animosamente s'inviò la cavalleria veneta con fanti in groppa per l'acqua che arrivava sino alle selle dei cavalli, ed attaccarono la mischia con tal bravura, che misero in poco d'ora i nemici in iscompiglio. Se ne fuggirono i capitani ducheschi di là dal Po; ma perchè non v'era se non il ponte, per cui potesse salvarsi la sconfitta gente, e questo ancora, per paura d'essere inseguiti, fu rotto d'ordine di essi capitani; però la maggior parte di que' soldati rimase
  • 59. prigioniera colla perdita di tutto il bagaglio, munizioni e carriaggi, che fu d'immenso valore. Scrive Marino Sanuto [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.] che in sua parte toccarono a Micheletto generale cavalli ottocento, a Guglielmo di Monferrato cento, a Taddeo marchese secento, a Gentile figliuolo di Gattamelata ottocento, a Tiberio Brandolino quattrocento, a Guido Rangone quattrocento, a Cristoforo da Tolentino e ad altri altra parte, di maniera che più di quattro mila cavalli vennero alle lor mani. Gran festa si fece per così segnalata vittoria in Venezia e per tutte le terre della repubblica. Or questa gran percossa fece rientrare in sè stesso il poco saggio duca di Milano, che nel dì 5 d'ottobre spedì per un suo messo segreta lettera alla repubblica veneta chiedendo pace, ed esibendosi pronto a cedere tutto quanto egli avea preso nel Cremonese colla giunta di Crema. Tardò poco a comprendere, essere bensì in mano d'ognuno il cominciare una guerra, ma non essere poi così il finirla. I Veneziani, che avevano il vento in poppa, e ben conosceano la debolezza, a cui era ridotto il duca, sprezzata ogni proposizione d'accordo, ordinarono al loro generale di proseguire innanzi. Pertanto egli, dopo aver ricuperato Soncino, Caravaggio e tutte le castella del Cremonese, passò il fiume Adda, e ruppe di nuovo nel dì 6 di novembre [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Ital. Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital. Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, tom. 21 Rer. Italic.] le milizie del duca, che gli si vollero opporre, con prendere circa secento cavalli, e far prigioni circa mille e ducento fanti. Corse dipoi sul Milanese, saccomanando il paese; ebbe Cassano colla rocca, e mirabilmente fortificò quella terra; finalmente andò a quartiere di inverno. Se stesse bene allora lo sconsigliato duca, non occorre ch'io ne avvisi il lettore. Dacchè egli ebbe la fiera sconfitta di Casalmaggiore, spedì al papa e al re Alfonso le più calde preghiere per ottener soccorso. Cominciò ancora con più e più lettere a pregare il prima tanto odiato e perseguitato suo genero, cioè il conte Francesco Sforza, acciocchè non l'abbandonasse in sì pericolosa congiuntura. Era sul principio d'ottobre arrivato ad esso conte un buon rinforzo di milizie, a lui inviate da' Fiorentini, e ciò bastò a farlo uscire in campagna contro le genti pontificie comandate da Lodovico
  • 60. cardinale e patriarca. Ma, non potendo mai tirarle a battaglia, imprese lo assedio di Gradara in quel di Pesaro, terra forte occupata già da Sigismondo signore di Rimini. Nello stesso tempo Alessandro Sforza signor di Pesaro, per opera di Federigo conte d'Urbino, rimesso in grazia del conte Francesco suo fratello, voltata casacca, ripigliò le armi contra di Sigismondo e de' pontifizii. Per mancanza di polvere da fuoco non potè il conte insignorirsi di Gradara; e perchè niun soccorso di danaro gli veniva con tutte le sue istanze nè da Venezia nè da Firenze, si ritirò in fine a Pesaro a dar riposo alle sue troppo stanche genti. Intanto papa Eugenio, il re Alfonso e Sigismondo Malatesta, avendo consentito il conte ad una tregua (per cui entrarono in grande sospetto di lui i Veneziani), spedirono circa quattromila cavalli in aiuto del duca di Milano nel mese di dicembre. Cesare da Martinengo, uno dei caporali di questa gente posta a svernare sul Parmigiano [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.], abbagliato dalla fortuna de' Veneziani, passò dipoi nel febbraio susseguente, se non prima, colle sue schiere al loro servigio. Altrettanto fece colle sue anche Rinaldo da Montalbotto.
  • 61. Anno di Cristo mccccxlvii. Indiz. x. Niccolò V papa 1. Federigo III re de' Romani 8. Avea fin qui menata sua vita, pien di pensieri di guerra, e tormentato da affanni per cagion dello scisma di Basilea, il pontefice Eugenio IV, quando Iddio il chiamò a sè nel dì 23 di febbraio in Roma [Petroni, Istor., tom. 24 Rer. Ital. Vita Eugenii IV, P. II, tom. 3 Rer. Ital.], città da lui beneficata dopo il suo ritorno colà, perchè vi ristorò le principali chiese che erano in rovina, vi mantenne buona pace e giustizia, e la sua mano era sempre aperta alle indigenze de' poveri. Fu pontefice di rare qualità; e benchè alquanto sfortunato negli affari sì spirituali che temporali, pure di gran cose operò sì nell'una che nell'altra parte. Memorabile restò la sua ricordanza, per aver uniti alla Chiesa cattolica i Greci, i Maroniti ed altre nazioni cristiane d'Oriente, e tentato di unire insino gli Etiopi. Eppure ebbe la disgrazia di lasciar la Chiesa latina in disordine per lo scisma nato in Basilea. Fu uomo di testa dura e di raggiri politici; nè alcun menomo eccesso si mirò in lui per ingrandire i suoi parenti, come ebbero in uso altri suoi predecessori. Tutto il suo studio era in conservare o ricuperare gli Stati della Chiesa romana: nel che impiegò molti tesori; ed ebbe anche singolar premura per reprimere la sempre più crescente baldanza e potenza dei Turchi: nel che profittò poco per la disunione e guerre delle potenze cristiane. Entrati i cardinali nel conclave, ed accordatisi nel dì 5 di marzo, elessero Tommaso da
  • 62. Sarzana, vescovo di Bologna, creato cardinale da Eugenio nell'anno precedente. Di bassa nascita era egli; ma questo immaginario difetto era senza paragone compensato dalle mirabili sue belle doti sì d'animo che d'ingegno, e dal suo universal sapere; di modo che personaggio non si potea scegliere più degno e più atto al pontificato di lui. Prese egli il nome di Niccolò V, e nel dì 18 d'esso mese fu solennemente coronato. Appena era mancato di vita papa Eugenio, che il re Alfonso, sotto pretesto di vegliare alla sicurezza di Roma, sen venne a Tivoli [Raynaldus, Annal. Eccles.], e quivi si piantò. Una delle prime cure del novello pontefice fu quella di fare sloggiare di là il re, e di estinguere lo scisma dell'antipapa Amedeo di Savoia: al qual fine impegnò Carlo re di Francia, promettendogli di confiscare tutti gli Stati d'esso Amedeo, se non ubbidiva, per concederli al medesimo re. Adoperossi per ricuperare affatto la marca di Ancona [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Quivi non riteneva più il conte Francesco Sforza, se non la città di Jesi, che gli era sempre stata fedele. Le premure del duca di Milano, angustiato in questi tempi fieramente dai Veneziani, fecero mutar massime al medesimo conte e al re Alfonso, perchè il duca, trovandosi in grave pericolo, implorava quotidianamente il soccorso del genero. Però non fu difficile il tirare in fine ad un accordo il conte, che in sì urgente congiuntura si trovava necessitoso di pecunia. Trentacinque mila fiorini d'oro, ben pagati al conte, l'indussero a rilasciar quella città al pontefice, e a richiamarne la sua guarnigione. Similmente non tardò esso papa, siccome di genio pacifico, ad interporsi tosto per ismorzare il terribile incendio di guerra nato in Lombardia fra i Veneziani e il duca di Milano; ma cotali accidenti occorsero dipoi, che restarono vani tutti i paterni desiderii e disegni del buon pontefice. La prosperità delle armi venete, che, dopo aver fabbricato un ponte sull'Adda, non trovavano ritegno alcuno, e portavano le desolazione sino ai borghi di Milano, avea messo in tal costernazione lo animo del poco saggio duca Filippo Maria, che a mani giunte non cessava di raccomandarsi al re Alfonso, a papa Eugenio allora vivente e a' Fiorentini. Ricorse fino al re di Francia, con esibirsi di restituire al duca d'Orleans la città d'Asti. Ma le sue maggiori
  • 63. speranze erano riposte nel credito e nel valore del conte Francesco Sforza, cioè in quel medesimo ch'egli sì lungamente avea perseguitato, e ridotto, co' suoi maligni maneggi, e colle armi e co' danari, a perdere l'intera marca d'Ancona, e con volerlo anche spogliare di Cremona. A lui lettere, a lui messi andavano di tanto in tanto, pregandolo e scongiurandolo di soccorso, e sollecitandolo a venire, senza lasciar indietro offerta e promessa alcuna che il potesse muovere, e soprattutto mettendogli davanti la succession de' suoi Stati. Perchè a questi andamenti teneano ben l'occhio aperto i Veneziani, anch'essi gli inviarono Pasquale Malipieri per tenerlo saldo nella lor lega, con fargli anche essi delle larghe esibizioni. E perciocchè il conte non dava categoriche risposte, si avvidero ben per tempo que' saggi signori ch'egli era per anteporre alla loro antica amicizia la nuova riconciliazione col suocero [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Italic. Corio, Istor. di Milano.]. Presero dunque la risoluzione di non aspettare ch'egli si dichiarasse, e di torgli intanto Cremona, se veniva lor fatto. Ordinato prima un trattato con alcuni Guelfi di quella città. Michele Attendolo lor generale nel dì 4 di marzo si presentò segretamente con quattromila cavalli e grossa fanteria alla porta d'Ognisanti di Cremona, credendosi di trovarla aperta. Gli andò fallito il colpo. Foschino Attendolo da Cotignola governatore, e Giacomazzo da Salerno capitano de' soldati del conte Francesco furono tosto in armi, raddoppiarono le guardie alle porte, alle mura, alle torri, cosicchè nè i cittadini osarono di far movimento; e i Veneziani, dopo avere scoperto il loro buon animo, si ritirarono colla bocca asciutta. Questo tentativo, oltre ad altri motivi che aveva il conte Francesco d'essere poco contento dei Veneziani, per averlo essi abbandonato nelle passate sue disavventure, e la segreta inclinazione da lui ben capita dei Fiorentini [Ammirati, Istor. Fiorent., lib. 22.], a' quali non piaceva che i Veneziani s'ingrandissero di troppo col mettere il duca in camicia, servì a lui di scusa per istrignere il trattato col suocero, a condizione che gli fosse pagato annualmente tanto di salario, quanto gli davano i Veneziani, ascendente a ducento quattro mila fiorini d'oro; e che gli fosse dato col titolo l'autorità di generale d'armata per tutti i di lui Stati. Pertanto alcune somme di danaro gli furono mandate da Milano, altre pagate in Roma: col quale rinforzo
  • 64. cominciò a mettere in ordine e ad accrescere le sue truppe. Ma mentre si crede di marciare a dirittura a Milano, alcuni de' cortigiani del duca, e i due Piccinini Francesco e Jacopo, invidiosi dell'innalzamento del conte, sparsero tai semi di diffidenza nel debolissimo duca, che più danaro non corse; e il duca andava ordinando al conte di passare o nel Padovano o nel Veronese, a motivo di fare una diversione, dando con ciò assai a conoscere di non volerlo in sua casa: tutti imbrogli che ritardarono la mossa del conte, e maravigliosamente giovarono ai Veneziani per tentar cose maggiori contra del duca. Venne l'armata loro pel ponte di Cassano nel cuore del Milanese, scorse tutta la Martesana, e andò finalmente ad accamparsi sotto a Milano, per le speranze date da alcuni di que' cittadini al general veneziano d'introdurlo a tradimento in quella città. Chiarito Micheletto, esser quelle parole vane, passò alle parti del monte di Brianza [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], dove sconfisse Francesco Piccinino, ed altri capitani milanesi e le loro brigate. Mise dipoi l'assedio al forte castello di Lecco, dove spese circa quaranta giorni, con istrage e grave incomodo di sua gente, senza poterlo far piegare alla resa. Conosceva intanto ogni di più il duca l'infelice suo stato, e l'imminente pericolo suo, ma ricercato e voluto; nè esservi altra speranza che l'aiuto del genero Sforza. Pertanto gli spedì affrettandolo a venire, e pregò il papa e il re Alfonso di provvederlo di danaro. Altro non fecero essi, se non ciò che s'è detto di sopra, dell'avere carpito dalle mani del conte la città di Jesi per la somma già accennata di danaro, con cui egli allestì la sua armata, e da Pesaro si mise in viaggio nel dì 9 d'agosto [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.]. Aveva egli dianzi, nel dì 11 di marzo, insieme col conte Federigo d'Urbino fatto tregua con Sigismondo signor di Rimini, e con Malatesta Novello da Cesena di lui fratello. Consisteva l'esercito del conte in quattro mila cavalli e due mila fanti, co' quali venne a riposarsi alquanto a Cotignola. Ma eccoti un improvviso cambiamento di scena. Circa il dì 7 d'esso mese d'agosto cadde infermo Filippo Maria Visconte duca di Milano, e nel dì 13 diede compimento alla vita presente nel castello di porta Zobbia, senza
  • 65. lasciar dopo di sè prole maschile. Portato il suo corpo con poca pompa al duomo, potè allora quel popolo mirarlo morto, dopo averlo potuto vedere sì poco quando era in vita. Fu creduto che gli affanni e pericoli ne' quali si trovava involto, e ch'egli s'era colla sua balordaggine tirati addosso, il conducessero al sepolcro. S'egli avesse saputo prevalersi del regalo che la fortuna gli avea fatto di un genero, qual era il conte Francesco Sforza, cioè del miglior capitano che fosse allora in Italia, e fors'anche in Europa, poteva egli sperare di atterrar tutti i suoi nemici. Con fare sì scioccamente tutto il contrario, s'era ridotto alla vigilia di perdere colla riputazione anche tutti i suoi Stati. E qual fosse l'animo suo verso Bianca sua figliuola e verso il conte Francesco suo genero, che solo veniva per assistergli in sì grave urgenza, si diede ancora a conoscere nel fine di sua vita, se pure è vero ch'egli dichiarasse erede de' suoi Stati non già il conte Francesco Sforza, ma bensì Alfonso re d'Aragona e delle Due Sicilie [Bonincontrus, Annal., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], i cui uffiziali certo è che presero tosto il possesso del castello di Milano e della rocchetta. Dimorava il conte in Cotignola, quando nel dì 15 di agosto da Lionello d'Este marchese di Ferrara gli giunse segreto avviso della morte del duca: colpo che stranamente sconcertò le sue misure. Crebbe molto più la costernazione sua dacchè intese che il popolo di Milano, troppo stanco e disgustato del gravoso governo del duca defunto, avea gridato: Viva la libertà, e presa la risoluzione di reggersi a repubblica. Oltre a ciò, poteano pretendere quegli Stati il re Alfonso in vigore del testamento suddetto, se pur fu vero; e Carlo duca d'Orleans, per ragione di Valentina Visconte. Quel che era più, con tante forze si trovavano i Veneziani addosso allo Stato di Milano, senza che egli avesse nè danaro nè gente bastante a far grandi imprese. Oh qui sì che v'era bisogno d'ingegno. Contuttociò nel dì seguente marciò alla volta del Parmigiano, per quivi meglio considerare qual piega prendessero le cose, e qual volto mostrasse la fortuna a' suoi interessi in una sì strepitosa mutazion di cose. Incredibile allora fu la rivoluzion dello Stato di Milano; tutto si riempiè di sedizioni, ed ognuno prese l'armi [Platina, Histor. Mant., lib. 6.]. Como, Alessandria e Novara aderirono alla repubblica milanese.
  • 66. Pavia si rimise in libertà senza voler dipendere da Milano. Parma si mostrò anch'essa inclinata al medesimo partito, e diede sol buone parole al conte Francesco, che tentò di averla. Anche Tortona negò ubbidienza ai Milanesi. All'incontro i Veneziani seppero così ben profittare di quell'universal disordine, che la città di Lodi loro si diede. Ebbero poscia il forte castello di San Colombano, situato tra Lodi e Pavia. Regnava allora gran discordia fra i cittadini di Piacenza [Ripalta, Hist. Placentin., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.]. Nel loro consiglio la fazion più potente la vinse, ed avendo spedito ai Veneziani per sottomettersi al loro imperio, non durarono fatica ad ottener quanto desideravano, e con patti i più vantaggiosi del mondo; per la qual cosa fecero poi gran festa e falò. Nel dì 20 d'agosto Taddeo marchese d'Este con mille e cinquecento cavalli veneti prese il possesso di Piacenza, e nel dì 22 arrivò colà con più gente Jacopo Antonio Marcello provveditore de' Veneziani. Intanto i Milanesi tutti d'accordo, con avere per loro capi Antonio Trivulzio, Teodoro Bossio, Giorgio Lampugnano ed Innocenzo Cotta [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 6, tom. 21 Rer. Ital. Corio, Istor. di Milano.], la prima cosa che fecero, fu di cavar dalle mani degli uffiziali del re Alfonso il castello e la rocchetta. Col regalo di diciassette mila fiorini d'oro ebbero queste fortezze, e tosto le spianarono da' fondamenti. L'ambasciata da essi inviata al campo veneto per ottener pace e far lega, fu accolta quasi con riso. Si tenevano allora i Veneziani quasi in pugno tutta la Lombardia. E però si rivolsero i Milanesi al conte Francesco Sforza, che era passato alla sua città di Cremona, pregandolo di voler assumere la difesa della lor libertà nella guisa ch'egli era per servire al defunto duca, offerendogli il comando della lor armata col titolo e con gli onori di generale. Non era lo Sforza solamente insigne per la sua perizia e bravura nell'armi; possedeva anche un'ammirabil accortezza nei politici affari; e però, quantunque gli potesse parere strano di doversi sottomettere ad un popolo, per comandare al quale egli era venuto; pure accettò l'offerta, e si accordarono le condizioni del suo generalato. Ebbe anche forza la sua lingua di trarre nella sua amicizia Francesco e Jacopo Piccinini, non ostante l'antico odio che passava fra le loro case e persone. Ciò fatto, uscì egli in campagna, ed, unite le sue truppe con quelle de' Milanesi, alle quali aggiunse
  • 67. ancora Bartolomeo Coleone fuggito dalle carceri di Monza dopo la morte del duca, avendolo affidato e guadagnato al suo servigio, andò all'assedio del castello di San Colombano. Mentr'egli quivi dimorava, erano in continua dissensione i Pavesi, aspirando alcuni a prendere per loro principe Lodovico duca di Savoia, altri Giovanni marchese di Monferrato, ed altri Lionello d'Este marchese di Ferrara. Ma non vi mancava il partito di coloro che anteponevano il darsi al conte Francesco, padrone di Cremona e sì celebre nel mestier della guerra, ossia al di lui figliuolo Galeazzo Maria [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.]. Volle la fortuna del conte che si trovasse castellano in Pavia Matteo Bolognini Bolognese, e ch'egli per le istanze di Agnese dal Maino, parente di Bianca Visconte, trattasse segretamente di cedere al conte quella fortezza. Perciò al conte da lì a poco si diedero la città e cittadella di Pavia, con che egli assumesse il titolo di conte di Pavia, nè quel popolo fosse più suggetto a Milano. Ed ancorchè, presentita cotal intenzione de' Pavesi, fossero venuti gli ambasciatori milanesi per lamentarsene, e per esigere, secondo i patti, che le città prese dal conte si sottomettessero non a lui ma alla loro repubblica: tali scuse, belle parole e promesse sfoderò il conte, che eglino, benchè mal contenti, se ne tornarono a Milano, nè credettero ben fatto il litigar oltre, e molto meno il rompere la buona armonia col loro generale, giacchè non riuscì loro con nuova spedizione ai Veneziani d'indurli a verun accordo. Trovò lo Sforza nella cittadella di Pavia danari, gioie, assaissimo grano e sale, e gran copia d'attrezzi militari, tutto con gran fedeltà a lui consegnato dal Bolognini. Nè perdè egli punto di tempo ad ordinar la fabbrica di quattro galeoni e di altri legni, col disegno già conceputo di formar l'assedio di Piacenza. Intanto il castello di San Colombano, non potendo più reggere, e disperando il soccorso, se gli rendè. Sul principio d'ottobre imprese il conte Francesco l'assedio di Piacenza per terra [Ripalta, Annal. Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.], assistito nel Po dall'armata navale, ben provveduta di cannoni e d'altre macchine militari, e condotta da Bernardo e Filippo Eustachi da Pavia. Nell'esercito suo si contavano i due fratelli Piccinini Francesco e Jacopo, Guidantonio ossia Guidazzo signor di Faenza, Carlo da
  • 68. Gonzaga, Alessandro Sforza suo fratello, il conte Luigi del Verme, il conte Dolce dall'Anguillara, ed altri valenti capitani. Alla difesa di Piacenza stavano Gherardo Dandolo provveditore de' Veneziani, e Taddeo marchese d'Este lor capitano con un numeroso presidio. Molti assalti furono dati a quella città, giocavano incessantemente le artiglierie; ma niuna apparenza v'era di superare così grande, così popolata e ben difesa città. I Veneziani, poichè mancava loro maniera di fare un ponte sul Po, per recar soccorso alla città suddetta, si accinsero a fabbricare una potente flotta di galeoni e d'altri legni da condursi per Po a quella volta. E intanto Michele Attendolo lor generale coll'esercito suo dava il guasto al territorio di Milano, prendendo anche varie castella, per veder pure di distorre lo Sforza da quell'assedio. Ma questi, dopo essere stato circa sei settimane sotto Piacenza, ed aver fatto coi suoi grossi cannoni una larga breccia nelle mura, e fatto cader due torri, determinò di dare un generale assalto alla città; e tanto più perchè udiva che si era già posta in cammino l'armata navale de' Veneziani per venire a sturbarlo. Scrive il Simonetta [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 10, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.] che il giorno di sì fiera azione fu ad sextumdecimum kalendas decembris, cioè nel dì 16 di novembre. Così pure ha la Cronica Piacentina del Rivalta [Ripalta, Annal. Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.]. Cristoforo da Soldo dice nel dì 15 di novembre [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; ma, soggiugnendo che fu in giovedì, si vede che quel numero è scorretto, e vuol dire anch'egli nel dì 16, che cadde in giovedì. Fierissimo fu quell'assalto, crudelissima la battaglia, e durò molte ore, avendo anche i galeoni del conte dalla parte del Po, che era allora grossissimo, fatta gran guerra alla città. Finalmente verso le ore venti il vittorioso esercito del conte Francesco entrò nella misera, anzi sopra ogni credere infelicissima città; imperocchè fu lasciata in preda ai soldati, e dato il sacco a tutte le case e chiese; non vi fu salvo l'onore delle vergini e delle matrone: di modo che non parvero cristiani, ma turchi coloro che tante iniquità commisero, colla desolazione di quella nobil città. E durò questa barbarie, se crediamo al Ripalta, molto tempo, senza che il conte vi mettesse freno, per quell'empia massima di tener contente le soldatesche, e di animarle ad altri simili fatti d'armi. Dieci
  • 69. mila cittadini rimasero prigionieri, e convenne riscattarsi a chiunque fu creduto capace di pagare. Il Simonetta, parziale del conte, confessa, è vero, le immense iniquità in tal occasione commesse; ma aggiugne avere il conte Francesco inviate persone a salvare i monisteri delle sacre vergini, ed aver comandato sotto pena della vita la restituzion delle donne, e fatto impiccare chi non ubbidì. E veramente Antonio Ripalta, che si trovò in mezzo a quell'orrida tragedia, e restò prigione, neppur egli parla de' monisteri. Perciò resto io dubbioso se s'abbia a prestar fede a Cristoforo da Soldo, allorchè scrive che le monache tutte furono svergognate, stracciate e malmenate. Con esso scrittore bresciano non di meno s'accordano l'autore della Cronica di Bologna [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.] e lo storico di Rimini [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.]. Si rifugiarono nella cittadella Gherardo Dandolo provveditor veneto, Taddeo marchese ed Alberto Scotto conte di Vigoleno, con assai loro gente; ma non trovandovi provvisione di viveri che per due giorni, non tardarono a rendersi prigionieri, essendo non di meno riuscito ad Alberto di fuggirsene, e di arrivar salvo sul Reggiano. Perchè poi di questa gran perdita fu incolpato (non so se a ragione o a torto) esso marchese, rimesso che fu in libertà, e tornato al campo veneto, nel dì 21 di giugno dell'anno seguente, d'improvviso cadde morto, non senza sospetto che gli fosse stata abbreviata la vita. Scrive santo Antonino [S. Antonin., P. III, tit. 22.], essersi nell'espugnazione della città di Piacenza il conte Francesco trovato in mezzo alla grandine delle palle e dei sassi nemici, di maniera che parve prodigioso l'aver egli salvata la vita. Con questa impresa, che gli fece grande onore presso i rettori della repubblica milanese, terminò egli la campagna presente, e si ritirò a Cremona, angustiata non poco sì per terra, come per Po dalle armi venete. Nè si vuol tacere, che avendo Carlo duca d'Orleans dopo la morte del duca Filippo Maria, ricuperata la città d'Asti, mandò un gran corpo di cavalleria e fanteria, forse tre mila persone, concedutegli dal re di Francia sotto il comando di Rinaldo di Dudresnay. E perch'egli pretendeva all'eredità del duca defunto, siccome figliuolo di Valentina Visconti, perciò questo suo governatore portò la guerra
  • 70. sull'Alessandrino, prese molte castella, e si diede ad assediar la terra del Bosco. Verso la metà d'ottobre fu colà inviato dai reggenti di Milano Bartolomeo Coleone, che con circa mille cinquecento cavalli diede battaglia a quei Franzesi [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.], e li mise, nel dì 14 d'ottobre, in isconfitta, con far prigione lo stesso lor condottiere Rinaldo; vittoria non di meno che costò ben cara anche ai vincitori [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 10, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. E gli Alessandrini, perchè i Franzesi non aveano dato quartiere alla lor gente, trucidarono poi quanti d'essi aveano fatti prigioni. Passò dipoi Bartolomeo a Tortona, e costrinse quel popolo a prestare ubbidienza a Milano. Non fu esente in quest'anno da novità la sempre inquieta città di Genova [Giustiniani, Istoria di Genova, lib. 5.]. V'era doge Raffaello Adorno. Ad istanza di molti suoi emuli rinunziò egli il governo nel dì 4 di gennaio. Venne sostituito a lui Barnaba Adorno, ma per pochi giorni, perchè nel dì 30 d'esso mese entrato in Genova Giano da Campofregoso, benchè con poca gente, ebbe tal senno e forza, che, detronizzato Barnaba, si fece proclamar doge di quella città. L'aiutarono a questa impresa i Franzesi, con aver egli fatto credere loro di rimettere Genova sotto il loro dominio, ma si trovarono poi beffati. Soggiacque alla guerra in questo anno anche la Toscana. S'era, mentre vivea il duca Filippo Maria, trattato non poco di pace in Ferrara colla mediazione del marchese Lionello d'Este fra i ministri d'esso duca e del re Alfonso, e i Veneziani e Fiorentini. Parea condotto a buon segno il negoziato, quando, per la morte del duca, avendo i Veneziani cangiata massima, andò per terra ogni speranza d'accordo [Ammirati, Istor. di Firenze, lib. 22.]. Ora il re Alfonso, dacchè vide impegnati i Veneziani nella guerra contro lo Stato di Milano, ossia per disegno di fare una potente diversione con assalire i Fiorentini lor collegati, oppure per voglia d'insignorirsi della Toscana, all'uscita d'ottobre con circa quindici mila tra fanti e cavalli venne in persona contra d'essi Fiorentini, in aiuto de' quali accorse il conte Federigo d'Urbino con secento cavalli e mille fanti [Neri Capponi, Comment., tom. 18 Rer. Ital. Poggius, Histor., lib. 8.]. Per quanto facesse il re affine di smuovere i Sanesi dalla lor libertà, o dall'amicizia de' Fiorentini, altro non potè ottenere che provvisione di vettovaglie. Entrato in quel di Volterra, vi prese alcune castella, ed altre nel
  • 71. Pisano. Simonetto, che dal soldo de' Fiorentini era passato a quello del re, per terza ebbe Castiglione della Pescaia, luogo forte: dopo le quali poche prodezze il re Alfonso ridusse le sue genti a quartiere, alloggiandone la maggior parte nel Patrimonio, ossia negli Stati pontificii. Tornò Bologna in quest'anno [Cronica di Bologna, tom. 18 Rer. Ital.] all'ubbidienza della Chiesa, perchè i Bolognesi amavano molto papa Niccolò, che poco anzi era stato lor vescovo. Ne riportarono vantaggiosi capitoli. Siccome già accennai, avea il conte Federigo d'Urbino comperata la città di Fossombrone, e pacifico possessor d'essa quivi signoreggiava [Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.]. Per tradimento d'alcuni di que' cittadini Sigismondo Malatesta signor di Rimini verso il principio di settembre v'entrò dentro, e cominciò l'assedio della rocca. Ma eccoti giugnere, nel dì 3 di quel mese, il conte Federigo con tutte le sue forze, ed attaccar la battaglia. Fu rotto il signor di Rimini, e Federigo, per castigo de' traditori, mise a sacco tutta la città ravvolgendo nel medesimo eccidio tanto i rei che gl'innocenti. Nella state dell'anno presente la peste fece non poca strage nella città di Venezia [Sanuto, Istor. Venet., tom. 22 Rer. Ital.]. Mirabil cosa pare che con tanto bollore e miscuglio di guerre non si diffondesse questo malore per tutta la Lombardia. Ma ne vedremo gli effetti nell'anno seguente.
  • 72. Anno di Cristo mccccxlviii. Indiz. xi. Niccolò V papa 2. Federigo III re de' Romani 9. Abbondò più che mai di strepitosi avvenimenti l'anno presente per la guerra de' Veneziani contra dello Stato di Milano. Avea quella potente repubblica sommamente accresciuta di gente la sua armata di terra, e specialmente colla giunta di Lodovico da Gonzaga marchese di Mantova, che in loro aiuto condusse mille e secento cavalli [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. II, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Teneva inoltre a Casalmaggiore una formidabil flotta sul Po, da cui veniva stretta e continuamente infestata la città di Cremona. Riuscì ai lor maneggi di staccare da' Milanesi Bartolomeo Coleone di Bergamo. Se ne fuggì egli nel dì 15 di giugno con circa mille e cinquecento cavalli, e andò a rinforzare l'esercito veneto. Dall'altra parte il conte Francesco Sforza provava non pochi affanni, perchè dovea dipendere dal provvedimento e dalle risoluzioni del governo repubblicano de' Milanesi, che erano fra loro discordi. Sotto mano ancora i due figliuoli di Niccolò Piccinino Francesco e Jacopo, sì per l'odio antico, come per l'invidia presente, attraversavano tutti i suoi disegni, consigliando specialmente il governo di Milano di accordarsi co' Veneziani e di far pace. Infatti più e più ambasciatori furono spediti da Milano a tentar di questo i Veneziani. Ma in Venezia il medesimo chiedere pace facea crescere la altura e le pretensioni di quel senato. Tuttavia si sarebbono indotti i Milanesi ad ingoiar delle pillole amare, purchè
  • 73. seguisse accordo; tanta paura e diffidenza cacciavano loro addosso i malevoli del conte Francesco, con far credere ch'egli facesse la guerra col danaro di Milano, per sottomettere poi Milano a sè stesso. In somma si sarebbe probabilmente conchiusa pace (benchè Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Ist. Brescian., tom. 21 Rer. Italic.] creda che tutte queste fossero finzioni), se un dì gli abitanti di porta Comasina in Milano non avessero fatta una sollevazione contra chi la proponeva: laonde fu ripigliata la risoluzione di continuare la guerra. Uscito in campagna sul principio di maggio il conte Francesco, tolse ai nemici Monzanega, Vallate e Triviglio; e soprattutto fu considerabile l'acquisto da lui fatto di Cassano, perchè luogo di molta importanza pel passaggio dell'Adda. Vennero alle sue mani anche Melzo e Pandino; e quantunque Cremona si trovasse in molte angustie e pericoli per le continue molestie dell'armata navale de' Veneziani; pure, premendo più a' Milanesi Lodi che Cremona, gli convenne passare coll'esercito sotto quella città. Nulla quivi avendo fatto, andò a Casalmaggiore, dove s'era ritirata e fortificata la suddetta flotta veneta comandata da Andrea Querino e da Niccolò Trivisano. Nè perchè venisse a postarsi in quelle vicinanze Michele Attendolo general veneto dell'armata di terra, lasciò egli di assalir la loro flotta. Fece a questo fine discendere per Po l'armata de' galeoni pavesi, e dopo aver la notte fatto piantare dieci cannoni sulla riva del Po, nel dì 16 di luglio cominciò a far giocare le artiglierie, che faceano grande strage dei Veneziani. Non poteano andar innanzi, nè retrocedere i galeoni veneti, ed, essendo durata quella tempesta tutto il dì, nella notte il Querino, dopo aver fatto trasportare in Casalmaggiore le armi e le robe delle navi, con sette galeoni e una galea se ne fuggì, avendo prima fatto attaccare il fuoco al resto delle navi: il che fu una perdita e danno immenso per li Veneziani. Arrivato a Venezia, fu messo a riposar ne' camerotti, e condannato a tre anni di prigionia. Andò poscia, nel dì 29 di luglio, il conte Francesco all'assedio di Caravaggio, e furono a vista le due armate nemiche; anzi vennero a caldissime mischie nei dì 15 e 30 d'agosto, che costarono molto sangue all'una e all'altra parte. Stava forte a cuore a' Veneziani la
  • 74. conservazione di Caravaggio, oltre al parer loro di perdere la riputazione, se lo lasciavano cadere sotto gli occhi della loro armata, che tra fanti, cavalli e cernide ascendeva a circa ventiquattro mila persone. Benchè fossero diversi i pareri de' capitani, pure, appigliatisi a quello del conte Tiberto Brandolino, comandarono al lor generale di venir ad un fatto di armi. All'alba dunque del dì 15 di settembre ordinate le schiere, improvvisamente diedero principio alla zuffa in tempo che il conte Francesco ascoltava messa, oppure pranzava. Passata per una palude molta cavalleria veneta, cioè per dove non aspettava il conte alcuna molestia, arrivò sino al di lui padiglione, e quasi mise in rotta la di lui gente. Ma si cangiò, dopo gran combattimento, il viso della fortuna. Due mila cavalli spediti dal conte per un bosco, nè scoperti, arrivarono addosso alla retroguardia del campo veneto, e la sbaragliarono: il che servì a mettere in fuga il restante delle loro brigate [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 13, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Fu spaventosa quella sconfitta, e delle più memorabili di questo secolo. Di circa dodici mila cavalli veneti, secondo l'attestato di Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istor. Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], appena ne scamparono mille e cinquecento; gli altri furono presi. Molto meno è scritto da altri. Vi rimasero prigionieri Roberto da Montalbotto condottiere di mille e ducento cavalli; il conte Guido Rangone da Modena capitano di settecento cavalli; Gentile da Lionesso capitano di mille e settecento cavalli, e i due provveditori veneti Almorò Donato e Gherardo Dandolo, dopo la perdita di Piacenza rimesso in libertà, con una gran torma d'altri uffiziali, oltre all'acquisto del ricchissimo bagaglio, per cui arricchì ogni menomo fantaccino. Questa insigne vittoria portò lo spavento a tutto il territorio di Brescia e di Bergamo, di modo che il conte Francesco, dopo aver preso Caravaggio, ed essere passato nel dì 20 di settembre oltre al fiume Oglio, vide portarsi le chiavi di quasi tutte le castella di que' due contadi. Perchè ne' patti da lui stabiliti colla comunità di Milano v'era che fosse sua Brescia, se per avventura l'avesse presa, a quella volta marciò egli, ben sapendo quanto essa fosse mal provveduta di guarnigione, di viveri e di fortificazioni. Ma ecco attaccar seco lite gli ambasciatori di Milano, che volevano vincere Lodi, e non Brescia. Non potè egli impedire che i due fratelli
  • 75. Piccinini con quattro mila cavalli, secondando le istanze de' Milanesi, e partendosi da lui, passassero all'assedio di Lodi. Questa discordia co' Milanesi, i quali sospettavano, e non a torto, che il conte pensasse a farsi signor di Milano; e l'aver egli scoperto ch'essi erano tornati a trattar di pace co' Veneziani; coll'aggiugnersi ancora che gli stessi Veneziani con incredibil prontezza e spese rimettevano in ordine la loro armata, ed aveano rinforzati i luoghi forti, ed aspettavano da' Fiorentini due mila cavalli condotti da Sigismondo signor di Rimini, e mille fanti comandati da Gregorio da Anghiari: tutto ciò mise a partito il cervello del conte, uomo di somma avvedutezza e di rari ripieghi. Mandò segretamente a proporre accordo a' Veneziani, e fu non solo ascoltato, perchè ad essi parea di star male non poco, dacchè aveano perduto tante terre e castella del Bresciano e Bergamasco; ma si concertò anche nel dì 18 di ottobre (seppur non fu nel dì 19) concordia e lega fra loro. Doveva il conte restituir tutti i prigioni e le terre prese nel Bresciano e Bergamasco. Crema si doveva cedere ad essi. Tutto il rimanente dello Stato di Milano avea da essere dello Sforza, con obbligarsi i Veneziani d'aiutarlo con gente e danaro a tale acquisto. La pubblicazione di questo accordo fece rimaner estatico ognuno. Ma quando il conte si credea di cominciar a goderne i primi frutti colla consegna di Lodi che gli si dovea dare da' Veneziani, trovò che nel dì innanzi, cioè nel dì 17 di ottobre, quella città s'era renduta a Francesco Piccinino per ordine della reggenza di Milano. Se i Veneziani giocassero netto in tal congiuntura non si sa. Eseguì bensì prontamente il conte tutto quanto egli avea promesso, col restituire ogni terra e prigione. Fuggì da lui in questi tempi Carlo da Gonzaga con circa mille e ducento cavalli, e cinquecento fanti; ma nel dì primo di novembre [Benvenuto da S. Giorgio, Istoria del Monferrato, tom. 23 Rer. Ital.] tirò il conte al suo servigio Guglielmo fratello di Giovanni marchese di Monferrato, che si obbligò di servirlo con sette cento lancie da cavalli tre per lancia, in tutto cavalli due mila e cento, e con cinque cento fanti per otto mesi. Nella capitolazione seguita fra loro Francesco Sforza, secondo l'uso di coloro che promettono molto per eseguire poscia poco e nulla, non vi fu condizione che non accordasse a Guglielmo: cioè di dargli la città d'Alessandria, e in oltre quelle di Torino e d'Ivrea con una
  • 76. gran copia d'altre terre specificate, se pur venissero alle mani d'esso conte. Lodovico duca di Savoia anch'egli in questi tempi facea guerra allo Stato di Milano, ed avea occupato varie castella. Quanto alla Toscana, infestata in quest'anno dall'armi del re Alfonso [Neri Capponi, Comment., tom. 18 Rer. Ital. Ammirat., Ist. di Firenze, lib. 22.], i Fiorentini si studiarono di rinforzarsi col prendere quanta gente poterono al loro soldo. Fra gli altri a sè tirarono Sigismondo Malatesta signor di Rimini, uomo abbondante di valore, ma più di vizii. Costui s'era acconciato col re Alfonso, menando seco secento lancie da tre cavalli per lancia, e quattrocento fanti. N'avea anche ricavato trenta mila scudi. Ma, fattegli più vantaggiose offerte dai Fiorentini, lasciando burlato il re, si ridusse al loro servigio, e per opera loro si pacificò col conte Federigo d'Urbino nemico suo. Fu preso anche al loro soldo Taddeo de' Manfredi da Faenza con mille e ducento fanti. Morì appunto in quest'anno, a dì 18 oppure 22 di giugno [Annales Foroliviens., tom. 22 Rer. Ital. Cronica di Rimini, tom. 15 Rer. Ital.], Guidantonio ossia Guidazzo suo padre ai bagni di Petriolo sul Sanese, con lasciare esso Taddeo ed Astorre ossia Astorgio figliuoli suoi successori nel dominio. Faenza pervenne ad Astorgio; Imola a Taddeo. Ora il re Alfonso andò a mettere l'assedio alla riguardevole terra di Piombino, posseduta allora da Rinaldo Orsino per le ragioni di Caterina da Appiano sua moglie. Era egli raccomandato da' Fiorentini, e questi non mancarono di spedirgli per mare qualche rinforzo di gente, e di munizioni da bocca e da guerra. Consumò il re tutta la state intorno a Piombino [Bonincontrus, Annal., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], con incredibil valore difeso da Rinaldo, che specialmente sostenne un furioso assalto dato nel settembre a quella terra: finchè la cattiva aria di quel paese fece tal guerra colle malattie alla gente d'esso re, che fu forzato a levare il campo, e a ritornarsene a casa; minacciando nondimeno i Fiorentini di vendicarsi di loro all'anno nuovo. Attese in quest'anno il pontefice Niccolò V a rimetter la pace nella Chiesa di Dio [Labbe, Concil., tom. 13.], e ad estinguere lo scisma d'Amedeo ossia di Felice V antipapa. La Germania, lasciata andare la neutralità, rendè ubbidienza al legittimo pastore della greggia di Cristo; e Carlo VII re di Francia, vigorosamente entrato nell'affare
  • 77. della pace della Chiesa, ridusse a buon termine le cose; tanto che nell'anno seguente vedremo composte le differenze tutte. Nel presente, a dì 4 di agosto, [Annales Foroliviens., tom. 22 Rer. Ital. Cronica di Ferrara, tom. 24 Rer. Italic.] Antonio degli Ordelaffi signore di Forlì compiè il corso di sua vita, e gli succederono nella signoria Cecco e Pino suoi figliuoli. Era afflitta in questi tempi la loro città dalla peste, che portò al sepolcro circa sei mila persone. In altre città d'Italia lo stesso malore si provò con grande mortalità di persone. Ci richiama di nuovo il conte Francesco Sforza, colle cui imprese voglio terminar l'anno presente. Non volea egli mai perdere tempo, e sapea secondare il buon volto della fortuna. Dacchè dunque fu accordato co' Veneziani, ed ebbe fatta una spedizione a Firenze, a Venezia e a Lionello Estense per aver soccorso di danari, s'inviò verso Piacenza, con far calare per Po nello stesso tempo i galeoni di Pavia. Avvegnachè i Piacentini fossero ben ricordevoli dell'infinito danno recalo loro nel precedente anno, pure non mancò fra loro chi consigliò di prenderlo per padrone; e a questo consiglio diede maggior peso la di lui armata di terra e del Po [Annales Placentini, tom. 20 Rer. Italic.]. Gli spedirono dunque di concorde volere ambasciatori; ed egli, nel dì 23 d'ottobre, v'entrò, con far grandi carezze a quel popolo, esentarlo per quattro anni da ogni tributo e gravezza, e concedere a chiunque era bandito il ritorno alla patria, fra' quali fu Alberto Scotto conte di Vigoleno. Passò dipoi la Sforza a Novara, e, nel dì 20 di dicembre, quella città gli presentò le chiavi [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 15, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Nè terminò il presente anno che anche Alessandria se gli diede con tutte le sue castella. L'acquisto di Piacenza, dove il conte Luigi del Verme possedeva molte castella e beni, servì a maggiormente assodarlo colle sue truppe nel servigio del conte. E in vigore poi della convenzione stabilita da Guglielmo di Monferrato, lo Sforza, benchè contro cuore, gli diede il possesso d'Alessandria, a titolo nondimeno di feudo. Benvenuto da San Giorgio [Benvenuto da S. Giorgio, Istoria del Monferrato, tom. 23 Rer. Ital.] riferisce lo strumento fatto da quel popolo con esso Guglielmo. Vennero ancora al servigio dello Sforza da Milano tre fratelli da San Severino con circa ottocento cavalli. Per isvernar le sue milizie, il conte Francesco le ripartì nel territorio della città di
  • 78. Milano, dove egli s'era impadronito di Binasco, Biagrasso, Busto, Legnano, Cantù e di altre terre. Mancò di vita nel dicembre di quest'anno [Giustiniani, Istor. di Genova, lib. 5.] Giano da Campofregoso doge di Genova, in cui luogo fu sostituito Lodovico suo fratello.
  • 79. Anno di Cristo mccccxlix. Indiz. xii. Niccolò V papa 3. Federigo III re de' Romani 10. Ebbe in quest'anno il buon papa Niccolò V la consolazione di veder estinto lo scisma, formato già dai sediziosi prelati del concilio di Basilea [Raynaldus, Annal. Eccl. Labbe, Concil., tom. 13.]. Per finir questa scandalosa briga, la di lui prudenza non ebbe difficoltà di accordar vantaggiosa capitolazione all'antipapa Felice V, concedendogli il cappello cardinalizio, il grado di legato e vicario in tutte le terre del duca di Savoia, e la preminenza sopra gli altri porporati. Conservò ancora la lor dignità ad alcuni cardinali creati da lui, e rimise ne' primieri onori chiunque nel concilio suddetto avea offesa la santa Sede romana. Essendo poi ritornato il non più antipapa Amedeo al ritiro di Ripaglia, quivi attese a passare il resto dei suoi giorni in opere di pietà, finchè, secondo il Guichenone [Guichenon, Hist. de la Maison de Savoye, tom. 1.], nel dì 7 di gennaio dell'anno 1451 Dio il chiamò all'altra vita, mentre egli si trovava in Ginevra [Bonincont., Annal., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Già vivente lui era succeduto nel ducato di Savoia e principato del Piemonte Lodovico unico suo maschio figliuolo. Avea questo novello duca nelle turbolenze dello Stato di Milano occupato Romagnano, buona terra del Novarese [Simonetta, Vita Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 15, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; nè avendolo voluto restituire, il conte Francesco inviò colà il conte Luigi del Verme con parte del suo esercito, il quale così ben condusse la faccenda, che
  • 80. fece prigionieri tutti i Savoiardi e gli abitanti della terra. Se vollero la libertà, convenne loro riscattarsi, e se ne ricavò tal somma di danaro, che giovò non poco all'armata del conte. Negli Annali di Piacenza [Annales Placentini, tom. 20 Rer. Ital.] è attribuita questa impresa a Bartolomeo Coleone, inviato con altri capitani e con molte squadre d'armati in aiuto del conte Francesco dai Veneziani. Era lacerata in questi tempi da gravi dissensioni la città di Milano per le fazioni contrarie de' Guelfi e Ghibellini. Coi primi s'era unito Carlo da Gonzaga, e questi non lasciò indietro arte e trama alcuna per indurre il popolo a dargli il principato della città. Ma non mancavano fautori del conte Francesco, e n'erano i caporali il conte Vitaliano Borromeo, Teodoro Bosio e Giorgio Lampugnano. In sì fatti torbidi, vedendosi Francesco Piccinino decaduto dalla primiera autorità, prese la risoluzione di passare al servigio di Francesco Sforza, e di condurvi anche Jacopo suo fratello, il quale poco prima avea impedito ad Alessandro Sforza l'acquisto di Parma, il conte, quantunque, sapesse quanto questi due fratelli in addietro avessero operato contra di lui, e che non per elezione, ma per necessità si gittavano nelle sue braccia, e qual fosse l'odio antico della lor casa contro la propria, pure, siccome uomo che sapea ben maneggiar le carte, pensando che per qualche tempo gli potevano esser utili, colle più vistose carezze gli accettò, promettendo di tenerli come figliuoli, e promise in moglie a Jacopo Drusiana sua figliuola naturale, rimasta poco fa vedova di Giano da Campofregoso doge di Genova. Gli Annali Piacentini dicono che i due Piccinini vennero a lui nel dì 15 di gennaio con tre mila cavalli e due mila fanti, gagliardo rinforzo alla di lui armata. Cristoforo da Soldo [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresc., tom. 21 Rer. Ital.] ci dà questo fatto al dì 19 di dicembre. Ma non tarderemo a conoscere qual fosse la loro fede. Sul principio del suddetto mese di gennaio anche la città di Tortona con tutto il suo distretto inalberò le insegne del conte Francesco. La Storia del Simonetta è difettosa perchè di rado assegna i tempi delle imprese. Succederono in questi tempi in Milano non poche crudeltà di Carlo da Gonzaga e de' Guelfi suoi aderenti, contra di chi procurava o desiderava di dare la città allo Sforza. Tagliato fu il capo ad alcuni
  • 81. nobili, depresso il governo de' Ghibellini, molti de' quali furono mandati a' confini; ed altri chi qua e chi là fuggendo si misero in salvo. Andò tant'oltre l'odio di costoro contra d'esso Sforza, che pubblicamente diceano doversi spendere tutto per non averlo per loro signore; e che in fine meglio era darsi al demonio o al Turco, che a lui [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 17, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]. Aveano fin qui sostenuta i Parmigiani la loro libertà, e contuttochè Alessandro Sforza fratello del conte Francesco, unito con Pier-Maria de Rossi conte di San Secondo, gl'inquietasse forte con un corpo di milizie, e tentasse anche un dì di prendere la lor città per tradimento (il che costò la vita a molti di que' cittadini autori del trattato); nondimeno dacchè il conte Francesco ebbe invialo colà Bartolomeo Coleone con due mila cavalli e cinquecento fanti, cominciarono a sbigottirsi. Si vollero dare al marchese di Ferrara Lionello d'Este; ma perchè questi ne fu dissuaso dai Veneziani, non accudì alla esibizione. Perciò in fine si diedero nel mese di febbraio ad Alessandro Sforza, che ne prese il possesso a nome del fratello. Per tutto il mese di gennaio avea il conte Francesco già presa la maggior parte delle castella del distretto di Milano. Per isperanza dunque che anche la città di Milano gli si dovesse rendere, giacchè non mancavano a lui delle persone benevole in quella città, determinò di accostarsi alla medesima e di bloccarla, acciocchè, se non valeva l'amore e il buon consiglio, la forza riducesse i suoi avversarli. Pose a questo fine il campo in più siti lungi dalla città, per impedire che non v'entrassero vettovaglie. Nel qual tempo anche i Veneziani, de' quali dovea essere la Geradadda e Crema [Cristoforo da Soldo, Istoria Bresciana, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.], uscirono in campagna di buon'ora, cioè nel gennaio dell'anno presente, con sommo aggravio de' Bresciani, e loro disagio per la cattiva stagione. Ebbero nel febbraio Caravaggio ed altri luoghi, e messo poscia il campo intorno a Crema, dirizzarono le batterie contra di quella nobil terra. Avea il conte Francesco anch'egli durante il verno inviati Francesco Piccinino, Luigi del Verme ed altri capitani con un buon corpo d'armati ad assediare l'insigne terra di Monza. Carlo da Gonzaga, che faceva allora il generale dei Milanesi, fu spedito con soldatesche al soccorso. Entrò egli una notte senza essere osservato in Monza, e la mattina seguente diede loro
  • 82. addosso, in maniera che li sconfisse, con prendere almen trecento cavalli, i cannoni e tutto il loro bagaglio. Fu osservato che Francesco Piccinino non si volle muovere colle sue truppe per soccorrere gli assaliti, segno che egli già ordiva un tradimento. Per tal vittoria alzarono forte la testa i Milanesi; e molto più perchè, essendosi collegati con Lodovico duca di Savoia, era loro data speranza che calerebbe dalle Alpi un nuvolo di cavalleria contra dello Sforza. Venne in fatti l'armata savoiarda, ma non mirabile, come s'era creduto, contra Novara [Simonetta, Vit. Francisci Sfortiae, lib. 18, tom. 21 Rer. Ital.]; nè avendo potuto sorprendere quella città, s'impadronì di quasi tutte le castella del distretto, commettendo immense crudeltà e saccheggi. Erano circa sei mila cavalli. Cristoforo da Soldo li fa il doppio, secondo le voci spesso favolose de' tempi di guerra. Contra di loro il conte Francesco spedì Bartolomeo Coleone, e si andò badaluccando fra loro per molti giorni, finchè, passati i Savoiardi con più di tre mila cavalli ad assediare Borgo Mainero, Bartolomeo, benchè inferiore di gente, fu forzato nel dì 20 d'aprile a prendere battaglia. Fu questa assai sanguinosa sì per l'una che per l'altra parte; tuttavia rimasero in fine sconfitti i Savoiardi con prigionia di mille cavalli e presa del bagaglio. Bastò questa vittoria, perchè il duca Lodovico desistesse dal dar più molestia allo Stato di Milano. Circa questi tempi il conte Francesco, venuta già la primavera, era uscito in campagna, ed avea ordinato a Francesco Piccinino e a Guglielmo di Monferrato di tornare all'assedio di Monza. Allora fu che si palesò l'infedeltà del Piccinino e di Jacopo suo fratello, perchè amendue, nel dì 14 oppure 15 di aprile, fatto prima segreto accordo colla reggenza di Milano [Ripalta, Annal. Placent., tom. 20 Rer. Ital.], ed aperte loro le porte di Monza, con tutte le lor truppe v'entrarono. Ciò saputo, Guglielmo non tardò a ritirarsi di là con buon ordine, e a ridursi all'armata sforzesca. Con tre mila cavalli e mille fanti passarono dipoi i Piccinini a Milano con gran festa di quel popolo; e perchè Crema, assediata dai Veneziani, era oramai ridotta all'agonia, ebbero ordine di soccorrerla. Colà s'inviarono essi insieme con Carlo da Gonzaga, e con tali forze, che Sigismondo Malatesta, capitano de' Veneziani a quell'impresa, giudicò meglio di non aspettarli, e sciolse
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