1. All media are constructions.
Media products are carefully crafted constructions, the results of many decisions, conscious and unconscious.

2. The media are commercial entities.
All media products are shaped, in terms of both their form and their content, by commercial considerations.

3. Media communicate values and ideology.
All media products contain implicit and explicit value messages and assumed truths about the nature of human beings and the world in which we live.

4. The media have social and political implications.
The mass media have the potential to affect our behavior as individuals and citizens in a variety of ways.

5. Media forms are related to content.
Different media represent reality in different ways: the form of a given piece of media shapes the message it sends.

6. The media have aesthetic qualities.
Familiarity with the aesthetic dimensions of media can lead to deeper understanding and greater enjoyments.

7. Audiences are involved in the process of creating meaning.
What a viewer makes of a piece of media depends on his or her past experiences, viewing skill, and current state of mind.