Halo eff ect
Act, 1919). Will H. Hays, Postmaster-General
to the Harding administration, was invited to
become president.
In 1930 Martin Quigley, a Chicago publisher,
and Father Lord, Society of Jesus, reframed the
Hays Office studio recommendations of 1927
into a Production Code (Th e Hays Offi ce Code)
to meet the even more restrictive demands
emanating from the recently formed Legion of
Decency, made up of leaders of the Roman Cath-
olic church and other religious denominations.
A Production Code Administration was prised
out of the MPPDA under the direction of Roman
Catholic Joseph I. Breen who, between 1934 and
the anti-trust decree of 1948, supervised 95 per
cent of fi lms made in the US. Any fi lm released
without Breen’s approval was liable to a US
25,000 fi ne and condemnation by the Legion.
Political as well as moral attitudes and behav-
iour were subject to severe censorship. The
Legion, for example, supported the Fascists in
the Spanish Civil War and generally opposed
any production with Leftish leanings. Th e Hays
Office Code remained operative until 1966.
See huac: house un-american activities
committee. See also topic guide under
media: freedom, censorship.
Head nods Head nods are an element of non-
verbal communication and can be used to
communicate a range of messages. They are
commonly used to give positive feedback
to the sender of a message by indicating both
interest and/or approval on the part of the
receiver; to indicate fl oor appointment, that is
to signal whose turn it is to speak next; and to
give emphasis to speech. See communication:
non-verbal.
▶Allan and Barbara Pease, The Definitive Book of
Body Langauge (Orion, 2004).
Hearsay See rumour.
Hedges Utterances such as ‘you know’, ‘sort of ’
and ‘perhaps’ would be examples of hedges.
Jennifer Coates in Women, Men and Language
(Pearson Education, 2004) notes that the precise
function of hedges varies with the social context
and the relationship of the interactors. Coates
discusses the range of uses to which hedges may
be put, such as expressing confi dence, suggest-
ing uncertainty and enabling face-saving to
occur when sensitive topics are being discussed.
Whilst women appear to use more hedges than
men in conversation, the interpretation to be
placed on this diff erence is a matter for debate.
Hegemony Th e concept of hegemony owes much
to the work of Italian political thinker Antonio
Gramsci (1891–1937). A state of hegemony ison their peers. See genre; journalism: phone-
hacking; regulation of investigatory
powers act (ripa)(uk), 2001; wikileaks.
▶Tim Jordan and Paul Taylor, Hacktivism and Cyber-
wars (Routledge, 2004); Leah A. Lievrouw, Alterna-
tive and Activist New Media (Polity Press, 2011).
Halo eff ect One way in which our perceptions of
others may be biased is through the operation of
what has been termed the ‘halo eff ect’. In initial
encounters we tend to pick out one or two char-
acteristics of a person and let these infl uence
our general impression of them. For example, at
an interview, it may be assumed that someone
who is well qualifi ed, neatly dressed and pleas-
ant in manner will perform well in the job and
work hard. Such generalizations from one or
two characteristics are based on our implicit
personality theory, that is our basic assumptions
about which characteristics go together, and
how people are likely to behave.
Hammocking Strategy used by TV schedulers
to boost the viewing fi gures of a programme by
placing it between two popular programmes.
Hankey Committee Report on Television,
1943 Set up under the Coalition War Govern-
ment in the UK, chaired by Lord Hankey, the
committee was requested to ‘prepare plans
for the reinstatement and development of
the television service after the War’. Hankey
recommended a re-opening on the 1939 basis of
the 405-line system rather than waiting for the
development of any new, improved version. Th e
Report was of the view that ‘it is in the televising
of actual events, the ability to give the viewer a
front-row seat at almost every possible kind of
exciting or memorable spectacle, that Televi-
sion will perform its greatest service’. Hankey’s
general conclusion was ‘that Television has come
to stay ...’ See topic guide under commissions/
committees/legislation.
Hard times scenario See vals typology.
Harmonious interaction Fred Inglis uses this
phrase in Th e Imagery of Power: A Critique of
Advertising (Heinemann, 1972) to describe the
friendly and mutually supportive relationship
between the media and the forces of advertising.
Th is ‘harmonious interaction’ of advertising
and editorial styles consistently reproduces and
endorses the consumer’s way of life, argues Inglis.
Hays Office In the US for three decades the
Hays Offi ce meant censorship. In 1922 lead-
ing fi gures in the fi lm industry formed Motion
Picture Producers and Distributors of America
Incorporated (MPPDA) to protect their interests
against a range of would-be fi lm censors in a
climate that had produced Prohibition (Volstead