SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY

OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

MODULE NUMBER: 3 SECOND QUARTER

Date: S.Y. 2020 – 2021

CLASS NUMBER: _____________________ SUBJECT: Discipline

and Ideas in Applied Social Sciences

NAME: _______________________________________________ TEACHER: MR. MARK

JEROME P. LUNA/ENGR. RAFAEL E. AQUINO
GRADE AND SECTION: HUMSS 12 – AGUINALDO/JACINTO CONTACT

DAY
COMMUNICATION MEDIA CHANNELS
MASS MEDIA
To recall, mass communication involves the transmission of
messages to large audiences using technology of communication. Of its
key characteristics: (a) a mass audience, (2) communication process that
flows one-way, is large scale in distribution, and has an impersonal and
anonymous relationship with the audience, (3) a communication
process that is mediated by a mass medium or communication
technology, and (4) a communication process that is organized by mass
media institutions. In this lesson we will tackle the actual media that
makes mass communication possible.

PRINT MEDIA: THE NEWSPAPER

The Star of Malaysia. The Manila Standard. Asahi Shimbun. China

News Daily. Sun Star Cebu

All these are newspapers, or publications published periodically

and carrying mainly news stories but also opinions and advertisements.
In 2010, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) reported that
there were 14,853 newspaper titles worldwide and they are read by 519
million people.

As a mass medium, the newspaper’s key features are:

 Regular or periodical appearance

 Use of print technology
 News content
 Individual or group reading

Newspapers are classified according to

 Type of content: general news, political newspapers, business newspapers, sport newspapers
 Circulation area: national, local, metropolitan newspapers
 Audiences: community newspapers, religious newspapers
 Language: national language, vernacular
 Periodicity: daily, weekly

Page 1
 SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

The staple of newspapers are news stories, or stories which are newsworthy, that is – interesting enough to
an audience so that it should be reported. Newsworthiness is defined in many ways, but most journalists
agree that the following makes a story newsworthy:
 The exceptional or out of the ordinary
 Proximity: the story unfolds close to home, that is, it involves a person or group who is linked in one’s
community or it happens in that community
 Impact: it affects a lot of people such as typhoon Haiyan or the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
 Prominence: it involves someone famous such as a sports or entertainment figure, public officials, or
statesman.
 Conflict: Involves war, political campaigns, activists carrying out campaigns against environmental polluters,
and the like.
 Human interest: involves the human condition or appeals to emotion.

Newspaper companies are divided into two sections: editorial and business. The editorial part is composed of
editors, reporters, photojournalists, and other journalists. They gather and write the news and information that fill
the space called the “news hole”. The business section composed of the advertising and circulation sales staff,
generates revenue for the business. The advertising group sells advertising space in the newspaper and circulation
group sells newspaper copies in newsstands or through subscription.

Newspapers are being radically altered in the wake of developments in information and communication
technology. The newspaper listed above used to publish only using the print medium. Now, they also have online
editions, or they disseminate the news via email and are accessible as apps.

A study done by OECD concludes:

The rise of the internet and other technologies has radically changed how news is produced and diffused. It
enables the entry of new intermediaries that create and distribute news, including online news aggregators, online
news publishers, mobile news actors, citizen journalism, and many more. Information providers with very different
trajectories (TV, newspapers, and internet companies) are now competing head-on in a global online news
environment. More recently newspaper websites have seen strong growth in their own pages, with large newspapers
reporting several million unique visitors to their pages per month, increasingly including readers from abroad, a
radical shift from national patterns of established newspapers.

BROADCAST MEDIA: RADIO AND TELEVISION

Go and walk down the streets, especially in small towns
and cities, and there’s almost always the sound of radio
within earshot. In many countries, radio is the most
available and widely used medium of mass
communication, followed by television. These two media
are referred to as the broadcast media.

RADIO
Why is radio so dominant among the mass media? Following are the reasons:

 Cost-effective: The devices needed to listen to the radio and the hardware and
technology needed to produce and transmit radio programs are much cheaper
than the other media.
 Low demand on literacy skills: A person does not have to be literate to listen to
the radio. Apart from cost, this is the other main reason behind the popularity
behind the popularity of radio in areas where there is low literacy among the
people.
 Portability: The radio can be located and plugged anywhere. People have it at their bedsides, on their desks,
in cars, in mobile phones.

Page 2
 SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

 A background medium: Radio-listening can be combined with other tasks, like driving, reading, and doing
household chores.
 Accessibility to the visually-challenged because it is a sound medium.

Radio programs are broadcast from a centrally-located source called a station. Radio stations may be
commercial or government-owned stations. The vast majority are commercial stations that obtain revenue from
advertising.
Based on the type of waves used for transmitting radio messages, radio stations are classified as either AM or
FM. With AM (amplitude modulation) radio, the amplitude or strength of the carrier wave’s vibration fluctuates with
the sound. With FM (frequency modulation) radio, the strength of the carrier wave remains constant; it is the
frequency or number of vibrations within the wave that changes.
Radio programs fall into two broad categories: news programs and nonnews. Nonnews programs include talk
programs, book readings, public service programs, drama, and music.

TELEVISION
Television comes next to radio in popularity, according to the latest UNESCO World
Communication and Information Report.

Moreover, data from the International Television Expert Group state that in 2007
Americans spent 297 minutes (or 4.95 hours) per day watching television. The figures are
almost similar to Filipinos. Data released in 2012 by the market research firm, Kantar
Media, say that Filipinos spend between four and five hours per day watching TV. This is
much higher compared to the viewing hours in Singapore and Hong Kong which average
at two and three hours a day. Viewing in urban areas is higher at a little over five hours a day while in rural areas, it
lies at about four hours a day (Agcaoill,2012).

Recent data from the International Television Expert Group show that:

In 2009, the worldwide television market included 1,217.2 million households with at least
one television, an annual increase of 1%. Asia/Pacific remains by far the region with the largest number of TV
households. With 637.3 million equipped households, of which 63% are located in China, the region
constituted more than 52% of all TV households in 2009. It was followed by Europe (22.6% of TV
households), North America (10.3%), Latin America (9.7%), and MEA (5%).

Its capacity to transmit pictures and sound and to do so live is television’s main strength as a mass medium.
Sporting, cultural, and political events draw huge audiences when broadcast live. But most of TV’s content are not
live, for instance entertainment shows such as music and entertainment are not live, but they create an illusion of
reality due to the sound and moving pictures. Another important feature of television is the “sense of intimacy and
personal involvement that it seems to cultivate between the spectator and presenter or the actors and participants
on the screen” (MCQuail, 2010).

Television programs may be categorized into news, news analysis, documentaries, formal and informal
educational programs, sports, music, and entertainment. The latter category includes a broad range of programs such
as drama and comedy series, music and dance, music video clips, variety, game shows, reality television. Moreover,
there are public service programs and corporate-sponsored programs.

Most television stations are commercial enterprises; but in most countries there is government-run
television. A significant player in the broadcast media landscape are public service media such as BBC (UK) and NHK
(Japan).

As commercial enterprises, television’s lifeblood is advertising. This is true in the Philippines. In a 2012
report, Kantar Media disclosed that hair care products dominated all commercial spots as six out of 10
advertisements aired on local channels are shampoo and conditioner products. Among the top advertisers are an ice
cream product, a laundry product, a mobile service company, and toothpaste.

Page 3
 SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

The communication scholar, Denis McQuail (2010) notes that despite the fact that “television is primarily
considered a medium of entertainment, it plays a vital role in modern politics.” He describes the other important
roles of television in society as follows:

“…is considered to be the main source of news and information for most people and the main channel of
communication between politicians and citizens, especially at election times. In this informally allocated role
of public informer, television has generally remained credible and trusted. Another is that of educator—for
children at school and adults at home.

….An enduring feature of the appeal of television seems to lie in the very fact that it is a medium that brings
people together to share the same experiences in an otherwise fragmented and individuated society and not
only in the circle of the family.”

Television will continue to have a huge influence in our lives and in society as it involves alongside digital
information and communication technologies. Already, mobile TV and Internet TV are fast developing. Many viewers
are watching television programs from their mobile phones and their laptops.

OTHER MASS MEDIA: FILM AND RECORDED MUSIC

Relatively little attention is given to film and recorded music as mass media inspite of
their importance.

Film is a true mass medium in the sense it reaches a large part of the population,
even in rural areas. The film has grown as an independent cultural and entertainment
industry that attracts millions of people the world over. Data gathered by a research firm
show a total of 7901 English language movies shown in 2015, with 1.34 billion tickets sold.
The top grosser is Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens at 88 million tickets sold.

Even lesser attention has been devoted to recorded music as a mass medium. And yet
the replaying of the music dominates much of radio content and the auxiliary use of mobile
phones. While music is generally thought of as entertainment, its relationship to social and
political events is recognized.

NEW MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The term “new media” covers a set of communication technologies that
continue to evolve. One definition that describes them as “interactive forms of
communication that use the internet, including podcasts, blogs, social networks, text
messaging, wikis, virtual worlds, and all other computer-aided communication
formats that are available online.” Apart from being internet-based, among the
characteristics of the new media are:

 Interactivity: New media allow dialogue or interaction between the individual

and a computer program.
 Ubiquity and de-locatedness: New media is present wherever there is hardware and connectivity.
 Accessible to individual users as senders and/or receivers: New media allow users to create their own
messages or content as well as receive these.
 A medium of both mass and personal communication: New media
 Hypertextuality: New media can connect one format of information with other formats and information
sources through hyperlinks.
 Multimediality: New media contain various types of media formats on a single platform such as when a
website features video, music, as well as texts.

Social media, a subset of the new media has dominated the mass media landscape in
recent years. These are internet-based applications that build on the ideological and

Page 4
 SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content (Kaplan
and Haenlin, 2010). These may be classified into six types, namely:
 Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram
 Collaborative projects such as Wikipedia
 Content communities such as World of Warcraft
 Virtual game worlds such as Second Life
 Technologies such as blogs, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, and crowdsourcing.

In this report “State of the Social Media”, the media research from Nielsens provides data showing the power
of social media over consumer behavior both online and offline. Internet users, the data show, spend more time in
social media than any other site.
In sheer numbers, Asia ranked second to Europe in terms of number of Facebook users around the world, at
223.4 million and 183.9 million, respectively. Country-wise, Indonesians and Filipinos ranked among the top users of
Facebook, Figures from March 2010 report that Indonesia had 18.9 million users, or 7.9% of its population,
translating to 63.15% of all online users. The Philippines follow with 10.5 million users, or 11.4% of the population or
42.83% of all online users.
Indeed with the steady rise in the penetration of information and communication technology in developing
countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, social life in these countries are increasingly influenced by social
media.

Activity 3.1 – ASSESSMENT

Indicate whether the following statements are true or false.

______________1. A good newspaper must carry only news stories.

______________2. Opinions and advertisements do not have a place in newspapers.

______________3. The actions of public officials are newsworthy because these affect citizens.

______________4. Radio is a popular mass media because it appeals to those who may not be highly educated.

______________5. Entertainment is the primary communication function of television.

______________6. Television’s main strength is its capacity to transmit live images and sound.

______________7. Most television and radio stations are commercial enterprises.

______________8. Commercial radio and TV obtain their revenues from advertising.

______________9. Social media is thought of as a powerful because of their influence on consumer behaviour.

______________10. TV is an important medium of communication during election times.

ACTIVITY 3.2 RADIO OR TELEVISION?

1. Select between radio and television.
2. Select the station that you always listen/watch and explain why you have chosen this station. Submit your
answer in Google classroom inside Classwork.

1. Radio / Television
2. Name of Station: _______________________________________
3. Reason why you have chosen the station: ___________________

ACTIVITY 3.3 - COMMERCIALS

Page 5
 SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY
OF SAN JOSE, BATANGAS INCORPORATED
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

In your own words, identify a product which has majority commercials in television stations which
serves as television’s lifeblood in advertising. Check what company, product name, nature of business and
how often it appears every day (frequency of appearance). Watch the television on Saturday, November 21,
2020 from SIGN IN to SIGN OFF. Submit your answer in Google classroom.

1. Company Name: ________________________________________________

2. Product Name: _________________________________________________
3. Nature of Business: ______________________________________________
4. Frequency of Appearance: _________________________________________

Page 6