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LIPA CITY PAASCU ACCREDITED SY 2020 – 2021

SUBJECT: Media and Information Literacy

GRADE 12

Unit 1 / Lesson 2: MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION

Communication is a human activity which is part of one’s everyday routine – from the time one wakes up in the
morning until the time one ends his/her day. People communicate in various ways. People may communicate
verbally or non-verbally, virtually with the aid of technological gadgets or real face to face interaction.

In this age, people you communicate with may or may not be physically present in the same place where you
are. They may also be people whom you are personally acquainted with, or people you do not actually know.

Nowadays, you use a lot of ways, physical objects, or instruments to communicate. These are what we call
channel – the means by which we send (and receive) messages. These means may be television, radio, film,
print, and of course, the internet.

According to Cambridge Dictionary, communication is the

- process by which messages or information is sent from one place or person to another;
- exchange of information and expression of feelings that can result in understanding;
- process of sharing information, especially when this increases understanding between people and
groups.

Several elements are needed to complete a communication cycle. You learned that these elements
include sender, receiver, message, channel, feedback, noise, and setting. A failure or malfunction of one
element in the process of communication may result to misunderstanding. That is why, it has always been said
that for communication to be considered successful, there should be understanding.

To understand the process of communication properly, we use communication models. Communication models
are illustrations used to explain a phenomenon behind communication and the communication concept itself.

The Shannon and Weaver communication model is a communication theory that presents the major
components of the communication process: sender, encoder, channel, noise, decoder, and receiver. Below is a
communication model by Shannon and Weaver. Examine the illustration carefully.
 Image taken from: https://vijianblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/shanon-weaver-model-of-communication-mikecrudge-com_1.jpg
Below are examples of how the communication process works according to Shannon and Weaver
Theory. Carefully read the examples. Imagine the situation and try to recognize how each element works in the
process.

a) A telephone conversation

Sender: The sender is the person who has made the call, and wants to tell
the person at the other end of the phone call something important.

Encoder: The telephone turns the person’s voice into a series of binary
data packages that can be sent down the telephone lines.

Channel: The channel is the telephone wires itself. https://pathwaytokorean.osu.korean.osu.edu/files/unit2-

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Noise: Noise may occur if the speaker mumbles, the telephone wires are interrupted in a storm, or the
telephone encoders/decoders are malfunctioning.

Decoder: The telephone that the receiver is holding will turn the binary data packages it receives back
into sounds that replicate the voice of the sender.

Receiver: The receiver will hear the sounds made by the decoder and interpret the message.

Feedback: The receiver may speak in response, to let the sender know what they heard or understood.

b) Listening to the radio

Sender: The radio host will speak into her microphone.

Encoder: The microphone and its computer will turn the voice of the radio host into binary packets of
data that are sent to the radio transmitter. The radio transmitter, also part of the encoder, will turn that
data into radio waves ready to be transmitted.

Channel: The channel will be the radio waves that are sent out by the radio transmitter.
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Noise:Noise is most likely to occur if the receiver’s transistor
radio is not tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJL7SsNmD tuned to the correct
frequency, causing static, or if the receiver’s transistor
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is too far away
from the radio
transmitter.

Decoder: The decoder is the receiver’s transistor radio, which will turn
the radio waves back into voice.

Receiver: The receiver is the person listening to the radio who will hopefully receiver the full message
loud and clear if noise has been avoided or minimized.

Feedback: Feedback is difficult in this step. However, the radio channel may send out researchers into
the field to interview listeners to see how effective their communication has been.

Source: Shannon Weaver Model of Communication | 7 Key Concepts (2020) by Chris Drew, PhD
https://helpfulprofessor.com/shannon-weaver-model/#Definition_of_the_Shannon_and_Weaver_Model

You must have realized that there is an absolute connection between communication and media.
Communication, as you have learned, is the process of sending and receiving information through a channel.
The term media, which is actually the plural form of medium, refers to the communication channels through
which we send and receive information. In this age of great technological advancements, we all have
communicated through “media”.

Read the notes below and find out more about “media”.

When people talk about media, they often refer to its journalistic arm: the newspapers, news reports on
television, and more accurately, the news reporters and journalists involved in the production of daily news.
However, as a concept, media is vaster and more diverse. The term “media” comes from the word “medium”
which is defined as channel, means or method. As an avenue or method, media is used to communicate
information.

*David Buckingham, points out that the definition of media as a channel “tells us something fundamental
about media… The media does not offer transparent window on the world. They provide a channel through
which representations and images of the world can be communicated indirectly. The media intervene: they
provide us with selective versions of the world, rather than direct access to it.

This means that media do not merely communicate information; they also filter and shape information for
specific purposes. They decide which information the audience receives and in what manner. In a
metaphorical sense, rather than being a window to the world, media act as distorted mirrors to reality (Graaf
2013). This proves that the transparency of media is a false notion.

*David Buckingham is a media, communications and education scholar, who is a leading internationally recognized expert on
children’s and young people’s interactions with electronic media, and on media literacy education.

(Notes taken from: Media and Information Literacy: Transforming Society through Student Empowerment by Fernando Aboga Jr.,
and Rey Christopher N. Agapay, page 4)

You must have understood by now that information we get through the different forms of media may be
filtered and shaped. And since information can be filtered and can be shaped, media transparency is a false
notion. What we actually see and hear through media may not be what they seem. A mirror is supposed to
show a reflection that reveals the likeness or resemblance of an image. However, because information is filtered
and shaped through media, then what we actually see are disfigured representations of information.
 These things do not however mean that media is a bad thing. We all know how the different forms of media
have become a remarkable part of our lives, and how these have become so helpful to our everyday existence.
It is just a matter of being vigilant – cautious and observant – of how we send and receive information. We
shall have further and in-depth discussions about these matters in the coming lessons.

So that you can have a better understanding of what media is, read the following definitions of media
according to various sources.
•
According to Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, MEDIA refers to the main ways that large
numbers of people receive information and entertainment, that is, television, radio,
newspapers, and the internet.

• According to UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers, MEDIA
refers to the combination of physical objects used to communicate or mass communication
through physical objects such as television, radio, computers, film, etc.

• According to the Penguin Dictionary of Media Studies (2007), MEDIA refers to a means of
distributing texts and messages to a large mass of people.

• According to David Buckingham (2003), director of the London University Centre for the
Study of Children, Youth, and Media. MEDIA is something we use when we want to
communicate with people indirectly, rather than in person or by face-to-face contact and refers
to channels through which representations and images of the world can be communicated
indirectly.

• According to Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communications (2000),

MEDIA is any means, agency, or instrument of communication; and is the physical means by
which a sign or text is encoded (put together) and through which it is transmitted (delivered,
actualized)

•
According to Presidential Decree 1018 (1976), the term "mass media" refers to the print
medium of communication, which includes all newspapers, periodicals, magazines, journals,
and publications and all advertising therein, and billboards, neon signs and the like, and the
broadcast medium of communication, which includes radio and television broadcasting in all
their aspects and all other cinematographic or radio promotions and advertising.