Definition of Communication:

Communication is the
transmission of message from
source to receiver.
• Harold Lasswell, a political scientist said that a
convenient way to describe communication is by
answering these questions below:

1) Who?
2) Says what?
3) Through which channel?
4) To whom?
5) With what effect?
• Definition of Mass Communication: Mass
Communication is a process of creating shared
meaning between mass media and their
audience.
• Cultural Definition of Mass Communication:
Communication is a symbolic process whereby
reality is produced, maintained, repaired and
transformed.
Elements of Mass Communication:
i. The source of mass communication message generally is a
person or group operating within organizational setting.
Examples of these sources are news reporters, television
producers and magazine editors.
ii. Mass media messages are sophisticated and complex.
Whereas the message in interpersonal communication may
be simple words and short sentences, mass media messages
are quite elaborate. Examples of mass media message are a
news report, a novel, a movie, a television program, a
magazine article, a newspaper columns, a music video, and
a billboard advertisement.
iii. Channels of mass media, also called mass vehicles, involve
one or more aspects of technology. Radio, for example,
involves tape machines, microphones, devices that digitize
sound waves, transmitters that disseminate them, and
receiving units that decode the sound waves and render
them back into audio from approximating the original.
iv. Audiences generally are self- selected, people who tune in to
a particular television or who read a particular magazine.
Mass audiences also are heterogeneous, meaning that they
are both large and diverse. They are actually made up of
groups of people with dissimilar background, demographics,
and socio-political characteristics , they are spread over a vast
geographic area. Such audiences are brought together by a
single shared interest in the particular message available
through the mass medium. Message sources generally have
only limited information about their audiences.
v. Feedback is minimal in mass media, and no real give and take
is practically possible. Message flow typically is one way, from
source to receiver. Traditionally, feedback has been minimal
and generally delayed.
vi. Like other forms of mediated communication, noise exists in
the mass context. Noise may be semantic, environmental or
mechanical.
• Role of Mass Media:
i. Surveillance refers to the news and information role of
mass media. This role can be subdivided into warning
surveillance associated with the news media (information
about pending threats such as floods, military attack, etc.)
and instrumental surveillance associated with both news
and popular media (transmission of useful information
about news products, entertainment guides, stocks market
prices, etc.)
ii. Interpretation is the function of mass media that provides a
context for new information and commentary about its
significance and meaning. Traditionally, newspapers
provided such interpretations in their editorial and
commentary sections, reserving news pages for supposedly
neutral information.
iii. The media also have a role in socialization, the
transmission of values within a society, particularly the
modelling of appropriate behavior and attitudes. The
notion is that the mass media present images of the
society, which viewers then can learn and adopt for
themselves.
iv. Entertainment is a related function of mass media,
sometimes called the diversion function because it
diverts us from the real world. The entertainment
function of the media has been subdivided into three
categories: stimulation, relaxation and release.
• Mass Media Classification- Canadian theorist Marshall
McLuhan identified hot media and cool media on the basis of
how much they engage the user and the intensity of a user’s
connection with the medium. This distinction also deals with
the duration of the relationship between the audience and the
medium, and the level of audience participation needed to
access information.
i) Hot media require a high degree of thinking from media
users, who have to fill in missing information from their own
imagination. Examples of hot media are books and to a
lesser extent newspapers and magazines. Among electronic
media, radio is a hot medium when it engages listeners’
imagination, such as in radio drama.
ii) Cool Media allow audiences to be passive spectators
because others have made the creative decision. Television
requires little intellectual involvement, radio played simply
for background music also is cool.
• Another way of categorizing media is through their intended
use. Entertainment media such as books, magazine and
television dramas are significantly different than information
media such as newspapers and television news programs.
They appeal to different audiences and serve different
functions.
Still another categorization of media is in the elitist- populist
model.
i. Elitist media are those that serve to uplift society and
contribute to culture. Examples are serious minded
magazines, TV programs focusing on art and history,
recordings of classical music or contemporary jazz.
ii. Populist media are those that satisfy the baser expectation
of the marketplace. Sensationalistic tabloid newspapers,
reality television shows and music videos are examples of
this.
Effects of Media in our Lives
Message Effects:

• Cognitive effects-most common and observable, short-term

learning of information

• Attitudinal effects – feelings about a product, individual, or idea

on the basis of media content

• Behavioral effects – clipping a coupon, buying a product or voting

for a candidate

• Psychological effects – media content can inspire feelings of fear,

joy, happiness or amusement
Medium Effects

Marshall McLuhan:
“Medium is the message”

Joshua Meyrowitz
• Development of media can lead to radical changes in society
• Major effect of print as a medium is to segregate audiences
according to education, age, class and gender
• Electronic media cross demographic boundaries
Active Audience Effects:

Important to know who the audience is comprised of:

• Geographic – where people live

• Demographic– gender, race, ethnic background, income, age

educational attainment etc.
• Psychographics – a combination of demographics, lifestyle
characteristics and product usage
Ownership Effects:

• Concern over owner’s control of ideas

• Long – tail media are providing alternative channels

Culture

• Culture is socially accepted norms, beliefs, rituals

and behaviors that a group of people follow.

• Culture consists of relatively specialized life style

of people that are passed on from one
generation to the next.
Effects of Culture
Liberating Effects:
• Helps us determine right and wrong, attractive and
unattractive
• Helps us stand in conversations
• Breaks negative stereotype

Limiting Effects:
• Dominant culture contributes to cultural development, but
could lead to back ward steps as it cannot be measured in
mass appeal.
• Segregates members who have different values and beliefs
from a dominant culture.
Uniting Effects:

• Groups with similar cultural values work well with each other.
• Brings people closer to their roots.

Dividing Effects:

• Filters out minorities who don’t feel like they belong in the
same culture.
• Some values of these people may vary to those belonging to
the dominant culture.
Mass Communication, Culture
and Media Literacy
Oral or Preliterate Culture are those without a written
language.

Example: Eskimo people and African tribes where griots or

‘talking chiefs’. They use to narrate oral histories of their
people.
They share these characteristics:

• The meaning in language is specific and local.

• Knowledge must be passed on orally.
• Memory is crucial.
• Myth and history is intertwined.
Literate culture is a culture where one needs to have the ability
to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use written
symbols.

Characteristics:
• Meaning and language became more uniform.
• Communication could occur over long distances and long
period of time.
• The culture’s memory, history and myth could be recorded on
paper.
Guttenberg Revolution
Johannes Guttenberg developed movable metal type for printing.
Impact of print:
• Although developed for limited use in mind the cultural effects of
mass printing were enormous.
• Machine printed paper decreased the cost of production.
• Reading material enabled all types of people to benefit in their own
fields.
• People were free to read what they wanted and when they wanted.
• Duplication permitted standardization and preservation.
• History, economics, physics and chemistry all became apart of
culture’s intellectual life.
• Printed material were first mass produced product, speeding
development.
Elements of Media Literacy
Definition: The ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and
use any form of communication.
Characteristics:

• An awareness of the impact of media.

• An understanding of the process of mass communication.
• Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages.
• An understanding of media content as a text that provides
insight into our lives.
• The ability to enjoy, understand and appreciate media content.
• An understanding of the ethical and moral obligation of media
practitioners.
• Develop and appreciate effective production skills.
Media Literacy Skills
• The ability and willingness to make an effort to understand
content , to pay attention and to filter out noise.

• An understanding of and respect for the power of media

messages.

• The ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions

when responding to the content and to act accordingly.

• Development of heightened expectations of media content.

• A knowledge of genre conventions and the ability to recognize
when they are being mixed.

• The ability to think critically about media messages, no matter

how credible the sources are.

• A knowledge of the internal language of various media and

the ability to understand its effect, no matter how complex.
Scope and Nature of Mass
Media
Conglomeration:
• When small companies are taken over by bigger
conglomerates through merger, acquisition, buyout or
takeover.
Example:
• Ericson and Sony merged to become Sony Ericson

• Right before the 2003 Iraq war, Fox news merged with
National Broadcasting Network (NBC) and formed (MSNBC)

* It is often found that these companies have self interest,

therefore, provide biased information.
Globalization

The system in which companies expand their reach to other

countries to enter a global market.
Example:
• Companies such as HP, Lenovo, Phillips have outlets all over the
world and provide customer support in the country’s own
native language.
• In Bangladesh people tune to CNN, BBC and become aware of
the economic and political happenings of the entire world.

* Globalization brings people together and encourages universal

brotherhood.
Hyper commercialism:

• An excessive use of advertisements in the media, usually for

reasons of profit and promotion.
• Emphasizes more on commerce.
Example:
• Newspapers or magazines which contain almost 50% of their
content as advertisements.
• Incase of books, many well known writers such as Humayun
Ahmed in Bangladesh had to give up true literature purely
because of the demand for their works and urgency by the
publishers to quench their thirst.
Audience Fragmentation:

• The main function of mass media is to reach a large audience.

But due to the advent of one form of media over the other ,
the audience is segregated. This is called audience
fragmentation.

Fragmentation can be for various reasons.

• Advent of different media.

• Within one medium, different channels, Which means viewing
and listening options are much more.