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Communication
• "On ne peut pas ne pas communiquer" [Watzlawick]
• Communication Latin communicare =‘be in connection with’ sharing of meaning
• "Communicate" means "share"; "a sharing of elements of behaviour or modes of life, by the existence of rules" (Colin Cherry, On Human Communication, 1957)
C. ChanMeetoo, FSSH, UOM
A complex phenomenon• Communication exists in both human and animal
worlds• Starts right from birth newborn cries to signify
need for care, attention, food…• Can be verbal (language and sounds) and nonverbal
(gestures, tones, distance, etc.)• Can be:
– mediated and nonmediated, – immediate or delayed, – in physical presence or with geographical separation…
Medium= a channel through which a message goes from source to
receiver. It may include :• broad categories speech & writing or print &
broadcasting• specific technical forms within the mass media (radio,
television, newspapers, magazines, books, photographs, films and records)
• the media of interpersonal communication (telephone, letter, fax, email, videoconferencing, computerbased chat systems).
John Fiske: 'each medium is capable of transmitting codes along a channel or channels' & 'the physical characteristics of the channel limit the medium and codes that it can carry‘.
Mass Media• Written Press (dailies & weeklies, periodicals)• Radio• Television• Cinema• Display Communication (posters, billboards)• Internet• Increasing convergence on Western/European form =>
similarity in many global media phenomena. • The mass media & their messages = omnipresent &
pervasive are present almost everywhere in everyday lives.
Mass mediaImportant differences between various mass media in the channels & technologies they draw upon.
• Press uses visual channel, its language is written, & it draws upon technologies of photographic reproduction, graphic design, & printing.
• Radio uses oral channel & spoken language & relies on technologies of sound recording & broadcasting
• Television combines technologies of sound & imagerecording & broadcasting
ImplicationsThese differences in channel & technology have significant wider implications in terms of meaning potential.
• Print = less personal than radio or television. • Radio begins to allow individuality & personality to
be emphasised through transmitting individual qualities of voice.
• Television takes the process much further by making people visually available, & not in the frozen modality of newspaper photographs, but in movement & action.
Mass communication• Expression was coined around 1930's.• Mass denotes great volume, range or extent. • Refers to large numbers scattered (geographically),
anonymous (unknown to each other & to communicator), heterogeneous (variety of persons).
• Janowitz (1968): "Mass communications comprise the institutions and techniques by which specialised groups employ technological devices (press, radio, films, etc.) to disseminate symbolic content to large, heterogeneous and widely dispersed audiences"
C. ChanMeetoo, FSSH, UOM
People's use of mass media• Cognition: act of getting knowledge to get info about
something, either to keep up with info on some event or to learn entirely new thing just for general knowledge cognitive need is one of basic human needs.
• Socialisation: to create or maintain link with other individuals or groups. (For ex, they refer to content of mass media to have subject of conversation) may be viewed as fulfilling social integrative needs.
• Stimulation, relaxation & emotional release to escape boredom & stress & to give vent to pentup emotions & frustrations (gore films, sentimental films).
• Withdrawal: to escape need to communicate with people around them when don't want to or feel embarrassed (reading newspaper in public place).
(Joseph.R.Dominick, The dynamics of Mass Communication, 1996)
Corollaries of mass media• 1960's: consumeroriented society• 1970's: communication era• Today: mass media / hypermedia
• Instant communication: 21/2 months for Napoleon's death (ca.1821) vs. 2 hrs for JFK's death (1963)
• Todayneed to know / transparency = basis of democracy
Information society
• More occupations & jobs based on service & information
• Flow of information has grown inside countries & across frontiers
• Knowledge increasingly becoming source of wealth & power
• Modern politics & economics depend more on communication technologies
Levels of communication processThere are six levels:• Intrapersonal (processing of information)• Interpersonal (couple, friend to friend)• Intragroup (family circle)• Intergroup or association (local community)• Institution/organisational system or business
(political system, business firm)• Nation/societywide (mass communication)
Transnational & Transfrontier
McQuail's Mass Communication Theory
Figure 1.2 The pyramid of communication: mass communication is one amongst several processes of social communication
Intrapersonal communication• Within a single person selfcommunication.
encoding & formulating of a message/thinking process. It helps personal reflection and organisation.
• "The intrapersonal level refers to the processing of information on an individual basis (for instance, attention, perception, comprehension, recall and learning). The possible effects are on knowledge, opinion and attitude."
C. ChanMeetoo, FSSH, UOM
Intragroup communication
• Intragroup communication entails almost immediate feedback. Facilitating factors are: similar backgrounds, levels of skill in writing/speaking/listening/reading, etc.
Interpersonal & intragroup
• occur between and among persons. • may be onetoone, facetoface, or can involve
groups, both large and small. • Can be formal/informal, personal/impersonal. • are based on some shared feature of daily life: • Attachment & identity are very important notions as
well as cooperation and norm formation.
Formal vs. informal
• Formal communication follows the lines of the firm's chart. The communication flows downwards and seldom upwards. No feedback from employees.
• Informal communication: no document, memos, or paper whatsoever. (C.f. the Arab phone) Informal network of secretaries. There are no traces/marks; no permanent character.