Communication: Mass and Other Forms

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Communication: Mass and Other Forms Chapter Outline

Case Study 24/7 Global News Coverage? The Communication Process Communication Settings
Interpersonal Machine-Assisted Definition of Mass Communication Mass Communication

Traditional Mass Media Organizations The Internet and Mass Communication Future of Mass Media Segmentation

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24/7 Global News Coverage?

July 7, 2005 terrorist bombs exploded in London All major broadcast and cable networks reported the story within 25 minutes Technical communication breakdown warning of tsunami lead to the death of thousands Demonstrates fragility of modern communications

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The Communication Process

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Eight Elements of the Communication Process

Source Encoding Message Channel

Decoding Receiver Feedback Noise

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The Source

The source, or sender, initiates the communication process by having a thought or an idea that he or she wishes to transmit to some other entity. Sources can be individuals, groups, or even organizations.

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Encoding the Message

Encoding includes all the activities that a source goes through to translate thoughts and ideas into a form that can be perceived by the senses. It can take place one or more times in any given communication event. In a face to face conversation, the speaker encodes thoughts into words; if a telephone is used, it subsequently encodes sound waves into electrical energy.

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Message
The message is the actual physical product that the source encodes which may range from the short, simple and inexpensive to the long, complex and costly. Humans usually have a large number and wide range of messages at their disposal that they can choose to send. Messages can be directed to an individual or to millions.

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Channel
Channels refer to the ways in which the message travels to the receiver. These include sound waves, light waves, air currents, and touch. Some messages may go through multiple channels.

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Decoding the Message

The decoding process is the opposite of the encoding process. It's the process by which a message is translated into a form the receiver can understand. Both people and machines can be message decoders. Some messages can involve many decoding stages.

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Receiver
The receiver is the target of the message. The target can be an individual, a group, or an anonymous collection of people. Most people receive far more messages than they send. Receivers can be targeted for a message (a phone call) or they can self-select themselves (choosing which movie to watch). Receivers and senders can be in immediate contact (talking on the phone) or they can be separated by space and time (reading a Shakespearean play).
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Feedback
Feedback refers to responses from the receiver that shape and alter the subsequent messages from the source. Feedback represents the reversal of the communication flow (source becomes receiver; receiver becomes source). It answers the sources unstated question, How am I doing? Feedback can be immediate or delayed

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Positive Feedback
encourages the current communication behavior

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Negative Feedback
tries to change the communication or even terminate it.

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Communication Settings
Interpersonal Communication Machine-Assisted Interpersonal Communication Mass Communication
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Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is the least complicated of the communication settings presented here. It involves one person (or group) interacting with another person (or group) without the aid of a mechanical device. The source and receiver are in the immediate physical presence of one another.

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Interpersonal Communication
source and receiver can be individuals or groups encoding is usually a one-step process a variety of channels are usually available for use messages are relatively difficult for the receiver to terminate produced at little or no expense messages can be private or public message can pinpoint highly specific targets decoding is usually a one-step process feedback is immediate noise can be semantic or environmental
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Interpersonal Communication
Little or no expense Messages generally private Message can pinpoint specific targets Immediate feedback

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Machine-Assisted Interpersonal Communication

SOURCE -- machine -RECEIVER

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Machine-Assisted Interpersonal Communication

Machine-assisted interpersonal communication (or technology-assisted communication) involves one or more people communicating by means of a mechanical device or devices with one or more receivers. It combines characteristics of interpersonal and mass communication situations and blurs the line between the two types of communication, especially when involving the Internet and World Wide Web. Machines can give communication permanence and/or extend its range. The source and receiver can be separated by time and space. A great deal of modern communication falls into this category.

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Machine-Assisted Interpersonal Communication

Source and receiver
May be individuals or groups May be a machine such as ATM

Feedback
Immediate or delayed May be impossible

Messages
Customizability varies Private or public Inexpensive to send
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Machine-Assisted Interpersonal Communication

Machine-Assisted Communication Encoding can be simple to complex
Source: thoughts words or symbols Machines: encode message for transmission

Channel options restricted Decoding similar to encoding

Machines: electrical energy light patterns Receiver: words or symbols thoughts
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Mass Communication
Mass Communication ...occurs when a complex organization, with machine aid, produces and transmits public messages to large, heterogeneous and scattered audiences.

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Mass Communication
Mass Communication
Pre-Internet: Source is a structured organization

Internet: Source can be one person Sender gets little audience information Encoding a multi-stage process Channel involves machines Messages are public and impersonal Effective feedback difficult
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Mass Communication
Mass communication audiences
Large Heterogeneous Geographically diversified Individually anonymous Self-defined
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Mass Media
A medium is the channel through which a message travels from source to receiver (medium is singular; media is plural). Mass media are the channels used for mass communication and include not only the mechanical devices that transmit messages, but also the institutions that use these devices. A media vehicle is a single component of the mass media, such as a newspaper, radio station, or magazine.
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Communication Settings

Differences in Communication Settings

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Traditional Mass Media Organizations Complex, formal organizations Multiple gatekeepers Need lots of money to operate Exist to make a profit Highly competitive
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Organizational Structure
Mass media typically have a well-defined organizational structure characterized by specialization, division of labor, and focused areas of responsibility. Traditional mass communication is generally the product of a bureaucracy. Thus, decisions are made at multiple levels of management and channels of communication within the organization are often highly formalized channels (group decisions and committees, for example).

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Gate Keepers
A gatekeeper is any person (or group) who has control over what material eventually reaches the public; the more complex the organization, the more gatekeepers will be found.

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Operating Expenses
It often costs millions of dollars to buy and maintain a mass media organization, which is one reason for the current trend towards media consolidation of ownership.

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Competition for Profits

Most media organizations in the US exist to make a profit; if they dont they will soon go out of business. Profit is usually made by selling audiences to advertisers; hence media organizations compete with one another to attract audiences.

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Traditional Mass Media Organizations

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The Internet and Mass Communication

The Internet created a new channel for machineassisted and mass communication, and brings the cost of mass communication to a level at which many can afford it. Almost anyone can become an electronic publisher with access to a potential audience of millions. These new Web communicators differ from traditional mass communicators.

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The Internet and Mass Communication

Websites:
Affordable and producible by individual Bypass gatekeepers Creativity reigns Low start-up and maintenance costs May or may not exist for profit Audience competition not always factor
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The Internet and Mass Communication

Just because the Internet can allow everyone to become a mass communicator doesnt mean all Web sites are designed to do so. The Internet seems to be evolving into more of an interpersonal than a mass medium. At least for now, most Americans go online to communicate with others, rather than for news, TV shows, or movies.

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The Internet and Mass Communication

Traditional Mass Communication Model

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The Internet and Mass Communication

Figure 1-3: Internet Mass Communication Model

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The Internet and Mass Communication

This is not a left-to-right model; communication flows inward. In this model, content can be provided by organizations and by individuals. There are no organizational gatekeepers. One person decodes, interprets, and encodes the content. The receiver initiates the process, choosing the time and manner of the interaction.

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Mass Media Segmentation

Audience lifestyles more fragmented Individual segments can be large Emerging trends:
Convergence (coming together)
Corporate Operational Device

Disintermediation (eliminating the middleman) Increasing audience control Media mobility

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Mass Media Segmentation

an increase in one-parent families a decrease in discretionary personal time, meaning that less time is devoted to media and that there is more demand for special-interest content an increase in the number of media vehicles from which to choose commercial organizations are turning from massmarketing to target-marketing
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Mass Media Segmentation

Despite these changes, the definition of mass communication given earlier still applies. Organizations are still complex, audiences still large. The channels of mass communications remain the same, though more mass media are using those channels to reach more selective audiences. Specialization is evident, but the potential for reaching a mass audience still exists.

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Corporate Convergence
Originally referred to in the 1980s as "synergy," corporate convergence occurs when companies acquire assets that extended the range of their activities. For example, content providers acquired distribution channels. But recent widely-publicized attempts at convergence have failed, and the current trend in corporate circles seems more toward divergence than convergence.
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Operational Convergence
Occurs when owners of several media properties in one market combine their operations. For example, a newspaper, a Web site, and a local cable news channel might operate a joint (converged) news department. Currently, about 50 instances of this kind of convergence are operating. Critics worry whether this will result in fewer independent and diverse forms of journalism.

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Device Convergence
One mechanism contains the functions of two or more devices. Examples include laptop computers which can play DVDs and cell phones with digital video cameras.

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Disintermediation
Disintermediation refers to the process whereby access to a product or service is given directly to the consumer, thus eliminating the intermediary, or middleperson, who might typically supply the product or service. This phenomenon is particularly evident now on the Internet and on the World Wide Web, as buyers and sellers can make direct contact. Media whose products can easily be distributed over the Internet are the first to feel its effects.
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Increasing Audience Control

Audience members are able to control what they want to see/hear, and when. Technological advances such as the VCR, remote control, digital video recorders, video on demand, and the like, have given more power to the consumer. If people arent satisfied with what is offered on traditional news media, they can go to other outlets including blogs. People dont need to buy an entire album; they can download only the songs they want. The receiver is increasingly powerful in the mass communication process.
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Mobile Media

The emergence of small-screen media devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, and laptops, as well as iPods, indicates that the mass media have become increasingly mobile. Even movies can be played on portable DVD units. This trend is a significant milestone in the development of communication.

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