Mass Communication
Potentially, the most influential
form of human communication
Types of communication
• Intrapersonal
– When we talk to ourselves
• Interpersonal
– When we talk to another
• Group
– When we give a speech to a group
• Mass communication--an unseen
audience
• Q. How do mass communicators differ
from other types of communicators?
• They cannot see their audience.
Components of mass
communication
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The five m’s of mass communication:
Mass communicators
Mass messages
Mass media
Mass communication
Mass audiences
Mass communication? Or
mass communications?
• 1. Communication refers to the process
• 2. There is a double encoding and
double decoding.
• 3. Mass communications refers to a
thing.
Communication models
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Shannon and Weaver
1. Decision to communicate
2. Encoding
3. Transmission through Medium
(channel) double encoding/decoding
• 4. Reception
• 5. Decoding 6. Internalization
Cue for test:
• Remember that the recipient
internalizes the message.
Narrative model
• Harold Lasswell:
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Who says what?
In which channel?
To whom?
With what effect?
Concentric circle model
effects
Mass media
filters
audiences
gatekeepers
codes
regulators
codes
communicators
gatekeepers
communicators
Concentric circle model
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Effects
Audiences
Filters
Regulators
Mass media
Gatekeepers
Codes
• Communicators
Misses many complexities
Q. What is the message in a
communication model?
A. The representation of
the thought.
Mysterious process
• Millions spent in
advertising and
promotions
• Need to know all
there is about the
process
Clip
Fundamentals in the process
• Stimulation
– source
• Decoding
– Receiver/transmitter
• Encoding
– Put thoughts into
symbols
• Transmission
– The channel, media
• Internalization
– Understanding the
message
Players in the process
• Gatekeepers
– News producers
• Regulators
– FCC, PMRC
• Hybrids
– “gatekeeperregulator hybrids”
– NAB, SPJ
Impediments to
communication
• Noise
– Semantic--sloppy messages
– Channel--static
– Environmental--noise at reception site
• Q. What is the mass communicator’s
best antidote against noise?
• A. Repetition
Filters
• Informational filters
– Audience doesn’t understand us
• Physical filters
– Receiver’s mind is clouded;
• Psychological filters
– Receiver’s bias; selective perception
Results of mass
communication
• Feedback
• Q. How do mass communicators get it?
• A. Indirectly.
• Effects
• Q. Greatest influence of mass media?
• A. When it moves people to action.
• Q. When mass communicators choose
to communicate about something, that
“thing” has….
• A.?????
• Q. Why would you want Boomer
Esiason to campaign for your cause?
• A. ?????????