Theories of Communication
LESSON 04
FROM COMMUNICATION TO MASS COMMUNICATION MODELS
Many communication terms take different meanings when they refer to mass communication.
The term mass communication emerged in late 1930s.
Nature of the communicator
Organized and complex organization e.g. production and distribution.
Extensive division of labor and a lot of professional communicators.
Nature of audience
Mass communication is directed toward a relatively large, heterogeneous and anonymous
audience.
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Large- millions, too many people for the communicator to interact with personally during
reasonable period of time.
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Heterogeneous- audiences employ a variety of positions within a society.
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Anonymous- individuals in the audience are personally unknown to the communicator.
Nature of communication experience
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Public- messages are not addressed to no one in particular, content is open from public.
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Rapid- reaches a large audience with relatively short time or space.
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Transient- messages made to be consumed immediately- here today, gone tomorrow. A
most frequently cited definition of mass communication is
“Mass communications comprise the institutions and techniques by which specialized groups
employ technological devices (press, radio, films etc ) to disseminate symbolic content to large ,
heterogeneous and widely dispersed audiences.”(Janowitz 1968)
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Then mass communication is always part of an organized group and often a member of an
institution which has functions other than communication
The receiver is always an individual but may often be seen by the sending organization as a
group or collectively with certain general attributes.
Channel
Channel includes large scale technologically based distribution devices and systems. The
message in mass communication is not a unique and transitory phenomenon but a mass produced
and infinitely repeatable symbolic structure, often of great complexity.
Of particular significance in mass communication are:1. The public and open nature of all communication.
2. The limited and controlled access to sending facilities.
3. The impersonality of the relationship between sender and receive.
4. The imbalance of the relationship between them.
5. The intervention of institutionalized arrangements between sender and receiver.
The process of mass communication is not synonymous with the mass
media. It is the organized technologies which make mass communication
possible.
Development in the history of mass communication
DeFleur and Ball Rokeach in 1989 point out to a number o important developments in the history
of mass communication
1. Age of signs and signals
2. Age of speech and language
3. Age of writing- papyrus
4. Age of printing – after 15th century-Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type and printing
press in 1456
5. Age of Mass Communication was ushered by widespread distribution of newspapers
(1920 radio; 1940 TV)
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It eroded the barrier of isolation among people in the world and produce significant changes in
the organization and functioning of a society – in commerce politics education in mere
sociability gossip.
Mass media includes:
Print media
1. Books
2. Newspapers
i) In the beginning adversary of established power.
ii) Political press –for party advantage and political propaganda.
ii) Prestige press- high bourgeois capitalist class.
Electronic media
1. Film
2. Broadcasting
3. Recorded music VCR
New media - Telematix media
They combine telecommunication and information. It includes
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Video games
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Virtual reality
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CD- ROMs They represent a challenge.
Decentralization – supply and choice are not longer predominantly in the hands of supplier of
communication.
High capacity- cable and satellite deliver overcomes the former restriction of cost distance and
capacity Interactivity- receiver can select answer back, exchange and linked to other receivers
directly
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Why study mass communication?
It is the major source of acquiring about the world knowledge -a cognitive approach a mental
reality about the world based on our experience with the media
This metal attitude become the basis for all sorts of attitudes and behavior and has numerous
effects on our lives.
Media is also a place where many affairs of public life are played out both nationally and
internationally. The conducts of democratic or undemocratic politics significant social issues are
addressed.
Media is also a place where changing culture and values of societies and groups are constructed
stored and most visibly expressed. Primary key to fame and celebrity status.
Media has become the reality against which the real world is compared. The media view of the
world has become more real to many people than the real world itself.
Media are the single largest focus of leisure- time activity and means of entertainment. They
help organize and interrelate the rest of leisure. As a result a media has become a major and
expanding industry providing employment and wide range of political economic benefits.
That is why mass media is of wide interest and is subject to so much scrutiny and regulation as
well as theorizing. And we need to consider theories that deal primarily with the ways individual
access and process media content and the ways with which mass media sources influences those
individuals.
Some sort of theory was needed to guide this task of media reform. The theory should answer
questions such as these:
1. Should media do something more than merely distribute whatever content will earn
them the greatest profits in the shortest time?
2. Are there some essential public services that media should provide even if no
immediate profits can be earned?
3. Should media become involved in identifying and solving social problems?
4. Is it necessary or advisable for media to serve as watchdogs and protect consumers
against business fraud and corrupt bureaucrats?
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5. What should we expect media to do for us in times of crisis?
These broad questions about the role of media are linked to issues concerning the day-to-day
operation of media.
1. How should media management and production jobs be structured?
2. What moral and ethical standards should guide media professionals?
3. Exactly what constitutes being a “journalist”?
4. Are there any circumstances when it is appropriate or even necessary to invade people’s
privacy or risk running their reputation?
5. Should television networks broadcast highly rated program even if it routinely contains high
levels of violence?
Answers to questions like these are found in NORMATIVE THEROY- a type of theory that
describes an ideal way for a media system to be structured and operated
Normative theories are different from most of the theories we will study. They don’t describe
things as they are nor do they provide scientific explanations or predictions.
Instead they describe the way things should be if some ideal values or principles are to be
realized. Normative theories come from many sources. Sometimes they are developed by media
practitioners themselves. Sometimes they are developed by social critics or academics.
Sometimes it is the synthesis of ideas developed over the past centuries.
A SHORT EXERCISE
Take a few minutes off, before we proceed, to think about your views concerning the role of
media for yourself, about your community and your state, your nation and your world.
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What are the most important things that media should and shouldn’t do?
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What standards of behavior should media practitioners follow as they perform these
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tasks?
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What about the high percentage of entertainment programming on television?
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Should there be less entertainment and more content that informs and educate?
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