MASS COMMUNICATION THEORIES
COMMUNICATION PROCESS
Before we cover theories, we must review
the communication process:
 Information originates with a SOURCE…
 ...who sends a MESSAGE...
 …using a CHANNEL to send information...
 …to a RECEIVER…
 …who provides FEEDBACK to the source
COMMUNICATION MODEL
Source
(speaker,
sender,
encoder)
channel
Message
(verbal,
nonverbal,
mediated )
channel
Receiver
(listener,
decoder)
channel
channel
Feedback
Receiver attaches meaning
to message then replies to
Sender through Feedback
SOURCE
 Is
where communication originates.
 Needs to know who the receivers are.
 Needs to be seen as credible.
 Needs to know what kind of message is best
suited to a particular audience.
Source
(speaker,
sender,
encoder)
Message
(verbal,
nonverbal,
mediated)
Feedback
Receiver attaches meaning
to message then replies to
Sender through Feedback
Receiver
(listener,
decoder)
MESSAGE




Is the content of communication.
Confronts a serious challenge: getting people to
pay attention.
Must be relevant.
Must be understood.
Source
(speaker,
sender,
encoder)
Message
(verbal,
nonverbal,
mediated)
Feedback
Receiver attaches meaning
to message then replies to
Sender through Feedback
Receiver
(listener,
decoder)
CHANNEL



Is the medium (or media) used to transmit the
message (talking, email, TV, radio, newspaper).
Must be seen as relevant.
Must be seen as credible.
Source
(speaker,
sender,
encoder)
Message
(verbal,
nonverbal,
mediated)
Feedback
Receiver attaches meaning
to message then replies to
Sender through Feedback
Receiver
(listener,
decoder)
RECEIVER
 Is
the person, persons or group for whom the
message is intended.
 Is most receptive to messages that specifically
target the receiver’s interests and values.
Source
(speaker,
sender,
encoder)
Message
(verbal,
nonverbal,
mediated)
Feedback
Receiver attaches meaning
to message then replies to
Sender through Feedback
Receiver
(listener,
decoder)
FEEDBACK
 Is
the receiver’s reaction, as interpreted by the
source, to the message.
 Communication is an on-going, continual
process of feedback.
Source
(speaker,
sender,
encoder)
Message
(verbal,
nonverbal,
mediated)
Feedback
Receiver attaches meaning
to message then replies to
Sender through Feedback
Receiver
(listener,
decoder)
5 TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
thoughts, ideas, dialogue with one’s self
INTRAPERSONAL
between people, usually in PAIRS, but can be more
INTERPERSONAL
GROUP
PUBLIC
MASS
shared identity, can have common goal; also called family or
organizational communication
when one person has the floor; speaker and audience;
examples teacher/lecture class, to send information political
conventions/audience of delegates, musical band,
singer/audience
journalism, print or electronic media; the sender
communicates through mediated system, receiver
mostly watches or listens to the message
MASS COMMUNICATION

Communication to the masses takes place when a
messages is sent to an audience (or receiver) through a
specialized communication channel (or medium).

Units of analysis for mass communication:
 MESSAGE
(usually mediated, such as an article, news report,
radio announcement)


CHANNEL
(or medium, such as TV, radio,
newspaper, website)
AUDIENCE
(or receiver, such as
reader, viewer, consumer)
Source
(speaker,
sender,
encoder)
Message
(verbal,
nonverbal,
mediated)
Feedback
Receiver attaches meaning
to message then replies to
Sender through Feedback
Receiver
(listener,
decoder)
SOME MASS COMM THEORIES
Magic
Bullet
Theory

THE MAGIC BULLET THEORY
Mass Media
Public
BULLET THEORY / HYPODERMIC NEEDLE

The message is a bullet, fired from the "media gun"
into the viewer's "head".

The hypodermic needle model suggests that media
messages are injected straight into a passive
audience which is immediately influenced by the
message.
Hypodermic
Needle
Theory
History
The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct,
immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the
1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour
change.
Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication,
including:
* the fast rise and popularisation of radio and television
*the emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and
propaganda
FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTE :

Speedy increase of popularized media (Radio and
Television).

Industries Persuasion by (Advertising and Manipulation of
Public opinion)

Impact of motion pictures on children
Hitler's Nazi party ( by the monopolization of the mass
media during WWII)

THE MAGIC BULLET THEORY



.
Media stimuli were assumed to operate like
magic bullets that penetrated people’s minds
and instantly created associations between
strong emotions and specific concepts.
The theory views people as powerless to
consciously resist manipulation; as ones who
could be conditioned in whatever way a master
propagandist wanted.
THE MAGIC BULLET THEORY
“The magic bullets of propaganda can
penetrate the people’s defences and transform
their thoughts and actions despite their social
status and educational backgrounds.”
 According to this theory, the mind, incapable of
resisting powerful messages. The messages
penetrate to people’s subconscious minds and
transform how they think and feel.

The theory suggests that
the mass media could
influence a very large
group of people directly
and uniformly by
‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’
them with appropriate
messages designed to
trigger a desired
response.
They express the view
that the media is a
dangerous means of
communicating an
idea because the
receiver or audience is
powerless to resist the
impact of the
message.
People are seen as
passive and are seen
as having a lot media
material "shot" at
them. People end up
thinking what they are
told because there is
no other source of
information.
Example of the hypodermic needle
theory being successful
In 1938 a science fiction novel 'war of the worlds' by HG Wells was performed
like a contemporary new broadcast, as audiences listen to this news broadcast
as it occurred every 40 minutes some people concluded that it was in fact a real
account of an invasion from Mars, headed to the roads, hid in homes and
loaded their weapons in an attempt to defend themselves against the supposed
imminent attack.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
THE THEORY
STRENGTH


The use of numbers and statistics can
be effective and reliable way of seeing
trends.
Effect studies often involve a large
numbers of participants and sometimes
extend over long periods of time.
WEAKNESS


Has little place in contemporary
analysis of audience reception,
although it is possible that audiences
revert to such thinking from time to
time, these types of instances are rare,
and don’t carry a great deal of
momentum, if anything audiences
today tend to be a lot more
sophisticated and aware of how media
messages are constructed.
Too simplistic, changes to attitudes and
beliefs are not always observable or
easily measured inn the way physics;
changes are. Audiences interpret
media differently
PROPAGANDA

- To change the way people act and to
leave them believing that those
actions are voluntary, that the newly
adopted behaviours are their own.
PROPAGANDA

The secret of effective propaganda:
 Simplify

a complex issue
Effective propaganda is covert and it –
 Persuades
people without seeming to do so
 Features massive orchestration of communication
and
 Emphasises tricky language designed to discourage
reflective thought
 J.
Michael Sproul
PROPAGANDA

Propagandists saw mass media as an effective
mass manipulation tool for controlling large
populations so that the dominant majority
came to have and act on certain beliefs and
attitudes. They thought people to be so
irrational, so illiterate and so inattentive that it
was necessary to coerce, seduce or trick them
into learning bits of misinformation.
THE PREMISE

“White Propaganda”
 Intentional
suppression of potentially harmful
information and ideas, combined with deliberate
promotion of positive information or ideas to
distract attention from “problematic” events.

The technique spills over to the post World War
II era in the arenas of Advertising and Public
Relations.
THE PREMISE

Black Propaganda
 Deliberate

and strategic transmission of lies
Grey Propaganda
 Transmission
of information and ideas that might or
might not be false.