1. Intro to Mass Communication
Yohanes Widodo
Semester Genap 2016/2017

2. Textbook
Dominick, J.R. (2013). The dynamics of mass communication: Media in Transition, (12th ed.); McGraw-Hill; Boston.

3. Intro to Mass Communication

4. What do you understand about Communication?
Let’s look at these cases…
1912 NYT report of the sinking of Titanic
Boston Marathon Bombing in April 2013 4

5. #KamiKereLippoMall.
March 2013 – Bangsar dessert shop FB fiasco

7. Communication?

8. Defining communication
Transmission of a message from a source to a receiver.
One way communication–effect added (Harold Lasswell 1948).
"RIP Madonna. You aren't dead, but you're career is.”
SENDER

9. Osgood & Schramm’s circular model of communication (1954)
Message Sender
Medium
Message receiver
Person who understands (analyses, perceives)
Process of encoding, interpret and decoding is simultaneously happening.
Each person acts as both sender and receiver and hence use interpretation.
Semantic noise occurs when sender and receiver apply different meaning to the same message.

10. The Shannon-Weaver model

11. Communication is the process of sending and receiving a message with another person through a medium/channel.

12. The 8 Elements of the Communication Process
Transmitting the Message
Source: the initiator of a thought or idea who starts the process.
Encoding: the activities that a source goes through to translate thoughts and ideas in a perceivable form.
Message: the actual physical product that the source encodes.
Channels: the ways the message travels to the receiver. 12

13. Receiving the Message Semantic Mechanical Environmental
Decoding: consists of activities that translate or interpret physical messages.
Receiver: the target of the message
Feedback: responses of the receiver that shape/alter the subsequent messages of the source.
Noise: interference of message delivery
Semantic
Mechanical
Environmental 13

14. Interpersonal Communication
Individual or group communication, without the aid of a mechanical device
Physical presence required
Variety of channels are available for use
Messages hard for receiver to terminate
Private or public
Immediate feedback
Noise: semantic or environmental 8

15. Machine-Assisted Interpersonal Communication (1 of 3)
SOURCE 
-- machine --
RECEIVER
Time
Space 9

16. Source and receiver Encoding Channel Messages
May be individuals or groups; may be machine
Encoding
Stage 1: Thoughts/ ideas from source
Stage 2: Machine encodes it for transmission
Channel
One or two only; eg. -sight
Messages
Customised; eg. info on blog-text or podcast
Private or public
Inexpensive to send 10

17. Machine-Assisted Interpersonal Communication (3 of 3)
Decoding similar to encoding
Machines: electrical energy  light patterns
Receiver: words or symbols  thoughts
Feedback
Immediate or delayed; may be impossible 11

18. Mass Communication (1 of 3)
Occurs when a complex organization, with machine aid, produces and transmits public messages to large, heterogeneous, scattered audiences. (Dominick 2010, p.10).
The process of creating shared meaning between mass media and their audiences
(Baran 2006, p.6). 12

19. Mass Communication (2 of 3)
Source
Pre-Internet: Source was typically a group of individuals who acted in predetermined roles in an organizational structure (eg. the product of a group’s effort, Oprah Winfrey’s talk show)
Internet: Source can be one person, who becomes a mass communicator (eg. a blogger to his readers, an organisation’s FB page to their customers/fans) 13

20. Encoding/ sending Decoding/ Receiving Receiver Feedback Noise
Involves many stages
More than one machine is sending message; eg. satellite- tv
Decoding/ Receiving
Message is public
Multiple decoding stages; eg. tv decodes sight & sound waves
Receiver
Large audience & ananoymous to each other
Self-defined audience (choose to consume media)
Heterogenous
Spread over a wide geographic area
Feedback
Delayed/ immediate
Noise

21. Schramm’s Model of Mass Communication
Source: From The Process and Effects of Mass Communication. Copyright (c) 1954
Organisation owns tv, newspapers & radio entities.
Eg. Tv executives obtaining ratings a week after a tv program was aired and they must infer what to do next.

22. Schramm’s mass communication model represents feedback by inferential feedback—indirect rather than direct.
It may take long periods for a mass medium to discover whether it has been effective.
Imposed by technology (then, there was no internet)
– communication conservatism (message constraints); feedback too late for alterations.

23. Example: Delayed inferential feedback

24. Differences 14

25. Defining Mass Media
Medium is channel through which message travels from source to receiver.
“Medium” is singular; “Media” is plural
Print; Internet; Broadcast
Mass media are channels for mass communication, and the institutions that transmit the messages.
Media vehicle: single component of mass media; newspaper, radio station, magazine. 15

26. Mass Media in Transition (2 of 2)
Technology
Economics
Social Trends 17

27. TECHNOLOGY: THE INTERNET
Websites:
The Web will become more important for interpersonal and social functions, e.g. the proliferation of social media.
Interpersonal & machine-assisted communication on the Web (blogs, Wikipedia, Skype, FB, etc) facilitates communication of individuals/ small groups (communities).
Mass media content will be distributed over the Net (eg. online papers, video downloads, e-books, etc).
The Internet has necessitated fresh models to describe the communication process. 27

28. MODELS FOR STUDYING MASS COMMUNICATION
The traditional model of mass communication was a “one-to-many” model.
Media organizations encoded information from the environment, and reproduced it many times over using the appropriate channel.
Little direct interaction between sources and receivers 28

29. An Internet Model of Mass Communication
-content by organisations & individuals
-communication flows inwards (computer-mediated environment); not a one way model
-Message that flows to individuals are not identical (pull model).
-Feedback is easy. 29

30. An Internet Model of Mass Communication
A new arrangement, allowing multiple levels of communication:
One-to-one ( )
One-to-many (CNN.com)
Few-to-few (chatrooms, blogs)
Many-to-many (YouTube, eBay)
Audience competition not always a factor
Messages not linear; content provided by organizations and users. 30

31. ECONOMICS – THE BUSINESS OF MASS MEDIA
Mass communication is produced by complex and formal organizations based on business models.
These organizations have multiple gatekeepers.
Need a great deal of money to operate.
Exist to make a profit.
Highly competitive 18

32. Formal Organizational Structure
Mass media typically have well- defined organizational structure.
Generally involves specialization and division of labor.
Generally a bureaucracy.
Channels of communication with organization are generally formal. 19

33. Many Gatekeepers
Gatekeeper: Any person/group controlling what material eventually reaches the public.
More complex organizations = more gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers are far less numerous on the Web, but that doesn’t mean they’re nonexistent e.g. YouTube has several people who screen videos for copyright violations or that are deemed inappropriate. 20

34. Large Operating Expenses
Costs millions of dollars to buy and maintain a mass media organization e.g. News Corp’s purchase of Dow Jones & Co. for $5 billion.
The Internet has reduced start-up and operating costs, however Web operations need cash in order to grow and prosper.
Current trend: consolidation of media ownership.
Time Warner, Walt Disney Company, Sony, News Corporation, Vivendi, Comcast, Bertelsmann 21

35. Competition for Profits (1 of 2)
Most mass communication organizations in US exist to make a profit.
Profit usually made by selling audiences to advertisers.
Mass communication organizations compete to attract audiences.
Web sites, too, mostly exist to make a profit.
The Internet has forced us to reexamine the way we traditionally think about mass communication and mass communicators. 35

36. TRANSITION: EMERGING MEDIA TRENDS
As media continue to evolve, several trends have become apparent 36

37. Audience Segmentation
Media audiences: less mass, more selective.
Audience fractionalization or segmentation
Reduced audience for any single media vehicle
Definition of mass communication still applies; audiences still large, organizations still complex.
Specialization is evident, but potential to reach mass audience still exists. 37

38. Convergence
Convergence means coming together or uniting in common theme or focus.
Corporate Convergence: Companies acquire assets extending range of activities.
Operational Convergence: Owners of several media properties combine operations.
Device Convergence: One mechanism contains functions of two or more devices e.g. the iPhone . 38

39. Increased Audience Control
Audience members can control what they see and hear, and when.
Technological advances (VCR, DVR, VOD) give more power to consumers.
More sources of information, including blogs
More flexibility in consuming products (download single track vs. buy full album)
Create own classifieds/ ads -Craigslist 39

40. Multiple Platforms
A strategy making content available via a number of different delivery methods to a number of different receiving devices.
Example: Music videos started on cable/satellite networks, went to websites, to iPods, to cell phones.
Television content, newspaper content, magazine content, all are repackaged for multiple devices. 40

41. User-Generated Content
User-generated content (peer production): people share and collaborate on content.
YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Wikipedia
Reflects Web 2.0
Web 2.0 = communities, people, uploading
Web 1.0 = companies, pages, downloading 41

42. Mobile Media
Small screen devices allow media to become increasingly mobile
iPads & tablets
Cell phones
Laptop computers
iPods
Significant milestone in development of communication 42

43. Social Media
Online communications that use special techniques that involve participation, conversation, sharing, collaboration, and linkage.
At the start of 2011, Facebook had more than 500 million users; that would rank the Website third largest in the world if it were a country.
Businesses & politicians are turning to social media to market their products. 43

44. Cultural Impact of Communication (Baran 2010, pp.8-14)
Cultural definition of communication
Communication is foundation of our culture.
James W. Carey: “Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed.”

45. What is Culture?
Socially acquired traditions and lifestyles
Culture is learned behaviour of members of a given social group.
Culture is the world made meaningful; it is socially constructed and maintained through communication. It limits and also liberates us; it differentiates and also unites us. It defines our realities and thereby shapes the ways we think, feel and act (Baran 2013, p.14).
Function: Helps us categorise & classify our experiences.
Helps us define our world & our place in it.

46. Mass media as cultural storytellers (tool)
Media practitioners (journalists, editors, film directors, advertisers)-must be ethical and professional in telling a “story.”
Storytellers (Mass media)
Story (eg. content of a tv drama; newspaper article)
TV viewers, newspaper readers-besides being entertained, we must:
question the interpretation of the storytellers.
interpret “stories” in relation to important cultural values & truths.
reflect on the stories’ meaning & relate to our society’s behaviour & culture.
Audience

47. Mass communication as cultural forum
It is the primary forum for the debate about our culture.
The most powerful voice shapes our definition & understanding.
Newspapers/ magazines: op-ed columns, reviews, cartoons.
TV/ Radio: Talk shows, documentaries.
Internet: blogs, FB, Twitters

48. Limiting Effects of Culture
Positives:
Repetitive ways of thinking, feeling and acting
Limits our options and provides guidelines.
{eg. no vulgar words on national tv}
Negatives:
Culture’s limiting effects can be negative through dominant culture/mainstream culture.
{eg. thin beautiful models=ideal; how about plus-size?}

49. Liberating Effects of Culture
BUT…the dominant culture can be challenged; we create our opinion to challenge existing patterns.
Eg. there are positive ideals of beauty; i.e. Jennifer Lopez, Susan Boyle, Drew Barrymore, et cetera.

50. Defining & differentiating culture
We are defined by our own cultures (eg. Malaysian)
Within large, national culture (eg. Malaysian), there are smaller, bounded cultures (co- cultures)-eg. Malaysian Chinese.
Pluralism/ diversity. Shared in media products.
When we are defined differently by others- stereotyping happens. This is not good.

51. Media Literacy
Ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and utilize any form of mass media content (Baran 2004, p.51).
Media literacy is about understanding the sources and technologies of communication, the codes that are used, the messages that are produced, and the selection, the interpretation, and impact of those messages (Rubin cited by Baran 2004, p.51).

52. To map to reality…media literacy is
The process of interacting with media content and critically analyzing it by considering its particular:
Presentation
Technological assets and limitations
Underlying political or social messages
Ownership
Regulation
Other social expectations/ values
Possessing the knowledge to be competent in assessing messages carried by the mass media (Vivian 2010, p.6).

53. Examples of Media Literacy
Being able to read (traditional literacy).
Understanding how to navigate a web site or send an attachment (computer literacy).
Realizing a scary part of a movie is coming up when the background music changes (visual literacy).

54. Con’t
Media consumer should question what they see, hear or experience when receiving or interacting with mediated communication.
Some of the questions that a critical media consumer should ask:

55. Developing media literacy is an ongoing process, not a goal.
It is always possible to improve your level of media literacy and thus be a wiser consumer.
Critical thinking in their consumption of media content so they can better control their actions and not be controlled by media messages.

56. Seven Elements of Media Literacy
What characteristics must an individual have?
1. An awareness of the impact of media.
2. An understanding of the process of
mass communication.
How do the various media industries operate?
What are their obligations to us?
What are the obligations of audience?

57. Con’t Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages.
Need a foundation (eg. knowledge-media grammar/ concepts) to base our thought & reflection.
Eg. understand the intent and impact of film and video conventions like camera angles and lighting, or the strategy behind the placement of photos on a newspaper page.
An understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into our culture and our lives.

58. Con’t The ability to enjoy, understand and appreciate media content.
Development of appropriate and effective production skills.
Media literate individuals must develop production skills to create useful media messages (eg. creating websites/ blogs).
The ability to enjoy, understand and appreciate media content.
Use multi points of access to approach media content from a variety of perspectives and derive from it many levels of meaning.
An understanding of the ethical and moral obligations of media practitioners.

59. Media Literacy Skills
Media literate consumption requires specific skills:
1. Ability & willingness to make an effort to understand content, to pay attention & filter noise.
2. An understanding of and respect for the power of media messages.
Don’t assume it has no power on yourself, only on others! (Third person effect)
3. Ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions when responding to content and act accordingly.
4. Development of heightened expectations of media content.
5. Know genre conventions & recognise when they are being mixed.
6. Ability to think about media messages despite of their source credibility.
7. Knowledge of various media grammar & understand its effects.