Assignment Worksheet What Is Mass CommunicationWhat is mass com.docx

Assignment: Worksheet: What Is Mass Communication?
What is mass communication? And, how does that definition of
mass communication apply to situations you might encounter in
daily life? In this Worksheet assignment, you will explore both
questions.By Day 7
· Read the textbook chapters for this week and the articles in
the Resources.
· Download the Week 1 Worksheet found in the Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please
click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the
Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Dominick, J. R. (2012). The dynamics of mass communication:
Media in transition (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
· Chapter 1, “Communication: Mass and Other Forms”
This chapter discusses the core elements of the communication
process and analyzes the various traditional and emerging forms
of communication.
· Chapter 2, “Perspectives on Mass Communication”
This chapter examines the various perspectives society has on
mass communication.
· For your Final Project, which you learn about this week, you
will choose one of the forms of media from the “Media” column
below as an object of study. You may consult the associated
chapters from the Course Text, The Dynamics of Mass
Communication: Media in Transition, to help you make your
selection.
Note: You are not required to read all of the chapters in this

table for this week.
Media
Associated Chapter
Newspapers
(Dominick, Chapter 5)
Magazines
Books
Radio
Sound Recording
Motion Pictures
Television
(Dominick, Chapters 11 & 12)
Internet
Public Relations and/or Social Media
Advertising
Chaffee, S. H., & Metzger, M. J. (2001). The end of mass
communication? Mass Communication & Society, 4(4), 365–
379. doi:10.1207/S15327825MCS0404_3
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library
databases.
This article explores various ways of defining mass
communication and examines how mass communication may be
evolving dramatically with changes in technology.
Brokaw, T. (1996, December 2). Only good if you can trust it.
Forbes, 158(13), 229. Retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfvie

wer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=7a961182-71d7-45a2-97c1-
0af085b4b2ad%40sessionmgr1
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library
databases.
In this article, former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw reflects
on the changing media technology and the unchanging need for
trust
COMM 1003 Week 1 Worksheet
This worksheet is due by Day 7 of Week 1.
Directions: Please download this worksheet by saving the
document to your own computer using thenaming convention
"WK1Assgn+last name+first initial" as the Submission Title.
The file name identifies you and indicates to your instructor
that your worksheet is available to grade. Please TYPE in your
answers in the boxes provided. If you need more space than is
provided, the box will expand as you write—so, no need to
worry about space. Do not write your answers in a separate
document because your instructor uses the rubric after each
question to grade that section of this worksheet. You may use
the rubric as a guide to make sure you completed that question
correctly.
What Is Mass Communication?
1. Give your own definition of “mass communication” in 25–50
words. You should use your own words to summarize what you
may have read in the Week 1 Resources.
Insert your answer below

For Instructor Use Only
Question #1 Rubric
Points
· Did the student define “mass communication” in his or her
own words? _____/10 points
· Was the student’s description in complete sentences, 25-50
words, with few spelling and grammatical errors? _____/5
points
Instructor Comments:
15 Points
_____/15
2. Describe how mass communication is different from
interpersonal communication. As you answer this, be sure to
write about how the sender and receiver roles may differ from
in each type of communication.
Question #2 Rubric
Points

· Did the student describe how mass communication is different
from interpersonal communication? _____/ 5 points
· Did the student address how the sender and receiver roles
differ? _____/5 points
· Was the student’s description in complete sentences with few
spelling and grammatical errors? _____/5 points
15 Points
_____/15
3. Describe how mass communication is different from
machine- assisted communication. As you answer this, be sure
to write about how feedbackand the channel may differ in each
type of communication.
Question #3 Rubric
Points
· Did the student describe how mass communication is different
from machine-assisted communication? _____/5 points

· Did the student address how feedback and the channel differ?
_____/5 points
15 Points
_____/15
4. Watch the video “Processes of Choosing the Message and the
Media,” with Pauline Harris located in the Week 1 Resources.
Identify two machine-assisted strategies that she uses to build
the visibility of her clients. Explain why these strategies are
significant in mass media. As you explain, be sure to apply one
idea from any of the Week 1 Course Resources and give proper
credit to the source you used.
Note: To “apply” an idea from your resources means you
either quote or paraphrase something your textbook (or another
article, video or website listed in the Week 1 Resources) said
concerning the idea you are writing about. Then, you need to
cite that source. You can cite the source in parentheses using
this format: (Author, publication Date, Page #). For example, if
I wanted to quote what the textbook said about gatekeepers, I
might write:
Gatekeepers are an important part of mass communication
because they have “control over what material eventually
reaches the public” (Dominick, 2013, p. 15).

Question #4 Rubric
Points
· Did the student identify two machine-assisted strategies that
Pauline Harris used in her marketing firm? Were they able to
explain the significance of these strategies that were used?
_____/15 points
· Did the student apply one idea from the Week 1 Course
Resources? _____/10 points
30 Points
_____/30
Worksheet Total Points
75 points
_____/75
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2013c). Processes of choosing

the message and the media [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 11 minutes.
In this media piece, Pauline Harris, the owner of the marketing
and public relations firm SPIN (Strategy, Public Relations,
Image, and New Business), explains and gives examples of the
processes that her firm uses when creating messages for their
clients. She also briefly describes how mass communication has
evolved over time based on her experiences and gives advice
about how to stay on the leading edge of the marketing and
public relations field.
Process of Choosing the Message and the Media
Process of Choosing the Message and the Media Program
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
PAULINE HARRIS: My name is Pauline Harris. I own a
marketing and public relations firm here in Baltimore. The name
of the firm is SPIN. And SPIN is an acronym for the services
that we provide. It stands for strategy, PR, image, and new
business development.
We work all within the building industry. So we work with
developers, and architects, interior designers, contractors, and
engineers. When we began to work with a client, we do a
strategic planning session first. And then from that planning
session, it's actually a one-day, if you will, charrette. And we
ask many, many, many questions to understand a lot about the
organization and where they would like to be. And what is that
message? And who is the audience? And how do they want to
get in front of that audience? It's very tailored.
We then come back with a strategic marketing plan for them.
And based on that information, and we back that into a budget
as to where we determine what medium they should use to get
that message out. So that could be anything from television, to
radio, to website, to Facebook and Twitter. We help our clients
determine which medium they should be in front of based on

their audience and how they want to get there. And again, that
also is based on time and effort and budgets as well.
And then, we try to be creative about it. Today, editors are
receiving so much information. When I first began my career, it
was in a very much more slow-pace method.
We would put a binder together of information. I'd pitch a story
to a particular editor. We would include stunning photography
because that's half the battle when you're dealing with print
media. And then, try and craft a message as to why that was
really important to that audience.
And today, it's done so rapidly and it's online. If the same is
true, you then have to just kind of-- one, it's about relationships
with the media. And two, it's about the message. They need to
answer the questions of advertisers for one, but also their
readership as well, and satisfy all of those. So that then, also
backs into a lot of research that's necessary for the individual
that's trying to pitch their story.
And the process that we go through to determine the tone of the
message and how lively we want to be, or how do we want to
attract the editor's attention, is based on the research that we do.
Again, we back that into the audience that we would like to read
this message.
©2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 1
We have one person on my staff that is an amazing researcher.
And she was working with the Baltimore Area Convention
Center here in town and was trying very hard to get Food &
Wine magazine to come to Baltimore to do a story, a pretty
large spread on when you visit Baltimore. And they sort of do
destinations in their publication.
She happened to be doing some research and found that this
editor won a $10,000 dress. And so she emailed her. In the
subject line she said, I know where you can wear that dress.
It took 90 days, but then she finally received a response. At first
she didn't think she was going to get a response, and then did.
And so they did come to Baltimore and did a full spread on it.

Again, it's extremely imperative that you do the research and
understand about the publication and understand about the
editor and what they're looking for in order to attract their
attention.
There's a fine line between pestering an editor and drilling in
the right message that you want to give to them. But again, you
just have to answer their needs. If you can put yourself in that
editor's place all the time or the recipient's place every time you
send something, whether it's a postcard, mailing, or blast email,
and how's that going to be received is really where you'll be
much more successful.
We were hired by a company called Konover Construction.
They're based out of Farmington, Connecticut, and they have an
office here in Columbia, Maryland. They hired us to help them
raise market share. And that was through many outlets. Through
website development, to brochure development, to PR, radio
and television.
They are a construction company, general contractors, and they
build a lot of large retail box construction. So that would be a
Target, Stop Shop & Save, Home Depot, and so forth.
This client came to us because they were awarded five major
retail projects up in Connecticut and they wanted to get as much
mileage and press out of that as possible. And our charge was to
understand, well, why is that newsworthy, and what should they
do? And how should they focus on that?
So we did a lot of research. We found this happened to be in a
summer, in July, when the heat wave was up tremendously and
gas prices were going through the roof. So the question was, are
people coming out to spend money in retail? And are we really
driving the traffic out there? And how do we get them there? So
we did a lot of research to understand, where is retail today?
And we happened to come across some information from Forbes
magazine that stated that retail was up 70%, in fact, during that
summer. So it gave us an
©2013 Laureate Education, Inc.

opportunity to lead the press release off with, "According to
Forbes magazine, retail is up 70%. Therefore, Konover has a
strong foothold in retail construction." And gave us an
opportunity, really, to talk about those five projects that they're
working on, and to dig deeper in that.
It was picked up in print magazines, national trade publications,
local press as well-- newspapers. It was picked up online as
well. And then we took that information and we were proactive
with it as well. We'd then either blast email data out to their
client base or we did postcard mailings to announce the fact that
they were covered in these different publications as well.
Another example that I can share with you is a project that we
did for a restaurant called Founding Farmers. It's in
Washington, DC. It's owned by the North Dakota Farmers Union
and it's the whole concept from farm to table. It's located in the
International Monetary Fund Building, great location in
Washington, DC. And there were a lot of wonderful things and
lots of stories to talk about.
It's the first LEED, L-E-E-D, Platinum Project in the District of
Columbia. Meaning that all the materials that are used in this
restaurant are sustainable materials. They do everything that's
sustainable, from recycling to all the materials that they use, to
the food that they serve. And again, it's the whole concept from
farm to table.
And so they came to us and said, we'd like to get as many
people into this restaurant as possible. So we wanted radio and
we wanted advertising and we wanted special events in there as
well. So we held various media events there as well.
We also used foodie channels and blogs and communicated with
different people to drive traffic in there. We found out that
Bourbon Month is in the month of October and we associated
ourselves with a bourbon distributor so that we could have
various events for the entire month of October and drive traffic
into there as well. We've managed to put the chefs on various
TV and local television networks in order to drive people into
the restaurant as well.

We also found a company that would create a feed bag. And we
put their logo on the front of the feed bag. And we worked with
a chef to put gift cards in there, but also breads and jams and
everything that's served in the restaurant. And then spent a day
and went to every concierge desk in Washington to let the hotel
concierge know that this restaurant is new in town and to drive
traffic in there as well.
That was just the grassroots efforts of trying to get people into
this restaurant. But also, just all of the announcements in local
radio, television, and print media as well.
©2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 3
And another thing we used was Twitter and Facebook and
LinkedIn. We used those online tools, again, in the grassroots
effort to get people out.
We had people talking about, I was at Founding Farmers last
night and I had an incredible meal. Or, I met a ton of friends
there. It was a great place for networking and socializing. And
there was cocktailing that they were introducing. And that just
increased awareness as well. People were blogging about it
constantly.
And there is a fear of that. We had one restaurant critic just
slash the restaurant. She said, if I hear one more from farm-to-
table event again, I think I'm going to scream. But it gave us a
chance to still have people talking about it. And that's not a bad
thing. You still want people coming into the restaurant.
Some of the major changes that I've seen throughout many years
of experience is technology. And of course, online publication
and the world wide web.
When I first began, there were four, almost telephone directory-
type resources. And it lists every publication, every radio
outlet, every media, mass communications resource in, again, if
you can imagine a telephone directory. So in order to put a
campaign together, you had to constantly go through these
telephone directories and identify, how does the editor want to
be approached? What's the contact information? So

immediately, the moment that that was published, it was
obsolete.
Today, it's available online. It's a subscription. What we use,
it's called mediacalendars.com. And again, it's a subscription
and a database. So you may plug in restaurants, or architecture,
or a nonprofit organizations. And it will list out every editorial
calendar and every publication looking for that subject matter.
The advice I would give someone that's starting out in this field
would be to educate yourself as to the medium and the audience
and the editor that you want to be in front of. Learn everything
that you can about that individual. It is still about relationships
and individuals. It's difficult because you're trying, again, to get
out to the mass media. But you need to understand what that
editor needs. You need to understand the audience that they
want to be in front of and that you're not wasting their time.
If you do that, you'll get a reputation for doing that and they
won't respond in any way. So the best advice I can give anyone
that wants to get into this field and be effective is to learn as
much as they possibly can about the audience that they want to
be in front of. And then, craft that message and be creative
about it. And think outside of the box. And that's such a cliche
term, but if you can do that all the time, you'll be pretty
successful at it.
©2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 4 Optional Resources
Lorimer, R. (2002). Mass communication: Some redefinitional
notes. Canadian Journal of Communication, 27(1). Retrieved
from http://www.cjc-
online.ca/index.php/journal/article/viewArticle/1272/1286
This article describes the need for redefining the meaning of
mass communication because of its evolution and the increasing
need for and popularity of the Internet.
Happy Fun Communication Land. (n.d.-a). The communication
process. Retrieved September 12, 2016, from

http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/ComProcess/ComProc1
.html
This article gives a simple explanation of the process of
communication.
Happy Fun Communication Land. (n.d.-b). Mass
communication. Retrieved September 12, 2016, from
http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Media/media1.html
This article introduces the history of mass communication,
beginning with texts.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Getting to know your
teaching assistant [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
To better understand the role of your TA in this course, watch
the short overview found here and on the Course Introduction
page.

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