This presentation contains course information about FIC0114: Describing Mass Communication and the lecture for the first week, Intro to Mass Communication + Media Literacy

1. Week 1 Lecture Intro to Mass Communication
Philip Gan Chee Keat, School of Communication
FIC 0114 July 2013 Semester
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2. Learning Activities
Lectures
3 x hours
Thursdays 1pm – 4pm
LT 3
Tutorials
2 x hrs
Tutorial 1 – Mondays, 10am – 12pm, D7.01
Tutorial 2 – Tuesdays, 10am – 12pm, D7.01
Online Learning
3 x Blended Learning – Small Group Discussion at Edmodo
Online Tutorial Exercises on Edmodo / TIMeS
These sessions will be announced the week before. It is also stated in
your module outline.

3. Assessment
Category
Learning
Outcomes
1.0
2.0
3.0
TGC
4.0
5.0
Individual Assignment
1, 2, 4
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1, 2, 3, 4
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7.0
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Due Date
10
30 Aug
8.0
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Group Assignment
Wtg (%)
6.0
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Group Presentation –
31 Oct
20
Group Essay
submission – 22 Nov
Continual Assessment
(Blog/Vlog Postings)
All
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Every Sat, 5.00pm
beginning 3rd Aug
10
Last post – 23 Nov
Submission – 28 Nov
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Online Quizzes
1, 2, 3, 4
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20
1, 2, 3
Final Exam
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Total
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Quiz 1 – 26 Aug
Quiz 2 – 28 Nov
40
9 – 13 Dec
100

4. Accessing Edmodo
1. Go to www.edmodo.com
2. Select ‘I’m a Student’
3. Key in group code ‘0qgsjv’
and complete the rest of your
details. Please enter your
name as per your enrolment
details.

5. Textbook
Dominick, J.R. (2013). The dynamics of
mass communication: Media in
Transition, (12th ed.); McGraw-Hill;
Boston.
Baran, S. (2013). Introduction to mass
communication: Media literacy and
culture (8th ed.); McGraw Hill; Boston.
Available from EMO Books @ Taylor’s
& Taylor’s Library

6. L1 Chap1
Communication:
Mass and Other Forms
By Philip Gan Chee Keat
Taylor’s School of Communication

7. • Recognise
and explain the elements of a communication process
• Understand different types of communication settings
• Explain the definition of mass media and its transitions
• Understand the cultural impact on mass communication
• Explain the importance of media literacy
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8. Let’s look at these cases…
1912 NYT report of
the sinking of Titanic
March 2013 –
Bangsar dessert
shop FB fiasco
Boston Marathon
Bombing in April
8
2013

10. *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

11. 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.

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

14. 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.
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15. Receiving the Message
•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
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16. •
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

17. Time
Space
SOURCE

-- machine -
RECEIVER
9

18. •
Source and receiver
– 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. email-sight
•
Messages
– Customised; eg. info on blog-text or podcast
– Private or public
– Inexpensive to send
10

19. •
Decoding similar to encoding
– Machines: electrical energy  light patterns
– Receiver: words or symbols  thoughts
•
Feedback
– Immediate or delayed; may be impossible
11

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

21. •
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

22. • Encoding/ sending
–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

23. 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.

24. • 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.

26. 14

27. • 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

28. *Technology
*Economics
*Social Trends
17

29. •
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.
29

30. • 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
30

31. -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.
31

32. • A new arrangement, allowing multiple levels of
communication:
–One-to-one (email)
–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.
32

33. * 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

34. *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

35. • 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

36. •
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

37. •
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
37

38. *As media continue to evolve, several trends have
become apparent
38

39. *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.
39

40. *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 .
40

41. • 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
41

42. * 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.
42

43. * 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
43

44. *Small screen devices allow media to become
increasingly mobile
*iPads & tablets
*Cell phones
*Laptop computers
*iPods
*Significant milestone in development of
communication
44

45. * 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.
45

46. 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.”

47. • 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.

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

49. * 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

50. 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?}

51. –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.

52. • 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 othersstereotyping happens. This is not good.

53. * 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).

54. *
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).

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

56. *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:

57. * 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.

58. 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?

59. 3.
Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages.
*
*
4.
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.

60. 5.
The ability to enjoy,
understand and appreciate
media content.
•
5.
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.
7.
Development of
appropriate and effective
production skills.
•
Media literate
individuals must develop
production skills to
create useful media
messages (eg. creating
websites/ blogs).

61. 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.