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Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
The nature of Mass
Communication

How Human Beings Communicate
 Origins of language
 Use of verbal and nonverbal symbols
 Formulating Intended Messages
How Human Beings
Communicate

Sender intends certain
meanings in a message
that he or she puts
together and transmits.
The receiver constructs his
or her own version of the
meaning of that message.
If the two are similar or
close enough then the
message is accurate,
otherwise inaccurate.
How Human Beings
Communicate
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Contribution of
Memory
Storage
Labeling
Interpretation
Storage
How Human Beings
Communicate

Perceiving and
Understanding
messages.
 Message Complexity
and Accuracy
 Congruence between
intended and
interpreted meanings.

Feedback
 Role Taking
How Human Beings Communicate
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Mass Media
Mass Media as a Process
Message is formulated by professional human
beings.
Message is sent out in rapid and continuous way.
The message reaches relatively large and diverse
audiences who attend the media in selective ways.
Individual members of the audience construct
meanings.
As a result of these meanings these members are
influenced.
Which Media are mass media?
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Books The Oldest Medium

Spoken language and
the art of story telling.
 Tribes and societies
for more established
political and economic
system.
 Books as the first
portable media.
Transition to writing

Writing unlike
speaking, requires a
medium.
 Medium: a device to
move information
through time and
space.
 First Writings- 15,00020,000 years ago.
Transition to writing

Writing: as the first
tool of information
storage
 Thought Writing
 Sound Writings or
Phonograms.
 It took 2000 years to
develop current
English alphabets.
Development of Books

Greeks the developers
of Portable Media
 Copying Books by
Hand
 Gutenbergs
Remarkable Machine
Spread of Printing Press

Printing originated in
China about A.D. 175

The three necessary elements
for printing are paper, ink, and
surfaces bearing texts carved in
relief (marble surface or seals
used to transfer pictures and
texts of prayers to paper)
http://www.uncp.edu/home/can
ada/work/markport/lit/introlit/pr
int.htm

Book Publishing in North
America

First Printing Press in
Harvard College in
Cambridge.
 First Book published
1640.
 Revolution times
stimulated the printing
process.
The Publishing Process
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Key Players
Publishers
Authors
Editors
Book manufacturers
Bookstores
Sales Personal
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Newspapers: First medium for
mass society
Development of Newspapers

Mid 1500s Rulers of
Venice regularly
published printed
news sheet about the
war.
Development of Newspapers
True Newspapers:
 Published at least weekly
 Produced by mechanical
printing process.
 Available at a price for
people of all walks of life.
 Prints news of general
interest.
 Readable with ordinary
literacy.
 Timely
 Stable over time.
The Press in American
Colonies

The growth of newspapers in America was
closely tied to cultural, economic and social
circumstances.
 Boston 1690 – Public Occurrences Both
Foreign and Domestic by Benjamin Harris
 Tradition of Speaking Out and Freedom of
Press.
Limitations of the Colonial
Press.

Very few American newspapers were
successful due to financial reasons.
 News was seldom up to date.
 Published infrequently.
 Distribution problems.
 Not many advertisers.
 Restricted audiences.
Changing Functions and
Content

Persuading, informing and entertaining
 In depth coverage and analysis
 Official Communicator
 Appealing to readers interest
How a Newspaper works
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Central Assignment
Desk
Editorial Staff
Reporting
Camera
Circulation
Advertising
Criticism on Newspapers
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Magazines: Voices of Interest

Development of Early
Magazines, The
Review. (1704,
London).
 Domestic affairs and
National Policy.
 Daniel Defoe, creator
of Robinson Crusoe
Development of the 19th
century

Rapid Population
Growth
 Urbanization
 Literacy Rate
 Great Issues
Types of magazines

Consumer
 Trade
 Sports
 ……………….
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Movies : The magic show on
the Walls
Mid 1600’s A German priest conducted
experiments passing light through a
transparency.
 In 1645, he put on his magic show by
showing religious figures on the walls.
 Mid 1800’s more development in reflecting
mirrors and condensing lenses.

Development of technology

As movies mainly
focus on entertainment
its easy to think of this
medium as a less
serious medium.
 Advances in
Chemistry in late
1700’s and early
1800’s led to capture
of images.

1839 French Artist
Daggurre showed first
clear photographs in
public.
 Pictures were made on
Copper plates coated
with gleaming silver.
 Mushroom growth of
daggurretype studios.
Illusion of Motion Pictures
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Still photographs turn
through a projector at a
correct speed.
Visual Lag- The brain
persists on seeing the
object, even its no more
there.
When we are presented
with one image after
another, the visual lag
creates the bridge.

Governor Leland
Stanford’s bet.
 Eadweard Muybridge
sets up 24 cameras to
capture first motion
picture.
 In 1890’s crude
motion pictures of
various forms
emerged.
Movies: The Medium

By 1903, American
and European
producers were
making one reelers of
10-12 minutes
duration.
 “ Life of an American
Fireman” , “ The Great
Train Robbery”

Two Reelers- 25
minutes.
 The nickelodeons
 Movies for the Middle
class.
 The Talkies – 1920’s
Making a Movie
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Conceptualization
Production
Direction
Performances
Visualization
Special Effects
Editing
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Radio: The First Broadcast
Medium
1700’s Greeks were producing gigantic
static charges but were not able to
understand how electricity works.
 A German scientist Heinrich Hertz in 1887
demonstrated what we know as radio today.
 Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph.
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Radio
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The radiotelephone 1906.
 Titanic 1912 ( David Sarnoff)
 Period of Transition
 Scheduled Programs Began
 Establishing economic base for the new
medium
Radio

Paying for the Broadcasts
 $ 3000 for setting up Radio station and $
2000 as running costs.
 Advertising as source of profit.
 Acquiring receivers for home use.
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Television The most popular
medium

Invention and controversy of television
 In 1884 German Inventor Paul Nipkow
developed a rotating disk with small holes
arranged in spiral pattern, that when used
with light source, produced a very rapid
lighting effect.
 Radio and TV experiments knit closely.
Development of TV
In early 1920’s corporations like RCA and
GE allocated budgets to experiment with
TV.
 GE employed inventor Ernst Alexander, to
work exclusively on the problem, who was
able to develop a workable system based on
Nipkow disc.
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Early broadcasts
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Early television screens used tiny screens
based on Cathode rays about 4 inches in
Diameter.
 In 1927, Herbert Hoover, then sectary of
Commerce appeared on an experimental
broadcast.
 By 1932, RCA built a TV station complete
with studio and transmission facility.
Period of Rapid adaptation
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By 1946, FCA issued 24 new licenses.
 The Big Freeze
 Becoming a TV nation.
 Coming of Color
 By 1946 two colors had been perfected by
RCA
Alternatives to Broadcasts

The spread of Cable systems
 Video Cassette Recorders
 The Scope of Television
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Media In the Contemporary
Society

Mass Communication Responsible for
Communication Revolution and
Information Society.
 Development of new technologies meant
new ways of organizing work, supervising
people and developing a “product” of
communication that had consequences for
individuals and society.
Development of New
Technologies
How Media Are alike

Gathering of
Information
 Processing
Information
 Dissemination of
Information
The Human Factor
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Economics
 Government regulations
 People’s habits
 Investments ($)
 …….
People, Money and New
technology

Manufacturers
 Software developers
 Marketing and Sales
Representatives
 Communication
consultants
 Communication
Companies
 Communication workers
 Regulators
 Consumers
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Economic Influences on the
Media
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Most media is privately owned operating within a
capitalist system
Media as Economic entity
Who owns them?
How are they Financially supported?
Who pays the bill?
Sometimes they are provided special privileges
because they provide free information flow to the
public.
Continuing Search for
Audiences
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Audiences are linked to
profits through advertising
Shifting fortunes of media
organizations leads to
hiring and firing of
personal, softening of
advertising market and a
generalized worry about
some media trends.
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Economic trends in
the media can also
have impact on the
public.
The New Media Giants
Time – Warner 1989
 Cable & News Network
 NBC
 ABC
 BBC
 CBC
 Al-jazeera
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Media As Businesses
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Newspapers
 Magazines
 Books
 Movies
 TV
 Radio
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Politics and Media
Media Must Do Two things
to survive in our system
• They must provide a
Communication System
for the Nation
• Media is an Advocate, and
a bridge to its citizens;
connecting social,
economic and political
institutions.
Social Responsibility of Media
Moral Values and Media

Do parents have the
right to protect their
children from seeing
morally challenging
advertisements?
 Adult rated
Advertisements.
Two Arguments

Government should
not intervene and let
the society decide and
regulate its own moral
values. (Free Media)
 Conservative argue
government should be
responsible for the
regulation of Media to
keep checks.
National Crisis and Media

During times of
national reporting
some kinds of
information can give
enemy and advantage.
 1940 US-Germany
Spy game.
Direct Censorship during
Wartime
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Control of Information
through deny of access
to Media (TV, Print,
Radio etc…)
 Letting military
scanners scan copies
to protect information.
Protection of reporter’s
sources

Should the source be
revealed under special
circumstances?
Agents of Control over media
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Courts and the
freedom of Press vs
Citizen’s Rights
Legislators

Lawmakers
 PEMRA
Executive Branch

Includes host of
Government
departments and
agencies.
 Offices of Supreme
Control (President’s
House/ Prime
Minister’s Secretariat
Outside Pressure Groups
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Advertising and media
Advertising and Media

Advertising now
compares with long
standing institution
like Schools and
Church in the
magnitude of its social
influence.
Advertising and Media
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It has vast power in
shaping popular
standards.
 It is one of very few
institutions which can
exercise social control.
What is advertising?

The action of
attracting public
attention to a product
or business
 Advertising is
controlled; it is
prepared in
accordance with
desires of the firm or
group it represents.
Content of Advertisements

To accomplish their
goals, the
advertisements must
make a persuasive
appeal
 Some advertisement
content makes direct
appeal mentioning
characteristics of their
products.
Advertising as an Industry
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Advertising Agencies
Media Services
Organizations
Suppliers of
Supporting Services
Advertising
Departments in Retail
Businesses
Adver
Advertising Agencies
Functions of Advertising
Agencies
Planning
Creation and Execution
Coordination
Inside Advertising Agencies
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Account Management
The creative
Department
Media Selection
The research
department
Internal Control
Studying the effectiveness of
Advertising
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Audience Research
 Media Research
 Copy Research
Age market
segmentation
Children and Advertising

To what extent
children pay attention
to commercials?
 Can children
distinguish between
fact and fiction in an
ad?
 Do children buy as a
result of commercial?
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Public Relations & Media

PR is a process and a communication
activity which connects public with
information and ideas.
 Public attention and understanding are often
vital to the success of any government
policy, business practice as well as
individual concerns.
Individuals and Public
Relations

Individuals who want to achieve a positive public
image through mass media face at least two types
of problems:
 1) Media and the organizations that service them
are independent identities with their own goals,
which might be far different from the publicity
seekers.
 2) There is a great competition for time and space
in the news media, thus even some worthy
individuals may not get media attention.
Public Relations In Practice

A group of professional communicators,
who call themselves public relation
practitioners, who have a code of ethics and
a professional accrediting process.
 According to Cutlip and Center any Public
Relations Program must include four basic
steps.
PR in Practice

Fact Finding and Feedback
 Planning and Programming
 Action and Communication
 Evaluation
What PR People DO?
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Writing
Editing
Media Relations and Placement
Special Events
Speaking
Production
Research
Programming and Counseling
Training and Management
Public Relations Industry
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Independent PR counselor or Agency
PR Department of Business or Industry
PR departments of Non Profit institutions
Public sector PR
Political Consultants
Communication Policy Consultants
Communication specialists in technical areas.
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
The Surveillance function of
the Press
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Inter-personal transmission of the news in early
days.
How news facts get distorted?
Direct Observation
Expert opinion
News Release
Published Documents
Public Records
Strategies for Packaging the
News

Impact
 Timeliness
 Prominence
 Proximity
 The bizarre
 Conflict
 Currency
Styles of Journalism

Sensationalism Journalism
 Objective Journalism
Separating fact from opinion
Presenting an emotionally detached news
Striving for fairness and balance
The New Journalism

Scene setting
 Extended dialogue
 Point of view
 Interior Monologue ( thoughts of people
who were the news sources, might be
included)
 Creation of composite characters
Types of journalism continued

Precision Journalism
 Advocacy Journalism
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Media Support Services

Role of Auxiliaries
 AP , UPI
 The Wire Services
 Cost efficiency across the nation
 An impact on content and style
 Yet another competitor (INS) International
News Service
Wire services in Perspective

The importance of wire services exceeds the
monetary worth.
 About 95% of the newspapers subscribe to
wire services.
 Major newspapers and TV stations send
their reporters and still subscribe to wire
services.
The supplement services

Competition between AP and UNI increased
in 1980’s.
 This lead to emergence of other services
providers e.g Dow Jones providing financial
services, women news services providing
women related news.
 New York Times wire services, providing
selected news stories.
The Syndicates

Usually provide entertainment and opinion
related content for the newspapers. E.g
comic scripts, editorial cartoons etc.
 Acquiring Content
 Managing and Marketing content
 Influences of Syndicates
Measuring Services
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Measuring Circulation
Measuring broadcast audience
Types of Ratings
Rating = Household tuned to station / total TV
households x 100
Share = household tuned to station / households
using tv x100
Households using Tv (HUT) = Sets turned on /
total tv households x 100
Continued …
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Obtaining ratings
 People Meters Controversy
 The rating problems
 Rating and the news
 Measuring public opinion
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Music Industry

History of Music
 Development of Instruments
 Development of Recording Machines
 Juke Box
 Recording technologies
 Music as an Industry
Method of Mass
Communication Research

Sources of trust worthy knowledge
 Religion
 Interpretations by authorities (priests,
philosophers, kings)
 Tradition
 Common sense
 Research!
Reasons for Conducting
Research

Public concern about media effects
 Developing theories to explain media
influences.
 Solving practical problems
Effects of Mass Media
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Forces of Evil or saviors of democracy
 Early claims of great power
 The legacy of fear
Postulates of Science and
goals of media research

The assumption of order : Scientists always
assume that objects and events that they are
trying to study are regular in their behavior
and their activities will form some kind of
discoverable pattern.
 Who? Says what? In what channel? To
whom? With what effect?
Continued …
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The assumption of cause and effect:
Scientist believe that it is possible to
explain when, how and when events occur..
The assumption of tentative truth:
Scientists do not believe that their conclusions
ever provide a final answer , but instead a
best possible answer.
Basic Vs Applied Research

Basic research is not undertaken to increase
anyone’s profits , but to simply advance
knowledge.
 Applied or Proprietary is conducted for
someone to benefit financially.
Steps in scientific method

Specifying the problem
 Reviewing previous results
 Making necessary observations
 Data processing and analysis
 Researching conclusions and interpreting
findings
 Reporting results
Research designs

Experiments
 Surveys
 Observational studies
 Content analysis
Mass Communication
Instructor: Jawad Gilani
www.jawadgilani.com
Media Influences on
Individuals

Early Researches: Large scale researches
did not begin till late 1920’s.
 A decade after world war I, researchers
started working on studying changes in the
society.
THE MAGIC Bullet Theory

Theory is based on some very basic
scientific assumptions which seemed very
true at that time; concerning the
fundamentals of human nature.
 This theory was very consistent with
public’s general view that the media had
great power.
Continued ..

Before realizing the overwhelming power of
leaning, psychological and social scientists
were greatly influenced by the ideas of
Charles Darwin.
 Charles Darwin placed human beings in the
same continuum as other animals.
 Earlier , the religion was the most important
influence.
Continued …

Social scientists rejected religious beliefs and
believed that human beings were guided by
“instincts” over which people lacked rational
control. OR by other unconscious processes which
were NOT guided by intellect.
 This was a frightening view which saw human
beings as irrational creatures, who could be easily
controlled by cleverly designed media.
THE PAYNE fund Studies
By 1920’s , the general public was already
becoming uneasy about the influences of
movies on children.
 In 1929, an estimated 40 million minors,
including more than 17 million children
under 14 years, went to see movies at least
weekly.
 The Motion Picture Research Council

Continued ..

Influences on everyday behavior.
 Changes in Children attitudes.
Attitudes towards: WAR/ Gambling/ The
Chinese/ Punishment of Criminals.
Implications of Results
Findings of Payne Fund Studies seemed to
give the Bullet theory a considerable
support.
The Great Panic

Radio Reports the invasion from Mars.
 On October 30th, 1938 people who were
listening to radio play on CBS, “Mercury
Theatre of the Air” believed that United
States was taken over by creatures from
Mars.
 Implication of Results: powerful effects ,
but not for all.
Changing Perspective on
Media Influences

An increased importance of Social
Categories.
 Racial and Ethnic Groups
 Social institutions, family, Government …
Media in Presidential
Campaigns

How Media influences voters.
 Improved research Methods
Children influenced by Media
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Patterns of Viewing
 Uses of Programs
 Implications of results
 Violent content
 Social Learning from role models
Media Influences on Society
and Culture

Two ways in which media can be
instrumental in bringing change in the
society.
 A) Continuous presentation of information
related to a particular event or issue, over an
extended period of time ( Theory of
accumulation of minimal effects)
Continued …
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A situation exists in which mass media begins to
focus attention
Provide information consistently over a period of
time.
People become increasingly aware
Information provided by the media changes beliefs
Those individual to individual changes accumulate
and become new form of shared orientation.
Continued ..

THE WATER GATE SCANDLE (
Exposing a President)
 Extending democracy to all the citizens
 Redefining the WAR
Theory of Adaptation

We are constantly confronted with with
innovations.
 Innovation can be something adopted from
another society or it can be something
completely new.
 People do not adapt to an innovation
instantly even if the adaptation is logical
and beneficial.
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The key to understand the part played by the mass
media in this form of social change is to look
closely at the process of adaptation.
Five stages of adaptation theory..
Awareness stage
Interest stage
Evaluation stage
Trial stage
Adaptation stage
Modeling theory
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Under certain circumstances , individuals who
view particular actions that are performed by
another person, may adopt that behavior as a part
of their personal habits.
Individual sees a form of action carried out by a
model
The individual identifies with the model
The individual remembers and reproduces
Performing the reproduced activity results in some
reward.

The positive reinforcement increases the
probability that the person will reproduce
the activity again