Download Communication and Mass Communication

Communication and Mass
Communication
Güven Selçuk
What is Communication?
 The transmission of information, ideas,
attitudes, or emotion from one person or group
to another (or others) primarily through
symbols (Theodorson and Theodorson 1969)
 In the most general sense, we have
communication wherever one system, a source,
influences another, the destination, by
manipulation of alternative symbols, which can
be transmitted over the channel connecting
them (Osgood et al. 1957)
 Communication may be defined as “social
interaction through messages” (Gerbner 1967)
Thus, in the most general terms,
communication implies a sender, a
channel, a message, a receiver, a
relationship between sender and receiver,
an effect, a context in which
communication occurs and a range of
things to which “messages” refer.
Communication can be any or
all of the following:
 An action on others
 An interaction with others
 ...and a reaction to others
Sometimes the originators of models
point to two additional processes,
that of “encoding” (at the sender
end of the model) and that of
“decoding” (at the receiver end).
What is encoding???
Encoding means that the message
is translated into a language or
code suitable for the means of
transmission and the intended
receivers.
What is decoding?
Decoding refers to the
re-translation of the message
in order to extract meaning.
In a conversation between two person,
the encoding function is performed by
the speech mechanism and (for nonverbal communication) muscles making
possible gestures, etc.
In such a case, the senses of hearing and
sight, perform the decoding function.
In mass communication, encoding can
refer to technical transformations
necessary for the transmission of signals
and also to the systematic choice of
words, pictures and formats according to
established procedures and the
expectations held about audience
experience.
As we have seen, many of the basic
terms in communication take
different meanings when they refer
to mass communication and we need
to have a different characterization
of the latter. A frequently cited
definition is as follows:
Mass communication comprise the
institutions and techniques by which
specialized groups employ technological
devices (press, radio, films, etc.) to
disseminate symbolic content to large,
heterogeneous and widely dispersed
audiences (Janowitz 1968)
Who is the “sender” in
mass communication?
The “sender” in mass
communication is always part of an
organized group and often a member
of an institution which has functions
other than communication.
…and who is the “receiver”
then??
The “receiver” is always an
individual but may often be seen by
the sending organization as a group
or collectivity with certain general
attributes.
The channel no longer consists of
the social relationship, means of
expression and sensory organs, but
includes large scale technologicallybased distribution devices and
systems.
The message in mass
communication is not a unique and
transitory phenomenon, but a mass
produced and infinitely repeatable
symbolic structure, often of great
complexity.