CHAPTER 1
TERM ‘MASS COMMUNICATION’ was coined along with ‘mass media’ early in 20th
century to describe a new social phenomenon and a key feature of the emerging
modern world that was being built on the foundations of industrialism and popular
democracy. It was an age of migration into cities and across frontiers and of struggle
between forces of change and repression and of conflict between empires and nation
states.
MASS MEDIA refer to the organized means of communicating openly, at a distance,
and to many in a short span of time.
The early mass media (newspapers, magazines, phonograms, cinema and
radio) developed rapidly to reach formats that is recognizable today.
Key features of mass media: capacity to reach the entire population rapidly
and with much more information, opinions and entertainment; universal
fascination; simulates hopes and fears at equal measure; assumption of great
power and influence.
New media (internet) is less structured, often interactive as well as private and
individualized.
MASS MEDIA AND POLITICS — media provides arena of debate and a set of
channels for making policies, candidates, revenant facts and ideas more widely known
as well as providing politicians, interest groups and agents of government with means
of publicity and influence.
MASS MEDIA AND CULTURE — media are for most people the main channel of
cultural representation and expression, and the primary source of images of social
reality and materials for forming and maintaining social identity.
MASS MEDIA AND SOCIAL LIFE — social life is infused by media’s contents through
the way leisure time is spent, life-styles are influenced, conversation is given its topics
and models of behavior are offered for all contingencies.
Media have grown in economic value, with even larger and more
international media corporations dominating the media market, with
influence extending through travel, sports, leisure, food and clothing industries
and with interconnections with telecommunications and all information-based
economic sectors.
When talking about massive media, the word public means not only open to all
receivers and to organized set of senders but also relating to matters of
information and culture that are of wide interest and concern in a society,
without being addressed to any particular individual.
THEMES AND ISSUES IN MASS COMMUNICATION
1. Time. Communication takes place in time and it matters when it occurs and
how long it takes. Communication technology has steadily increased the speed
at which a given volume of information can be transmitted from one point to
another.
2. Place. Communication is produced in a given location and reflects features of
that context. It serves to define a place for its inhabitants and to establish an
identity. It connects places, reducing the distance that separates individuals,
countries and cultures. Major trends in mass communication say to have
decolonizing effect, or to establish a new global place.
3. Power. Social relationships are structured and driven by power, where the will
of one party is imposed to another. Communication as such has no power of
compulsion but it is an inevitable component which means of the exercise of
power.
, 4. Social reality. We inhabit a real world of material circumstances and events
that can be known. Media provides us with reflections of reality.
5. Meaning. Concerns about interpretation of the messages or content of mass
media. There is no unique source of meaning which provides an endless
potential for uncertainty.
6. Causation and determinism. What are the effects of mass media messages
on individuals? Do the media causes social effects in societies?
7. Mediation. Alternative to the causation idea. Consider that media provides an
arena for ideas to circulate. The process of mediation inevitably changes or
influences the meaning received and there is an increasing tendency for reality
to be adapted to demands of media presentation rather than vice versa.
8. Identity. This refers to a shared sense of belonging to a culture, society, place
or social grouping and involves many factors, including nationality, language,
work, ethnicity, religion, belief, lifestyle. Mass media is associated with many
aspect of identity formation.
9. Cultural differences. The production of mass media and cultural practices
resist the universalizing tendencies of the technology and the mass-produced
content.
10.Governance. This refers to all means by which media are regulated and
controlled by law, rules, customs and codes as well as market management.
THEORIES: Differences between left and right-wing media theories.
- Left: critical of the power expertise of the media on the hands of the state or
larger global corporations.
- Conservative theory: points to the liberal bias of the news or the damage
done by media to traditional values.
Lazarsfeld's (1941) differentiation —> critical and administrative orientations. Critical
theory seeks to expose underlying problems and faults of media practice and to
relate them in comprehensive way to social issues, guided by certain values. Applied
theory aims to harness an understanding of communication processes to solving
practical problems of using mass communication more effectively (Windahl and
Signitzer, 2007).
DIMENSIONS AND TYPES OF MEDIA THEORY. FOUR MAIN APPROACHES
Media-centric approach attributes much more autonomy and influence to
communication and concentrates on the media’s own sphere of activity. Media-centric
theory sees mass media as a primary mover in social change, driven forward by
irresistible developments in communication technology. Pays much attention to the
specific content of media and the potential consequences of the different kinds of
media (print, audiovisual, interactive etc). Socio-centric theory mainly views media
as a reflection of political and economic forces. Theory of the media is a special
application of broader social theory (Golding and Murdock, 1978).
1. A media-culturalist perspective. This approach takes the perspective of the
audience member in relation to some specific genre or example of media
culture (e.g. reality TV or social networking) and explores the subjective
meaning of the experience in a given context.
2. A media-materialist approach. Research in this tradition emphasizes the
shaping of media content and therefore of potential effects, by the nature of the
medium in respect of the technology and the social relations of reception and
production that are implicated by this. It also attributes influence to the specific
organizational contexts and dynamics or production.
, 3. A social-culturalist perspective. Essentially this view subordinates media
and media experience to deeper and more powerful forces affecting society and
individuals. Social and cultural issues also predominate over political and
economic ones.
4. A social-materialist perspective. This approach has usually been linked to a
critical view of media ownership and control, that ultimately are held to shape
the dominant ideology transmitted or endorsed by the media.
DIFFERENT THEORIES
1. Social scientific theory offers general statements about the nature, working
and effects of mass communication, based on systematic and objective
observation of media and other relevant sources, which can in turn be put to the
test and validated or rejected by similar methods. However, it is loosely
organized and not very clearly formulated or even very consistent. It also covers
a very wide spectrum, from broad questions of society to detailed aspects of
individual information sending and receiving. It also derives from different
disciplines, especially sociology, psychology and politics.
2. Cultural theory is much more diverse in character. In some forms it is
evaluative, seeking to differentiate cultural artefacts according to some criteria
of quality. Sometimes its goal is almost the opposite, seeking to challenge
hierarchical classification as irrelevant to the true significance of culture.
Different spheres of cultural production have generated their corpus of cultural
theory, sometimes along aesthetic or ethical lines, sometimes with a social-
critical purpose. This applies to film, literature, television, graphic art and many
other media forms. While cultural theory demands clear argument and
articulation, coherence and consistency, its core component is often itself
imaginative and ideational. It resists the demand for testing or validation by
observation.
3. Normative theory is concerned with examining or prescribing how media
ought to operate if certain social values are to be observed or attained. Such
theory usually stems from the broader social philosophy or ideology of a given
society. This kind of theory is important because it plays a part in shaping and
legitimating media institutions and has considerable influence on the
expectations concerning the media that are held by other social agencies and
by the media’s own audiences. A society’s normative theories concerning its
own media are usually to be found in laws, regulations, media policies, codes of
ethics and the substance of public debate. While normative media theory is not
in itself ‘objective’, it can be studied by the ‘objective’ methods of the social
sciences (McQuail, 1992).
4. Operational theory refers to the practical ideas assembled and applied by
media practitioners in the conduct of their own media work. Similar bodies of
accumulated practical wisdom are to be found in most organizational and
professional settings. In the case of the media, operational theory serves to
guide solutions to fundamental tasks, including how to select news, please
audiences, design effective advertising, keep within the limits of what society
permits, and relate effectively to sources and society.
5. Everyday or common-sense theory of media use, referring to the knowledge
we all have from our own personal experience with media. This enables us to
make sense of what is going on, allows us to fit a medium into our daily lives, to
understand how its content is intended to be ‘read’ as well as how we like to
TERM ‘MASS COMMUNICATION’ was coined along with ‘mass media’ early in 20th
century to describe a new social phenomenon and a key feature of the emerging
modern world that was being built on the foundations of industrialism and popular
democracy. It was an age of migration into cities and across frontiers and of struggle
between forces of change and repression and of conflict between empires and nation
states.
MASS MEDIA refer to the organized means of communicating openly, at a distance,
and to many in a short span of time.
The early mass media (newspapers, magazines, phonograms, cinema and
radio) developed rapidly to reach formats that is recognizable today.
Key features of mass media: capacity to reach the entire population rapidly
and with much more information, opinions and entertainment; universal
fascination; simulates hopes and fears at equal measure; assumption of great
power and influence.
New media (internet) is less structured, often interactive as well as private and
individualized.
MASS MEDIA AND POLITICS — media provides arena of debate and a set of
channels for making policies, candidates, revenant facts and ideas more widely known
as well as providing politicians, interest groups and agents of government with means
of publicity and influence.
MASS MEDIA AND CULTURE — media are for most people the main channel of
cultural representation and expression, and the primary source of images of social
reality and materials for forming and maintaining social identity.
MASS MEDIA AND SOCIAL LIFE — social life is infused by media’s contents through
the way leisure time is spent, life-styles are influenced, conversation is given its topics
and models of behavior are offered for all contingencies.
Media have grown in economic value, with even larger and more
international media corporations dominating the media market, with
influence extending through travel, sports, leisure, food and clothing industries
and with interconnections with telecommunications and all information-based
economic sectors.
When talking about massive media, the word public means not only open to all
receivers and to organized set of senders but also relating to matters of
information and culture that are of wide interest and concern in a society,
without being addressed to any particular individual.
THEMES AND ISSUES IN MASS COMMUNICATION
1. Time. Communication takes place in time and it matters when it occurs and
how long it takes. Communication technology has steadily increased the speed
at which a given volume of information can be transmitted from one point to
another.
2. Place. Communication is produced in a given location and reflects features of
that context. It serves to define a place for its inhabitants and to establish an
identity. It connects places, reducing the distance that separates individuals,
countries and cultures. Major trends in mass communication say to have
decolonizing effect, or to establish a new global place.
3. Power. Social relationships are structured and driven by power, where the will
of one party is imposed to another. Communication as such has no power of
compulsion but it is an inevitable component which means of the exercise of
power.
, 4. Social reality. We inhabit a real world of material circumstances and events
that can be known. Media provides us with reflections of reality.
5. Meaning. Concerns about interpretation of the messages or content of mass
media. There is no unique source of meaning which provides an endless
potential for uncertainty.
6. Causation and determinism. What are the effects of mass media messages
on individuals? Do the media causes social effects in societies?
7. Mediation. Alternative to the causation idea. Consider that media provides an
arena for ideas to circulate. The process of mediation inevitably changes or
influences the meaning received and there is an increasing tendency for reality
to be adapted to demands of media presentation rather than vice versa.
8. Identity. This refers to a shared sense of belonging to a culture, society, place
or social grouping and involves many factors, including nationality, language,
work, ethnicity, religion, belief, lifestyle. Mass media is associated with many
aspect of identity formation.
9. Cultural differences. The production of mass media and cultural practices
resist the universalizing tendencies of the technology and the mass-produced
content.
10.Governance. This refers to all means by which media are regulated and
controlled by law, rules, customs and codes as well as market management.
THEORIES: Differences between left and right-wing media theories.
- Left: critical of the power expertise of the media on the hands of the state or
larger global corporations.
- Conservative theory: points to the liberal bias of the news or the damage
done by media to traditional values.
Lazarsfeld's (1941) differentiation —> critical and administrative orientations. Critical
theory seeks to expose underlying problems and faults of media practice and to
relate them in comprehensive way to social issues, guided by certain values. Applied
theory aims to harness an understanding of communication processes to solving
practical problems of using mass communication more effectively (Windahl and
Signitzer, 2007).
DIMENSIONS AND TYPES OF MEDIA THEORY. FOUR MAIN APPROACHES
Media-centric approach attributes much more autonomy and influence to
communication and concentrates on the media’s own sphere of activity. Media-centric
theory sees mass media as a primary mover in social change, driven forward by
irresistible developments in communication technology. Pays much attention to the
specific content of media and the potential consequences of the different kinds of
media (print, audiovisual, interactive etc). Socio-centric theory mainly views media
as a reflection of political and economic forces. Theory of the media is a special
application of broader social theory (Golding and Murdock, 1978).
1. A media-culturalist perspective. This approach takes the perspective of the
audience member in relation to some specific genre or example of media
culture (e.g. reality TV or social networking) and explores the subjective
meaning of the experience in a given context.
2. A media-materialist approach. Research in this tradition emphasizes the
shaping of media content and therefore of potential effects, by the nature of the
medium in respect of the technology and the social relations of reception and
production that are implicated by this. It also attributes influence to the specific
organizational contexts and dynamics or production.
, 3. A social-culturalist perspective. Essentially this view subordinates media
and media experience to deeper and more powerful forces affecting society and
individuals. Social and cultural issues also predominate over political and
economic ones.
4. A social-materialist perspective. This approach has usually been linked to a
critical view of media ownership and control, that ultimately are held to shape
the dominant ideology transmitted or endorsed by the media.
DIFFERENT THEORIES
1. Social scientific theory offers general statements about the nature, working
and effects of mass communication, based on systematic and objective
observation of media and other relevant sources, which can in turn be put to the
test and validated or rejected by similar methods. However, it is loosely
organized and not very clearly formulated or even very consistent. It also covers
a very wide spectrum, from broad questions of society to detailed aspects of
individual information sending and receiving. It also derives from different
disciplines, especially sociology, psychology and politics.
2. Cultural theory is much more diverse in character. In some forms it is
evaluative, seeking to differentiate cultural artefacts according to some criteria
of quality. Sometimes its goal is almost the opposite, seeking to challenge
hierarchical classification as irrelevant to the true significance of culture.
Different spheres of cultural production have generated their corpus of cultural
theory, sometimes along aesthetic or ethical lines, sometimes with a social-
critical purpose. This applies to film, literature, television, graphic art and many
other media forms. While cultural theory demands clear argument and
articulation, coherence and consistency, its core component is often itself
imaginative and ideational. It resists the demand for testing or validation by
observation.
3. Normative theory is concerned with examining or prescribing how media
ought to operate if certain social values are to be observed or attained. Such
theory usually stems from the broader social philosophy or ideology of a given
society. This kind of theory is important because it plays a part in shaping and
legitimating media institutions and has considerable influence on the
expectations concerning the media that are held by other social agencies and
by the media’s own audiences. A society’s normative theories concerning its
own media are usually to be found in laws, regulations, media policies, codes of
ethics and the substance of public debate. While normative media theory is not
in itself ‘objective’, it can be studied by the ‘objective’ methods of the social
sciences (McQuail, 1992).
4. Operational theory refers to the practical ideas assembled and applied by
media practitioners in the conduct of their own media work. Similar bodies of
accumulated practical wisdom are to be found in most organizational and
professional settings. In the case of the media, operational theory serves to
guide solutions to fundamental tasks, including how to select news, please
audiences, design effective advertising, keep within the limits of what society
permits, and relate effectively to sources and society.
5. Everyday or common-sense theory of media use, referring to the knowledge
we all have from our own personal experience with media. This enables us to
make sense of what is going on, allows us to fit a medium into our daily lives, to
understand how its content is intended to be ‘read’ as well as how we like to
