Mass Communication Theories

communication PROCESS Before we cover theories, we must review the communication process: Information originates with a source… ...who sends a message... …using a channel to send information... …to a receiver… …who provides feedback to the source

Communication Model Source Message Receiver (speaker, (verbal, (listener, sender, nonverbal, decoder) encoder) mediated ) Feedback Receiver attaches meaning to message then replies to Sender through Feedback channel channel channel channel

SOURCE Is where communication originates. Needs to know who the receivers are. Needs to be seen as credible. Needs to know what kind of message is best suited to a particular audience. Source Message Receiver (speaker, (verbal, (listener, sender, nonverbal, decoder) encoder) mediated) Feedback Receiver attaches meaning to message then replies to Sender through Feedback

Message Is the content of communication. Confronts a serious challenge: getting people to pay attention. Must be relevant. Must be understood. Source Message Receiver (speaker, (verbal, (listener, sender, nonverbal, decoder) encoder) mediated) Feedback Receiver attaches meaning to message then replies to Sender through Feedback

Channel Is the medium (or media) used to transmit the message (talking, email, TV, radio, newspaper). Must be seen as relevant. Must be seen as credible. Source Message Receiver (speaker, (verbal, (listener, sender, nonverbal, decoder) encoder) mediated) Feedback Receiver attaches meaning to message then replies to Sender through Feedback

RECEIVER Is the person, persons or group for whom the message is intended. Is most receptive to messages that specifically target the receiver’s interests and values. Source Message Receiver (speaker, (verbal, (listener, sender, nonverbal, decoder) encoder) mediated) Feedback Receiver attaches meaning to message then replies to Sender through Feedback

Feedback Is the receiver’s reaction, as interpreted by the source, to the message. Communication is an on-going, continual process of feedback. Source Message Receiver (speaker, (verbal, (listener, sender, nonverbal, decoder) encoder) mediated) Feedback Receiver attaches meaning to message then replies to Sender through Feedback

5 TYPES of Communication Intrapersonal thoughts, ideas, dialogue with one’s self Interpersonal between people, usually in PAIRS, but can be more Group shared identity, can have common goal; also called family or organizational communication Public when one person has the floor; speaker and audience; examples teacher/lecture class, to send information political conventions/audience of delegates, musical band, singer/audience mass journalism, print or electronic media; the sender communicates through mediated system, receiver mostly watches or listens to the message

Mass CommUNICATION Communication to the masses takes place when a messages is sent to an audience (or receiver) through a specialized communication channel (or medium). Units of analysis for mass communication: MESSAGE (usually mediated, such as an article, news report, radio announcement) CHANNEL (or medium, such as TV, radio, newspaper, website) AUDIENCE (or receiver, such as reader, viewer, consumer) Source Message Receiver (speaker, (verbal, (listener, sender, nonverbal, decoder) encoder) mediated) Feedback Receiver attaches meaning to message then replies to Sender through Feedback

Some Mass Comm Theories Magic Bullet Theory

The Magic Bullet Theory Mass Media Public

Bullet Theory / Hypodermic Needle The message is a bullet, fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head". The hypodermic needle model suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

History * the fast rise and popularisation of radio and television The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change. Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication, including: * the fast rise and popularisation of radio and television *the emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda

Factors which contribute : Speedy increase of popularized media (Radio and Television). Industries Persuasion by (Advertising and Manipulation of Public opinion) Impact of motion pictures on children Hitler's Nazi party ( by the monopolization of the mass media during WWII)

The Magic Bullet Theory . Media stimuli were assumed to operate like magic bullets that penetrated people’s minds and instantly created associations between strong emotions and specific concepts. The theory views people as powerless to consciously resist manipulation; as ones who could be conditioned in whatever way a master propagandist wanted.

The Magic Bullet Theory “The magic bullets of propaganda can penetrate the people’s defences and transform their thoughts and actions despite their social status and educational backgrounds.” According to this theory, the mind, incapable of resisting powerful messages. The messages penetrate to people’s subconscious minds and transform how they think and feel.

The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. They express the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. People are seen as passive and are seen as having a lot media material "shot" at them. People end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information.

Example of the hypodermic needle theory being successful In 1938 a science fiction novel 'war of the worlds' by HG Wells was performed like a contemporary new broadcast, as audiences listen to this news broadcast as it occurred every 40 minutes some people concluded that it was in fact a real account of an invasion from Mars, headed to the roads, hid in homes and loaded their weapons in an attempt to defend themselves against the supposed imminent attack.

Strengths and weaknesses of the theory Has little place in contemporary analysis of audience reception, although it is possible that audiences revert to such thinking from time to time, these types of instances are rare, and don’t carry a great deal of momentum, if anything audiences today tend to be a lot more sophisticated and aware of how media messages are constructed. Too simplistic, changes to attitudes and beliefs are not always observable or easily measured inn the way physics; changes are. Audiences interpret media differently The use of numbers and statistics can be effective and reliable way of seeing trends. Effect studies often involve a large numbers of participants and sometimes extend over long periods of time.

Propaganda - To change the way people act and to leave them believing that those actions are voluntary, that the newly adopted behaviours are their own.

Propaganda The secret of effective propaganda: Simplify a complex issue Effective propaganda is covert and it – Persuades people without seeming to do so Features massive orchestration of communication and Emphasises tricky language designed to discourage reflective thought J. Michael Sproul

Propaganda Propagandists saw mass media as an effective mass manipulation tool for controlling large populations so that the dominant majority came to have and act on certain beliefs and attitudes. They thought people to be so irrational, so illiterate and so inattentive that it was necessary to coerce, seduce or trick them into learning bits of misinformation.

The Premise “White Propaganda” Intentional suppression of potentially harmful information and ideas, combined with deliberate promotion of positive information or ideas to distract attention from “problematic” events. The technique spills over to the post World War II era in the arenas of Advertising and Public Relations.

The Premise Black Propaganda Grey Propaganda Deliberate and strategic transmission of lies Grey Propaganda Transmission of information and ideas that might or might not be false.