Journalism

 The profession of gathering, editing, and

publishing news reports and related articles
for newspapers, magazines, television, or
radio.
MEDIA
- The various means of mass communication
considered as a whole, including television, radio,
magazines, and newspapers, together with the
people involved in their production.
What are the “media”?

 Presentational media
 Representational media
 Mechanical/electronic media
Presentational Media

 Require the presence of a face-to-face

communicator (ex. Speech)
Representational Media

 Enable messages to be stored, passed over a

distance, and reproduced in the absence of
the participants
 Ex. Telegrams, newspapers, comics, and
magazines
 They rely on technical devices for producing
their messages
Mechanical/Electronic Media

 Are also representational because they use

codes to carry messages
 They differ from simple representational ones
because they depend on technical devices
both for sending messages and receiving them
(Hart, 1991)
Mass Media

 The tools to mass communication.

 They are the channels, therefore media,
through which information, ideas, and
attitudes are disseminated to the masses.
Traditional Media

 The folk arts: plays, puppet shows, musical

drams, poetry, jousts etc., which were/are
popular forms of entertainment among the
rural people in the Philippines and other parts
of Asia.
 Community Media
 A new trend in the use of communication media for
community development.
 The small media or group media, provide better
success and opportunities for people participation in
community development
 Examples: community newspaper, blackboard
newspapers, rural newspapers, audio cassettes and
development theatre
Mass Communication

 Is a process by which an individual or

organization transmit messages to a large,
diverse audience with limited opportunity to
respond
Channels of Mass Communication
 Books, pamphlets
 Magazines
 Newspapers
 Direct-mail circular
 Newsletters
 Cd’s audiotapes
 Television
 Motion picture
 Radio
 Videotapes
 Computer networks
Not included as channels of
mass communication
 Telephones – do not reach large audience,
one-on-one conversation
 Stage plays – limited to a confined area
The Communication Process

Message

Source Receiver

Channel

Figure 2 Communication Model (Wilson & Wilson 1998)

 Types of Communication
 Intrapersonal Communication – describes a person
talking to himself or herself
 Interpersonal Communication – two or three
people talk with one another in close physical
proximity
 Group Communication – groups of people
communicate with one another in face-to-face
encounters
 Mass Communication –communicators use
technological devices known as media to
communicate over great distances to influence large
audiences
Basic Components of
Communication Process
Source – sometimes called the sender,
communicator, or encoder
- Is the person who shares information, ideas,
or attitudes with another person
- In mass communication, is usually a
professional communicator who shapes the
message to be shared
Examples: TV reporter or entertainer
Message

 Is whatever the source attempts to share with

someone else
 It originates with an idea, which then must be
encoded into symbols which will be used to
express ideas
 Symbols are words, pictures, or objects that the
source uses to illicit meaning in the mind of the
receiver of the message
 Ex. Words, pictures, facial expressions, gestures,
and body language
Channel

 Is the way in which the message is sent

 Is interpersonal communication: sense of
sight, sound and touch
 Example: use of electronic or technological
devices
Receiver

 Sometimes called destination, audience, or

decoder
 Is the person with whom the message is
extended to be shared in mass communication
 Is usually a large audience that is often
referred to as the masses
 Ex. Book reader, movie audience, radio
listeners
Feedback

 Is an added component in the communication

process if the receiver or the audience transmits
back to the source an observable response

 Can take many forms: words, gestures, facial

expressions, or any observable element
Communication Noise

1. Channel Noise – refers to external

interference in the communication process
Ex. Radio static blocks, unreadable book prints,
inaudible voices, blurred pictures
2. Semantic Noise – occurs when the
message gets through as sent, but you don’t
understand what it means
- Can be caused by jargons, scientific, and
technical terms idioms, legalese, gobbledygook
- Can also occur when words take on connotations
or emotional meanings based on experiences
3. Psychological Noise

 Refers to internal factors that lead to

misunderstandings in the communication process
 Selective exposure – we expose ourselves to
information that reinforces rather than contradicts
our beliefs or opinions
 Selective perception – we tend to see, hear, and
believe what we want to see, hear, and believe –
also called “autistic thinking” (Piaget) (Autism –
thought in which truth is confused with desire)
Theory of Redundancy

 The communicator’s way of overcoming

channel noise by repeating the main idea of his
message a number of times to make sure it gets
through.
Information Processing By
the Media
1. Gate keeping – one way the media control
our access to news, information, and
entertainment.
- This sociological term was coined by Kurt
Lewin who used to describe the fact that
news most travel through a series of
checkpoints (gates) before it reaches the
public
2. Agenda setting – another process whereby the
mass media determines what we think and worry
about
- Mass media agenda-setting theory contends
that the mass media, not we, determine what
will be news and what won’t
- The most important effect of mass
communication is its ability to mentally order and
organize our world for us
Mass Communication Field
Encompasses:
1. Advertising agencies
2. Wire services, public relations and publicity firms
3. Syndication houses that provide feature and photo
material for print media or programs and movies for
television, artist and graphic design consultants
4. Research firms for product, audience and message
analysis
5. Independent producers of movies and television
programs
6. Program suppliers
Important Agencies of Communication
that are Adjuncts of the Mass Media
1. The Press Association, which collect and
distribute news and pictures to the
newspapers, television, radio stations and
magazines.
2. The syndicates, which offer background
news and pictures, commentaries, and
entertainment features to newspapers, tv,
radio, and magazines.
3. The advertising agencies, which serve their
business clients on the one hand and the mass
media on the other.
4. The advertising departments of companies and
institutions, which serve in merchandising roles,
and the public relations departments, which serve
in information roles.
5. The Public Relations counselling firms and
publicity organizations, which offer information
in behalf of their clients.
6. Research individual and groups, who help gauge
the impact of the message and guide mass
communicators to more effective paths
The Social Roles of Mass
Communication (Lasswell 1948)
1. Surveillance of the environment
2. Correlation of the components of society in
making a response to the environment
3. Transmission of social inheritance
Social Functions of Media
(Farrar, 1997)
1. Sentinel – we rely on mass communication
media to keep us alert to an impending
typhoon, election, oil price hike, movie
schedule, brown-outs, etc.
2. Arena – the communication media place
events and controversies on the community
agenda, focusing attention on issues so that
consensus can be reached.
3. Instructor – through communication media, we
teach what others are saying, wearing, doing.

4. Social and Political regulator – this may be most

important rate mass communication media play:
they keep leaders honest; social and government
policies equitable.
Four Concepts of Mass
Communication
1. Authoritarianism – or authoritarian theory –
a theory of the press asserting that the
rulers of society should control what is
disseminated to the public in the mass media.
2. Libertarianism or libertarian theory – the
theory that the press should serve the
governed (people) not governors
3. The soviet people – an offshoot of the
authoritarian theory of the press stating that the
mass media should be state owned and operated
to best serve the government.
4. Social responsibility – an offshoot of libertarian
theory of the press that contends that the press
is socially responsible to keep a democratic nation
well informed.