Ques. 1: Discuss the role communication in development of human civilization and culture. Comment.

(500 words, 20 marks)

Ans:

ROLES OF COMMUNICATION IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

A decisive role can be played by communication in promoting human development in today's new climate of
social change. As the world moves towards greater democracy, decentralization and the market economy,
conditions are becoming more favourable for people to start steering their own course of change. But it is vital
to stimulate their awareness, participation and capabilities. Communication skills and technology are central
to this task, but at present are often underutilized. Policies are needed that encourage effective planning and
implementation of communication programmes.

THE NEW DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

Major changes and new emphases have appeared on the development scene. Societies are opening to debate
and markets to individual initiative; privatisation and entrepreneurship are being encouraged; new
technologies are becoming widely available; management of government services is gradually being relocated
closer to the users, if not handed over directly to users themselves, in order to cut costs and seek partners more
committed to effective implementation. Indeed, a host of structural adjustments are profoundly affecting most
aspects of production and human interaction. These structural adjustments make demands, and have direct
economic and social effects on people.

Governments of developing countries can no longer fulfil all social and regulatory services by themselves,
especially in rural areas. Many economies are overwhelmed by the cost of servicing their foreign debt, and
governments are under stringent requirement from international financial institutions to reduce spending. In
their quest for greater cost-effectiveness in all their operations, governments must have the active support of,
and a greater contribution from, the people. Governments are thus obliged to seek new and perhaps unfamiliar
partners, ranging from local leaders to people in a variety of non-governmental.
2. Explain any two of the following. (10x2=20 marks)
(i) Agenda Setting theory
(ii) Uses and Gratification theory
(iii) Cultivation theory
(iv) Social responsibility theory

AGENDA SETTING THEORY

The agenda-setting theory is the theory that the news media have a large influence on audiences by their
choice of what stories to consider newsworthy and how much prominence and space to give them.
Agenda-setting theory’s main postulate is salience transfer. Salience transfer is the ability of the news
media to transfer issues of importance from their news media agendas to public agendas. "Through their
day-by-day selection and display of the news, editors and news directors focus our attention and influence
our perceptions of what are the most important issues of the day. This ability to influence the salience of
topics on the public agenda has come to be called the agenda setting role of the news media."
Agenda-setting theory was introduced in 1972 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in their ground
breaking study of the role of the media in 1968 presidential campaign in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The
theory explains the correlation between the rate at which media cover a story and the extent that people
think that this story is important. This correlation has been shown to occur repeatedly.

FUNCTIONS

The agenda-setting function has multiple components:

 Media agenda are issues discussed in the media, such as newspapers, television, and radio.
 Public agenda are issues discussed among members of the public.
 Policy agenda are issues that policy makers consider important, such as legislators.
 Corporate agenda are issues that big corporations consider important.

These four agendas are interrelated.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THEORY

 It has an explanatory power because it explains why most people prioritize the same issues as
important.
 It also has predictive power because it predicts that if people are exposed to the same media, they will
feel the same issues are important.
 Its meta-theoretical assumptions are balanced on the scientific side and it lays groundwork for further
research.
 Furthermore, it has organizing power because it helps organize existing knowledge of media effects.

There are also limitations, such as news media users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes.

People may not be well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Instead, they
may pay only casual and intermittent attention to public affairs and remain ignorant of the details.

For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened. News media cannot create or conceal
problems, they can only alter the awareness, priorities and salience people attach to a set of problems.

Research has largely been inconclusive in establishing a causal relationship between public salience and
media coverage.

Another limitation is that there is limited research in the realm of non-traditional forms of news media (i.e.
Social Media, Blogs, etc...) and it’s Agenda Setting Role. Although blogs and other forms of Computer
Mediated Communication appear to be quickly gaining ground against traditional news media outlets, more
research still needs to be done.
CULTIVATION THEORY
Cultivation theory states that the more a person is exposed to a message provided
by the media, the more likely that person is to believe the message is real.
Introduction
George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory is an extremely important principle in public
relations for several reasons. However, it also has negative as well as positive effects.
Cultivation Theory, put simply, states that the more a person is exposed to a message
provided by the media, the more likely that person is to believe the message is real.
Cultivation Theory is often applied to people’s perceptions of reality. For example, a
person who watches a lot of crime shows on television will eventually believe that there is
a lot of violent crime in the city in which he lives. This skewed world is called a
“mediated reality” .The theory also states that viewers who
watch more television will be more influenced than those who watch less and that “the
cumulative effect of television is to create a synthetic world that heavy viewers come to
see as reality”
Negative Effects of Cultivation Theory
When it comes to public relations, the Cultivation Theory can have a negative
effect on a business’s image. If the public is bombarded with negative materials about a
company, then it is very possible that the public will no longer associate the company with
its previous reputation or achievements or even its products. The public instead will focus
on the negative materials attached to the company, and if they do still attach products to a
company’s image, it is entirely possible that the public will then attach that negative stigma
to the products.
This same principle is illustrated by the fact that news coverage of violent crimes is
much more prevalent than coverage of other non-violent crimes despite the fact that violent
crimes account for a much smaller percentage of crime than do non-violent crimes (Reber
and Chang, 2003). Therefore, a person who watches a lot of news will believe that murder
is a major crisis in his or her city when, in reality, a crime like shoplifting might be much
more prevalent. This leads to a poor image of the city when a city may in actuality may
have a very low crime rate.
Positive Applications of Cultivation Theory
Cultivation Theory also can be applied in a positive manner. By using the effects
of a mediated reality to a company’s advantage, the public relations team may be able to
shift public focus to the company’s goals, reputation and product.
To illustrate, Rosie O’Donnell was known for a very long time as the “Queen of
Nice.” By concentrating media relations on her considerable donations to charity, her
quest to encourage women to have regular mammograms and her fight to help overweight
women lose pounds safely, the average person’s image of O’Donnell was extremely good.
It is for this reason that the editors of her magazine have had such a problem painting her
as a controlling, inexperienced managerial nightmare. The public’s mediated reality of
O’Donnell would never allow her to be anything but her candid, fun-loving, sweet self.
While the battle is O’Donnell’s word against the magazine executives’ word, O’Donnell
most definitely has the edge with the public because of her extremely positive public
image.
If a company is admired by the public, then that public is generally much more
willing to stand by it should a crisis or scandal occur. This is illustrated by Martha Stewart
Living Omnipedia. The company had very strong ground on which to stand before its
chief executive officer found herself the subject of a federal investigation. Those who
were loyal to the company before the scandal broke are still as loyal, if not more so,
because of its reputation prior to the crisis (Gregory and Kadlec, 2002). For this reason, it
is extremely important for a company to have a public relations team capable of creating
an image that begets public admiration and support. For that image is often the only thing
that can save a company when things do go wrong.
Conclusion
Cultivation theory and the mediated realities suggested by it are a double-edged
sword for public relations practitioners. A reality skewed in favor of a company can be
extremely helpful, but a reality skewed against a company can be the straw that breaks the
camel’s back, so to speak. If the public is against an entity, it surely will not last long in
this country in which companies rely solely on the public’s consumption of a product. If a
company is to survive negative media attacks, it must have established a solid reputation
before and handle media relations well during a crisis. To maintain a good image
companies need to use the expertise of public relations professionals.
QUES 3: Describe the rationale of the existence of different types of audience in specific context of audiences of
Indian language news channels. (500 words), 20 marks)
ANS: