FHHM1022

Effective Communication Skills

Topic 7
Mass Communication
 Topics to be covered:
Mass Communication

1. What is mass communication?

2. Elements of mass communication

3. Evolution of mass media

– Internet & social media
1. What is Mass Communication?
 What is Mass Communication?
• Mass Communication is the pinnacle of communication
pyramid
– It is a society-wide communication process in which an
individual or institution uses technology to send
messages to a large, mixed audience, most of whose
members are not known to the sender.
– Examples:
• Speeches by politicians
• Stories about crime in the newspaper
• Popular new novels
• These communication are fundamentally different from
the other forms of communication because …
– the sender is separated in space and
– possibly in time from the receiver
– Example:
• When a communicator appears on television or
writes an article for a newspaper, he or she doesn’t
know who will be listening or reading.
• Traditionally, mass communication has allowed only
limited opportunities for feedback because the
channels of communication are largely one way.
– Example:
• Traditional TV
• With rise of interactive communication networks,
the opportunities for feedback are growing rapidly.
– Example:
• Netflix
• Youtube
2. Elements of Mass Communication

• Difference between Mass Communication

and Mass Media
• Models of Mass Communication
 Difference between Mass
Communication and Mass Media

• Mass communication – process

• Mass media – technological tool used to

transmit the message of mass
communication
Models of Mass Communication
1. Traditional model
• Mass communication is described as the
Transmission Model – SMCR
a) Sender
b) Message The players in the
Mass
c) Channel Communication
d) Receiver
 The players in the Mass Communication

a) The Sender
– They are large, bureaucratic organizations that produce
complex messages we receive through the mass media, and they
employ large number of people.
– Examples:
• Credits of a movie – Director, producer, editor, screenwriter,
production designer, art director, cinematographer, etc.
• Newspaper – writers, editors, graphic artists, photographers,
computer specialist, printers, etc.
– The internet
• Smaller and more intimate media without the
accompanying structure and staff
• Example: Bloggers
b) The Message
– The content being transmitted by the sender and
reacted to by the receiver.
– Before a message can be transmitted, it must be
encoded.
– Encoding requires 2 steps:
• Step 1: Sender’s ideas must be turned into a message
– Example: A newspaper story is written
• Step 2: Message must be prepared for transmission
– Example: The newspaper is printed.
• Mass communication messages are transmitted
rapidly to the receivers.
– Audience can receive the message
simultaneously on a radio broadcast, at similar
though not identical times, as in the case of a
newspaper or magazine.
• Mass communication messages are available to a
wide audience.
• Mass communication messages also tend to be
transient – here today and gone tomorrow.
– Examples:
i. The newspapers and magazines are recycled
ii. The new movies replaces the old at the
theatre
iii. A broadcast ends and a new one airs the
next day
• Production of mass communication messages is
generally expensive.
• The meaning of messages depends on who is receiving
them and what kind of media literacy skills the
receivers can use to decode them.
• Examples:
i. People with low levels of media literacy
• look at the surface meanings in the media
content
ii. People with high levels of media literacy
• Can interpret message from a wide range of
perspectives with many choices of meanings.
c) The Channel
– The medium used to transmit message.
– Examples:
i. Print media
– books, magazines, newspaper, billboards, posters
ii. Audiovisual media
– radio, sound recordings, broadcast television,
cable and satellite television, video recordings
iii. Interactive Media
– Web, social media, mobile media, video games
1. What about mobile phones, faxes,
letter and emails?

2. Do they fit in as channels of mass

communication?
• Example 1:
– Email
• It is not generally considered to be a mass
medium.
• Unsolicited commercial email – SPAM could
satisfy part of the definition of mass
communication. How?
– SPAM is distributed widely to large,
mixed and anonymous audience.
• Example 2:
– New reports and sports scores arriving via SMS
text message on the small screen on a mobile
phone would also seem to qualify.

• However, phone calls and emails from friends

are generally considered as interpersonal
communication unless we post them on a blog or
social media site for everyone to see.
• The nature of channel used to transmit a message
can change the meaning of the message.
– Example: Daily News
• On the radio – the news is something
happening in the background
• Read in the newspaper – the news is
something that demands your undivided
attention
d) The Receiver
– The audience for the mass communication message –
people who are receiving and decoding the message.
– The ‘mass’ can have at least two meaning when
referring to audiences.
The mix of ordinary people who receive the message
– “the masses”
The size of the audience
– The mass audience can be divided into types:
i. The heterogeneous audience
ii. The anonymous audience
i. The heterogeneous audience
– An audience made up of a mix of people who
differ in age, sex, income, education, ethnicity,
race, religion etc.
– For example:
• A small-town radio station is likely to reach
an audience whose members are more
similar than those listening to a station in a
major urban area.
ii. The anonymous audience
– The receivers of a mass communication
message have traditionally been seen as an
anonymous audience.
• Sender does not personally know all, or even
most, of the people receiving the message.
• Audience members simply don’t expect the
sender to know who they are.
– With the increasing number of channels
available for audience members to send
feedback to the sender (eg. social media),
audience members are better known to the
original senders.
• Example: The Voice
– Audience members become active
participants by voting on who should
advance to the next level of the
competition.
• However, receivers don’t always get a clear
message from the sender.
• Several types of noise can interfere with the
delivery of the message.
i. Semantic noise
ii. Mechanical noise
iii. Environmental noise
i. Semantic noise
• … when you can’t understand the lyrics on a
Chinese music channel because you don’t speak
Mandarin.
ii. Mechanical noise
• … when the channel has trouble transmitting the
message due to too much static produced from a
thunderstorm
iii. Environmental noise
• …when the action and sounds surrounding the
receiver interfere with the reception of the
message
Disadvantages of transmission model (SCMR)
• Though the transmission model (SCMR) is useful for
laying out the various elements of the mass communication
process –
a. it does not explain how mass communication works in
our lives
b. it focuses primarily on the process of transmitting
messages largely from the point of view of a sender
trying to have an effect on the receiver
2. Contemporary model
• Media scholar Denis McQuail lays out three
contemporary models that help us answer
three different questions about the nature of
mass communication
i. Ritual Model
ii. Publicity Model
iii. Reception Model
i. Ritual Model
– A model of mass communication process that
treats media use as an interactive ritual
engaged in by audience members.
– It looks at how and why audience members
(receivers) consume media messages.
– Media consumption thus goes beyond simply
delivering messages and becomes a shared
experience that brings us together as people.
• For example: Election in Malaysia 2018 –
GE14
– The return of Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohammad
– The oldest Prime Minister
– A new Malaysia
ii. Publicity Model
– A model of mass communication process that
looks at how media attention can make person,
concept, or thing become important, regardless
of what is said about it.
– Example:
• 1 Malaysia
• Ini Kalilah!
• “Bossku”
iii. Reception Model
– A critical theory model of the mass
communication process that looks at how
audience members derive and create meaning
out of media content as they decode the
messages.
– It looks at how audience members derive and
create meaning out of media content.
– Each receiver decodes the message based on his
or her own unique experiences, feelings, and
beliefs.
3. Evolution of the Media World
 Evolution of the Media World

Before Print: Print: Electronic The Internet:

Networks:
Pre-Mass Arrival of Interactive
Media the book Telegraph, Communication
Communication Gramophone,
Networks Radio, Movies,
Television
 Evolution of the Media World
1. Before Print:
Pre-Mass Media Communication Networks
• The first major communication network in the
Western world predates the mass media and was
developed by the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th,
13th, and 14th centuries.
• During that period, messages flowed from the Vatican
in Italy through the cardinals and bishops to priest in
cathedrals and villages throughout Europe and finally
to congregations through sermons from the pulpit.
2. Print: Arrival of the Book
• The first major expansion in communication beyond
the Church was the development of the printing press
– in particular, the invention of the movable type in
the 1450s – and the subsequent mass production of
printed materials.
• Although the printing press allowed for mass
production of information, printing was relatively
slow, and publication remained fairly expensive.
• The addition of steam power to the printing press in
1814 dramatically increased the rate at which printed
material could be reproduced.
3. Electronic Networks:
Telegraph, Gramophone, Radio, Movies, Television
• The advent of electronic communication made the media
world much more complex.
• 1844 – opening of the first telegram line
• 1866 – telegraph cables spanned the Atlantic Ocean
(Overcoming the barrier that had long hindered
transoceanic communication)
• 1880 – Gramophone/phonograph was invented
• 1895 – Radio was invented
• Late 1890s and early 1900s – Movies were first shown
at Nikelodeon theatres and distributed world wide
• 1927 – Invention of First Electronic Television
4. The Internet: Interactive Communication
• The internet became full-fledged mass communication
network in the 1990s
• Rather than simply making it easier for individuals
and organizations to send messages to a mass
audience, the new computer networks were designed
for two-way communication.
• Audience members were becoming message providers
themselves.
 Reference
• Hanson, R. E. (2016). Mass communication:
Living in a media world (5th ed.).
Thousand Oaks: Sage.