COMMUNICATION VIS-Á-VIS

MASS COMMUNICATION
JAYLORD LEGASPI
LET’S ILLUSTRATE

 When you send a text message to another person, you are using the cellphone as a
means of communication.
 It is a form of mediated interpersonal communication assisted by technology provided by
cellphones
EDSA DOS
However, as attested by the EDSA II (EDSA DOS)
phenomenon, cellphone technology was significantly
used to topple a government, as illustrated in the article
of Vicente Rafael, “The Cellphone and the Crowd:
Messianic Politics in Contemporary Philippines
How it started?
EDSA DOS

The phenomenon started out quite easily. On January 16,

2000, a text message landed on somebody’s phone
enthusiastically calling out concerned citizens to mass up
at the EDSA Shrine, after 11 senators voted to block the
opening of sealed envelope that contained the
evidence of President Estrada’s corruption and hidden
wealth. The public responded with outrage over the
apparent move to block the truth.
EDSA DOS

That text message could have borne these words: “FULL

MBLSN 2DAY AT EDSA” and “GO 2 EDSA WEAR BLCK
BRING UR FRENDS”. By 8pm, around 20,000 had already
gathered at the EDSA Shrine, and the days that followed
saw more people, not just from Metro Manila but from the
nearby provinces as well.
According to Denis McQuial

“
Mass communication comprise the institutions and techniques by
which specialized groups employ technological devices (press, radio,
films, etc.) to disseminate symbolic content to large, heterogeneous,
and widely dispersed audiences…
McQuial’s definition signals us to two basic concepts
which cue us to the defining features of mass
communication-first, technological devices and
second, the magnitude and scope of its audiences.
 ?
Is the EDSA II event, Just a more complex
propelled by texting as
illustration of mediated
Rafael (2003) contends, a
interpersonal
form of mass
communications OR communication
These two forms of communication are very much
interrelated. Technology brings SYMBOLIC AND
COMPLEX MESSAGES to large, heterogeneous, and
widely dispersed audiences.
Comparison

Mass Communication Interpersonal Communication

In this case, the similarity between interpersonal
communication and mass communication is the
ability of both to reach huge numbers of recipients
or audience. However, the difference also becomes
apparent.
The most important differences relate to these three
elements 1) the source message, 2) the process of
transmittal, and 3) the way feedback is generated
and sent.
“
For instance, your friend Sandy is the president of a broad
coalition of advocates for good governance. He has been
relentlessly engaging in various sectors of society to expose
corruption in the government. He comes to your house to
tell you that plans of massing up at the EDSA shrine are now
in place, and many like-minded organizations are
supporting this move. He visits to your house so you can
have a face-to-face communications; this is interpersonal
communication.
“
Suppose he is unable to drop by your house and instead,
sends you a text message; this is mediated interpersonal
conversation. Since he is a leader of an organization, his
associates find it appropriate to record in video camera a
short spiel where he makes an appeal to his friends from all
over the city to come and join the rally at EDSA. The video
message lands in your e-mail. This is a fine example of
mediated organizational communication.
“
The 3 levels of communication mentioned above achieved
the same purpose, albeit in rather different ways and
through different channels. The last one-the opportunity for
Sandy to be guest in a talk show-uses a media organization
that is vast, complex, and highly structured. This is where the
difference lies.
 Mediated Interpersonal Mass Communication
Communication
Message Sandy talks to his friends and Sandy’s organization, the Kongreso ng mga
colleagues in a meeting, over Mamamayang Pilipino or Kompil, is interviewed as part of
coffee, sends emails, and text the featured in the primetime news. Sandy and his
messages informing them of the colleagues turn up at a late night talk show and at the
planned mass action at the EDSA end of his 15-minute spiel, he gives a persuasive call to
Shrine. action. Flashed on the screen are the email addresses
and the telephone number of the organizers of the mass
action.

Source Sandy himself, as the leader of the The television programs.

organization.
Encoding Sandy composing the message The format of the news program and the talk show that is
himself able to accommodate the message of Sandy as a
concerned citizen and leader of political organization.
Channel The phones and email Broadcast Network

Receiver Dozens of individuals The millions of people who are tuned in to the television
programs
Decoding The dozens of individual who Members of the audience who are tuned in to the show.
receive Sandy’s emails, phone calls
and text messages.
 Mediated Interpersonal Mass Communication
Communication
Feedback The returned phone calls, emails, The number of people who turned up and expressed
and text messages sent back to support for Sandy’s call
Sandy
Noise Could be glitches in the internet Words or ideas that members of the audience cannot
Interference connection, the hums in the grasp or language they cannot understand.
telephone lines, or too many text
messages being sent.
“
Interpersonal communication, inasmuch as it is mediated
by technology, appears to be limited in each reach; mass
communication, however is able to reach huge audiences
at the same time. Mediated interpersonal communication
too appears like messages created by individuals or
perhaps teams, while mass communication is created by
huge, mostly powerful and extensive organization.