CULTURE, COMMUNICATION

AND MEDIA
How do media shape our views of others?

© PHAN THỊ VÂN QUYÊN

ULIS - VNU
• There are different types of media that we are
accustomed to in this day and age

• Whether being children, young people, or

adults, we’ve all had our share of media-
related exposure everyday
 WHAT IS MEDIA?
• MEDIA = All the means of communication which
have functions such as informing, raising
awareness, education, socialization, entertainment
and agenda setting, including all kinds of oral,
written and visual images

• MEDIA = Means of communication (especially radio

and television, newspapers, magazines, and the
internet) that reach or influence people widely
• MEDIA is the plural of medium

• However, in most literature it is used as a singular noun,

and is interpreted as a collective singular, similar to other
collective nouns such as ‘team’ or ‘group’

• Therefore, to write the ‘media is’ is perfectly acceptable

today. Some people may insist it is wrong, but it is still
acceptable – languages are constantly evolving
 TYPES OF MEDIA
TRADITIONAL MEDIA:

1. PRINT MEDIA
• Print Media encompasses mass communication through
printed materials

• It includes all types of publications, including newspapers,

journals, magazines, books, reports, billboards, ...

• It is the oldest type, and despite suffering since the emergence

of the Internet, is still used by a major proportion of the
population
TRADITIONAL MEDIA:

2. BROADCAST MEDIA (or Electronic Media)

• Broadcast Media = kind of media which requires the users to
utilize an electronic connection to access.
• It includes radio and TV, which came onto the scene at the
beginning and middle of the 20th century respectively.
• Most people still get their news from TV and radio broadcasts
– however, experts predict that it will not be long before
online sources take over.
• Over the past twenty years, cable news has grown in
importance.
NEW MEDIA = Means of mass communication
using digital technologies such as mobile phone,
computer, the Internet, ...

• The Internet – specifically websites and blogs –

are rapidly emerging as viable and major
channels of communication as more and more
people seek news, entertainment and
educational material online.
• MASS MEDIA = the technologies used as
channels for a small group of people to
communicate with a larger number of people.

• MASS COMMUNICATION = the dissemination

of messages widely, rapidly, and continuously
to large and diverse audiences in an attempt
to influence them in some way. 
• SOCIAL MEDIA is a collective of online communication
channels where communities interact, share content
and collaborate

• Some types of social media are websites and apps

dedicated to social networking, microblogging, forums,
social bookmarking, wikis and social curation

• The most famous social networking companies are

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
• Social Media is the leading internet activity in
the world
(e.g. Americans spend more time on Social
Media than on any other Internet activities
including email)

• In toay’s society, Social Media is used to keep

everyone and everything connected
 MEDIA AND CULTURE
Media decide how to tell stories about the world from
particular perspectives and with particular facts highlighted
as key.
MEDIA impact culture in the following ways:

1. Media produce and reproduce the meanings of our own

culture, serving as a primary means of cultural transmission
within a single culture

2. Media create frames that we use to understand cultural

differences within our own society

3. One culture’ frame may impact the understanding of other

cultures/nations, for good or harm
 Media and Cultural Identities:
Who are “we” now?
• Media construct the identities of all groups – both majority
and minority – within a culture

• Interactive media such as the Internet, social networking sites

(Facebook, MySpace, Twitter) create new hybrid communities
where people from multiple cultures share the same network

• They help people manage and negotiate their own identities

(e.g. through online gaming) as they create new “in-groups’
for themselves (I’m a “gamer”, I’m a “player of ...”)
 MEDIA AND
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Media’s great pontential to impact or facilitate

intercultural communication and to mobilize people :
- useful in the transmission of information
- assist us in having our say and being heard
- help us have an effective rallying cry for collective
action
 Biases in mediated communication

• Mediated communication does not always take place

objectively, and without bias.
• Rather, media can actively set the frames of reference
that receivers (readers or viewers) use to interpret and
discuss public events
• Each story can have more than one frame, though
media may focus on certain frames over others
 CONCLUSION
• We can use social media to make connections with people
from around the world for our own better understanding, and
through this, for a more unified world
• However, with any media we produce or consume, be aware of
the types of messages we are creating and the ideas that they
contain that may disadvantage or disparage people in different
groups or may promote certain ideas even without intention
• Because of the socio-political impacts of media, it’s important
to become savvy media consumers
• Not all media messages are created equally, amd it’s our
responsibility to rely on credible, trustworthy sources of
information before drawing conclusions about people, place, or
event