Saturday 13 December 2014

Mass media

Q – 1) Define the term communication? Explain the process of communication with the help of diagram.
Communication means Two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange (encode-decode)information, news, ideas and feelings but also create and share meaning. In general, communication is a means of connecting people or places. In business, it is a key function of management--an organization cannot operate without communication between levels, departments and employees.  
       A human relationship involving two or more persons who come together to share, to dialogue and to commune.
       Thus, communication is not just an act or a process but also a social and cultural togetherness.
       According to Denis Mcquail, “Communication is a process which increases commonality – but also requires elements of commonality for it to occur at all.”
       A common language for instance does bring people together but language alone does not suffice for communication to take place. There are other factors too at play such as a shared culture and a common interest which bring about a sense of commonality and more significantly, a sense of community.
       The Sanskrit term, ‘Sadharanikaran’ comes closest to the term of ‘common’ or ‘commonness’ usually associated with communication.
The term "communication" stems from the Latin word "communism" - meaning common. Thus, communication is a conscious attempt to share information, ideas, attitudes, and the like with others.

Q – 2) Need For Communication
       A human being’s need for communication is as strong as the need to eat, sleep and love.
       Communication is as much a natural need as it is a social requirement in order to engage in the sharing of experiences, through symbol mediated interaction.
       It requires active interaction with our physical, biological and social environments.
       The basic human need for communication can perhaps be traced to the process of mankind’s evolution from lower species.
       Excommunication or lack of communication may lead to sensory deprivation, anxiety, depraved judgement, strange visions.
       In today's world, there is so much to know so quickly that the role of communicator has become very important. The world is experiencing communication revolution and communication explosion.
       Communication is essential to all human associations. One's ability to influence others is closely linked with his ability to communicate his ideas, for two people to communicate effectively, common goals and a body of common knowledge and ideas are must.
       Good communication does not mean only giving orders but creating understanding. It aims at imparting knowledge as well as helping people gain a clear view of the meaning of knowledge.
       The study of communication has revealed that the process is not only a vital but complicated also. Good communication has the potential to contribute to overcoming the problems like ignorance, poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy and to the attainment of the goals of economic and social well being.
       In modern times communication has become very necessary for the existence of human beings. It is a basic need for human beings as the need for food and shelter. It has brought about a human civilization. There are numerous ways through which we communicate such as spoken words, written words, gestures, pictures, paintings, dance and so on.

       Q – 3) How many types of communication are there? Explain each in detail
Types of communication
       Intrapersonal Communication
       Interpersonal Communication
       Group Communication
       Mass Communication
       Mass-line Communication
1)  Intrapersonal  communication

According to Wikipedia
 Jurgen Ruesch and Gagory  Bateson argue that intrapersonal communication is indeed a special case of interpersonal communication, as "dialogue is the foundation for all discourse."

Intrapersonal communication can encompass:
·         Speaking aloud as in reading aloud, repeating what one hears, the additional activities of speaking and hearing (in the third case of hearing again) what one thinksreads or hears. This is considered normal although this does not exactly refer to intrapersonal communication as reading aloud maybe a form of rhetorical exercise although expected in the relevant young age.



2)  Interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication is an exchange of information between two or more people. It is also an area of study. Related skills are learned and can be improved. During interpersonal communication there is message sending and message receiving. This can be conducted using both direct and indirect methods. Successful interpersonal communication is when the message senders and the message receivers understand the message.







3)  Group communication

  Group communication refers to communication between 3 or more individuals. Small group communication includes numbers from 3 to about 20 people, and large group communication includes numbers larger than that (i.e., a lecture hall of 300 students or a theatrical production with an audience of 3,000). 




4)  Mass communication

  According to Wikipedia

Mass communication is the study of how individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually understood to relate to newspaper, magazine, and book publishing, as well as radio, television and film, as these mediums are used for disseminating information, news andadvertising. Mass communication differs from the studies of other forms of communication, such as interpersonal communication or organizational communication, in that it focuses on a single source transmitting information to a large group of receivers. The study of mass communication is chiefly concerned with how the content of mass communication persuades or otherwise affects the behavior, attitude, opinion, or emotion of the person or people receiving the information.



Q – 4 What are the basic functions of mass media?

Functions of Mass Media
       To inform
       To educate
       To entertain
       Transmission of heritage
       Commercial

Q – 5 Trace the growth and development of mass media.

Development of Mass Media
       Western Mass communication scholars have identified a development progression cycle called as the EPS i.e. Elite-Popular-Specialization.
       This cycle holds that all media develop in three stages.
       Elite: media appeals to the affluent. Affluent considered as the leaders of cultural and social trends.
       Popular: When the notions break through the barriers of literacy and poverty, it enters the popular stage and reaches the mass culture
       Specialization:  Here there is ‘de-massification’ of the mass media due to information explosion and advancement in the communication technology. Media is consumed by highly fragmented segments of population each with his own interest and cultural activities. Eg. Cartoon Channels, Sports channel, News, Films

Q – 6 Write a detail not on impact of mass media.


Impact of Mass Media
       Personal
       Psychological
       Social
       Moral
       Cultural
Bernard Berelson, an American behavioural scientist  defines the impact of media as, ‘ some kind of communication, some kind of  issues brought to the attention of people under some kind of condition have some kind of effects.’


Ø Persona impact of mass media

            Ex – Clean India movement

Ø Psychological impact of mass media
      
Ex – Provoke, promote, inform and educate

Ø Social impact of mass media

Ex – Satyamev jayte reality show

Ø Cultural impact of mass media

Ex – T.V serials

Q – 7 Mention the Western communication theories. Write a note on any two of them.
v Lasswell's model of communication (also known as Lasswell's communication model) is regarded by many communication and public relations scholars as "one of the earliest and most influential communication models."[1] The model was developed by American political scientist and communication theorist Harold Lasswell in 1948 while he was a professor at Yale Law School.[2] In his 1948 article "The Structure and Function of Communication in Society", Lasswell wrote:
[A] convenient way to describe an act of communication is to answer the following questions:
·         Who
·         Says What
·         In Which Channel
·         To Whom
·         With What Effect?

Question
Element
Analysis
Who?
Communicator
Control Analysis
Says What?
Message
Content Analysis
In Which Channel?
Medium
Media Analysis
To Whom?
Audience
Audience Analysis
With What Effect?
Effect
Effects Analysis







v Shannon and weaver model


The Shannon–Weaver model of communication has been called the "mother of all models."[1] It embodies the concepts of information source, message, transmitter, signal, channel, noise, receiver, information destination, probability of error, encoding, decoding, information rate, channel capacity, etc.
In 1948 Claude Elwood Shannon published A Mathematical Theory of Communication article in two parts in the July and October numbers of the Bell System Technical Journal.[2] In this fundamental work he used tools in probability theory, developed by Norbert Wiener, which were in their nascent stages of being applied to communication theory at that time. Shannon developed information entropy as a measure for the uncertainty in a message while essentially inventing what became known as the dominant form of "information theory."
The book co-authored with Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication, reprints Shannon's 1948 article and Weaver's popularization of it, which is accessible to the non-specialist.[3] Shannon's concepts were also popularized, subject to his own proofreading, in John Robinson Pierce's Symbols, Signals, and Noise.[4]
The term Shannon–Weaver model was widely adopted into social science fields such as education, organizational analysis, psychology, etc., however some critics have labeled it a "misleading misrepresentation of the nature of human communication", citing its simplicity and innability to consider context.[5] In engineering and mathematics, Shannon's theory is used more literally and is referred to as Shannon theory, or information theory.[6]
Shannon's capacity formula applied to the additive white Gaussian noise channel gives the Shannon–Hartley formula,

where C is channel capacity measured in bits/second, W is the bandwidth in Hz, S is the signal level in watts across the bandwidth W, and N is the noise power in watts in the bandwidth W.


v Osgood and schramm model

       Schramm defined communication as ‘sharing of information, ideas or attitudes.’
       He endorsed 3 important elements of communication i.e. source, message and destination.
       He emphasised on the encoding and decoding of the message.
       He suggested communication is circular where both the sender and receiver are involved in encoding and decoding and equal partners in exchange.




Advantage of Osgood- Schramm model of communication
1.     Dynamic model- Shows how a situation can change
2.     It shows why redundancy is an essential part
3.     There is no separate sender and receiver, sender and receiver is the same person
4.     Assume communication to be circular in nature
5.     Feedback – central feature.

v Ritual model of communication

       James Carey an American anthropologist promoted this model.
       ‘Role of ritual in societies’.
       All members of public not just the senders are actors contributing in some way to the pattern of meaning of a nation or a region. 
       Objective of Communication/ transmission of messages is for the purpose of Social Control.
       Communication is thus seen as a process of creation, representation and celebration of shared belief.

Q – 8 Explain Indian communication theories.

Indian Communication Theories
       In recent years communication scholars in India and Sri Lanka have made attempts to develop theories of communication based on Indian classical texts and on popular Indian culture.
       Indian theory of communication forms a part of Indian poetics; and can be traced to a period between second century B.C. and first century A.D. in the works of Bharata.
       It draws it central idea from the concept of Sadharanikaran (which is quite close in meaning to the Latin term communis, commonness, from which the word communication is derived.)
       The most important assumption in the process of sadharanikaran is that it can be achieved only among sahridayas, i.e. only those who have a capacity to accept a message. This is an innate ability acquired through culture, adaptation and learning. Thus communication is an activity amongst sahridayas.

Bharata Muni’s Theory

       As per this theory human psyche is composed of ‘sthaibhava’ (permanent moods). These moods are of capable of arousing a corresponding state of feeling, rasa.
       There are nine permanent moods and they give rise to nine rasas or forms of aesthetic pleasures.



Types of rasa
Sentiments
Meaning
God
Colour
1)Shrungara
attractiveness
Vishnu
Light green
2)Hasya
Mirth/comedy
pramatha
white
3)Rudra
Furg
Rudra
Red
4)Karun yam
Compassion/tragedy
Yama
Gray
5)Bibhatsam
Disgust/aversion
Shiva
Blue
6)Bhayanakam
Horror/Terror
Kala
Black
7)Vira
Heroic mood
Indra
Yellowish
8)Adbhutam
Wonder/Amazement
Brahma
Yellow
9)Shantam
Peace
       -
White


Bharatmuni himself identified the four kinds of bhava responsible for the various rasas, they are known as ‘ a state of mind or state of being’ they are
1)    Sthayibhava
2)    Anubhava
3)    Sattvikabhava
4)    Vyabhicaribhava

       1) Sthayibhava
           It is known as a dominant state of mind. There are eight more Sthayibhava like love, mirth, sorrow, anger, energy, terror, disgust and astonishment.
       2) Anubhava
            Body language expression and non verbal elements are known as Anubhava.
       3) Sattvikabhava
             It is also known as ‘’Vibhava’’ which includes both ‘Alabaman and udipana’. Vibhava is the adjective condition and producing emotions. There are eight kinds of Sattvikabhava like paralysis, perspiration, horriplation change of voice etc.
       4) Vyabhacari bhava
            It is known as a transitory state of mind. One may ask here wherefore are they called vyabhicarians? It may be replied: VI and abha are two prepositions; car is a root employed in the sense of movement or motion. The vyabhicarians are so called because they move prominently towards abha creating the poetic sentiment in a variety of ways. Equipped with the acting based on speech, body and concentrated mind, the lead or carry the spectator in actual dramatic performance to the poetic sentiments, hence they are called Vyabhicarians.
              Bharata says that the drama renders the bhava of all the worlds. Hence, evidently, he means states and thinks existing emotions. The bhava are bringing into being rasa which is the kavyartha. The end of all meaning of poetry, it is the functional aspect of the word bhava. This is emphasized.
According to V.S.Seturaman
        ‘’ Bhavyanti means ‘to bring into being and to make pervade’ ‘’.
                   Bhava are through an element which makes the essence or poetry, rasa and pervade the heart of the reader. In this sense, bhava includes Sthayibhava, Anubhava, Vyabhicaribhava, Sattvikabhava or Vibhava. Though Bharatmuni emphasized on functional aspect of word, he seems to have realized that in the last analysis, it is the mental state rendered in a poem, which manifested its essence and that be characters and their actions are only the vehicle of the mental state. Bharatmuni himself contrasted the meaning by speaking of the bhava as though they included only the three varieties, eight sthayins, thirty three vyabhicarians and eight Sattvikabhava. However they are the 49 bhava capable, manifesting the rasa of the poem. On the one hand bhava mean all the elements having the energy or power to the manifest rasa.
   
                  Though the term Sthayibhava does not figure in Bharat’s definition for the current understanding of the theory of rasa, it is necessary for one to elucidate the concept. However the words figure in Bharat’s exploitation of the rasa. Rasa sutras according to Sthayibhava are of the nature of vasna or sansakara.Every human being is born with a set of instinctual propensities in herited from earlier generation and because sited on the bed of his consciousness.

2.Hindu Theory (Philosophical View)
       Second Indian Theory of Communication is from the Hindu philosophical perspective.
       Indian concept takes into account the place of an individual in the universal context and considers one’s relationship with other living and nonliving elements of the environment.
       Hindu concept of universe is based on the ‘Virat Purush’ (cosmic man) view. i.e. that Dharma is the basic principle of the whole universe and is existing eternally. This natural law of Dharma regulates human existence and governs relations of individual beings; communication too is governed by the same law.
3.Buddhist Theory
       Wimal Dassanayaka draws on the Vedas, the Upanishads, and non-philosophical tradition.
       The primary focus of this model is how the receiver makes sense of the stimuli he receives so as to deepen his self awareness.
       He argues in Indian tradition, ‘communication is an inward search for meaning – a process leading to self-awareness, then to freedom, finally to truth.’


Mass Communication and Mass Culture
       Culture can be defined as the beliefs, values, or other frameworks of reference by which we make sense of our experiences. It also concerns how we communicate these values and ideas.
The concept of Mass Culture refers to a whole range of popular activities and artefacts to entertainments, spectacles, music, books, films – but has become identified with the typical content of mass media and especially with the fictional, dramatic and entertainment material which they provide.
       Mass media are centrally involved in the production of modern culture.
Reach of Mass Media is limited in India thus Mass Culture in our country is still by and large the one that prevails in our villages where over 77% of the our people live. Here folk media is still predominant.
       Most popular entertainment medium in India is Cinema. Nearly 800 films produced per year.
       Indian Cinema has qualities of a mass culture product but it is doubtful if it is the only factor that contributes to the ‘mass culture’

Features
       Immense popularity amongst all classes, but particularly among the working class in industrial societies.
       Mass production and mass distribution
       Unlike ‘elite’ or ‘high’ culture is aesthetic and literary standards are low, and commercialised, as it is mass produced programmes aim at the mass market.
       The culture propagated by mass media is not necessarily the popular culture of the masses of the majority community in the country.
       The ‘mass culture’ is a complex cultural phenomenon which is a creation of the mass media. It is therefore more precise to term it ‘mass media culture’ to distinguish it from the majority culture or folk culture.
       Mass media culture is an entirely urban phenomenon resulting from rapid industrialization and alienation from the majority culture.