Sep 13 2010
Framing for ch 5-8
When reading chapter 5, I couldn’t help but think of the movie “The DaVinci Code” as I was reading about human beings unique ability to engage in symbolic communication. Symbols have been apart of our society and apart of our communication process since the beginning of humanity. But the chapter says that communication has not been in mass form since the beginning, that mass communication is a fairly new concept. But in a way, because the masses have understood and used symbols since the beginning of time, could this not be considered an aspect of mass communication?
In reference to the part about mass communication being a one-way communication flow mediated and enhanced by technology. R & V said that mass communication used to give little opportunity for immediate feedback from the audience, but new media technologies are changing this. Will these new and evolving media technologies change the way we think about mass communication and lead us into a new paradigm shift?
McQuail notes the perceived purposes of mass media (providing a window on events or a mirror to events, filtering or serving as gatekeeper for info reaching the audience, being a guide to interpret events, offering a forum for the presentation of ideas, and disseminating information). Are there other purposes for mass media? What other similarities do these purposes have?
Tags: framing, mass communications
September 16th, 2010 at 12:39 am
For week three, I have decided to answer someone else’s question:
1. I agree with you on this concept. I think that the term “mass communication” is used very differently now than is was “back in the beginning”, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. I guess the best way to completely answer this question is to define what exactly mass communication is. Obviously mass communication described for today would be communication through some form of media to a large population of people. The first form of mass communication through media would probably be through the radio. However, radio wasn’t used commercially until the 1920’s. So, what about before then? I think that mass communication without some form of media would just be communicating to a large number of people. When I think about that, I think about organized religion. Religion has been around forever, and priests, reverends, rabbi’s, imam’s etc. have communicated their version of the message of God to a very large number of people for centuries, millennia! To say that mass communication through a form of media is a new thing would definitely make sense, media hasn’t been around that long. But to say mass communication is a new concept, in my opinion, is just wrong.
2. This is exactly what we are studying, right? Interactive media. Not only sending a message but also receiving feedback. I definitely think that as media changes and evolves into the new forms interactive media that will come, it will (and has) change the way we think about mass communication. Comparatively, I think about regular newspaper compared to online newspaper. A simple letter to the editor would normally take about a week to be published into the newspaper. Now, a lot of different news sites have an available response area right under the article. Another example of this is reality television competition, like American Idol. Even when you had to call in and vote, it would take a while to get all the votes in because someone had to answer and respond to every call. Now, you can vote online AND through text messages! They could literally open the polls at the beginning of the show and have all the votes after the hour. Things are changing. Hope we can keep up!
3. I just racked my brain for about 20 minutes ( I even asked my roommate for help) and could not come up with another purpose for mass media. In my mind, and based on what I have read, mass communication is various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time. I don’t think I could say that in any different way than McQuail already did. I wish I could come up with a better answer than that.