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Xeric Wednesday, June 08, 2011 07:27 PM

Journalism Topics
 
[B][U]Yellow Journalism[/U][/B]

Yellow journalism, in short, is biased opinion masquerading as objective fact. Moreover, the practice of yellow journalism involved sensationalism, distorted stories, and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales and exciting public opinion. It was particularly indicative of two papers founded and popularized in the late 19th century- The New York World, run by Joseph Pulitzer and The New York Journal, run by William Randolph Hearst.
It all started, some historians believe, with the onset of the rapid industrialization that was happening all around the world.

The Industrial Revolution eventually affected the newspaper industry, allowing newspapers access to machines that could easily print thousands of papers in a single night. This is believed to have brought into play one of the most important characteristics of yellow journalism - the endless drive for circulation. And unfortunately, the publisher's greed was very often put before ethics.

Although the actual practice of what would later become known as yellow journalism came into being during a more extended time period (between 1880-1890), the term was first coined based on a series of occurrences in and following the year of 1895. This was the year in which Hearst purchased the New York Journal, quickly becoming a key rival of Pulitzer's. The term was derived, through a series of peculiar circumstances, from a cartoon by the famous 19th century cartoonist, Robert Outcault called "The Yellow Kid". The cartoon was first published in The World, until Hearst hired him away to produce the strip in his newspaper. Pulitzer then hired another artist to produce the same strip in his newspaper.

This comic strip happened to use a new special, non-smear yellow ink, and because of the significance of the comic strip, the term "yellow journalism" was coined by critics.

Sadly though, this period of sensationalist news delivery (where the so-called yellow press routinely outsold the more honest, truthful, unbiased newspapers) does stand out as a particularly dark era in journalistic history. The demand of the United States people for absolutely free press allowed such aforementioned newspapers, which often appealed to the shorter attention spans and interests of the lower class, to print whatever they so desired.

This means that they could easily steal a headline and story directly from another paper, or simply fabricate a story to fit their particular agenda.
One of the more disturbing features involved with the former practice of yellow journalism, and the period in which it was most active in is that there is no definite line between this period of yellow journalism and the period afterwards.

There only exists evidence that such practices were frowned upon by the general public - by 1910, circulation had dropped off very rapidly for such papers. But regardless, does this mean that yellow journalism simply faded away, never to return? Or did it absorb itself into the very heart of our newspapers, where it will remain forever? One thing is for certain - after the late 1800s, newspapers changed drastically, and still show no sign of changing back.

The modernly present newspaper appearances of catchy headlines, humorous comic strips, special interest sections, intrusive investigative reporting, et cetera serve as a constant reminder that one must always stay skeptical when examining our news sources.

What is the remedy to yellow journalism? Simply double- and triple-checking one's sources and reading between the lines. If one disregards the obvious marketing that is used to hook readers, newspapers may actually prove to be reliable sources of information.

Xeric Wednesday, June 08, 2011 07:29 PM

[B][U]Communication in the e-world - Issues[/U][/B]

The famous remark of Marshall McLuhan, the linguist "The Media is the Message" could be called the foundation for any study on mass communication. But today, the media is no longer the message i.e. content. Mass communication media is becoming diverse, and so is the content. People�s access to the media has increased manifold and so has the ability to create a new content with each access.

"Mass communication" has started to shift towards "one-to-one communication," which means that communication is programmed to meet the demands of the individual. The Internet is one such essential tool for �personalized� mass communication. This chapter focuses on the various phases of the ongoing "paradigm shift," induced by the changes in the technological society.

[B]EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: THEIR HISTORY
[/B]
The Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW)

Some of the best ideas are born in the worst of times it is said. And so it was that the seeds of the Internet were sown in the ashes of World War II. After perpetuating the nuclear holocaust in Japan in 1945, the US military research concentrated on ways and means to survive a similar holocaust on themselves.

In the 1960s, the problem of communicating with each other in the aftermath of a nuclear attack was taken up by America�s foremost military think-tank - the Rand Corporation�s Paul Baran. Years of agonizing research led to the creation of the first Net called the ARPANET (ARPA stood for Advanced Research Projects Agency) - connecting 4 American research organizations: Stanford Research Institute, the University of Utah, and the University of California in Los Angeles as well as Santa Barbara.

In 1971, Robert Kahn of the BBC made a public demonstration of the uses of the Net. By this time the ARPANET had grown and now connected 23 universities and government research centers around the US. E-mail was introduced and soon became ARPANET�s most used facility. In 1972, the Inter Networking Working Group was set up with Vinton Cerf as its first chairman. He was later to be known as the father of the Internet. Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf developed what eventually became the Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The first microprocessor based �user friendly� personal computer (PC) was introduced in 1974. In 1975, ARPANET�s administration was transferred to the US Department of Defense (DOD). In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee had created the World Wide Web (WWW) that would help even remote computers and desktops to access the Net.

It didn�t take long for the Web to find and enjoy the effects of a world wide audience. The democratic nature of the web works because its point-and-click accessibility, as well as the absence of technical jargon at most sites, has allowed the computer novices and experts alike to explore and create the Web at their own pace and on their own terms.

A leading Indian magazine enlists 10 reasons for being on the Internet:

Communicating with people
Finding people with common issues
Finding information
Exchanging Information and Documents
Finding Support Groups
Place to speak freely
Education
Fun and Entertainment
More than just fun and games

The recent global debate over the content regulation of the Internet was obviously the outcome of the number of instances that a lack of regulation has led to. Policing the Internet continues to be a controversial issue in the United States and many other countries because of a potential infringement on free speech. It is also unclear how such laws might be enforced in the free-for-all atmosphere of the Internet.

Internet sites differ in size according to whether it is a personal set of postings by an individual or if it is to be used as an interactive reporting and reference tool for global events. Though there has been a continuous wave of technological breakthroughs in the creative content presentation, the potential for combining graphics, text, video and sound with the various WWW protocols is still being tapped.

There is a trend towards building �information communities�. With the ability to keep track of the number of users, interact with people via chat groups and email, the global community has made a paradigm shift from being passive readers to becoming interactive audiences. This chapter will compare the World Wide Web to other mass media such as newspaper and television and discuss the issues behind the �interactive� communication media and its pros and cons.

Andrew L. Fry (Vice President, Director of Projects at Free Range Media, Inc) in his abstract titled �Publishing in the New Mass Medium: Creating Content on the Internet� talks about how Mathew Gray, an MIT student, has attempted to estimate size and growth of the Web using the World Wide Web Wanderer, an Internet automation, and has reported the following results as of early 1994: "Wow, the Web is BIG". His was an attempt to quantify file transfer as a function of traffic, web server sites and of course, number of Internet users. All three are important in defining the Internet as a mass medium. The first, traffic, is a measure of interaction; the second, number of server sites, as a measure of content and the third, number of users, representing audience.

One figure commonly used to estimate the Internet user base is an audience of 20,000,000 to 30,000,000 people with a growth rate of 10% to 20% per month. The figure is derived in formulaic fashion and is the subject of debate, as is demonstrated in the copyrighted article entitled "How Big is the Internet", by Vanderbilt professors Donna L. Hoffman and Thomas P. Novak. This article can be read on-line on [url=http://www.wired.com]Wired.com[/url]. The testimony before the US House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Space and Technology on March 23, 1993 by Vinton Cerf. estimates 100 million users in the foreseeable future. With evident phenomenal growth, it appears that everyone is jumping on to the bandwidth-wagon.

The Internet possesses the unique ability to combine protocols supported by the World Wide Web project to deliver information, communication and interactivity. However the Internet is only the delivery system, just as broadcast is the delivery system for television and radio, and print is the platform for newspapers and magazines. The Internet�s USP is its specificity of types of content available at the click of a button.

Watching television is a cultural phenomenon which can only occur when a large enough proportion of the available audience shares in the viewing of a particular program. But the fund of information pouring into the Web is diluting the core audience.

Broadcast programmes provide information and entertainment to an audience which is referred to as "viewership" or "listenership" and has limited interaction with content providers. It is aided by subscriptions and advertisements. So is the case of publications, where the audience is referred to as readership which interacts with content providers through letters to the editors etc.

Some web sites are delivering topical editorial content through sponsorship e.g HotWIRED, (the first web site to publish materials based on the virtues of the medium that delivers it) produced by WIRED magazine. The audience interacts directly and in real time with the content and content providers. The number of hits that the site has received can be tallied and information flow can be measured. As far as using the Internet as a marketing tool goes, innumerable examples can be cited, e.g. Macmillan Publishing has created an independent business unit which will operate as a virtual bookstore.

Competition for securing audience is gets more fierce. This bodes well for the medium because in order to attract more people to a site, the quality of the information, interaction and user experience will continue to climb as sites compete for viewers.

In order to develop successful, topical programs on the net, Andrew Fry recommends that the site must do three things. First, it must develop a recognizable look and feel (branding). Second, it must maintain a high standard for delivering hard to get or consistently entertaining material (quality of content). And third, it must build, measure, and maintain a community of users i.e. "the audience" or "information community".

Xeric Wednesday, June 08, 2011 07:33 PM

The quality and content of the sites on the Web are rated by companies such as Nielson. Ratings for a particular web site will not only consist of number of hits. Number of emails generated from the site, volume of postings at registered and related news groups and of course demographic information generated via questionnaires AND comments.

In a paper based on an in-depth Mosaic Group study of the state of the Internet in China and India ([url=http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/articles/chind.htm]Folks,[/url]), comparison between the Internets in the two countries are based on six dimensions: pervasiveness (users, hosts), geographic dispersion(top-tier political divisions with POPs, number of cities with POPs), sectoral absorption (commercial, education, government, health), connectivity infrastructure (domestic backbone, high-speed access, exchanges, international bandwidth) organizational infrastructure (telecommunication competition, backbone competition, access provider competition, coordinating organizations) and sophistication of use. Factors such as illiteracy, language, government action and programs that encourage Internet penetration such as free-market purchase of PCs India etc are taken into account.

Marshall McLuhan (1960) wrote, "The advent of a new medium often reveals the lineaments and assumptions, as it were, of an old medium" The Internet is a multifaceted mass medium, that is, it contains many different configurations of communication. Its varied forms show the connection between interpersonal and mass communication that has been an object of study since the two-step flow associated the two (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet, 1944). Chaffee and Mutz (1988) have called for an exploration of this relationship that begins "with a theory that spells out what effects are of interest, and what aspects of communication might produce them"
The Internet plays with the source-message-receiver features of the traditional mass communication model. Internet communication takes many forms, from World Wide Web pages operated by major news organizations to Usenet groups discussing folk music to E-mail messages among colleagues and friends. Sources of the messages can range from one person in E-mail communication, to a social group in a Listserv or Usenet group, to a group of professional journalists in a World Wide Web page.

The messages themselves can be traditional journalistic news stories created by a reporter and editor, stories created over a long period of time by many people, or simply conversations, such as in an Internet Relay Chat group. The receivers, or audiences, of these messages can also number from one to potentially millions, and may or may not move fluidly from their role as audience members to producers of messages.

The various differences between the tradition communication media and the Internet as the modern medium of communication can be given as below:

Traditional Media
Print media
newspapers, books, magazines, pamphlets.
Many-to-many communcation, effortful, slow, expensive
Broadcast
television, radio
One-to-many, effortful, very expensive
Common carriers
Telephone, postal service
One-to-one, cheap, fast/slow, carriers provide communication medium not content
Internet Communication
Differences to traditional media:
Many-to-many communication ,Fast, cheap, interactive, global scale
Universal Access
Anonymity
Communication without linking personal, physical information.
Reproducibility
Communications (email, newsgroup postings) can be stored and perfectly reproduced.
Implications for notions of property and personal privacy:
Traditional notion of property associated with idea of control. Notion challenged by internet communication.
Traditional notion of privacy associated with short lifetime of our actions in restricted physical space.
Both notions challenged by internet

In their article entitles �The Internet as Mass Medium�, Merrill Morris and Christine Ogan of the Indiana University talk about the various communication theories as applicable to the e-media. In approaching the study of the Internet as a mass medium, the following established concepts seem to be useful starting points. Some of these have originated in the study of interpersonal or small group communication; others have been used to examine mass media. Some relate to the nature of the medium, while others focus on the audience for the medium.


[B][U]Critical mass
[/U][/B]
This conceptual framework has been adopted from economists, physicists, and sociologists by organizational communication and diffusion of innovation scholars to better understand the size of the audience needed for a new technology to be considered successful and the nature of collective action as applied to electronic media use (Markus, 1991; Oliver et al., 1985). For any medium to be considered a mass medium, and therefore economically viable to advertisers, a critical mass of adopters must be achieved. Interactive media only become useful as more and more people adopt, or as Rogers (1986) states, "the usefulness of a new communication system increases for all adopters with each additional adopter" (p. 120). Initially, the critical mass notion works against adoption, since it takes a number of other users to be seen as advantageous to adopt.

For example, the telephone or an E-mail system was not particularly useful to the first adopters because most people were unable to receive their messages or converse with them. Valente (1995) notes that the critical mass is achieved when about 10 to 20 percent of the population has adopted the innovation. When this level has been reached, the innovation can be spread to the rest of the social system. Adoption of computers in U.S. households has well surpassed this figure, but the modem connections needed for Internet connection lag somewhat behind.

Because a collection of communication services-electronic bulletin boards, Usenet groups, E-mail, Internet Relay Chats, home pages, gophers, and so forth-comprise the Internet, the concept of critical mass on the Internet could be looked upon as a variable, rather than a fixed percentage of adopters. Fewer people are required for sustaining an Internet Relay Chat conference or a Multi-User Dungeon than may be required for an electronic bulletin board or another type of discussion group. As already pointed out, a relatively large number of E-mail users are required for any two people to engage in conversation, yet only those two people constitute the critical mass for any given conversation. For a bulletin board to be viable, its content must have depth and variety.

If the audience who also serve as the source of information for the BBS is too small, the bulletin board cannot survive for lack of content. A much larger critical mass will be needed for such a group to maintain itself-perhaps as many as 100 or more. The discretionary data base, as defined by Connolly and Thorn (1991) is a "shared pool of data to which several participants may, if they choose, separately contribute information" (p. 221). If no one contributes, the data base cannot exist. It requires a critical mass of participants to carry the free riders in the system, thus supplying this public good to all members, participants, or free riders.

Though applied to organizations, this refinement of the critical mass theory is a useful way of thinking about Listserv, electronic bulletin boards, Usenet groups, and other Internet services, where participants must hold up their end of the process through written contributions.

Each of these specific Internet services can be viewed as we do specific television stations, small town newspapers, or special interest magazines. None of these may reach a strictly mass audience, but in conjunction with all the other stations, newspapers, and magazines distributed in the country, they constitute mass media categories. So the Internet itself would be considered the mass medium, while the individual sites and services are the components of which this medium is comprised.

[B][U]Interactivity
[/U][/B]
This concept has been assumed to be a natural attribute of interpersonal communication, but, as explicated by Rafaeli (1988), it is more recently applied to all new media, from two-way cable to the Internet. From Rafaeli's perspective, the most useful basis of inquiry for interactivity would be one grounded in responsiveness. Rafaeli's definition of interactivity "recognizes three pertinent levels: two-way (noninteractive) communication, reactive (or quasi-interactive) communication, and fully interactive communication" (1988, p. 119). Anyone working to conceptualize Internet communication would do well to draw on this variable and follow Rafaeli's lead when he notes that the value of a focus on interactivity is that the concept cuts across the mass versus interpersonal distinctions usually made in the fields of inquiry. It is also helpful to consider interactivity to be variable in nature, increasing or decreasing with the particular Internet service in question.

[B][U]Uses and Gratifications
[/U][/B]
Though research of mass media use from a uses-and-gratifications perspective has not been prevalent in the communication literature in recent years, it may help provide a useful framework from which to begin the work on Internet communication. Both Walther (1992b) and Rafaeli (1986) concur in this conclusion. The logic of the uses-and-gratifications approach, based in functional analysis, is derived from "

(1) the social and psychological origins of
(2) needs, which generate
(3) expectations of
(4) the mass media and other sources, which lead to
(5) differential patterns of media exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in
(6) other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones" (Blumler and Katz, 1974).

Rosengren (1974) modified the original approach in one way by noting that the "needs" in the original model had to be perceived as problems and some potential solution to those problems needed to be perceived by the audience. Rafaeli (1986) regards the move away from effects research to a uses-and-gratifications approach as essential to the study of electronic bulletin boards (one aspect of the Internet medium). He is predisposed to examine electronic bulletin boards in the context of play or Ludenic theory, an extension of the uses-and-gratifications approach, which is clearly a purpose that drives much of Internet use by a wide spectrum of the population. Rafaeli summarizes the importance of this paradigm for electronic communication by noting uses-and-gratifications' comprehensive nature in a media environment where computers have not only home and business applications, but also work and play functions.

Additionally, the uses-and-gratifications approach presupposes a degree of audience activity, whether instrumental or ritualized. The concept of audience activity should be included in the study of Internet communication, and it already has been incorporated in one examination of the Cleveland Freenet (Swift, 1989).


[B]Social presence and media richness theory[/B]

These approaches have been applied to CMC use by organizational communication researchers to account for interpersonal effects. But social presence theory stems from an attempt to determine the differential properties of various communication media, including mass media, in the degree of social cues inherent in the technology. In general, CMC, with its lack of visual and other nonverbal cues, is said to be extremely low in social presence in comparison to face-to-face communication (Walther, 1992a).

Media richness theory differentiates between lean and rich media by the bandwidth or number of cue systems within each medium. This approach (Walther, 1992a) suggests that because CMC is a lean channel, it is useful for simple or unequivocal messages, and also that it is more efficient "because shadow functions and coordinated interaction efforts are unnecessary. For receivers to understand clearly more equivocal information, information that is ambiguous, emphatic, or emotional, however, a richer medium should be used" (p. 57).

Unfortunately, much of the research on media richness and social presence has been one-shot experiments or field studies. Given the ambiguous results of such studies in business and education (Dennis & Gallupe, 1993), it can be expected that over a longer time period, people who communicate on Usenets and bulletin boards will restore some of those social cues and thus make the medium richer than its technological parameters would lead us to expect. As Walther (1992a) argues: "It appears that the conclusion that CMC is less socioemotional or personal than face-to-face communication is based on incomplete measurement of the latter form, and it may not be true whatsoever, even in restricted laboratory settings" (p. 63). Further, he notes that though researchers recognize that nonverbal social context cues convey formality and status inequality, "they have reached their conclusion about CMC/face-to-face differences without actually observing the very non-verbal cues through which these effects are most likely to be performed" (p. 63).

Clearly, there is room for more work on the social presence and media richness of Internet communication. It could turn out that the Internet contains a very high degree of media richness relative to other mass media, to which it has insufficiently been compared and studied. Ideas about social presence also tend to disguise the subtle kinds of social control that goes on the Net through language, such as flaming.


[B]Network Approaches[/B]

Grant (1993) has suggested that researchers approach new communication technologies through network analysis, to better address the issues of social influence and critical mass. Conceptualizing Internet communities as networks might be a very useful approach. As discussed earlier, old concepts of senders and receivers are inappropriate to the study of the Internet. Studying the network of users of any given Internet service can incorporate the concept of interactivity and the interchangeability of message producers and receivers. The computer allows a more efficient analysis of network communication, but researchers will need to address the ethical issues related to studying people's communication without their permission.

These are just a few of the core concepts and theoretical frameworks that should be applied to a mass communication perspective on Internet communication. Reconceptualizing the Internet from this perspective will allow researchers both to continue to use the structures of traditional media studies and to develop new ways of thinking about those structures. It is, finally, a question of taxonomy. Thomas Kuhn (1974) has noted the ways in which similarity and resemblance are important in creating scientific paradigms. As Kuhn points out, scientists facing something new "can often agree on the particular symbolic expression appropriate to it, even though none of them has seen that particular expression before" (p. 466). The problem becomes a taxonomic one: how to categorize, or, more importantly, how to avoid categorizing in a rigid, structured way so that researchers may see the slippery nature of ideas such as mass media, audiences, and communication itself.

Xeric Wednesday, June 08, 2011 07:35 PM

[B][U]Broadcast journalism[/U][/B]

The world a few years ago was a testing laboratory for innovative television technology that has now become a versatile tool for the leapfrogging communication scenario. Changes such as Studio film, videotape colour, quicker editing, miniaturization of bulky electronic gears, orbiting communications satellite providing visual and sound links and the continuous refinement of technology to name a few, have revolutionized the world of broadcast journalism.

Experimental television broadcasting started in the 1920s in the USA in a small way using a mechanical scanning disc which could only scan a picture slowly. All this changed with the invention of the iconoskinescope (picture tube), the electronic camera and television home receivers. By the 1930s NBC and BBC had set up their TV stations in New York and London respectively. The World war hampered any further development in television broadcasting.

The 1960s was the Age of Satellite Communications. Early Bird, the first communication satellite was launched and two big international satellite systems, Intelsat and Intersputnik began operating leading to phenomenal progress. In the 1970s, more sophisticated transmission techniques using optical fibre cables and computer technology were introduced. A computer controlled network to carry two-way video information to and from households was designed in Japan. Further developments included the audio-visual cassette, videotape recorder, closed circuit TV, cable and pay television and Direct Broadcasting Systems.

[B] Advantages of Television Media[/B]

Television as distinguished from the press has a natural attribute: the immense personal and graphic impact on its viewers, which is in a sense more "communicative", interactive and interpersonal than the printed word. Television "transports" the audience to the scene of the event and leads them to experience emotion and involvement with the event.

The main difference between press and television is the element of time. The newsperson is dependent on limited time instead of stretchable space on a newspaper, and he/she also has to take into account the audience's attention span. He/she has to select news items that will interest people and broadcast it to them within the timeframe allowed.

[B] On-the-scene Reporting[/B]

Recent trends have shown an increased use of first-hand, on-the-spot broadcasting/reporting of a story directly from the scene of news. Efficient technology has increased the speed of such coverage. A highly organized team geared to the day-to-day demands of news broadcasting is very much an essential part today due to increased competitiveness and the irrefutable need for keeping up the quality of news delivery to a very media savvy audience.

Judgments and critical evaluations of the news items to be broadcast begin with the top news executives of the organization. They have a group of editors or producers of the program reporting to them, who in turn command a host of reporters, writers, cameramen, film editors and technicians. Hours before the program is to be aired, the editor assigns work to his subordinates, anticipates future developments and reserves sufficient flexibility to cope with news occurring during and before airing of the program.

Network correspondents in particular areas or reporters affiliated to local stations prepare newsworthy items and mount them for transmission and recording ahead of program time or live transmission. Stories from far away areas are filmed and dispatched by air transportation to points within reach for feeding into the show.

After all the news has been gathered and the late-breaking additions are made, the news must be edited to fit the air time. Stories to be read out by newscasters must be combined with silent and sound film, video and audio tapes, still photographs, amps and other audio-visual "accessories". The final script with the audio-visual elements is called the "master" which should be crisp, effective and professional.

The shape of any news show is determined not only by the choice of what is news, but also by the emphasis given to different stories and the way it is presented. The way a story is written creates an impact on the listener.

Many have raised the question as to the role of television other than its entertainment function: is it not to dissent, persuade, to chronicle events of the day as judgments? A pertinent question here is whether the broadcasting people have the wisdom to tell the nation what to do about matters of vital importance. If one point of view is emphasised, is there not a responsibility to present the other side? Many well-known media persons have commented on this Former NBC President Kitner says, "It is not our job to take sides. We should present the story objectively and let the public decide for themselves." This brings in the need for objectivity. But again one person's objectivity may be another person's story with a slant and vice-versa. This is one area which is open to debate.

[B] Investigative Reporting[/B]

William Wood in his book "Electronic Journalism" says that the forms of journalism calculated to stir things up are not complete without investigative reporting, sometimes called enterprise reporting, which is digging for unknown facts that result in an expose.

[B] Talk Programs and Depth Interviews[/B]

Special documentaries produced over long periods are called "talk" programs and are more in depth than normal news stories. Depth interviews, panels of experts, debates between political candidates are other ways in which television journalism garners audience pulling power. Talk programs are cheaper and easier to produce than documentaries.

Xeric Wednesday, June 08, 2011 07:39 PM

[B][U][U]Uses and Effects of mass media[/U][/U][/B]


Chapter 2 focused on the various theories of communication and the effects that the tools of media have on the audiences. This chapter will focus on the several types of communication classified on the basis of the social group in which it takes place and upon the technical tools used for its facilitation. The various types are:

Intrapersonal [B]Communication
[/B]
Intrapersonal communication is one-way communication. Individual contemplation, internal reflection, prayers, etc. are types of intrapersonal communication. This type can also be termed as a form of internal persuasion. There are two types of messages, nonverbal and verbal. Examples of nonverbal communication are facial expressions, posture, gestures, tone of voice, touching, spacing and systematic use of time. Verbal communication can be divided into three disciplines; syntactics, semantics, and pragmatics.

In the persuasion context, one person is attempting to induce change in the belief, attitude, or behavior in one other person. For example: Jane persuading her sister Sarah to lend her pearls for Jane’s school party.
In the persuasion context, there are various theories that explain internal communication.

[B]Balance Theory[/B]

This theory advocated by Fritz Heider and Theodore Newcomb in 1946 states that when tensions arise between or inside people, they attempt to reduce these tensions through self-persuasion or trying to persuade others. Balance theory proposes that there are three ways in which a person can feel balance. First the source and receiver can both dislike as well as like each other, so they experience comfort and balance. Second, the source and receiver can have a positive attitude toward an object or idea and display positive feelings toward one another, therefore experiencing comfort and balance. Third, the source and the receiver can disagree about an idea or object and also dislike each other, therefore experiencing comfort because they know that they disagree about the values of certain objects or ideas.

[B]Example:[/B]

Mary likes to do things in a planned, orderly manner and Joe does not like orderliness in everything. Yet Mary likes Adam, and values their relationship therefore this system is now in imbalance. If Mary would change her attitude about orderliness in everything, this system would be in balance.

[B]Cognitive Dissonance Theory[/B]

This theory propagated by Leon Festinger in 1962 says that human beings often have conflicting beliefs with actions they take, or other beliefs they have. This dissonance creates a tension and tension reduction is automatically sought by changing our evaluations by some degree. Cognitive Dissonance is when you have two good choices and you make your decision then you find yourself unsure or in doubt about the choice you made. The theory of Cognitive Dissonance implies that when there is tension we change a belief or an action. Many times selective exposure is used which prevents dissonance. This theory also implies that we experience more dissonance when the issue is more important, when we put off a decision and the decision is permanent.

[B]Example:[/B]

When marketers want to persuade their audience to buy a product they must convince them that this is a good action and if their beliefs do not match this action, they must persuade them to change their beliefs. For instance if a health drink is introduced in the market, and some consumers feel that it is really not essential that they switch over to the new product from their usual cereal, the advertisers will have to focus on the fact the health drink contains health benefits such as cholesterol fighting, fat reducing ingredients that their usual cereal lacks.

[B]Information Manipulation Theory (IMT)[/B]

Theorist Steve A. McCornack propounded this theory in 1992. This states that a speaker purposefully and covertly violates one of the conversational maxims of quantity, quality, relation and manner with the intention of deceiving his/her listener.

[B]Example:[/B]

X has an important school project due Wednesday. His professor does not accept late papers. Monday night he went to the soccer match and didn't start on the paper. Tuesday night he browsed the net for information related to the project and managed to almost finish the project. Wednesday morning, X overslept and arrived only after class was over. He goes to see his professor immediately after. How will he answer his professor on why he wasn't in class to turn in his paper?

Quantity: "I am sorry professor. I overslept."
Quality: "Our power got cut and my alarm didn't go off."
Relation: "I've had a really bad week. I had a fight with my roommate, I forgot to pay the electricity bill, the electricity was turned off and my boss has threatened to fire me if I’m late again."
Manner: "I badly need to score well in this project. My paper was already finished, I just overslept".

The Inoculation Theory (1961) by William McGuire states that inoculation is used to describe the attribution of greater resistance to individuals or the process of supplying information to receivers before the communication process takes place in the hope that the information would make the receiver more resistant. This theory stresses on the importance of the nature of the presentation of the message. One method involves passive reading in which receivers read the defensive material. Another method is to read the material and underline the passages relating to the arguments presented in the defense. Next, experimenters supply an outline where the defensive material is to be written out. The last method is to write out the arguments without any help.

[B]Example:[/B]

McGuire’s basic method included constructing a persuasive message attacking a cultural truism such as, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.†This message would contain statements like “eating too many apples can cause digestive problems.†Prior to this message, material would be introduced that should strengthen the belief in the truism.

Rank's Model of Persuasion, 1976 (Theorist: Hugh Rank) states that persuaders use two major strategies to achieve their goals. These strategies are nicely set into two main schemas known as (1) intensify, and (2) downplay. The persuader will do this in one of four methods.

1) Intensify their own strong points.
2) Intensify the weak points of the opposition.
3) Downplay their own weak points.
4) Downplay the strong points of the opposition.

[B]Example:[/B]

While arguing about their favorite movies, Damien continues to insist to Joey that the Terminator movies were much better than the Matrix movies. Rank's Model contends that Damien will use one of four main strategies to argue his point to Joey. He will either:

1) Stress the great performances that were given by Terminator lead actor Arnold Schwarzeneger, while pointing out the acclaim that he received for the movies, OR
2) Stress what he believed was poor acting by Matrix lead actor Keanu Reeves, OR
3) Downplay the weak points of the Terminator movies, OR
4) Downplay the terrific performance by the Matrix actors.

Interpersonal Communication is an interactional process between two people, either face-to-face or through mediated forms. It is, in other words, a dialogue or conversation that is personal, direct and intimate. A lot depends on the relationship between the two individuals, their equality of status, the socio-cultural environment in which the exchange takes place etc. When a mechanical device ‘mediates’ in an interpersonal exchange, it is termed ‘interpersonal mediated communication’. Feedback is instantaneous and easy to measure. The following important aspects are stressed on:

Relational (Qualitative)
Communication in which the roles of sender and receiver are shared
by two people simultaneously in order to create meaning.
Situational (Contextual)
Communication that occurs between two people in a specific context.
Quantitative
Dyadic interactions, including impersonal communication.
Functional (Strategic)
Communication for the purpose of achieving interpersonal goals.

Group Communication is an interactional process that occurs among
three or more people interacting in an attempt to achieve commonly recognized goals either face-to-face or through mediated forms. The larger the group, the less intimate and personal is the possibility of exchange. Feedback is the key word here. Feedback is not instantaneous and is difficult to measure.

Groupthink is an important aspect in group communication. This occurs when a homogenous highly cohesive group is so concerned with maintaining unanimity that they fail to evaluate all their alternatives. Groupthink members see themselves as part of an in-group working against an outgroup opposed to their goals. Groups engaged in groupthink tend to make faulty decisions when compared to the decisions that could have been reached using a fair, open, and rational decision-making process. Group thinking groups tend to:

1- fail to adequately determine their objectives and alternatives,
2- fail to adequately assess the risks associated with the group's decision,
3- fail to cycle through discarded alternatives to reexamine their worth after a majority of the group discarded the alternative,
4- not seek expert advice,
5- select and use only information that supports their position and conclusions, and does not make contingency plans in case their decision and resulting actions fail.

[B]Group leaders can prevent groupthink by:[/B]

1- encouraging members to raise objections and concerns;
2- refraining from stating their preferences at the onset of the group's activities;
3- allowing the group to be independently evaluated by a separate group with a different leader;
4- splitting the group into sub-groups, each with different chairpersons, to separately generate alternatives, then bringing the sub-groups together to hammer out differences;
5- allowing group members to get feedback on the group's decisions from their own constituents;
6- seeking input from experts outside the group;
7- assigning one or more members to play the role of the devil's advocate;
8- requiring the group to develop multiple scenarios of events upon which they are acting, and contingencies for each scenario; and
9- calling a meeting after a decision consensus is reached in which all group members are expected to critically review the decision before final approval is given.

[B]Mass Communication[/B]

Mass Communication represents the creation and sending of a homogeneous message to a large heterogeneous audience through the media. Mass communication studies the uses and effects of the media by many as opposed to the study of human interaction as in other communication contexts.

Group communication has now been extended by the tools of mass communication: the press, radio, television, video and cinema. A lot of discussion has been generated on the ‘power’ of the mass media (termed by Daniel Learner as ‘mobility multipliers’ and by Schramm as ‘magic multipliers’). A mass media, according to Schramm, is essentially a working group organized around some device for circulating the same message, at about the same time to large numbers of people. Mass media are founded on the idea of mass production and mass distribution.

[B]Functions of The Mass Media[/B]

The following are the basic functions performed by the mass media:

1- Information: Surveillance of the environment relates to news about the happenings in society. The mass media carry out this function by keeping us informed about the latest events in and around the world.
2- Entertainment: Mass media help us relax with family and friends and pass time. They also fulfill our psychological and social needs.
3- Symbolic Function: Mass media provide a shared symbolic environment. George Gerbner sees television as the central symbol of American culture.
4- Development: The mass media in developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America perform the function of facilitators of ‘development communication’ focusing on the socio-economic needs of the backward sections of society.
5- Advertising: This is a commercial function that helps keep the economic status of a country healthy. At the same time it would be suicidal to let this function dominate over the other functions of the mass media.
Effects

Bernard Berelson arrived at the conclusion that ‘some kinds of communication on some kinds of issues, brought to the attention of some kinds of people under some kind of conditions have some kinds of effects’.
Theories Of Media Effects

[B]The Medium Not the Message[/B]

Marshall McLuhan said “The medium is the messageâ€. No matter what the contents of the programmes, he argued that the audiences will watch television…it commands their attention as no other medium has. Mass Communications are neither good nor bad, but rather mystical devices that possess powers to change the way humans lead their lives.

[B]Reinforcement
[/B]
McLuhan’s theory did not find total support. Joseph Klapper and other theorists believed in the reinforcement function of mass media. Only after reinforcing existing values and attitudes can programmes of the media be popular with the majority of social groups interested in perpetuating their own traditions and status.

[B]Narcosis
[/B]
Lazarsfeld and Merton held that the mass media could not be relied upon to work for changes, even minor ones, in the social structure. They perceived in mass communication a ‘narcotising dysfunction’ that distracts and prevents audiences from facing real problems. Exposure to a flood of information serve to narcotize rather than energize the average audience.. This theory is now outdated as the media today have a galvanizing effect in bringing about many revolutionary changes example, bringing about an end to the Vietnam War, bringing about Nixon’s exit through Watergate exposure etc.

[B]Catharsis[/B]

Seymour Feshbach, the main exponent of this theory, argued that the media may have a ’cathartic’ effect on the audiences and purges them of anti-social or unfulfilled desires and frustrations. A study was conducted on a group of college students. They were subject to savage insults and criticisms by experimenters. A portion of the group was shown an aggressive film of a brutal boxing match, another portion was shown a dull ‘control’ film. It was found that those students who had seen the aggressive film felt less hostile to their experimenters than those who had seen the control film.
But in a parallel study conducted by Berkovitz, it was found that the aggressive film was responsible for the aggressive response of the students. Other experiments have shown that children are likely to imitate violence in films.

[B]Manipulation[/B]

he manipulation theory by Ernst Van Haag is an extreme view that states that mass communications are demeaning, depersonalizing instruments of manipulation. But it is to be noted that social and economic circumstances and not mass media alone foster such hedonism.

[B]Windows On The World[/B]

Edward Shils and David M. White are of the view that mass media constitute ‘windows on the world’ dealing in new and popular culture that bring more of the ‘good’ to more people than ever before in history. But White talks about the ‘gate-keeper’ aspect of the editor who sees to it that only those events which he believes to be true should reach the audience.

[B]Corruptive[/B]

Frederick Wertham also holds an extreme view that the content of the media is corruptive and inculcates materialism and anti-social behaviour towards others.

[B]Receiver Factors[/B]

Several factors determine media influence. The role played by primary, secondary and reference groups and by public opinion leaders are important. Receiver factors are related intimately to every aspect of the personality of the audience and must not be considered in isolation. The main receiver factors are attitudes, beliefs, opinions, interests, motivation and the manner of processing, retaining and rejecting of information.

israrahmed Thursday, June 09, 2011 10:54 AM

can u plz provide me exact outline for Journalism?

Xeric Thursday, June 09, 2011 03:57 PM

[QUOTE=israrahmed;317511]can u plz provide me exact outline for Journalism?[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-b/journalism/44863-journalism-notes-points.html[/url]

tranquil Thursday, June 09, 2011 04:59 PM

[QUOTE=israrahmed;317511]can u plz provide me exact outline for Journalism?[/QUOTE]

Did you mean course outline?

Xeric Thursday, June 09, 2011 08:28 PM

[B]Problems of press in Pakistan[/B]

Basically there are two problems

1. Freedom of press
2. Economic condition of press

[B] FREEDOM OF PRESS:[/B]

There can be difference of opinion about the topic freedom of the press. we get different opinions on this issue. Govermant of Pakistan, history reveals, always used a strong hand to curb the voice of journalist on different occasions. The history of Pakistan is full of incidents when dictators ( civil and military) put the press under its control. The purpose was always hiding of the facts from public. Freedom of expression in democratic countries is vital. But every democratic government in Pakistan imposed restrictions on media. We know that press should be given freedom but this freedom shall not be misused.



[B]2. Economic Conditions of Newspapers:[/B]

[B] distribution of advertisement:[/B]

Advertisement is blood of newspaper. 60 percent advertisement in newspaper is from govt. and 40 percent from private sector. Govt. uses advertisement as weapon and makes its distribution unjustified when ever required.

[B]2. Supply of newsprint paper:[/B]

Govt imports newsprint paper and imposes heavy taxes on it. Govt use this monopoly as weapon against press

[B]3. Raw material:[/B]

Press machine parts, paper, ink, plate colors and other material are getting expensive day by day. The per capita income of reader is decreasing on the other hand. The sales of newspapers as a result remain low and newspaper face financial constraints.

[B]4. Illiteracy: literacy rate in Pakistan is 45%.[/B]

[B]5.Press advice:[/B]

With the help of press advice newspapers are asked to do or not to do any certain action by govt. press advice is also a weapon in the hand of govt.


[B]6. Limited buying capacity:[/B]

Buying capacity of public in Pakistan is less. Ordinary day’s urdu newspaper is of rs 9 and Sunday of 13, where as incase of English Rs 13 and 15 respectively. People are not able to buy newspaper every day.

[B]7. Unskilled journalist:[/B]

Journalists are mostly untrained. The profession is low paid. Journalist faces hard life except few.

[B]8. Social Habit:[/B]

People read news paper at libraries, barbershop, hotels and bookstall for the reason that the wont have to buy it. Due to this social behavior newspapers are not purchased and newspaper owner faces financial problems.

[B]9. Distribution of newspaper:[/B]

The distribution agent gets 30% commission due to which newspaper industry suffers.

[B]10. Press trust of Pakistan:[/B]

On oct 08, 1959 ayub’s martial law was criticized by journalists. Faiz ahmed faiz , ahmed nadeem qasmi syed shibli hassan were arrested under safety act. The asscociated press of Pakistan APP was taken over by government

[B].11. Censorship:[/B]

Govt. deprives freedom of press with censorship. Censorship is usually imposed during conflicts (internat), national crises. The govt officers check the news paper.

[B]12. Competition with other sources of information:[/B]

Press has to compete against radio, television, internet etc.

Xeric Thursday, June 09, 2011 08:30 PM

[B][U]Propaganda[/U][/B]

[I]The dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion.[/I]

Propaganda is the more or less systematic effort to manipulate other people's beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols (words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on coins and postage stamps, and so forth). Deliberateness and a relatively heavy emphasis on manipulation distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and easy exchange of ideas. The propagandist has a specified goal or set of goals.

To achieve these he deliberately selects facts, arguments, and displays of symbols and presents them in ways he thinks will have the most effect. To maximize effect, he may omit pertinent facts or distort them, and he may try to divert the attention of the reactors (the people whom he is trying to sway) from everything but his own propaganda.

Comparatively deliberate selectivity and manipulation also distinguish propaganda from education. The educator tries to present various sides of an issue—the grounds for doubting as well as the grounds for believing the statements he makes, and the disadvantages as well as the advantages of every conceivable course of action. Education aims to induce the reactor to collect and evaluate evidence for himself and assists him in learning the techniques for doing so.

It must be noted, however, that a given propagandist may look upon himself as an educator, may believe that he is uttering the purest truth, that he is emphasizing or distorting certain aspects of the truth only to make a valid message more persuasive, and that the courses of action that he recommends are in fact the best actions that the reactor could take.

By the same token, the reactor who regards the propagandist's message as self-evident truth may think of it as educational; this often seems to be the case with “true believers”—dogmatic reactors to dogmatic religious or social propaganda. “Education” for one person may be “propaganda” for another.


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