Media Information Literacy, Study notes of Technology

Download Media Information Literacy and more Study notes Technology in PDF only on Docsity! LESSON 3 Communication Vis-á-Vis Mass Communication Issue Texting is a form of mediated interpersonal communication assisted by the technology provided by cellphones. However, as attested by the EDSA II phenomenon, cellphone technology was significantly used to topple a government. So, now, is texting really a form of mediated interpersonal communication or it is actually a mass communication? Example Scenario 1: Sandy 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 communication, which is interpersonal communication. Scenario 2: 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 ne example of mediated organizational communication. Scenario 3: He is invited to a talk show, so he can inform the public of his call to a rally at the EDSA Shrine. Here is where you encounter his appeal that is persuasive enough to get you and your friends to pick up your bags and head to the EDSA Shrine. Implication of Having Scenario 3 To get Sandy as guest entailed a series of processes. A production meeting for the week’s episodes generated a series of actions that allowed network executives to determine the priority issues of the day. They have probably thought that the call for a president’s ouster is imminent, and that the coalition representing this call is broad enough and deserves to be heard by the viewing public. Sandy is contacted by the network executives, and is adequately oriented on the nature of the program and the questions that may be asked by the panelists. It is also likely that Sandy was provided some tips on how to convey his message and how to avoid certain words that may seem politically incendiary to the Board of Censors or even to the advertisers. In a way, these institutions that are external to the broadcast network have stakes in the programs that are aired. Mediated Interpersonal Communication Mass Communication Sandy talks to his friends and colleagues in a meeting, over coffee, sends e-mails, and text messages informing them of the planned mass action at the EDSA shrine. Sandy's organization, the Kongreso ng mga Mamamayang Pilipino or Kompil, is interviewed as part of the featured in the primetime news. Sandy and his colleagues turn up at a late night Message talk show and at the end of his 15-minute spiel, he gives a persuasive call to action. Flashed on the screen are the e-mail addresses and the telephone number of the organizers of the mass action. Sandy himself, as the leader of the 7 ‘Source eaten The television programmes The format of the news programme and the talk 7 , - show that is able to accommodate the message Encoding pee eee eal el ease Rey of Sandy as a concerned citizen and leader of Political organization ‘Channel The phone, the cell phone, and the e-mail | Broadcast network Receiver Dozens of individuals The millions of people who are tuned in to the television programme " Coens i ea ee Members of the audience who are tuned in to Decoding Sandy's e-mails, phone calls, and text the show messages Feedback The returned phone calls, e-mails, and The number of people who turned up and text messages sent back to Sandy expressed support for Sandy's call ‘Could be glitches in the Internet . - Noise connection, the hums in the telephone words or eh ue mempersof the audience Interference | lines, or too many text messages being panes eT ence te ea sent understand Media and Social Control • Mass Society Approach  An approach which sees society as an integrated whole, with structures and institutions holding power and authority and exerting control over society.  The term “mass” suggests more than the common sense notion of large groups of people; instead, it implied that the creation of media was now directed toward an undifferentiated audience, and that the traditional categories used in segregating audiences (e.g., gender, class, location, and even race) are dispensed with.  The media is seen as a powerful agent in establishing social control in societies characterized by the dominance of industries, growing urban centers, alienation of citizens from their social institutions, and lack of strong citizen organizations. Media and Social Control • Base-superstructure Model  Media institutions are part of the superstructure, along with other social and cultural institutions. The base, on the other hand, is made up of economic institutions and economic relationships which determine the nature and behavior of the superstructure.  In a capitalist society, the economic ownership of media institutions dictates whose interests media will serve.  It can explain a great deal about how media ownership in Philippine society is controlled by the few who are also holding the ownership of other more important industries.  Media generate ideas that serve the interests of the economic and political elite, thereby reinforcing and reproducing the relationships that prove the dominance of capitalism and the exploitation of the masses. Media and Social Integration • Functionalism  It sees society like an organism that has parts, institutions for that matter, each discharging a function but are linked to an integrated whole, much like the interdependent parts of an organism. Media as an institution is one of a society’s many parts, discrete in its function but linked to other institutions so it can provide society the integration, cohesion, and stability it needs to survive and thrive.