SEM 1 IDC JMC
SEM 1 IDC JMC
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 ~ntduction
1.2 Communications .
1.2.1 Menning . ~ Definition
d
1.2.2 hnctions of Communicntions
1.2.3 Process Md Elements of Communications
1.0 OBJECTIVES
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Communication is universal to all human beings and is central to our lives. In fact,
it regulates and shapes all human behaviour. Therefore, it is important to have a
clear understanding ,of the concepts of communication. What is communication?
Why is it important to us? How does it work? What are the elemenp in the
communication proceks and how do they relate and set the communication process
in motion? And what are the different types of communication that we are engaged
in? These are some of the questions that are dealt with here. Keeping these
questions in mind while we study this unit will help us not only in understanding
the meaning and process of communication but also in identifying tools for effective
communication
Introduction to Communlatlons
1.2 COMMUNICATION
We shall start now with the definitions and meanings of communication. In this
sub-section we will also discuss the functions, process and elements of
communication.
Activity 1 -
4
Before you start reading this unit, please quieten yourself, calm yourself. Now
list. down all the things that you have done in the last 24 hours. For
example, you might have written a letter to your friend, or you might have
read the newspaper. May be you helped a fellow passenger in a crowded bus
or you might have quarrelled with a person over the possession of a seat in
the compartment of a train. .
While doing such things you must have conveyed something to a person or .:
some persons. These are all acts of communication. You have used different
ways to give or'get information. Think of all these ways and also the
information you sought to give and get. Use the space below for your
activity.
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Communication is vital for human existence, and for the progress of humanity. No
person, group or society can exist without interaction with others. Think for a
moment what would happen to us if we did not talk with anyone at home; didn't
listen to lectures at school or college, didn't speak to friends and co-workers, or
didn't play games or watch TV or films? And what would life be like in the
absence of news, views, facts, figures or information? Obviously, we would be
miserable and would miss out on many opportunities and challenges offering us .
security and success in our personal and professional life. Beiag at the heart of all
social action and interaction, communication functi.ns as a relating tool that
creates understanding, facibtes work, and, strengthens collective living among
people.
I) Infomation : Suppose you were not informed about Ayodhya incident, bomb
blasts in Bombay and Calcutta, and preventive measures which could be
adopted to avoid AIDS disease. The quality of your life would be poorer
without these bits of information. In the Western countries, information is now
regarded as power.. The more informed you are, the more powerful you
become. Those who have access to information can take advantage of it in
their own interest. Communication provides us emormous information about the
environment in which we live. Information such as news of war, danger, crisis,
famine etc. is important for that helps us in taking appropriate steps to
safeguard our interests.
lntroductlontoCommunieat~ons 2) Instruction : One of the major functions of communication is to instruct,
educate, and socialize the members of the society. All these functions start
early in life, at home or in school, and continue till one completes the full
cycle of life. Communication prov~desa fund of knowledge, expertise, and
skills that enable people to operate as effective members of society. It also
creates awareness, @yes direction and opportunity to people so that they
actively participate in public life.
5) Debate and Discussion : It is through debate and discussion in media that the
public can clarify different viewpoints on issues of public interest and arrive at
a general agreement on matters that concern all. It is important for them to
find out the reasons for such debates and discussions. Are the contend~ngsides
represented equally? Is any of the contending parties under pressure to toe a
certain line? Such critical appraisal of debates and discussions would benefit the
users.
6) Cultural Promotion : Communication provides opportunity for culture to be Communication
preserved and promoted. It stimulates individuals to pursue and fulfill their
creative urges. But, then, one must be critical and ask questions : whose culture
is being promoted, anyway? Ultimately, what motives do the senders of such
cultural programmes have?
7) Integration : Communication is a great integrating tool. Through a fund of
knowledge or information, individuals, groups or cultures come to know one
another, understand and appreciate other's ways of life and thereby develop
tolerance towards one another. It can also be the greatest disintegrating tool.
Whose culture do we watch in the telecasts of Doordarshan everyday? Are these
programmes helping us to understand our cultural ethos better? One must
constantly ponder over this.
: Check Your Progress 1
Note : i) Use the space below for your answers.
ii) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
1) You have just learnt the different functions of communication. These are
information, education, entertainment, persuasion, debate and discussion,
cultural promotion and integration. You must be viewing Doordarshan
programmes. Please. make an assessment of the following Doordarshan
programmes as per their functions.
News, Surabhi, The World This Week, Parakh, and the telecast of Hindi
films on Saturdays.
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: Activity 2
, 1) Try to find out how much time you devote each day on communicating
(a) with yourself, (b) with others at home, (c) at college with classmates
and teachers, at work place with co-workers, and (d) at pleasure haunts.
Also, find out for how much time each day you are not communicating
at all. Think about the purpose behind each communication and analyse
the outcome of it in terms of success and failure.
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Here the communicator is the encoder, the message is symbol (verbal or non-
verbal), the channel is one of the transmission medium, the receiver is the decoder,
feedback is the respunse to the message, and noise is any interruption that breaks
down the communication.
These, in fact, are the essential elements or ingredients which facilitate the
communication process. Let us examine what role each element plays in the entire
communication process and how all of them are important in making communication
effective.
The criteria of communication skill, knowledge level, and attitude mentioned in the
preceding para need a little elaboration and explanation. What is' meant by
'communication skill'? Somebody who uses appropriate words, sentences, tone, etc.
may be called a good communicator. He does not fumble, does not look for words
and all that he says is accompanied by appropriate gestures and delivered at an
acceptable pace. (In this light, try to find out whether or not you are a good
communicator). Another element which is mentioned here is knowledge level. We
must be able to find out the knowledge level of persons on a particular topic before
we start the dialogue. Suppose ~ r A. would like to talk about the political systems
of Italy to Mr. B. And Mr. B does not know anything about Italy's political
system. How would they communicate? And what would happen to the process of
communication? Then, we mentioned the word 'attitude'. A person must never look
down upon the people with whom he communicates. He must never think that the
receivers are inferior to him. The attitude of a person shopld be mature and the
minimum respect due to the other person must be extended to'him.
Encoding is the formulation of messages in the commuaicator's mind, that is, the
communicator not only translates his purpose (ideas, thoughts or information) into a
message but also decides on the medium to communicate his planned message. He
must choose the media (speaking, writing, signaling or gesturing) that the receiver
can comprehend well. For instance, an illiterate receiver wiM - fail to understand a
written message, but can understand ,it well if told orally.
instance, .in an interview your intention is to impress interviewer; but if you give
answers whose meaning is not clear, the interviewer may perceive that you are
incompetent for the job.
The receiver, at the other end of the communication, is the recipient of the
message and must possess the same orientation as the oommunicator. If the receiver
does not have the ability to listep, to read, to think, he will not be able to receive
and decqde the messages in the manner the cbmmunic&or wants him ,to. For
effective. communication, the receiver is the most important link in the
comu.nication process.
Decoding is the interpretation of the message by the receiver. Actually, the receiver
looks for the meaning in the message which is common to both the receiver and
the communicator. >
ii) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit,
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Human beings are engaged in a variety of communication acts. These are (i)
Intrapersonal Communication; (ii) Interpersonal Communication (iii) Group
Communication; and (iv) Mass Communication. Although each type appears to have
distinctive features, they are all much alike in the sense that one enters into a
meaningful relationship with one or more persons by means of signs and symbols.
The following discussion on types of communication will provide us with the
understanding of different communication situations in which people interact with
each other or disseminate information.
public opinion polls and on the basis of other feedback &vices which are used to
detennirie what is acceptable or unacceptable to different audiences. In all such
cases, considerable time ahd money are required to process the feedback received
from the audience. Therefore, delayed and expensive feedback is ingrained in mass
media.
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1.4 MASS MEDIA
'The mass media, the vehicles of mass communication, are many. The prominent
ones whikh have become hous old names are newspapers, magazines, books, radio,
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film, television and, more recently, satellite TV and cable TV. Mass Media is
broadly divided into print media and electronic media. While the print media are
the oldest, having a history of about five hundred years, the electronic media are
products of the 20th century technologi'cal revolution. All media are expensive and
need huge organisations to collect, process, formulate and disseminate information,
views, entertainment and advertising to enormous, scattered, heterogeneous audiences
simultaneously.
The mass media have assumed a significant place in our life. Individually or
collectively they serve the needs of various audiences who have specific preferences.
Some audiences want entertainment, sports news, films, plays, serials, dance, music,
ctc. Others may have greater interest in news and views. Yet others seek guidance
to solve thtir socio-economic problems. Each medium is powerful in its own right
in serving people- and each has gone through several 'stages of development due to
prossure and comp6tition 'from newer communication technologies.
Prlnt Medh which include newspapers, magazines, books' and other printed matter,
have.scrved the literate society for long. Their growth, however, was slow in the
beginning but as the demand for education and information increased, they evolved
quickly and flourished greatly. The twentieth' century has seen the rapid growth of
t>e newspaper industry and, to withstand the challenges posed by newer electronic
communication, hewcpapers have adopted the latest technology, like computerisation,
to speed up the production process and improve their quality. Newspapers have
added coloured Sunday and Saturday supplements to sustain the interest of the
readers. Coloured glossy magazines, which appeal to specific segments of the
society, have mushroomed.
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Traditionally, newspapers have a local?emphasis which serves the interests of a
specific community with news, comments, features, photographs and advertising.
Now we have all kinds of newspapers-big, medium and small. The majority of
them are local in nature but there are some big metropolitan dailies, national in
character, catering to the interests of audiences in many parts of the country. Some
big newspapers have multiple editions coming out from several cities. Among such
newspapers are 'The Hindustan Times', 'Navbharat Times', 'The Times of India',
'Indian Express' and 'The Statesman'.
Electronic Media are radio, television, satellite TV, Cable TV, cinema etc. which
are essentially entertainment media. They are different from print media in many
ways. They provide instantaneous communication and their impact is greater. They
need electricity for speedy delivery of messages across distances and to the masses
that are geographically, culturally, intellectually, and emotionally separated from one
another. Electronic media are quicker than print media the latter takes more time
for mass production and delivery to a widely dispersed population.
The Radio : Out nation's radio audience has grown manifold s i n 9 its inception in
the 1920s. The network has expanded a great deal and it offers a daily service for
many hours transmitting news, comments, songs, music, comedies, thrillers, sports,
besides special programmes fbr children, youth, and farmers. One of thd best
advantages that radio has over other media is'that it can serve and entertain an
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audience which is otherwise occupied. For instance, people can listen to it while
working at home, in the fields and factories and while travelling.
However, the radio medium has suffered a setback in the recent times under the
dynamic impact of TV;.it has lost a lot of its listening audience, especially urban
population which can afford TV and video for entertainment. But during a crisis it
is the radio that people turn to for news because it can report with speed. TV takes
time to reach the spot of occurrence with its heavy equipment and camera crew.
And, at times it may miss out prized information during war, violence, or accidents.
In such times radio has a clear dvantage over TV. Therefore, radio's importance
has not diminished but has rather enhanced because it is easy to handle while at
work, or during a walk or travel.
Television, unlike other forms of mass media, has now become one of the most
powerful media of mass communication. With a modest beginning in the 1930s, it
has grown into a massive network of mass information and mass entertainment in
the world today. The attraction of the 'visualness' of the medium, the capacity ttl
beam images of actual events, people and places, is so great that people remain
glued to the TV set for hours.
Millions watched the live coverage of the war in the Persian Gulf and other
important happenings in recent times. This was possible due to the newer
development in network technologies Satellite-Cable television. Through the many
satellites in space which are linked via cable to the TV at home, TV now has
assumkd a significant role in providing the 'latest' and the 'best' happenings in the
world. This technological innovation has made unprecedented inroads into the
audiences that were earlier served in the spirit of public service broadcasting by
Doordarshan in India. The grip of foreign networks grip over millions in
metropolitan cities and smaller towns is getting tighter as they offer many channels
(CNN, STAR TV, BBC World Service, Zee TV and ATN) transmitting different
programmes simultaneously round the clock. Audiences now have multiple choices
ranging from news and information to entertainment of wide variety. Besides being
exposed to actual events, audiences of TV enjoy packages full of fiction, drama,
culture, sex, crime, violence, to mention just a few.
'Invasion' from the sky has thus shattered Doordarshan's monopoly. Unless
Doordarshan meets the challenges posed by the media giants like CNN, BBC and
others by producing indigenous programmes of competitive quality, its future seems
bleak.
Films are considered a major mass medium because of their mass appeal and
influence on society. India is the largest producer of feature films in the world.
Commercial cinema is all glamour and fantasy. The usual ingredients are sex, songs,
dances, crime, fights, melodrama, and comedy, all bordering on unreality. The idea
is to- prepare a cocktail of popular entertainment to ensure box office success. It is
these 'masala' films which are popular among the masses. These films set trends in
styles and tastes, dominate the popular radio and television entertainment
progtammes, provide spicy reading material not only for film magazines, which are
published in large numbers and are widely read, but also for most .of the other
popular magazines.
In the discussion that follows, we will examine the extent of the reach of mass
media in India, and the influence mass communication has on people in particular,
and society in general.
ii) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit. '
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Communication
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1) Write two bqnefits that one can derive from each of the following types
of communication :
Intrapersonal , a) ...,.....................................................
Interpersonal a) .........................................................
b) .........................................................
Group a) .........................................................
b) .........................................................
Mass a) .........................................................
b) ...........:.............................................
Print medium
Radio -
Television
The mass media are now not limited to urban population but have made inroads
into 'small towns and villages. Their expansion is evident practically in all the
countries of the world. The events that take place in the United States, Europe,
Russia or the Middle East, come immediately into our living rooms. In fact,' the-
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IntroductlontoCommu?lcations information and thereby have become more informed and educated, and are better
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entertained and less apprehensive about each other's way of life that they were a
few decades ago.
However, despite the phenomenal growth of newspapers, TV, satellite and cable TV, '
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radio network and films, their reach is largely limited to urban areas in India. The
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vast rural population in the country still doesn't have access to mass media because
of various factors like low purchasing power, high illiteracy rates, non-availability of
electricity and channels. I
The television network has increased tremendously in the last one decade covering
78 per cent of the population. But TV receiving sets are mostly available in urban
homes and TV is out of reach of the majority of the rural masses. Only the rich in
a village have access to it. More recently satellite and cable television has stormed
the urban Indian homes. It has broken nation-state boundaries and opened the sky
for television. There are about 25,000 cable operators providing services all over the
country. But these are costly ventures and cater to the needs and aspirations of
upper and middle classes. And even if audiences in small towns and villages have
access to these sophisticated media, the messages are lost on them because they are
not area specific and lack local cultural flavour and relevance, which is so essential
for audiences to identify with and understand.
Film has become a major medium of popular entertainment. About 800 films are
produced in India annually. Many of these are in Hindi and are very popular with
the masses. A large number of films &e produced regionally also, particularly in the
south, and their reach is wide. This may be so because regional films can better
present the social reality and cultural ethos of the people in a defined region in the
local language. As in the case of other media, film exhibition facilities in the
country are limited, too. Most of the cinema houses are in the metropolitan cities
and large towns. According to an estjmate, there are about 8 seats for a population
of one thousand. Comparatively, southern states have more cinema houses and
touring talkies than those in northern India. Inspite of the lack of screening
facilities, the lure for films makes people travel long distances to cities. This is so
perhaps because thejl want to escape from their dreary existence.
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In the light of the limited reach OF miss media and peoples' restricted access to
traditional media like folk songs, folk dance, folk theatre etc. are the real channels
of information and entertainment in rural India. Theij reach is wide because .they
are less expensive, more accessible, closer to the heart of the people,.participatory
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Check Your Progress 4
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1) We have just discussed the reach and access of mass media. Please
explain the terms 'reach' and 'access'.
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2) 'The reach of mass media is quite strong in India but, comparatively,
the access to them is very weak'. Do you agree with this statement?
I Yes t I No
If yes, please give 5 points to support youri answer :
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I 1.4.2 Impact of Mass Communication
As stated earlier, we live 'in the age of mass communication in which mass
communication performs certain functions that are useful to us. Who wouldn't want
to be informed about events that significantly touch and influence one's life? Don't
we need some entertainment to get away from the drudgery of day to day livirig?
In a democracy, is it not necessary to shape the opinion of the public before
appropriate decisions are taken? Mass cornmunicat;on fulfills all these needs; and
additionally promotes extensive selling thcough advertising. While doing all this,
mass communication obviously influences people and society. But the question is,
what is the extent and nature of its impact?
Millions are exposed to a variety of messages each day. While many consumers of
media are satisfikd with atly single channel of mass communication, there are others.
who seek exposure to more than one channel. There is increasing anxiety about the
adverse effect of mass communication on society in general and individuals in
particular. There are obvious ferns. Are the consumers of mass media being
manipulated or brainwashed? Do the vi&nce, crime or sex in media .affect young
Introduction to Communications minds? Are the foreign programmes a threat to cultural and national identity? And
so on. Answers to these questions are not easy to come by as mass media do not
operate in the society in isolation. However, some observations can be made on the
positive and negative impact of mass communication on people.
The adverse effect of mass communication have bqen felt not so much from print
media as from exciting media like television and satellite cable TV. The audiences
of these electronic media, in the hope of getting lively entertainment at little cost,
are lapping up all that comes through the 'open sky', without discrimination,
without realizing their good or bad effects. In fact they are becoming helpless
victims of these pervasive media. The danger is from the programmes made with a
western perspective which are going to influence the world view and life style in
India and other Asian countries.
Thus, despite the restricted reach of mass media and the even more restricted access
to it especially in rural and far flung areas, mass communication affects our lives
positively by informing about the new developments around us, by entertaining us,
and influencing our attitudes, opinions, and actions vis-a-vis a variety of subjects
and issues.
ii) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit.
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' Activity 3
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List the number of mass media you are expos4 to. 'it
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Inspite of limited reach, mass communication is so central to society that life seems
inconceivable without mass media. They inform and shape our social life. Their
influence is positive if they are able to fulfill the information and entertainment
needs of people in accordance with the existing norms, values and culture in
society; but what concerns us most is their negative influence. An overdose of
foreign programmes, excessive television viewing and advertising, exposure to
violence, crime, sex, etc. can adver. :ly affect people, especially children, in
societies that are traditional.
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Introduction to Communications
1.6 FURHTER READING
1) MacBri.de Sean, 1982, Many Voices One WorM, Oxford and IBH Publishing
Co., New Delhi.
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Check Your Progress 1
News : Information
a) Posters ,
2) a) It is urban-centered.
b) The culture of the urban citizens is given importance.
c) It is an expensive medium.
d) Producing programmes for TV is complicated.
e) It does not help people to imagine creatively.
f) The viewers need to be locked up in places.