INDEX

Introduction to Communication 5
Communication 6
Purpose of communication 7
Process of communication 9
Elements of communication 11
Barriers to communication 17
Self-concept and self-awareness 18
Types of communication 20

Communication skills 33
Reading skills 34
Speaking skills 42
Writing skills 46
Listening skills 49
Observation skills 51

Media, Culture and Society 55

Mass Media 56
Society 59
Evolution of societies 63
Mass media and society 65
Culture 67
Components of Culture 69
Types of culture 74
Important concepts in culture 79
Intercultural communication 82
Role of communication in culture 84
Mass media and culture 84

01
 INDEX
Introduction to Print Media 89
Print Media History 89
Evolution of Printing 90
Literacy and Print Media 92
Types of Print Media 93
Newspapers. 94
Newspapers: A Brief History 95
Indian Press During Pre-Independence 96
A Timeline of the History of Newspapers and Press Laws in India 96
Early Newspapers in India 99
Prominent Names in the History of Indian Press 102
Indian Press Post Independence 103
Newspapers as a Medium of Mass Communication. 105
Functions of a Newspaper 105
Classification of Newspapers 107
Books 110
Brief History of Books 111
Publishing Industry 112
Piracy, Copyrights and Censorship 113
Growth of the Publishing Industry 113
Books as a Medium of Communication 114
Types of Books 115
Fiction Genres 115
Non-fiction Genres 116
Comic Books and Graphic Novels 118
Indian Comic Books 121
Magazines 125
History of Magazines 125
Magazine Industry in India 126
Types of Magazines 126

02
 INDEX
Broadcast Media 128
Radio 129
Early Radio 129
History of Radio in India 131
Types of Radio 132
Types of Radio Broadcast 133
Television 135
History of Television 136
Rise of Cable TV. 136
Milestones in the History of TV Broadcasting in India 137
Methods of Television Transmission 138

Digital Media 142

Evolution of Digital Media 143
Types of Digital Media. 145
Websites. 145
Important milestones in website development 145
Blog 147
Email 148
Social Media 149
Digital News 151
Digital Advertising 152
Audiobooks 153
Podcasts 154
Music Streaming Services 156
Video Streaming Services 158
Search Engines 160

03
 INDEX
Media Production 165
TV Production 165
Radio Production 167
Multimedia Production 169

Media Literacy 172

Learning objectives 172
Media Penetration and Information Overload 173
Media Literacy Skills 173
Building Blocks of Media Literacy 174
Development of Media Literacy. 177
Advantages of Media Literacy 178
Media Message 180
Media Audience 184
Media Effects 187
Types of Media Effects 189

04
 INTRODUCTION
TO COMMUNICATION

Humans are social beings. Communication is essential to fulfil the function of being
social. It brings people together, shapes relationships, create meanings, builds
societies, creates culture, and expands the horizons of personal enrichment and
professional life. Communication enables the functioning of a truly global world
defined by intercultural interactions, widespread access to information and
entertainment through mass media, and expanding the scope of knowledge,
innovations and development in all spheres of life.

05
COMMUNICATION

The word communication comes from the Latin word “Communicare” which means
“to share”. Communication can be defined as the exchange or sharing of meanings
between people through a system of symbols, signs and body language. There are
many definitions of communication. Some of the most common and useful
definitions are as follows

“Communication is the exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more

persons” - William H. Newman and Charles Summers

“Communication is the exchange of information and transmission of meaning. It is

the very essence of a social system of an organisation” - Daniel Katz and Robert L.
Kahn

“A tool that makes societies possible and distinguish human from other societies” -
Wilbur Schramm

“Communication: the transmission of information, ideas, emotions, skills, etc., by the

use of symbols - words, pictures, figures, graphs, etc. It is the act or process of
transmission that is usually called communication” - Bernard Berelson and Gary A.
Steiner

“Communication is the process of transmitting ideas, information, and attitudes

from the source to a receiver for the purpose of influencing with intent” - Rogers

From the above definitions, it is clear that communication is an act or process of

exchanging and sharing of information and meanings between individuals. It is also
important to understand that any act of communication has an intention.
Communication also creates societies and gives its members an identity.

06
People are continuously communicating with others, themselves and their
surroundings. They communicate their feelings, emotions, thoughts, ideas, facts,
opinions, and stories. Communication also differs based on the setting, people’s
awareness of themselves and their relationship with others.

Purpose of communication
People communicate for various reasons. There are five main purposes of
communication.

To inform: People share information about themselves and everything around them
including, objects, actions, events, issues, people, places, areas of knowledge, etc.
This informative communication can be objective or subjective depending on the
setting, people involved, knowledge level and accuracy of sources. For example, all
media channels will fact check the election result reports, and will report accurate
numbers of votes for winning candidates. Similarly, media channels will report the
scores of a cricket match accurately. People are expected to create and exchange
informative messages. It is what helps the progression of the world and its people.
Informative communication is seen in all social systems in the world. Students
engage in informative communication in the educational system. Professionals
engage in informative communication at workplaces. Informative communication
has scope in all kinds of jobs. People seek information to make better decisions and
choices. There are endless information sources available to people in the present
times. The advancements in information and communication technologies have
changed the way people create, seek and share information.

To express: People communicate to express themselves, and their feelings about

others and the things around them. This process of communication is called affective
communication. It is one of the most innate purposes of human communication.
Opinions are expressions of positive and negative feelings about places, objects,
people, ideas, etc. Expressions of opinions are important to build and maintain
relationships between people. The need to express themselves is a skill in itself. It
helps a person develop the idea of self-concept and self-awareness. It means what
one thinks of themselves. This idea of self-concept is shaped and developed through

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interactions with people in different social groups like family, school, profession,
social circles, etc. Self-concept can evolve throughout life with new experiences,
social networks and knowledge. Affective communication plays an important role in
personal and professional life. It helps people to become more open minded to new
experiences, facing challenging and receiving criticisms. Affective communication
in families and school should pave way for free conversations without inhibitions and
judgements. This can help an individual in his formative years of communication.

To imagine: It is one of the early building blocks of learning to communicate.

Children engage in imagination when they read books, watch content or pretend
play with toys. It is this ability to imagine that helps them to make sense of the world
around them. Similarly, people engage in imaginative communication as they grow
older. The ability to engage in imaginative communication develops creativity. The
purpose of creative content available on mass media is to not only entertain people
but also to activate their imagination. People engage in imaginative communication
when they write stories and poems, make sculptures and art works, and even when
they innovate and design new machinery and technology.

To influence: Another major purpose of communication is to influence feelings,

behaviours and actions of people. It is called persuasive communication. People tend
to influence each other in different situations. Parents and children influence each
other. Students and teachers influence each other. Friends influence each other.
Different social, economic, political and cultural systems of a society influences the
feelings, behaviours and actions of its people. One of the main agents of persuasive
communication in media is advertising. The main purpose of communication in
advertising is to persuade people to buy products/services. There are a multitude of
other content in media that has the power to influence its audience. The purpose of
communication in personal interaction as well as media content can be to exert
positive and negative influence.

To meet social expectations: People are expected to behave and act in a certain
acceptable manner dictated by the norms of a society. It is called ritualistic
communication. This is what informs our expectations when interacting with others

08
in a society. Social expectations differs between different cultures. Social
expectations are widely different in formal and informal settings. People are
expected to follow dress codes in offices and educational institutions. People also
follow different dress codes during festivals. People are expected to greet each other
in manners specific to different cultures. So, one of the main purposes of
communication in a society is to meet social expectations.

Process of communication
Communication is the transmission of message between people. People
communicate using both verbal and non verbal cues. A process refers to continuity,
change, and movement. As per this view, communication is a two way process
involving source and receiver. Political scientist Harold Lasswell explained that the
best way to understand the process of communication is to answer the following
questions

Who says?
Says what?
Through which channel?
To whom?
With what effect?

Who Through With

Says To
says? which what
what? Whom?
Channel? effect?

Take any form of communication and you can easily understand the process by
answering the above questions. In the process of communication, it is important to
understand that message sending is as important as message reception and
response. The process of communication can fail if the message does not reach its
destination due to barriers in the channel. Communication is also not deemed
effective if the receiver fails to understand the message and form a response. Hence,
it is important to look at the basic elements of communication to understand how

09
effective communication takes place and look at the challenges involved.

Activity
1. Watch a conversation sequence between two characters in a movie. Pay
attention to the process of communication. Identify and understand verbal
and non verbal cues used by the characters.

Principles of communication
• Communication is dynamic: Communication between people can go in any
direction depending on the situation, mood and understanding of the people
involved.

• Constant: The process of communication is constant. People are constantly

communicating either consciously or unconsciously. People’s gestures, body
language, clothing and other material accessories are constantly communicating
information about themselves to others.

• Transactional: Communication is transactional where the people involved are

negotiating the meanings of messages that are shared. The transactional nature
of communication encourages senders and receivers to be more sensitive and
aware of each other’s culture and nature. It also encourages people in a
communication process to treat each other with respect.

• Learned: People learn communication patterns and behaviours in their culture

through socialisation. People learn language, body language, gestures,
communication skills, behaviours and mannerisms through different social
groups like family, friends, school, etc.

• Continuous: Communication is a two way process. It is an ongoing process that

involves sending and receiving of information, and forming feedback. The process
continues when the receiver reciprocates by sending a feedback to the sender. In
simple terms, sender and receiver engage in continuous exchange of messages.

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• Irreversible: It is not easy to take back what we communicate in any situation.
Both in the case of oral and written communication, it is not easy to correct
miscommunication and misunderstanding.

• Complex: Communication is a complex process that is subject to different factors

that can affect its effectiveness. There is always a possibility of misunderstanding
and miscommunication depending on the situation, people involved,
communication skills, clarity of message, credibility of sources, etc.

• Creative: Creativity in communication extends beyond artistic and aesthetic

skills. It also refers to the unique ways in which people talk, write, read, respond,
share, persuade and express themselves through verbal and non verbal cues

Elements of communication
The basic elements of communication process are source, message, channel,
receiver and feedback.

Source
Source is a person or thing or place from where a message originates. The sender
encodes a message using verbal and non verbal cues. There are effective ways to
form and send a message. The sender should consider the following ways to
construct and convey a message in order to create the intended effect

• Choosing the right approach: This depends on the situation and the relationship
the sender shares with the receiver. For example, when giving feedback to
students, a teacher can choose to start with positive notes followed by more
critical notes, if any. This will help instil confidence in students and improve
reception by them. A student with low confidence might not take a critical
feedback well.

• Choosing the right words and tone: This also depends on the setting and the
relationship between the communicators. For example, words and tone are very
important in formal setting. Casual usage of phrases and slangs will not be

11
 received well by receivers in formal settings like work place, religious and
educational institutions. A manager has to choose right words and tone while
communicating to his subordinates and vice versa.

• Understanding your receiver/audience: A basic understanding of the receiver and

audience will help the source or sender to package the message using
appropriate words, tone and structure in such a way that it can be understood well
by the receiver/audience. For example, parents narrate stories to their toddlers
using simple words, animated sounds and actions. Most parents know that
toddlers (receiver) are more likely to listen, understand and respond well to stories
that are narrated in that way. Similarly, media producers always try to understand
their audience when creating content.

• Know the desired intent of the message: The sender may or may not have a goal
for communicating a message. It is helpful to know one’s goals or intentions for
communicating a message. It helps the sender to create and structure the
message, keeping its desired effect in mind. For example, when a teacher
demonstrates a science experiment in lab, he or she understands that the
intention or goal is to impart knowledge to students and the desired effect is to
help students gain a perfect understanding of the process and concept of
experiment.

• Know how to look for reactions: The sender can change, control and restructure a
message based on the reactions of the receiver. The sender can read the reactions
from the gestures and body language of the receiver. For example, a good public
speaker knows to scan the audience reactions and direct the course of his speech
accordingly.

• Know to follow up with clarification: The sender can always follow up on a

communication and give clarification to the receiver. For example, if the sender
notices that the message is getting misinterpreted by the audience, he or she can
clarify the message either during the course of sending the message or after
receiving feedback from the receiver.

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Message
A message is an idea, conversation, information, thought or opinion that is shared
between the sender and the receiver. For example, it can be a general piece of
conversation between friends, news report, social media post, advertisement, movie,
etc. Messages are information that is compiled and encoded into verbal and non
verbal symbols. It involves
• Organising or ordering information in a message
• Capturing meanings

In the context of a newspaper report, the message is compiled in the form of verbal
written communication, photographs and illustrations. Information is organised in a
certain order - the lead paragraph carries the most important information, followed
by the context and details of the event or issue, accompanied by photographs and
illustrations. The choice of words used in the report capture the meaning in a way
that can be easily understood by the readers. The photographs and illustrations give
more detail to the information. Newspaper reports usually use simple sentences to
convey messages.

People read meanings in verbal messages through the choice of words used, and the
order of information presented. Language is essential for any verbal communication
to happen. Languages have many letters and words that can be arranged in different
combinations to form basic structures of verbal communication. People use a
combination of verbal and non verbal cues to form messages. After that, messages
are sent to the receiver. People read meanings in messages by trying to match verbal
and non verbal cues. The messages can be misinterpreted if there is a mismatch
between verbal communication and the accompanying gestures and body
language.

The effectiveness of a message is judged based on the reaction of the receiver.

13
Channel
It refers to the ways in which messages are conveyed or the path along which
messages are transmitted. Medium refers to the path whereas channel is the way or
means of transmitting messages. People utilise channels of smell, sound, taste, sight,
sound and touch to communicate.

For example, affection and love can be communicated by a combination of channels

• Saying “I love you” (sound)
• Giving a card or letter (sight)
• Giving a bouquet of flowers (smell)
• Giving chocolates (taste)

Other examples of channels include use of drum beats, smoke signals, blowing
trumpet, electric signals, mime, Braille etc.

People communicate through the following media

Air - When people interact face to face in the same physical surrounding, the
messages are transmitted as sound and sight through the medium of air.

Video: When communication occurs through the mediation of a technology that

transmits both audio and video signals. For example, TV, internet technology that
enables video chats and video conferencing.

Audio: When communication occurs through the mediation of a technology that

transmits only audio signals. For example, telephone, radio, etc.

Text: When communication occurs through the mediation of paper and digital
technology that transmits written or printed texts. For example, newspaper, letters,
magazines, blog, websites, email, etc.

People choose medium/channel to communicate based on convenience, situation,

personal preference or professional requirement, cost of the medium,
confidentiality, safety and security, influence, urgency, distance to cover, time of the

14
day, resources available, impact and authority, and the recipient. For example, casual
conversations between f riends in the same space are usually face to face
interactions; people separated by time and distance usually use audio, video or text
to communicate; professional memos and instructions are usually sent via text using
emails; meeting of executives in different places are often take place via video
conferencing.

Receiver
The person who receives the information sent by the sender or source. Receiver is the
destination to which a sender directs a message. The receiver should be able to
understand, interpret and form a response for communication to occur. The receiver
is an important link in communication that helps complete the process. The factors
that influence a receiver’s understanding of the message are:

• Listening skills: A receiver with good listening skills will be able to clearly
understand the meaning and context of a message. If the receiver listens well and
acknowledges through external reactions like gestures and body language, the
sender may feel more encouraged to give information.

• Observation skills: A receiver with good observation skills will be able to read the
sender’s body language and gestures, which will help in better understanding of
verbal message.

• Understanding the context: All communication happens within a context. Factors

like physical surrounding, setting and situation, time, noise level, people involved,
background of the message, etc determine the context of a message. A receiver
should try to decode the context of a message in order to form a well informed
response or reaction.

• Knowledge of the topic: A receiver with prior knowledge of the broad area or topic
of the message will be able to have a better understanding of the message.

• Ability to read verbal and non-verbal symbols: A receiver who knows to read verbal

15
 and non verbal cues will have a better understanding of the message.

• Relationship with the sender: The relationship between sender and receiver
determines the comfort level and power dynamics in communication. If the
sender and receiver are well known to each other, there will be ease of
conversation.

• Setting: Surrounding plays an important role in understanding of a message. A

setting with very low disturbance and distractions will help the receiver to focus
and clearly understand the message.

• Finally, a receiver should be to process the message and formulate a response that
is relevant to the message.

Feedback
In order for the communication to continue, the
receiver has to process the information and give
appropriate feedback to the sender. In order to form
an appropriate feedback, the receiver of information
should
• Listen
• Observe
• Understand the message
• Ask for clarity
• Understand the intended meaning and context of the message
• Form and structure a response
• Convey the response in the form of feedback

The process of communication is a continuous transfer of information between the

sender and the receiver.

16
Characteristics of an effective feedback
• Clarity: Clarity of thought by using the right words and by structuring the
information in a message.

• Timely: Timely feedback will improve the pace of communication.

• Specific: Feedback should be specific to the message communicated. It should

not deviate from the topic of the message.

• Honest: Feedback should be genuine and honest for the progression of effective
communication.

• Informative: Feedback should be more than mere acknowledgement of the

message in order for the communication to continue effectively. It should add to
the existing knowledge of information regarding the message.

Barriers to communication
• Physical barriers include sound and visual
distractions, ignorance of the medium. For
example, people can get distracted by an object
or sound. Sound distractions like background
noise of traffic, students talking in class, TV or
radio noise in the background, etc . are
co n s i d e re d a s p hy s i c a l b a r r i e r s . Vi s u a l
distractions can be anything that captures the
attention of the participants of a
communication process like colours, other
people in the same setting, food, media, etc.
Other physical factors like hunger, sleep, fatigue, stress and exercise can also act
as barriers to communication. For example, a person who is sleep deprived or
hungry or in extreme physical stress may not able to effectively send and receive
messages.

17
• Mechanical and technical barriers refers to the noise barriers in the technology
interface of communication like poor connectivity and network issues. For
example, mobile calls can get disrupted while going in an elevator or while
travelling on train.

• Psychological barriers refer to frame of mind of the participants like fear,

resistance, defensiveness, past experiences, mood swings, etc. For example,
people can withhold information or be less forthcoming out of fear when
communicating with certain people and in certain situations.

• Cultural barriers refer to the difference in beliefs, attitudes and values between
sender and receiver. For example, people belonging to different cultures might
have different ways of greeting and codes of conduct.

• Linguistic barriers refer to difference in language and dialects between sender

and receiver. For example, communicating with people who speak a different
language can be challenging.

Self-concept and self-awareness

Self concept or self awareness is the ability to
perceive and understand one’s personality,
likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, beliefs,
values, emotions, thoughts, etc. The idea of self
and identity plays a crucial role in all
communication. It determines and decides
whom a person will interact with, how a
person will talk, observe and listen and what a
person will say. There are two types of self
concepts.

Public self-concept: It is how people display themselves in public. It is often

influenced and shaped by their professional, social and cultural roles. For example,
people displaying their moral values like honesty, integrity and fairness; social

18
functions as members of family, professional responsibilities, duties as a citizen;
upholding the norms and values of culture like ways of greeting and respect for
elders.

Private self-concept: It is how people perceive themselves in private. It includes

people’s perceptions and understanding of their personality traits, psychological
traits, personal interests and values, dreams, aspirations, strengths, weaknesses, likes
and dislikes.

Private and public self-concepts determine who people are and how they
communicate with others.

The two ways in which people’s self-concept develops are

• Reflected appraisals: It means a person’s self-concept matches with what others
see in him or her. It is developed by the way people are treated from birth by their
parents, friends and other members of their social groups. The way people are
treated can have lasting impression on them. Through verbal and non verbal
communication, people are constantly told who they are by their social groups.
Hence, a person’s self-concept is developed by the expectations, perceptions and
evaluation of his or her social groups.

• Social comparison: It refers to how people evaluates themselves by comparison

with others. This evaluation brings the notion of inferior/superior and
same/different. For example, when people compare themselves with others in
terms of personal and professional achievements, they develop feelings of
inferiority or superiority. When people compare themselves with others in terms
of interests, values, practices and lifestyle, they develop feelings of belonging or
detachment. People have a tendency to associate themselves with others who
are equal and familiar to them.

Self-awareness is the key to keep our biases and affinities in check especially during
communication that requires objectivity. It also determines how people decide how
much of their self and personal characteristics they need to disclose while

19
communicating with different sets of people and in different situations.

Activity
1. Spend sometime to identify and reflect on your private self-concept and
public self concept. Note down your notions of self in public and private
spaces. Think about whether these notions affect your communication with
others.

Types of communication
Communication is made up of verbal and non verbal cues.

Verbal communication
It involves the use of written and spoken words to convey or transfer message or
information. Verbal communication includes both written and oral communication.

Examples of oral communication include classroom lecture, public speech, audio

books, oral storytelling, telephone/video conversations, face to face conversations,
etc.

Factors influencing oral communication

• Language: Oral communication is more effective if the participants share a
common language. Choice of words and phrases also influence oral
communication. For example, people travelling to place with similar language
can communicate easily with the local people. Oral communication becomes
difficult when travelling to places with unfamiliar languages. In such instances,
people resort to sounds, sign language and even language translator apps to
communicate with local people.

• Volume: People have to be audible to each other in oral communication. For

example, being too loud or too feeble can impede with communication.

• Pitch: People have different pitches. It is important to modulate pitch to improve

20
 voice quality and strength to ensure effective transfer of information in a
communication.

• Clarity: It is important to pronounce words with clarity to make decoding of

message easier.

• Speed: It is important to pace the speed of conversation in order to allow others to

follow the message. For example, speaking too fast or too slow can impede the
communication effectiveness.

Advantages of oral communication

• Instant feedback: Oral communication gives instant feedback, especially in the
case of face to face interactions, communication over telephone and video.
• Spontaneous: The progression of communication is more spontaneous
compared to written communication.

Disadvantages of oral communication

• People often do not have time to think over messages and form appropriate
reactions, especially in face-to-face interactions, audio calls and video chats.
• People require good listening skills in oral communication. Passive listening and
distractions can affect the effectiveness of oral communication.

Written communication
Written communication is any information or message in the written form using
letters and symbols. Language or any common system of symbols is an important
requirement for written communication. Written communication includes emails,
letters, notes, messaging, social media posts, story books, newspaper and magazine
reports, blogs, etc.

Factors that influence written communication are:

• Clarity of thought through words and sentences
• Vocabulary
• Grammar

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• Writing style and tone

Advantages
• People get enough time to read and understand message
• People can take time to create messages and form responses.
• People can rewrite, edit and revise messages till they are convinced of capturing
the accurate meaning in the message.
• People can document, record and preserve written communication for future
reference.

Disadvantages
• Feedback can take more time. For example, people take time to clear their emails
and respond to important mails.
• Writers have less control over the attention of the readers. For example, people
may not read all the promotional emails they receive.

Activity
Describe a recent newspaper photograph accompanying a report through
oral and written communication.

Non verbal communication

Non verbal communication is the transmission of messages and signals through
gestures and body language. Very often, people rely on non verbal cues to express
themselves and to understand others. Whenever there is contradiction between
verbal messages and non verbal cues, people tend to rely on non-verbal cues to
assess the attitudes and feelings of others.

Types of non verbal communication are

• Eye contact
• Gestures
• Movement
• Posture

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• Tone of voice
• Facial expressions
• Space
• Touch

Activity
• Identify the non verbal cues in different cultures

Non verbal cues can influence or affect communication. For example, when a person
does not make eye contact or keep looking away while communicating, it could
mean that he or she is not interested in the conversation. In this case, the sender may
get the cue and might cut short the conversation or get agitated depending on the
situation and the relationship with the receiver. It is, therefore, important to be aware
of your gestures and body language while communicating different people and in
different situations.

Another example is the tone of voice while communicating. People can easily judge
from other person’s tone if they are confident and assertive or half-hearted and
passive. When a person sounds confident and serious while communicating, the
receiver will get the cue from his voice and might pay more attention to the
conversation.

Characteristics of non verbal communication

• Non verbal communication is omnipresent: Nonverbal cues are everywhere.
People are constantly expressing themselves through non verbal cues like facial
expressions, voice, touch, space, appearance, gestures, etc. Non-verbal cues are
more evident in face to face interactions. People can also judge non verbal cues
through voice pitch and tone, long pauses and silences in communication.

• Nonverbal behaviours are multifunctional: Non verbal cues help to understand

messages and people in almost all forms of communication. For example, the
multiple functions of non verbal cues in a job interview can help assess the

23
 confidence as well as the credibility of a candidate. Non verbal cues give more
information than verbal messages about the attitude and feelings of people.
• Some non verbal behaviours are universal: There are non verbal cues that carry
universal meanings like crying and smiling. These non verbal behaviours
transcend cultural differences. When travelling to places with unfamiliar
language, people can always rely on non verbal cues to communicate with the
local people.

• Non verbal communication can create misunderstanding: It is important to

remember that different cultures have different meanings associated with non
verbal cues. For example, eye contact is considered important in many cultures
whereas some cultures view eye contact as a form of disrespect

• Non verbal communication predates language: Early humans learned to

communicate through non verbal cues before learning language. Children learn
to communicate through non verbal cues before learning language. In most
interactions, people communicate through gestures like greeting before using
verbal communication.

Communication is also classified into formal and informal communication

Formal communication
Formal communication refers to transmission of messages and information in an
organised manner through predefined channels of communication. Examples of
formal communication includes business letters, emails, reports, announcements,
orders, office meetings, business pitches, class assignments, etc. Formal
communication is impersonal

Features of formal communication

• Predefined channels and format: Most organisations have predefined channels
for the flow of information. For example, office meetings will have predefined
agendas and will require employees to follow the order of events in the agenda.
Religious institutions have predefined formats to conduct the order of service like

24
 prayer, offering, sanctification, etc. People are expected to follow the predefined
channels in formal communication. Other examples include proceedings in a
court and parliament.

• Formal language: People are expected to use formal words and tone in
communication. For example, there are rules with regard to the language that
can be used in court proceedings. Every industry has certain language and
jargons specific to their industry or area. For example, people working in
marketing and creative industries will have very different jargons and ways of
communicating formal messages.

• Precise and concise: People are expected to present information in a

straightforward, concise and organised manner.

• Clarity of information: People should be clear in presenting and explaining

information, and should be careful to avoid miscommunication.

• Orderly flow of information: Formal communication usually follows certain

hierarchy and chain of command. People are expected to be aware of the chain of
command in an organisation and to adhere to that. In most organisations, there
are downward communication and upward communication. Downward
communication refers to flow of information from the top level to the bottom level
in the organisation hierarchy. These are usually communication with regard to
orders, instructions, rules, business announcements, appraisals, etc. Upward
communication refers to transmission of information from lower level to top level.
These are usually updates on team performance, project reports, employee
grievances, etc.

Informal communication
Informal communication is the transmission of messages in a casual, spontaneous
and unstructured manner.

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Characteristics of informal communication
• Informal communication usually takes place in a casual and comfortable setting.
• People engage in informal communication with friends and family with whom
they share a close, comfortable and informal relationship.
• People experience ease and freedom of communication that is reflected in their
gestures and body language.
• There are no language rules and conventions. People use very casual tone and
often resort to colloquial choice of words.
• There is a risk of misunderstanding in informal communication because of its
casual and spontaneous nature. People do not always think and structure their
messages and it can lead to misunderstandings.

Digital technology has changed the way people communicate connect with friends
and family. There is an increase in the use of social media platforms for informal
communications. It provides a platform for people to develop new informal relations
with unknown people with similar interests.

Working professionals also have informal outings with their colleagues to connect
with each other in informal settings. For example, team outings, team dinners and
parties.

Activity
• Note down the most commonly used channels/medium you use for informal
communication with friends and family.

Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is one on one communication between people. It can
be either face to face or mediated by a channel.

Characteristics of interpersonal communication

• Interpersonal communication happens in both formal and informal setting. For
example, people working in an office engage in face-to face meetings or video

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 conference. People also meet up face to face for informal outings with friends or
connect with them over phone or social media.

• People use both verbal and non verbal cues in interpersonal communication. For
example, non verbal cues can be easily read and understood in face to face
interactions. People use a combination of verbal and non verbal cues in
interpersonal communication mediated by technology. But there is a possibility
for misunderstanding the nonverbal cues since the participants are not in the
same physical space.

• Interpersonal communication can happen face to face in the same space or

mediated by technology

• Use of oral and written communication: Interpersonal communication can be oral

and written. Written communication between people like messaging, writing
letters, email, etc are interpersonal communication.

• People tend to be more engaged and involved in interpersonal communication

which leads to better listening and quicker feedback.

• People find it easy and comfortable to engage in interpersonal communication. It

is often the best communication to resolve personal and professional issues.

Differences between face to face and interpersonal communication

• Face to face interaction happens when the participants are in the same physical
space and time whereas interpersonal communication can be either face to face
or mediated by a technology.

• Face to face communication is mostly oral communication whereas interpersonal

communication can be oral and written.

• Face to face communication makes it easier to understand the attitude,

temperament, and intention of participants through their non verbal cues

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 whereas in interpersonal communication, lack of physical presence makes it
difficult to have a comprehensive understanding of people’s attitude,
temperament and intention through non verbal cues. For example, people
cannot see or read non verbal cues in interpersonal communication over phone or
in written communication.

• Feedback is instant in face-to face interactions whereas feedback can take time in
interpersonal communication especially when it is written communication.

Intra personal communication

Intra personal communication means communication with self. For example,
thoughts, feelings, dreams, self awareness, expectations, perceptions, meditation,
etc.

Characteristics of intra personal communication

• Involves spending time with oneself
• Helps having deeper understanding of self, personal belief systems and
expectations
• People engage in both rational and irrational conversation with self. People tend
to brainstorm out of box ideas during intra personal communication.
• Feedback is instant in most cases since the sender and receiver is the same
person. However, there are situations when you don’t have answers or solutions or
feedback to your own messages. For example, dreams often have no logical
reasoning.
• It is be the most easy and comfortable form of communication. However,
sometimes people find it difficult to cut off from devices and other distractions to
focus on intra personal communication.

Group communication
Group communication is the sharing and exchange of information involving groups
of people in a formal and informal setting. People tend to behave differently in formal
and informal groups. For example, people tend to be more comfortable and
participative in an informal group comprising of close and known friends whereas

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they tend to more cautious while participating in formal conversation, especially
when talking about topics that are sensitive and confidential.

Benefits of group communication

• Helps to bring people together
• Helps to instil a participative spirit
• Helps in coordination between
people in teams
• Helps to motivate and inspire people
• Helps to get different perspectives
on issues, ideas, projects, etc
• Helps to build trust
• Helps to bring in different people to
solve problems

Challenges of group communication

• It is difficult to measure sincerity and deception. It takes time access the credibility
and integrity of people in group communication.
• It is difficult to process response and feedback when there are too many voices to
be heard within a time limit.
• There are too many voices and opinions which make consensus a difficult task.
• Individuals get less time to convey opinions when there is predefined agendas
and time limit.
• There is always a possibility of conflicting opinions and arguments.

Mass communication
Mass communication means transmitting messages through mass media channels
to a large section of people.

Channels of mass communication

• Print: For example, newspaper, magazines, books etc
• Broadcast: TV, radio
• Digital: Websites, social media, blogs, etc

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Characteristics of mass communication
• Mass communication has a wide reach and can reach a large number of audience.
• Mass communication is useful to communicate messages with common
objectives for a large number of audience.
• It bridges the distance between source and receiver. Audiences feel a sense of
involvement.
• Feedback may not be instant especially in the case of traditional media like print
and broadcast
• With digital media, feedback can be instant. For example, instant feedback in the
form of comments and likes on digital media

Purpose of mass communication

• To entertain: TV programs, movies, video and music streaming, gaming
• To inform: News, public service announcements, books on specific subjects
• To persuade: Advertisements

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 Activity
• Make a list of mass communication and interactive communication platforms

Interactive communication
Interactive communication means communication between people with the
mediation of technology. Interactive communication also means interaction
between people and the media content with the mediation of technology that
enables interaction. For example, social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter,
LinkedIn where people can interact with each other and give feedback and
comments to posts and tweets. Modern day digital assistants like Google assistant,
Alexa, Siri are all interactive digital assistants whom people can interact with to get
information and to perform some digital functions.

Advantages
• Active participation by sender and receiver
• Focus on feedback keeps the communication a continuous process
Disadvantages
• Interaction with technology may not always give accurate/specific information.
For example, chat bots on websites, ChatGPT, etc.
• Automated responses won’t address specific issues. For example, automated
responses by chat bots.

Activity
• Play a game where you compete with any of the Googe assistant to see who
can pull out information faster and efficiently

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Key points
• Communication can be defined as the exchange or sharing of meanings
between people through a system of symbols, signs and body language.
• People communicate their feelings, emotions, thoughts, ideas, facts, opinions,
and stories. People communicate differently based on the setting and their
relationship with others.
• The five main purposes of communication are to inform, to express, to
imagine, to influence and to meet social expectations
• People communicate using verbal and non verbal cues
• Communication is a two way process that involves source, message, channel,
receiver and feedback
• Communication principles state that communication is dynamic, constant,
continuous, transactional, complex, irreversible and creative
• The main barriers to communication are physical barriers, mechanical and
technical barriers, psychological barriers, cultural and linguistic barriers

Types of communication:
• Verbal communication involves the use of written and spoken words to
convey or transfer message or information.
• Non verbal communication is transmission of messages and signals through
gestures and body language.
• Formal communication refers to transmission of messages and information
in an organised manner through predefined channels of communication.
• Informal communication is the transmission of messages in a casual,
spontaneous and unstructured manner.
• Interpersonal communication is one on one communication between people.
It can be either face to face or mediated by a channel.
• Intra personal communication means communication with self. For example,
thoughts, feelings, dreams, self awareness, expectations, perceptions,
meditation, etc.

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 • Group communication is sharing and exchange of information involving
groups of people in a formal and informal setting.
• Mass communication is sending and exchanging of information through
mass media channels to a large section of people

Reference books
• Mass Communications and Media Studies: An Introduction
- By Peyton Paxson

• Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture

- By Stanley J. Baran

• More than Words: An introduction to Communication

- By Graeme Burton, Richard Dimbleby

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Communication is a process of sharing meaning, a discipline or field of study and a

learned skill. Communication skills are important for people in thrive in a society. An
effective communicator should be able to interact with others through reading,
speaking, writing and listening.

Literacy is an important aspect of communication. Literacy has various connotations

in different contexts. The age old notion of literacy is the basic communication skill to
read and write. This association comes from the fact that literacy originated from the
world literature and people have been using books and written materials to store and
transfer knowledge for a very long time before the invention of other medium.
Literacy in communication can be defined as the ability to interpret the meaning,
context and intent of ideas that are encoded into words and sentences. Hence,
literacy in communication is the key to opportunities, experiences and lifelong

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learning
.
“Literacy is all about critical reflection and action; in other words communication. It
takes skills to be able to communicate. Those skills include being able to use print
and electronic media materials as needed in our everyday life. Literacy skills include
being able to use those materials at the skill level we need for the task we are trying to
do.”

It is important to improve your language skills as often as possible. Language skills in

communication refers to reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. These skills
are related to each other by two parameters.

Mode of communication: Oral and written

Direction of communication: Producing and receiving message

The relationship is illustrated in the following diagram

Reception Listening Reading

Production Speaking Writing

Learning objectives
• To understand the importance of communication skills
• To encourage practising reading, speaking and writing skills
• To learn the art of effective listening and observation

Reading skills
Reading is the act of using your eyes to look at a series of written symbols and
interpret them as words, sentences, paragraphs and understand their meaning and
context. Reading can be seen as communication between writer and reader. People
learn and increase their knowledge through reading. The best way to practise
reading is to know why you reading, decide on the right material and appropriate

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method to keep reading. The two main reasons for reading are

Intrinsic motivation is when the reader is interested in reading material.

Extrinsic motivation is when a reader is prompted by external factors like recognition

and reward.

This two reasons can be further broken down into the following
• To gain knowledge
• For recreation and leisure
• For research
• To be informed and updated about the events and issues around the world
• For quick information and reference
• For work
• To understand and follow instructions

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Reading does not necessarily involve articulating the written script because people
can read quietly for comprehension. Reading comprehension means reading a
material thoroughly with the intention of understanding the meaning, content and
intent of the material. Reading also means articulating the written material. For
example, a news anchor reads the news bulletin; a teacher reads a storybook to
students.

Benefits of reading
• Ability to sound out words
• Ability to make the connection between words and sounds
• Ability to understand the meaning and context of words
• Develops fluency in language
• Helps understand ideas and meanings in sentences
• Deepens knowledge and comprehension
• Reading helps in attention to detail

Tips to improve reading

Read aloud
• Reading aloud can improve pronunciation and tone of reading
• Reading aloud helps you hear how you sound and make improvisations on your
tone, pace of reading and know when to pause

Re-read
• Repeated reading of a text can help understand the meanings and context of the
text

Makes notes on new words and sounds

• It is helpful keep short notes on new words, their meanings and its pronunciation.
You can refer to it to later. This is helpful to retain words, meanings and sounds

Share your reading with others

• Sharing what you have read with others is a good way to keep motivated about
reading new materials

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• Reading helps comprehending messages and condensing information while
sharing
• This is helpful to retain information and feel more confident while sharing

Read easy to read books and magazines and newspapers

• It is good to start with short stories, newspaper articles, comics in order to build
interest in reading

Basic tips to improve vocabulary and pronunciation:

• Watching news bulletins and good quality audio visual content on broadcast or
digital media, and listening to audio books are good ways to pick up
pronunciation of words
• Reading easy to read books, newspaper articles and books are good ways to
improve vocabulary
• Make a note of unfamiliar words and expressions while reading any material. Take
the effort to look for meanings and pronunciation in a dictionary or online
dictionary with voice support

Tips to improve the pace of reading

• Reading fast or slow does not determine whether you are a good reader
• What is important is how well can you comprehend and remember as you are
reading at a certain pace
• Reading more material and reading more often will help improve your pace and
comprehension as you read.
• Knowledge of good vocabulary and expressions can help improve the pace. This
will help us to continue reading without pausing to find meanings of unfamiliar
words and expressions
• A good understanding of grammar will help in comprehending meaning and
context better
• A good understanding of punctuations helps you to know when to pause while
reading. Sometimes, sentences have multiple ideas that are separated by
punctuation marks. For example

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 • Commas are used to separate different parts or ideas in a sentence. This allows
reader to make sense of what they are reading and to know that commas are used
when ideas are grouped together. It indicates to the reader to pause when there is
comma.
Example: “Karan carries his wallet, phone, house keys and lunch box in his bag”.
Read it as “Karan carries his wallet (pause) phone (pause) house keys and lunch
box in his bag”

• Semi colon is used to link sentences that are closely related. The semicolon
recognises the link between sentences and indicates to the reader to pause while
reading those linked sentences
For example: The day is bright and sunny; Anjali did not notice the beauty of her
surroundings until then. Read it as “The day is bright and sunny (pause) Anjali did
not notice the beauty of her surroundings until then”.

• Colon is used to link ideas or parts thematically. Whenever there is a colon, it

indicates to the reader to pause at that spot.
For example, “The results of the school running race are as follows: Karan comes
first, Veer comes second and Arjun comes third”. Read it as “The results of the
school running race are as follows (pause) Karan comes first (pause) Veer comes
second and Arjun comes third”.

• Full stop is used to indicate the end of a sentence. It indicates to the reader to
pause at the end of each sentence.
• Apostrophe is used to indicate ownership and missing letters. When missing
letters are indicated by an apostrophe, it is called contraction. It is usually used in
informal writing. For example, “I’m (read I am) having a bad headache”

Surveying, Scanning, Skimming and critical reading

Surveying is the act of glancing quickly at a material to determine whether it is
relevant to your needs. This is a pre reading activity that helps in the case of doing
research when you have scores of materials to read.

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Scanning means looking at a material in order to find a specific detail or information.
While scanning a text, you don't necessarily look at all the words, read every sentence
or comprehend every paragraph. Instead, you are scanning the text for a specific
information and you read that piece of information in detail. Scanning is an
important skill when you have many sources to look for specific information

Skimming is reading rapidly to get a general overview of the text. Skimming is

effective when you have to get a gist or general overview of any material. Depending
on the task at hand, you should be able to skim or scan written material.

Critical reading is an interactive process between the writer and the reader where by
the reader is able to construct meaning, develop reasoning, arguments and
reflections.

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Reading exercises
1. Read newspaper report and watch a news presenter reading a similar news
report. Identify the difference between reading for comprehension and
reading for the benefit of others. Is there a difference between the way you
understand information when reading the news report yourself and when
listening to another person read the report.

2. Read aloud the following list of words that are commonly mispronounced.
Identify the right pronunciation and practise.
• Affidavit
• Antennae
• Colonel
• Especially
• Forte
• Genre
• Hierarchy
• Liable
• Mischievous
• Pronunciation
• Quinoa
• Relevant
• Suite
• Zoology

3. Read the following heteronyms. Find the meaning of the word and its
pronunciation in different contexts
• Affect
• Alternate
• Bow
• Content
• Desert
• Lead

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• Object
• Project
• Tear

4. Read a newspaper report of around 300-500 word. Read quietly and note
down the time it takes to read and comprehend the article using a timer.
Score yourself as follows
• 45 seconds or less: Very fast
• 46 seconds to 60 seconds: Fast
• 61 seconds to 90 seconds: High average
• 91 seconds to 120: Average
• 121 seconds to 150 seconds: Slow
• 151 seconds to more: Very slow

5. Record your voice while reading a passage from the story or a paragraph
from the news story. Listen to the recording to self-analyse your tone,
pronunciation and pace of reading

6. Skim through a passage from a textbook/newspaper report of around

800-1000 words and write a gist or overview of the passage within 100 words.

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Speaking skills
Speaking is the delivery of signs and symbols in a language using sounds. Speaking
focuses on the person producing words whereas talking refers to act of conversation
between two or more people. Speaking is an oral skills and one of the oldest skills in
language and communication. Speaking helps people to express themselves. It is a
skill that can be learned by listening and speaking.

There are different techniques and games for improving speaking

1. Choral drills: One of the most effective techniques to practise speaking is to repeat
words and sounds as often as possible. Repeat words in isolation and repeat them a
part of sentences. Listening to words and repeating them improves pronunciation
and fluency

2. Discussion of a topic: Discussing a topic with a group of peers in a comfortable

42
setting with no inhibitions improves conversational speaking and improve fluency by
experience. It also improves confidence in talking and speaking

3. Listening to content: One of the easiest way to pick up speaking skills to watch
quality content on media like news, entertainment and other informative content.

4. Storytelling and oral presentation: Another way to practise is by speaking about a

version of any story or media content

5. Elicitation: This technique tries to draw responses in the forms of opinions and facts
from students who does not voluntarily participate in speaking activities. For
example, prompting and guiding students to talk about a story or finish an
incomplete sentence.

6. Drama: It involves simulation, role play and reproduction. Simulation is intended to

reproduce real situations which involves dramatisation and discussion. Participants
are often given and instructions and roles to play. In some cases, participants can be
asked to watch a content and enact the same in class. Role play is more spontaneous
where participants are given a situation and some instruction. Participants are
expected to use their imagination and act out roles.

7. Dialogues: Participants can be asked to read out pre written formal and informal
dialogues in a conversation. It is more like a practice session for a play for movie scene.
It is a more engaging way to learn speaking skills.

8. Spelling and word games: Games are a good way to engage participants. Some of
the spelling games to practise speaking are as follows

• Participants sit around in a circle. Words are written on different folded chits. One
participant is invited to pick a chit and give the first letter to the person next to
him. The subsequent players have to add a letter each to get the right word. The
first participant who knows the word is the judge and can take out students who
get the wrong letter in the sequence. The last person to survive will be the winner.

43
• Another game is the hangman method, ideally played in pairs. A participant picks
a chit and draws dashes on the board to represent the number of letters in the
word. The other participant have to guess the letter. Every right letter gets placed
on the board in its right position in the word. The first participant draws a parts of a
hangman for every wrong letter. So the participants have to guess the word
before the man get hung.

• Give a set of words and ask for the antonyms

• Give prefixes like “im”, “dis”, “un” and suffixes like “ful”, “less”, “able”. ASk the
participants to think of words that start with those prefixes and words that end
with those suffixes. This is another good way to improve vocabulary

• Ask participants to guess words that pronounced differently but spelt the same,
and words that are spelt the same but have different meaning.

9. Backchaining is another technique that can be used to learn pronunciation. A word

is broken into small parts or sounds. The teacher/participant gives the last sound and
the students/other participants are asked to work backwards to identify the word. For
example, the word Geography can be broken into Geo-gra-phy. Start with giving the
last sound “phy”, and ask the participants to guess the backwards in the order of
“phy” “graphy” “geography”. Clues about the nature of the word can be given to make
the exercise easier. It will also help to describe the word and learn its meaning.

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 Speaking exercises
1. Introduce yourself in class in one or two lines with no preparation time.
Introduce yourself a second time with more details in four or five lines. Give
yourself some preparation time. Notice if you find any difference between
spontaneous speech and prepared speech.

2. Play a game to work on avoiding the use of fillers in speech. Participants are
invited to talk about any topic of choice within a time limit. Participants are
asked to avoid using fillers as much as possible. For every filler used in speech
“um”, “ah” “huh” “you know” “right” “alright”, a student gets up in class. The
students who gets minimum number of students to stand in class wins the
game.

3. Compare the public speech given by a politician and a TedX speaker.

Observe the body language and listen to the tone and choice of words used in
both the speeches.

4. Watch a short video of a presenter using an animated tone to explain or

review a product/ movie. Imitate the speaker and improvise your speaking.

5. Watch a scene from a movie. Describe the scene in third person point of
view.

The following are some of the tips to improve speaking skills

• Speak, speak, speak
• Speak in front of a mirror
• Talk to yourself
• Speak to peers
• Listen to yourself while speaking
• Think in the language of your speech
• Practice the right way to pronounce
• Speed, clarity and tone

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• Listen and read

Writing skills
Writing is the act of producing and recording a system of symbols in a language in
such a way that can be read and understood. Writing is the expression of language
using visible signs. It is one of the oldest and most popular form of recording
information. Writing helps to put our thoughts into words with more clarity and
order. Writing makes information permanent and serves as a record for future. It
helps you to explain, organise and refine information and ideas. It helps to bring a
structure to information

Writing can be read only by someone who has knowledge of the linguistic structure
of language. A person who can speak a language fluently need not necessarily know
how to read or write. Writing can be classified as

Controlled writing: The writer is given a topic, word count, objective and expected
outcome. For example: An essay or feature report

Guided writing: The writer is given a topic and a reading list, and have to present the
topic in the best possible way. Example: Research assignment

Free writing: The writer chooses the topic, style, format, outcome, etc.

Writing process
Following a writing process helps improve your writing

Rehearsing: Pre-writing activity where you can look for ideas and topics, and the
material required for reference

Drafting: Planning phase where you form an outline or rough draft of the document

Revising: Phase where you check, revise and rewrite the written document

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Modes of writing
Modes of writing are the ways in which a piece of writing is developed.

Descriptive writing: Gives a verbal picture or account of a person, place or thing

Narrative writing: Reports an event or narrates a story
Expository writing: Provides information on a subject with explanations, analysis and
comparisons
Argumentative writing: Provides an opinion and defend it

A good writer should master the following:

• Language: A good grasp of the language in which you want to communicate
• Grammar: Good understanding of the functions of grammar in a language
• Research and organising information: Ability to search, gather, interpret and
organise information in a structure
• Paraphrasing: Ability to condense and summarise information by focussing on
the important points to be communicated
• Editing and revising: Ability to read and refine information
• Putting thoughts and ideas into words: Good vocabulary and knowledge of
expressions in language will help put your thoughts in writing
• Written knowledge for different fields: Ability to write and record information in
different fields

Tips to improve writing

It is important to remember that practise makes perfect
• Expand your vocabulary by reading more
• Learn the functions of grammar and constantly review whatever you write
• Learn spelling, meaning and connotations of words
• Stick with simple sentences
• Good understanding of the purpose of writing
• Always start with an outline which helps give a forma and structure
• Don’t over explain
• Practice writing everyday
• Free writing is good way to start putting thoughts into words

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Tips for practising formal writing
• Proper use of grammar
• Organise information into a structure
• Avoid using abbreviations, slang, figures of speech, excessive adjectives
• Be as objective and factual as possible
• Avoid using contractions
• Always write numbers below 10 in words
• Avoid using excessive punctuation
• Know when to use capital letters
• Go through some commonly used words in formal writing

Overview of the basic grammar rules

• Every sentence should start with a capital letter. The first letter of all proper nouns
should be in capital.
• Use a full stop, exclamation and question mark to indicate the ending of a
sentence depending on the context.
• Every sentence should have subject, verb and object.
• Use article “a” before consonants and “an” before vowels
• Give preference to active voice
• Use apostrophe to indicate possession
• Use adjectives to describe a noun

Tips to improve grammar

• Learn parts of speech: Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions,
conjunctions, interjections
• Read more to improve vocabulary and to understand how sentences are
constructed in different contexts
• Write more often.
• Review and revise the writing to make it grammatically correct

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 Writing exercises
1. Practise free writing: Write about any topic of your choice

2. Write an email to your future self/friend. Write an email to your teacher

about the delay in a project submission. Compare the informal and formal
writing by comparing the choice of words, structure and tone in both these
emails

3. Write three different copies about a topic of your choice using different
points of view - first person, second person and third person. Follow the word
limit of 200 words each. Use active voice. Avoid using too many adjectives.

Listening skills
Listening is the act of hearing and understanding a message, its intent and context. It
is ability to receive and interpret information in communication process. Listening is
an important factor in effective communication. It is the most powerful way to
connect with people. Listening is a skill that requires learning and mastering.
Hearing is a physical process that involves passive absorption of sounds whereas
listening is a mental and physical process that involves comprehension of sounds.

Objectives of listening
• Relationship building and development
• Conflict resolution
• Comprehension
• Evaluation
• Enjoyment
• Appreciation
• Relaxation and therapeutic

Exercises to improve listening

• Listening to single words and sounds: In this exercise, the teacher reads out a list of
words. Students have to write down the words as they listen. Teacher can write

49
 down the listen on board and the students can compare to check spelling. This
exercise helps you to improve listening to sounds and writing words with the right
spellings

• Listening to whole sentences; This is exercise follows the same format as the
above exercise, except that the focus is on sentences and phrases.

• Listening to a particular piece of information: In this exercise, the teacher reads a

text or story. Ask them to answer a few questions after listening to the text or story.
This helps the students to understand if they are able to locate a piece of
information from the text through listening.

• Listening for comprehending meaning and context: In this exercise, the teacher
reads a text or story. Ask them to write a gist or overview of the text or story. This
helps the students to understand if they are able to comprehend the meaning
and context of a text through listening

• Listening to take notes, form opinions and feedback: In this exercise, the teacher
can play an audio lecture or audio book, and ask the students to discuss it in class
or write down notes, opinions and questions on the lecture or book. The focus of
this exercise is on quick reflection and response.

Give clear and prior instructions to students on the requirements of the exercises

Active listening and passive listening

Active listening is mindful listening which involves hearing and comprehension
where passive listening involves only hearing without comprehension. People switch
between active and passive listening based on factors like setting, personal
circumstances, relationship with the people involved, noise barriers, topic being
discussed, etc.

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 Listening exercises
1. Play a game of whispering information. Participants have to sit in a circle.
One participant starts the game by whispering a message to the participant
next to him or her. The message can a short incidence. Each participants are
expected to whisper the message to the next person till it reaches the last
student who will reveal the message. Compare the original message and the
end message.

2. Listen to an audio book. Give your opinion/view of the story. Find out if you
are able to recall the crux and the main parts of the story.

3. Listen to a music album and find out if you can recall the lyrics and music

4. Form two groups. One person from each group is given a topic to read and
prepare. The first group is allowed to interrupt and ask questions while their
team mate explains the topic. The other group is asked to create distractions
in the form of sounds while the student from the first group is explaining the
topic. In the next turn, both groups are asked to listen without interrupting
and asking questions while the second group team mate is explaining the
topic. Ask both groups of students about how well they have understood the
respective topics

5. Listen to a list of words - objects or actions, that are either recorded or read
aloud in class. Note down the words and the first thing that comes to their
mind on hearing those words. Compare your notes with others in class.

Observation skills
Observation is the act of seeing, absorbing and understanding the things.

Importance and benefits of observation

• Observation enhances your ability to understand situations,

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• Helps us to read and understand non verbal cues
• Makes us alert and connected to the surrounding,
• Helps understand people better
• Helps understand relationship dynamics between people
• Builds curiosity
• Helps us notice the trivial and minute details about life around us

Active and passive observation:

Active observation involves mindful seeing and comprehension whereas passive
observation involves seeing without paying any attention

Tips to improve observation skills

• Avoid any distractions from digital devices
• Involve fully in the surrounding
• Notice the minute and trivial details of things and people
• Observe without intruding and interrupting the course of life around you
• Be curious
• Notice the gestures and body language of people
• Notice how people interact with each other and with the surrounding
• Notice the interesting quirks in people
• Think about the details you have noticed
• Spent sometime thinking about why people behave a certain way

Observation activity
1. Spend sometime observing the people and surroundings in any part of the
school campus during break time. Note down your observations and present
the notes in class. Were you able to observe anything new or interesting?
What did you learn from the observation activity?

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Key points
• An effective communicator should be able to interact with others through
reading, speaking, writing and listening.
• Literacy in communication can be defined as the ability to interpret the
meaning, context and intent of ideas that are encoded into words and
sentences.
• Language skills in communication refers to reading, writing, speaking and
listening skills
• Reading is the act of using your eyes to look at a series of written symbols
and interpret them as words, sentences, paragraphs and understand their
meaning and context. Reading comprehension means reading a material
thoroughly with the intention of understanding the meaning, content and
intent of the material. Reading also means articulating the written
material
• Speaking is the delivery of signs and symbols in a language using sounds.
Speaking focuses on the person producing words whereas talking refers to
act of conversation between two or more people.
• Writing is the act of producing and recording a system of symbols in a
language in such a way that can be read and understood. Writing is the
expression of language using visible signs. Writing helps to put our thoughts
into words with more clarity and order. Writing makes information permanent
and serves as a record for future.
• Listening is the act of hearing and understanding a message, its intent and
context. It is ability to receive and interpret information in communication
process. Listening is an important factor in effective communication. It is the
most powerful way to connect with people.
• Observation is the act of seeing, absorbing and understanding the things.

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Reference books
1. More than Words: An introduction to Communication by Graeme Burton,
Richard Dimbleby

2. Improve Your Reading by Ron Fry

3. Voice and Speaking skills for Dummies By Judy Apps

4. Exploring Writing by Gary Robert Muschla

5. 101 Creative Writing Exercises by Melissa Donovan

6. Listen! The Art of Effective Communication by Dale Carnegie

7. Communication and Linguistic skills by Farah Ali Nur

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 MEDIA, CULTURE & SOCIETY

Our world is filled with societies defined by distinctive cultures and thriving media.
Media, culture and society are very central to our existence. Our initiation into culture
is shaped and moulded by the different social, political, economic and cultural
institutions of our society. Media offers engaging resources to shape our identities,
imaginations and to express ourselves as an extension of our culture and society. A
deep dive into the interrelationships between media, culture and society will
showcase the interesting ways in which they operate and influence each other.

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MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Learning objectives
• To understand media and its functions
• To look at the evolution of society over the years
• To explore the different aspects of culture and learn the basic concepts of culture
• To understand how society and culture influence the production and
consumption of media
• To understand the role of media in shaping our understanding of cultures and
societies

Mass Media
The term mass media refers to the various channels of communication through
which messages are transmitted between a source and destination. Take a deeper
look at the words “mass” and “media”. Media is the plural of medium, which means
that the term refers to multiple channels and platforms that transmit messages.
Mass refers to the large number of people. So, mass media means multiple
communication channels and platforms that transmit messages to a large number
of people across distances.

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Mass media enables creators and producers to communicate large volume of
content to millions of audiences. Media is a broader term often used to refer
collectively or individually to the producers of content, the technology used to
transfer and receive messages and the content they disseminate. Mass media
includes both traditional media and digital media. Mass media can be broadly
classified as

• Print media: Any form of written or pictorial communication that is mass

produced through mechanical, electronic or digital methods to distribute to a
large number of audience. Examples of print media include newspapers, books,
magazines, pamphlets, journals, etc

• Broadcast media: Enables the transfer of audio and video content transmitted
through electronic and digital technology to a large number of audience. Two
main types of broadcast media are TV and radio

• Digital media: Enables the transfer of messages through digitally encoded

signals to digital devices of audiences

Functions of mass media

Mass media is a powerful tool that enables the producers and creators to
communicate to a large number of audience across distances. The people involved in
the production of mass media messages have a certain responsibility to be ethical
and sensitive in the creation of content. Mass media serves the following main
functions

• Information: Sharing of information is one of the major functions of mass media.

Different platforms of mass media provide large volumes of information about
almost every issue, event, subject and topic. The sharing of information on a mass
scale can be traced back to the invention of printing press that made it possible.
Language and literacy aided this process of mass sharing through printed
materials. Today, people get information on current events and issues around the
world through news media. Mass media platforms offer a wide array of data and

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 information to people whether they are looking for any type of information
ranging from the simplest of information about a store in the neighbourhood to
research data on retail store penetration in an area.

• Education: Mass media educates the audiences through its different content.
Movies, news, documentaries, social media demo videos, online learning courses,
etc are educative in nature. Pubic service announcements on mass media
platforms are meant to create awareness and to educate the public on certain
issues and right practices

• Persuasion: Mass media has the power to influence audience behaviour, action,
thoughts and attitudes. Content creators take advantage of this power to mass
media to persuade people to behave and act in a desired manner. Advertisements
persuade audiences to buy products/services. News editors, commentators,
reviewers, etc use mass media to persuade audience to think and form opinions
that align with their agendas

• Entertainment: Mass media provides entertainment for all audience groups. It is

one of the most expected function of mass media. It provides relaxation, leisure
and pleasure to audiences. Every platform of mass media is constantly
experimenting and innovating new formats of content to engage audiences

Characteristics of mass media

Some of the main characteristics of mass media are

• Wide reach: Mass media platforms enjoy a wide coverage because of the
increased penetration of media devices around the world. With the advancement
in digital technology, mass media is able to transfer messages and content to
even remote areas. It also allows for fast and continuous transmission of good
quality content.

• Large and diverse audiences: Mass media cater content to not just large
number of audiences but also diverse segments of audiences depending on their

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 demographics and interests

• Technology interface: Mass media has evolved from traditional platforms like
newspapers and radio to more advanced technology interfaces to receive media
content. People can now access all content offered by various mass media
platforms on a single mobile device. People can even read newspapers, watch
advertisements and buy products with a touch or click, get traffic updates on
internet radio, read books on mobile phone interface, attend an online course,
watch movies and play games.

• Bridges the distance between creators and consumers: Mass media transmit
messages and content across large distances to cover a large number of
audience. People in India can enjoy a live cricket match happening in England in
the comfort of their home or any surrounding. Content creators have a more
closer connect with their audiences with the innovations in interactive media
which makes instant feedback and interaction possible.

Activity
• Make a list of platforms under different types of mass media
• Identify different content in each platform that serves the main functions
of mass media

Society
Humans are social creatures who thrive in a group. Society is a group of people
together in an organised way. It can also be defined as a group of people living
together in a community, sharing a common culture like beliefs, values, habits and
practices. In essence, society is a group of people sharing common culture and
engaging in relationships and interactions with people belonging to a particular
place or community. It is important to understand different societies to have a better
appreciation and awareness of the different types of people and their ways of living.

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There are many different societies around the world that can be classified on the
basis of different criteria like geographic area, innovation and progress, interests,
economic and political set up etc. Societies are made up of different social groups
ranging from family units, tribes, villages, towns and cities to states and nations. The
nature of our social groups shapes our values, attitudes and behaviour. Therefore, it is
important to understand the connection between people of a society and structures
of a society like its institution and organisation. Societies play a big role in influencing
the production and consumption of media.

Social groups
According to sociologist William Ogburn, “When two or more individuals come
together and influence one another, they may be called a social group”. It is
important for people to come together, interact and influence one another to form a
social group or to be identified as a social group. Social groups can be classified on
the following criteria

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Sociologist C H Cooley classifies social groups into primary and secondary groups on
the basis of contact

• Primary group: Members of a primary groups are close knit and possess similar
cultural attributes like language, values, beliefs, practises and lifestyle. There is
always constant interaction between the members. The relationship between
members of a primary group can be more personal, intimate and deep. These
groups are usually smaller in number. Examples are family, close friends group,
local neighbourhood and community

• Secondary group: Members of a secondary group are do not engage in frequent

interactions and are not in close proximity. Members usually have a specific aims
and goals to achieve. The relationship between members are less personal
compared to primary groups. These groups are larger in size. For example, social
groups involving voters and candidates in a municipality.

Another sociologist WG summers identifies two types of social groups on the basis of
identification

• In group: Members of in groups share sense of belonging on the basis of religion,

interest, geographic area, family, occupation, etc. It is often associated with
member of a group who identifies with each other in terms of common interests,
belief systems, profession, personal relationship etc. For example, cricket fans,
believers of a religion or way of life, etc

• Out group: An out group is a group that people do not identify with or does not
share any common interests or belief systems or profession or personal
relationship with. There is strong sense of differentiation in relation to out groups.
For example, people have strong sense of patriotism while watching sports like
crickets where groups identify themselves as in groups and out groups. Indians
consider themselves as in groups with regard to their support for team India and
consider the other team supporters as out groups

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Social groups can be classified on the basis of rules and regulations

• Formal groups: Members follow certain rules and regulation to be part of a formal
group. There is a clear structure and hierarchy in formal groups. Member can face
penalties for breaching rules and regulations.For example, people working in
formal organisations like bank, pubic and private business, hospitals, government
offices, etc

• Informal group: Members have a casual relationship with each other. There are
no rules sand regulations. For example, friends, family, informal clubs like movie
club, book club, etc

Sociologist Dwight Sanderson classifies social groups on the basis of kinship and
structure

• Voluntary: Members join a group by their choice. For example, students of a

school or college

• Involuntary: Members are by default bound together by personal ties like family,
and by factors like age, ethnicity and nativity. Members have no choice or limited
control over their association with the group. For example, people have no choice
over their place of birth and age.

• Delegate: Members are chosen, nominated or elected based on different criteria

by the decision makers of a group. For example, MLAs and MPs are elected by
people to represent them in the Assembly or Parliament respectively

Social groups are also classified on the basis of social interactions

• Un social: People who do not participate or engage in any social activities and
interactions

• Anti social: Group of people who act against the interest of a society and creates

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 social unrest

• Pro social: Group of people who work of the welfare and progress of a society

• Pseudo social: Group of people who are concerned about personal welfare over
the welfare of society

Activity
• Identify examples of representation of different social groups in media
content
• Discuss how different social groups are portrayed in popular media

Evolution of societies
Hunter gatherers
The earliest known human
societies were hunter gatherers.
These early group of humans were
nomads without a permanent
settlement. They moved from place
to place and hunted together,
forced by natural forces and threat
f rom animals. There are hunter
gatherers living in remote parts of
the world even today. But they are mostly restricted to a region and does not move
from place to place like early societies of hunter gatherers. Hunter gatherer groups
were smaller in number. People communicated mainly through gestures, body
language, drawings and sounds

Pastoral societies
Pastoral societies learned how to tame and breed animals. They had a more
sustainable form of livelihood but they were also nomadic groups. They moved from
place to place to find new grazing lands for their herds of livestock. They were
specialised role s for men and women, more organised way of living together.

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Development of language and other specialised skills are among the other defining
aspects of these societies. People communicated through gestures, body language,
some early forms of language.

Horticultural societies
The decision to settle in a certain place for long enough to cultivate plants led to the
formation of another group known as horticultural societies. They also moved to new
pieces of land when an existing piece of land became barren. They used to keep
rotating places to keep the process of cultivation continuous. This led to more
organised ways of living, and formation of villages. Specialisation of roles for
individuals and existence of hierarchy led to power and wealth differences between
people. People relied on oral communication, gestures and body language

Agricultural societies
Agricultural societies were formed when people learned how to cultivation methods
like rotation of crops and to use better tools for harvesting. This led to increase in food
supply and permanent settlements. Farming revolutionised the concept of society.
Language became evolved with the formation of organised forms of script. This led
to the development of social and economic exchanges between people. It soon gave
rise to large settlements and civilisations where people had specialised roles as
rulers, hunter, warriors, artists and priest. Societies became more complex with social
hierarchies, class and caste difference between people. For example, civilisations like
ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Indus valley civilisation etc. People communicated
with more organised forms of oral and written communication

Industrial societies
Industrial revolution, invention of machinery, transportation and communication
systems led to the formation of industrial societies. This led to increased movement
of people from rural areas to towns and cities in search of better livelihoods. There
was surplus production of goods in factories. Literacy improved with more people
having access to education. But there was a widening gap between people with
power and wealth. Industrial societies also saw the growth of consumerism. This saw
the birth of capitalism and development of powerful societies in the world. Industrial

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societies came up in different parts of the world. England and North America were
some of the most prominent industrial societies with great advancements in
technology and innovation. Invention of communication technologies like printing
press, telephone, telegram, radio gave people new mediums to communicate across
distances

Post industrial societies

Post industrial societies are marked with the increased focus on knowledge, higher
education, information and communication technology, economic progress,
political stability, expansion of urban settlements, infrastructural development,
service jobs and thriving mass media. Industrial revolution was replaced by
information revolution that focussed on mass production and dissemination of
information. This also led to manipulation and exploitation of information sources to
benefit the ruling and business interests of people. Advancements in digital
technology saw a significant rise in media platforms that makes communication
faster, affordable and easier.

Activity
• Identify the landmark inventions in communication and media technology
during the industrial and post industrial era
• Study the role of communication and media in the evolution of industrial
and post industrial societies

Mass media and society

Mass media has the power to influence people in a society. There are three main
approaches to study the relationship between media and society

Media as producers and shapers: Media content is so diversified that there is vast
volumes of options for all groups of audiences. Content creators are constantly
innovating and formats and developing ideas to cater to the expanding spectrum of
audiences. Hence, it is important to look at how media portrays different social
groups, relationships, violence, and sensitive issues. The argument that media has
the power to influence people in a society prompts the media creators to develop

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and produce content with sensitivity. For example, excessive use of violence in
movies always run the risk of influencing children , especially in the case of
unsupervised viewing and consumption. Media content regulations recommend
content rating to advise parental guidance wherever there is sensitive, complex and
violent content is involved. Different countries have different standards regulating
content. However, there are media platforms with limited regulations. The
vulnerable sections of a society are always at the risk of being influenced by mass
media content.

Another important area is media portrayal of different social groups, especially

ethnic groups and marginalised groups. There is often stereotyping of groups based
on gender, ethnicity and geographic area. Such portrayals can lead to reinforcing
ideas and influencing the way people understand themselves and others in society.

Subjective opinions and viewpoints on various issues, events and people in media
can lead to building bias in the audiences. Consider the news editorials and news
analysis on media platforms.

News organisations can also have vested and business interests that often leads to
the bias in reporting and analysis of news. In this age of digital media that allows
interactivity and instant feedback, it is easy for audience to share opinions comments
and to share information with more people. This can leads to influencing public
opinion on different matters. Media also provides multiple platforms for people to
create content and express themselves. Hence, there is always a threat of fake news,
paid news, unverified and unreliable information on media. Therefore, it is essential
for media creators to produce and distribute information with more awareness and
sensitivity to minimise and avoid its unintended effects on vulnerable sections in a
society. It is also important for audiences in a society to be more media literate when
consuming content.

Media as mirrors: This approach looks at how media reflects the existing practices,
events, issues, relationships, identities and values of a society. Media creators often
make this argument when being criticised for portrayal of violence and sensitive

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content. Hence, it important for the people in a society to make changes to address
the issues of violence and other sensitive matters in a society. In most cases, media
content is closely related to real events, issues and practises in a society. But these are
not often accurate or perfect reflections. This brings us to the third approach.

Media selection and representation: Media has control over the selection and
presentation of content. Media producers select what is to be included and decide
how it is presented. According to cultural theorist, Stuart Hall, “…representation is a
very different notion to reflection. It implies active work of selecting and presenting,
of structuring and shaping. He argued that media does not always offer true
representation of issues, events and people in a society. Repeated representations of
issues, opinions, people and events can influence the attitudes, behaviours, actions,
identities and social practises of people in a society. Hence, it is important for people
in a society to be media literate. Studying the meanings of messages in a media text
helps to understand the biases, viewpoints, opinions and intentions of the people
who created it.

Activity
1. Identify examples of content where media acts mirrors of society
2. Think of examples of movies that use excessive and unwarranted violence
3. Identify examples of media content that does not give accurate
representations of real events and issues

Culture
Culture can be defined as a way of life shared by people in a society with common
values, norms, practises and lifestyle shared by people in a society. One of the classic
definitions of culture was provided by Edward Burnett Taylor: “ Culture…is that
complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society.” Culture is
man made and it evolves with the evolution of a society. Culture is often passed down
through generations in a society.

Culture is ingrained but can be learned, shared and integrated. People learn culture

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through the process of socialisation. People learn to think, behave and act in different
ways in different societies. They learn from the wide range of social structures in their
society. Learning culture of any society is a life long process.

Characteristics of culture
• Culture is learnt by observation, imitation, adoption and subconscious learning.
People are not born with culture. People learn culture from families, friends,
institutions and media. The process of learning culture is often both conscious
and subconscious. Examples of children learning values and language from
parents, adopting religious practices, subconscious learning of behaviours and
body language.

• Culture is shared. We share culture components with other members in the

group. This helps people to behave and act in socially appropriate ways and also
helps to understand the behaviours and actions of others. Culture is shared
through personal interactions and media platforms.

• Culture is social. Culture cannot exist in isolation, it requires interaction and

socialisation to thrive. Personal interactions and socialisation through different
media are important for culture to exist and survive

• Culture is a continuous process, gaining from past and present experiences and
gearing for changes in the future. There is constant exchange of ideas and

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 information between people belonging to different cultures. So, culture can
change to adjust itself to the changing times and circumstances in a society.
Hence, culture is a continuous process of learning

• Culture is integrated: All components of culture are interrelated. It is important to

learn all these components to understand the true meaning and significance of
culture

Components of Culture
Cultural components can be classified as material culture and non material.

Material culture: It includes all the tangible things produced or used by people in a
culture. For example, things like clothing, accessories, ornaments, weapons, tools,
utensils, monuments, buildings, written records, religious images, etc. Material
culture looks at the relationship with people and the material aspects of a culture.
The material things of a culture affects the way people understand culture, the way
people represent and express themselves.

For example, material things in Indian culture include architectural monuments,

traditional Indian clothes used by different communities, ornaments and
accessories, images of gods and religious scriptures in different religions practised in
India.

A study of material culture looks at the following aspects

• How does things in a culture produce meanings?
• What does things mean to people when they originally produced and used them?
• Does these things change meaning over time?
• How are these material things represented in media, art and literature?
• Why do scholars and historians document and preserve these artefacts?

Non material culture: It includes all the intangible things in a culture like beliefs,
values, norms, language etc.

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Signs and symbols: Signs and symbols in a
culture be either material or non material.
When it is an object or written symbol, it is
material whereas actions or expressions like
gestures, dance, etc it is non material. Signs
and symbols in a culture carries some
meaning. It can be an object, word or action
shared and recognised by a group of people.
The meanings of signs and symbols can
change from time to time and from culture
to culture. It could mean different things for
people.

Signs have a clear meaning and

visual resemblance that gives
information or instruction
whereas symbols stand for
something to which they have
no visual resemblance. Both
signs and symbols have
meanings that are shared by a
group of people or people in a
culture. Signs include drawing,
sketches, or warning signs that
has visual resemblance to idea it
represents. For example traffic signs like speed bump, wheelchair sign, the restroom
signs for different genders. Symbols are signs that do not have a visual resemblance
to the idea it represents. For example, letters and sounds, symbols of peace like olive
branch and dove. The tricolour Indian flag is symbol of Indian identity, pride and
patriotism.

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Language
Language can be defined as a system of oral and written symbols used by people to
share and exchange meanings between each other. Language brings people of
culture together and creates a sense of community. Early form of language was
created by assigning meaning for collective understanding of sounds. Language is
often the biggest barrier when people from different cultures interact. It also enables
a person to identify and connect with others who know the same language. Earlier,
language was considered a differentiating factor between people of different
cultures. People then started learning other languages with increase travel and trade
between countries. In the present world, there is easy access to learning and
mastering different languages through language training apps like Duolingo.
People are comfortable communicating in more than one language, mainly driven
by necessity and curiosity. Language is still one of the important component of
culture. But it may not always differentiates people from different cultures on the
basis of language. There are people in some cultures who take pride in
communicating strictly in their native language. This is a cultural practise followed by
some countries. However, knowledge and understanding of multiple languages
enable better inter cultural communication. Some of the important features of
language are as follows

• Language allows people to communicate with each other

• It is both oral and written
• It helps shape our reality
• It helps to document and record our history
• It helps to pass down our culture
• There are almost 6900 languages in the world
• There are specific languages for different professions, and industries like web
language, scientific language, language of music , poems, stories,
advertisements, film, etc.

Language is an important component of culture because

• Language helps people to record and share cultural values and practises
• It helps build relationship between people in a culture

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• It can play a unifying role as well a diversifying role in any society
• It helps us share and express our feeling, thoughts, opinions, ideas and knowledge

Activity
1. Find out the number of languages and dialects used by people in India
2. Identify and name some of the languages that have disappeared
3. Identify the languages that are spoken by the most number of people in
the world
4. Can you identify which countries or state use the following languages and
dialects
• Singhalese
• Malay
• Cantonese
• Bahasa
• Tulu
• Konkani

Values
Values are general standards of what is right and wrong that helps the people in a
culture to align themselves of what is an accepted behaviours and actions in a
society. The defining features of values are defining features of values

• Values are standards of right and wrong, good and bad, fair and just in a culture
• Values are broad principles that underlie our beliefs about what is acceptable
behaviours and actions in a society
• Different cultures can have different values
• Groups within a culture can have different values but share some core values with
the main culture
• A culture may have conflicting values. For example, people’s professed values and
actions may not match always. People might give importance to personal wealth
and welfare than their professed value of charity and national welfare.

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 Activity
1. Identify your values and see how they align with the values of the culture to
which you belong

Norms
Norms are general rules and expectations that guides the behaviour and actions of
people in a culture. some of the features of cultural norms are as follows

• Some norms are universal like expected moral conduct in a society

• Breaching moral norms in a culture can bring strict action and punishment
(driving rules, drug abuse, murder and assault)
• Some norms can be more important than others (dress code, courtesy, greeting)
• Norms can divide the world into right and wrong
• Norms vary across cultures

Norms can be divided into folkways, mores, taboos and laws. Folkways are
conventions or customs are commonly accepted by people in a society but not
morally significant. For example, burping loudly is note an accepted norm in Western
cultures like America. Mores are morally significant norms. For example, religious
sites will have certain expected moral conduct like way of dressing and observing
silence in the sanctuary. Breaching of mores can invite the displeasure of people in a
culture. Taboos are norms that forbid certain behaviours and actions in a culture. For
example, marrying within the family (marriage between cousins or marrying
relatives) is considered a taboo in many cultures; some culture consider marrying
outside the community as taboo. Laws are norms that are legally binding rules in a
society. For example, there are laws that punish proprietors of domestic violence and
public outrage of modesty. Members of a culture are expected to conform to the
norms. If they fail to internalise and socialise norms by conforming to it, it will invite
punishments, fines and expulsion.

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Some of the commonly accepted norms around the world
• Public smoking is banned in many countries. People are expected to smoke in
designated reas
• Ban on chewing and spitting in some countries
• Office etiquette includes codes of dressing and conduct
• Classroom étiquette includes codes of dressing and conduct
• Ways of greeting in different cultures. For example, people greet with firm
handshake in Germany; Japanese bow to each other; Thai people press their
hands together and lightly bow - called wai; Indians press their hands together to
do Namaste in formal settings

Activity
1. Find out the different forms of greeting practised around the world
2. Find out the general taboos, mores and laws governing norms in India

Types of culture
Culture is generally classified as High culture:
It refers to the cultural practices, art forms and
products that signifies high quality and
superiority. It is generally considered exclusive
and is enjoyed by elites in a society. Patrons of
high culture are considered to hold distinctive
honour, prestige and status in society. They
enjoy and share aesthetic standards and
tastes in arts, literature, music, theatre,
products and follow certain elitist cultural
practices.

Characteristics of high culture are as follows

• It is accessible to a select group defined by social status, economic status,
education and merit.
• Initially associated with the ruling and elite class
• Arts and literature of this culture used to be considered innovative and novel

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• Access to a select group defined by social status, economic status, education and
merit
• Give a unique and exclusive experience
• Not for the masses

Examples of high culture include classical music, luxury brands, exotic cuisines,
historic artworks and sculptures, patrons of renowned artists and writers, national
treasures, etc. Patrons of high culture often participate in auction to collect rare art
works, sculptures, ornaments, clothes etc.

Activity
1. Identify examples of high culture in different societies around the world

Popular culture: It is often considered as the culture of the masses. It is also known
as low culture and it represents the needs, aspirations and interactions of everyday
life. It can also be defined as the set of practices, beliefs, objects, content and any
output that are prevalent and dominant in a society at any point of time and that are
widely recognised and enjoyed by the masses. Popular culture can be closely read
with consumer culture, mass culture, image culture and media culture. Any art form,
products or practices that are created, manufactured or practised for mass
entertainment, consumption and following can be considered as popular culture.
Emergence of popular culture can be traced to the mass culture created by the
middle class during the industrial age. At that time, popular culture meant any form
of entertainment and products that catered to the taste of working class. Industrial
societies saw new inventions, innovations in media, and surplus production of goods.
These factors led to marketing these products and inventions to the masses through
the power and reach of mass media. The characteristics of popular culture are as
follows

• Well liked by the masses

• Common
• Widely available
• Easily accessible

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• Popular culture is not just the products but also the way in which they are used
• Rich in meaning
• Presence of pop icons
• Creates a consumerist economy

Examples of popular culture in India includes cricket; commercial movies in different

film industries; film music; iconic movie stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh
Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit; iconic sports stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat
Kohli; street food, reality TV, iconic ad mascots like Amul Girl, etc.

Role of media in spreading popular culture

Mass media has a wide reach covering vast geographical areas with diversified
segments of audiences. There is a significant increase in the penetration of digital
technologies and devices in different parts of the world. These factors enable media
to disseminate content to large audiences around the world at a faster pace and
volume. Popular culture, be definition, is enjoyed by large number of people in
society. Hence, mass media plays an active role in creating and spreading popular
culture.

Media uses repeated telecast and exposure to target masses to catch on to a popular
culture trend. Media also disseminates popular culture trends across different
platforms. For example, a trending music album appears in different formats in
different media platforms. Creators have easy access to media technologies for
creation and dissemination of content to larger number audiences. Mass media,
especially social media makes it possible for unknown artists to gain overnight fame
and popularity. Popular culture references can be found in other media content. It
reinforces the mass acceptance and recognition of popular culture trends, products
and content. For example, serials and web series referencing a popular icon, movie,
food or fashion trend. Media also shows otherpeople using, accepting or adopting
the popular culture trends. For example, social media reels of different people and
celebrities popularising a certain dance trend in a popular music album.

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 Activity
1. Identify popular culture trends in different media platforms in India

Sub culture: Sub cultures are smaller groups within a larger culture with different
practices, belief and values but also share some of the founding principles of the
larger culture. Sub cultures are formed when people of a dominant culture are not
satisfied with the practices and values of the dominant culture or when groups have
differing ideas, interests, skills and tastes that are not widely accepted and
appreciated by the dominant culture. Members of a sub culture often express their
distinctiveness through symbols, clothing, mannerisms and style.

Some of the main differences between dominant culture and sub culture are as
follows

• Dominant cultures are dictated by the ruling ideas, values, and practices that is
more widely accepted by the society whereas sub cultures are formed by smaller
groups within the parent culture that differentiates themselves from the widely
accepted norms, values, ideas and practises

• Dominant cultures have better access to media and masses whereas sub culture
have limited access to media and masses in comparison

• Dominant cultures are shared by the masses where sub cultures are shared by a
segment of a society.

Examples of sub cultures include vegan food, hip hop, indie pop, K pop, organic food,
biking community, running groups, organic fashion, minimalistic fashion, yoga,
science fiction fans, etc.

Counter culture: It is a cultural group whose the values, norms and practices run
counter to the mainstream culture. One of the most prominent examples of counter
culture in history is the Hippie movement of the 1960s. It was counter culture youth

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movement that started in the US and spread to other countries. Some of the other
examples of counter culture in the world include women’s rights movement in the
60’s and 70’s, LGBTQ rights movement in India that is currently fighting for right to
marriage.

Counter culture is born when there is prolonged opposition between a sub culture
and dominant culture. A small group of members within a dominant culture start
questioning and opposing commonly accepted norms, values and practises.
Counter cultures use different platforms including media for expressing their beliefs
and practices. They also express themselves through distinctive symbols, clothing,
style and way of living.

Counter culture can be considered as a sub culture in the sense that it is small group
within a dominant culture. But it also differs from sub culture because does not share
any cultural practices and values of the dominant culture. Instead, counter culture
opposes the principles of the dominant culture.

For example, education system in countries are defined by certain principles.

Different schools follow different methods that are aligned with the core principles of
education and schooling system. There are public schools and private schools that
follow different methods like state board, CBSE, ICSC and international curriculum.

78
Most of these are the mainstream educational curriculums. You can think of a
Montessori method as a sub culture. It is an educational method that has a
distinctive style that focuses on learner centric teaching. It is a method prefered by
small group of people.

You can consider home schooling as an example of counter culture because it does
not necessarily follow the structural methods of mainstream schooling practises.
Most countries have certain regulations and guidelines for practicing home
schooling. Some countries like Sweden and Germany have even banned home
schooling.

Activity
1. Read about the Hippie movement and how it spread to different parts of
the world including India

Important concepts in culture

Culture shock
It can be defined as the impact of exposure to a new culture. People experience
culture shock when they are unable to understand meanings in other cultures. It
occurs when people move from a familiar culture to a new culture. Culture shock can
stem from meeting new people, being exposed to new language, new customs,
signs and symbols and new ways of life. For example, death and funeral rituals in
many parts of India is time of quite mourning and sadness whereas in some
communities in Tamil Nadu, death and funeral rituals are a time for celebration
where people dance and sing. This can be culture shock for new visitors to the place.

There is an increase in the umber of people travelling for leisure and in search of new
experiences. People are also moving to different countries for education, job and
settling. This means that people have to be ready to face a culture shock while
interacting and mingling with people of a new culture with different practices, values
and way of living. Hence, it is important and helpful to have curiosity, willingness to
explore, learn, understand, tolerate and accept new cultures. People go through
different stages of culture shock.

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• Honeymoon stage: It is the most positive phase of travel and moving to new
place. It is characterised by fascination and curiosity in exploring the new culture
and experiencing new food, music, arts and meeting new people. When people
are travelling for short work stints or on holidays, the later stages of culture shock
does not take off. It ends with honeymoon stage

• Frustration stage: This is the most difficult stage and it follows the honeymoon
stage. It is characterised by miscommunication and misunderstanding that
stems from the inability to make sense of language, gestures, signs and symbols
that are specific to the new culture. This is compounded by homesickness and a
longing to be in a group with similar cultures

• Adjustment stage: This stage sets in when the frustration stage is overcome by
meeting new people and figuring out local language, signs, symbols, practises
and ways of living in a new place. At this stage, people start recognising the
aspects of the new culture and find ways to cope.

• Acceptance stage: This is the final stage where people are comfortable with the
new place and its culture. They are able to function and survive easily in the new
surroundings. They have a support system of friends and local help in the new
place. It does not necessarily mean you adopt the practices of a new culture.

Activity
1. Think about what foreigners may find as a culture shock while travelling to
India
2. Can you think of any movie that portrays culture shock experienced by
Indians while travelling abroad?

Culture capital
The term culture capital was coined by French sociologist Pierre Bordeau. He defined
cultural capital as the preferential access to codes of high culture enjoyed by the
dominant classes in a society who also happen to control economic resources. He
developed the idea to explain how the people can move up in a stratified society with

80
the power of their cultural knowledge. Culture capital refers to the accumulation of
cultural knowledge that will help people to gain experiences and opportunities
otherwise unavailable to them. People can wield power and status with their cultural
experiences, educational credentials and aesthetic preferences. It gives social,
economic and cultural advantage that helps people to move up in life and career.
People do not inherit culture capital unlike economic possessions inherited from
parents. People acquire culture capital from the environment they grow up in and by
taking advantage of their opportunities to learn and acquire cultural knowledge

For example, acquiring educational qualifications, possessions, mannerisms,

accents, tastes, experiences, knowledge, skills, etc

Types of culture capital

• Embodied culture capital: Knowledge acquired through the resources available
in one’s culture. It includes language skills, etiquette, values and attitudes, etc.

• Objectified culture capital: Physical resources in a culture that people have

access to - books, arts, technology, material possessions

• Institutional culture capital: Achievements and credentials acquired through

institutions like degree, title, awards

Benefits of culture capital

• People can get access to better opportunities in life and career
• People can acquire better standards of living
• People can have better global mobility
• People can benefit from networking and access to resources

Cultural integration
Cultural integration is adoption of practices and elements of other culture without
compromising one’s own culture. When people travel and move to different cultures
they are exposed to new experiences, practises and way of living. People have the
choice of being open to trying food choices in different countries or sticking to one’s

81
familiar and comfortable cuisine. People from different religions and communities
celebrate or participate in each other’s religious celebrations without compromising
their belief systems. They do not necessarily believe in the tenets of other person’s
religion to participate in their celebrations. Cultural integration creates a sense of
unity in a society. It provides opportunities for people to experience new cultures and
practises which they may not have easy access to.

Benefits
• Increased acceptance and tolerance of other cultures
• Better awareness of the practices in other cultures
• Enhance knowledge and creativity
• More sensitive to the issues and practices of people from other cultures

Challenges
• Risk of assimilation and dilution of one’s cultural values and practises
• Risk of conflicting opinions and ideas

Intercultural communication
Intercultural communication essentially means communication between people
belonging to different cultures. It can be also defined as a field of study, a skill,
awareness and practicalities of communicating with people of different cultures.
Intercultural communication becomes important when people travel to a new
country for leisure, education, work or settling. People working in global organisation
have to engage in intercultural communication with colleagues and clients
belonging to different cultures. Media organisations work with millions of talents
from different cultures. Hence, it is important for media crew and talents to practise
intercultural communication and be aware of cultural sensitivities while
communicating. There is a rising number of students travelling abroad for
education. Educational institutions are a place of multi cultural population of
students. They learn to communicate with people of other cultures through
experience, practise and constant interactions.

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Important reminders for intercultural communication
• Be more aware and tolerant of other cultures
• Better listening and observation
• Understanding of differences in body language and gestures
• Understanding of the basic values, norms, practises and way of thinking of people
from the other cultures
• Be open minded

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• Be flexible
• Be patient
• Be sensitive
• Practice humility while communicating

Role of communication in culture

The process of communication involves the transfer of information or message
between a source and destination. Communication is integral to the process of
learning culture in a society. People learn their culture and its components through
constant interaction with people sharing the same culture in a society.

Communication and culture share a very complex and intimate relationship.

Communication helps the formation and survival of a culture. Communication paves
way for human interaction to happen. This leads to the creation and sharing of
cultural characteristics like values, norms, practices, lifestyle and ways of living.
Communication links individuals to one another, provides a base for common
identity, and creates a context for interaction. Cultures are a natural by-product of
communication between people in a society.

The invention of language and literacy helped people to document and transfer
cultural knowledge. Components of different cultures are communicated through
mass media to large number of audiences. Communication also helps people to
make sense of other cultures and to interact with people from other cultures

Mass media and culture

Mass media provides a platform where people (creators and audiences) participate
in construction and maintenance of culture. Media plays a big role in how people
understands their own culture and different cultures. Mass media exposes people to
a multitude of cultures through different content. People often learn and
understand different cultures through mass media platforms. Creators have a
responsibility to be sensitive to different cultures while creating and transmitting
content. There are many instances of stereotyping of people from different cultures
in media. Such representations reinforce ideas and opinions in the minds of

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audience about different cultures. This results in biased opinions and understanding
of particular groups of people. Therefore, it is the responsibility of content creators to
make accurate representation of people from different cultures rather than
resorting to stereotyping. Audiences also have a responsibility to be aware of how
media create meanings through representation.

Very often, media organisations follow the norms of a dominant culture in a society.
This results in media platforms transmitting messages and information consistent
with the interest of the dominant culture. Audiences, on the other hand, can find it
difficult to contest and negotiate these messages to form objective opinions and
viewpoints, especially when they have to navigate the information overload on
media platforms. For example, news organisations may present editorials and news
analysis consistent with the interest of the dominant culture. It can be time
consuming to find reliable information on objective presentation of facts. Audiences
may not always have the skills, time and access to alternative sources to verify
information. In such cases, media has the power to influence audience opinion on
different issues and to get the desired effect of aligning the audience opinion to
match the interest of dominant culture.

Activity
1. Identify examples of representations of different culture and society in
different media content

Key points
• Mass media is any medium of communication that has the power to reach
the masses. It can be broadly classified into print, broadcast and digital media
• Functions of mass media includes information, education, entertainment,
persuasion.
• Characteristics of mass media - Wide reach, diverse audience, technology
interface, bridges the distance between creators and consumers
• Society is a group of people living in a community, sharing a common
culture like beliefs, values, habits and practices.

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• Societies have evolved over time from hunting societies to information
societies. The different societies are identified as hunter gatherers, pastoral,
horticultural, agricultural, industrial and post industrial
• Culture can be defined as way of life, practices, values, ideas, attitudes,
material aspects as well as expected patterns of behaviour in a society.
People in a society makes culture. Culture is ingrained but can be learned,
shared and integrated.
• Culture can be classified into material and non-material
• Culture is made up of different components like symbols, language, values,
norms and material
• Types of culture include popular culture, high culture, sub culture and
counter culture
• High culture refers to the cultural practices, art forms and products that
signifies high quality and superiority. It is generally considered exclusive and
is enjoyed by elites in a society.
• Popular culture is the set of practices, beliefs, objects, content and any
output that are prevalent and dominant in a society at any point of time and
that are widely recognised and enjoyed by the masses. Popular culture can
be closely read with consumer culture, mass culture, image culture and
media culture.
• Sub cultures are formed by a group of people within a large culture by
following distinctive values and practises
• It is a cultural group whose the values, norms and practices run counter to
the mainstream culture.
• Culture shock can be defined as the impact of exposure to a new culture.
People experience culture shock when they are unable to understand
meanings in other cultures. It occurs when people move from a familiar
culture to a new culture. People go through different stages of culture shock.
• Culture capital refers to the accumulation of cultural knowledge that will
help people to gain experiences and opportunities otherwise unavailable to
them. People can wield power with their cultural experiences, educational
credentials and aesthetic preferences.

86
• Cultural integration is adoption of practices and elements of other culture
without compromising one’s own culture.
• Intercultural communication essentially means communication between
people belonging to different cultures. It can be also defined as a field of
study, a skill, awareness and practicalities of communicating with people of
different cultures.
• Media plays a big role in how people understands their own culture and
different cultures. Creators have a responsibility to be sensitive to different
cultures and provide accurate representations

References
• Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology
by Joseph Straubhaar, Robert LaRose, Lucinda Davenport
• Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology
by Joseph Straubhaar, Robert LaRose, Lucinda Davenport
• An introduction to sociology by Ken Browne
• Society and social organisation by Tim Cooke
• Introducing Cultural Studies by Brian Longhurst, Greg Smith,
Gaynor Bagnall, Garry Crawford, Miles Ogborn
• Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts
by John Hartley
• Intercultural communication: A critical introduction by Ingrid Piller

Source of images
• freepik.com

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 INTRODUCTION
TO MASS MEDIA

Mass media has evolved over the years to become an integral part of our daily life. It
shapes our understanding of the world. Mass communication played a big role in
organisation of early societies as it aided the propagation of social, political and
religious ideas. Media came into public existence with the invention of printing press.
This technology for mass communication enabled large scale dissemination of
information to diverse audience. Mass media soon acquired a social and cultural
definition.

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INTRODUCTION TO PRINT MEDIA

Print media is one of the oldest and basic forms of mass communication. Any content
that is print and published on paper for mass consumption is referred to as print
media. Print media forms include newspapers, magazines, books, pamphlets,
posters, letters, etc. Print media history dates back to forms of news announcements
in ancient Rome. This was followed by early forms manuscripts on palm leaf, wood,
parchments, silk; printing technology, use of paper and mass publication. Over the
years, print media has gone through different phases of change and popularity. With
the digital age, print media is going through yet another phase of evolution to stay
afloat in the public sphere.

Learning Objectives
• To look at the early beginning of printing
• To look at the different forms of print media
• To encourage students to search early print media forms
• To look and appreciate the design elements and structure of early posters, books,
newspapers and magazines

Print Media History

Early printing technique is believed to have existed in parts of China and Korea. China
is credited with use of early movable type and the invention of paper. Korea is known
to have hand printed the oldest existing book in the 14th century. Printing press is a
machine that can transfer images and text from movable type on to a medium, more
specifically paper and ink. Johannes Gutenberg is often credited as the inventor of
printing press. Gutenberg’s press printed the first book, an edition of the Bible, in
1455. Printing made information permanent, portable and easily mass reproduced.

89
 Find Out
• What were the mediums used for communication before paper was
invented?
• Which is the first printed book in the world?
• Which is first printed book in India?

Watch the video on early printing and its contribution to mass communication
https://www.britannica.com/technology/printing-press/images-videos

Evolution of Printing
Printing revolution is one of the major turning points in the history of humankind. It
led to mass production and dissemination of information around the world.
Gutenberg’s wooden press had become very popular and it could print 250 sheets
per hour on one side. The next milestone was the invention of power driven cylinder
press which could print around 8000 sheets per hour. With the emergence of
newspaper industry, rotary press and flat press came to dominate the printing field.
In the late 19th century, offset printing became the most widely used printing
method. It still continues to be the popular method for printing large runs of
newspapers, magazines and posters. Later, it was challenged by ink-jet, laser, and
other printing methods. With the introduction of electric power, major
improvements were marked with regard to speed and volume of production, better
quality of plates and paper, automated processes and better control of colour.

90
Rotary press which uses a plated cylinder with prints on the curve and the impression cylinder that presses the
paper against the inked plates as the paper passes between the cylinders

Flatbed press uses a flat

surface for type or plates
against which paper is
pressed, either by another
flat surface or by a cylinder
rolling over it

In offset printing, the

inked image is transferred
from a plate to a rubber
blanket and onto a printed
surface

91
 Find Out
• Search for images of new printing technologies used for mass publication
• Search for images of early manuscripts and printed materials

Activity
Compare printed materials from different types of printing methods.
Discuss the type setting and print quality

Literacy and Print Media

When tracing the history of mass communication, writing can be considered as the
first mass communication technology. Writing evolved in different phases around
the world in the form of picture based alphabets (ideogrammatic), cuneiform, and
syllable alphabets. With the expansion of trade, communication became a big
priority for traders and merchants. Along with developing alphabets, people started
looking for different medium to carry information. Sumerians used clay tablets to
carve information. Later, Greeks and Egyptians started using papyrus while Romans
used parchment, made from animal skins. Then the Chinese invented paper around
105 BCE.

Can you identify the following types of writing?

Writing and reading required people to be literate. The ability to read, write and
comprehend symbols and alphabets became important. Knowledge was earlier a
privilege of the elite. With literacy, people who could read and write became the new
elite. Handwritten scrolls of stories, histories and myths, and letters became new

92
medium of communication. But communication was still limited. Handwritten
materials were expensive to produce and required a lot of time and effort.

It changed dramatically with the invention of printing press because it made

possible mass communication. The need for literacy grew rapidly among lower and
middle class people. As more people became literate, it paved way for new ideas,
spread and collaboration of ideas. It provided freedom for literate people to read and
write whatever, whenever and wherever possible. It led to preservation of knowledge
and information. In Marshall McLuhan’s “The Gutenberg Galaxy”, he refers to print as
the key to our modern consciousness.

Critical Thinking and Discussion

• Imagine how people communicated before literacy became widespread and
accessible
• What do you think are the benefits of being literate?
• Discuss the positive changes triggered by digital literacy

Find Out
• Search early writing forms found in India
• Search images of early medium of communication - clay tablets, papyrus,
parchment

Types of Print Media

We will look at the following types of print media in detail.
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Books
• Posters
• Pamphlets
• Letters

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Newspapers
Newspapers have a long history as the people’s medium. Newspapers are a
document of human history that contains daily information on events and issues
collected from around the world. Newspapers function as public institutions that
serve the people by providing both factual information on events and issues, and
offering guidance and interpretation of news. Most newspapers are private
enterprises that survive on advertisements.

Newspapers have played interesting roles in the formative years and freedom
struggles of many nations, including India. Over the years, newspapers have gone
through many changes with regard to its size, design and scope.

Learning objectives
• To know about the early history and evolution of newspapers
• To look at role of newspapers in the freedom movement in India
• To look at newspapers as a medium of mass communication
• To understand the functions of a newspaper
• To understand the different classifications of newspapers

94
Newspapers: A Brief History
One of the earliest known forms of newspaper is from Caesar’s Rome. The snippets
f rom the Senate meeting, legal proceedings, trials, public announcements,
noteworthy events, prominent births, marriages and deaths were written on a tablet
and posted on walls in public spaces. It was called “Acta Diurna” (actions of the day).

In the 17th century, Corantos, a single page Dutch news sheet on specific events and
items taken from foreign journals, were first printed and circulated in Holland. These
were eventually imported to England on public demand for information. News
sheets were available in other European nations as well. Japan had broadsheets with
social news around this time.

Daily accounts of local news started appearing in news sheets called diurnals in
England around 1640s. The popularity of these news sheets led to public discussions
and debates at public places. It soon became central feature of English culture. By
1660s, the word “newspaper” entered the English dictionary.

The medium of newspaper received boost from the power struggles between the
monarchy and the government in England, with each side trying to publish papers to
voice their side. In 1665, Oxford Gazette, the official voice of the Crown was
established and it was later renamed to London Gazette. The colonial newspapers
drew inspiration f rom this journal’s compilation of foreign news, official
announcements, royal proclamations and local news. The first English daily was Daily
Courant (1702–35).

The first newspaper in the United States was “Publick Occurrences, Bothe Foreign
and Domestick”. It was published by bookseller/printer Benjamin Harris.
Unfortunately, its publication lasted only a day. The colonial governor shut down the
publication because of Harris’ critical account of local and European dignitaries, and
also because he did not procure the necessary licence for publishing.

Boston Newsletter was one of the most successful publications and found its
presence in many colonies. The paper was expensive and featured content on foreign

95
news, government announcements and shipping news.

Indian Press During Pre-Independence

The first newspaper in India, Bengal Gazette, also known as Hicky’s Gazette, was
published by James Augustus Hicky in 1780. The Press was under the regular scrutiny
of the British government. The government censored many other newspapers
including Bengal Journal, Calcutta Chronicle, Madras Courier, and Bombay Herald.

After 1857, the Indian Press was divided into two broad categories. The first group was
the nationalist press. They were seen as the voice of the people and were critical of
the British government and its policies. The other group was the Anglo-Indian Press
which mainly pro-government. The British government passed many laws to curb
press freedom India.

Indian press was actively involved in mobilising the masses and creating awareness
about the injustices meted out to Indian public by the British government. The
Government imposed laws to keep a strict vigil on the Indian Press. Many publisher,
printers and editors had to serve jail time, and had lost money and printing
equipments during this time. The Vernacular Press Act came into force in 1878. The
Act was intended to curtail the freedom of vernacular press to criticise the policies of
the government. The Act excluded English language Press. Amrit Bazaar Patrika was
one of the publication that turned into an English daily to escape the curbs. This led
to widespread protest in India and gave momentum to the freedom movement in
India. In 1881, the law was repealed.

A Timeline of the History of Newspapers and Press Laws in India

Year Press Rules and Regulations

1780 Bengal Gazette was started by James Augustus Hicky

1782 The British governmnet shut down Bengal Gazette for its criticisms
of the government

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Year Press Rules and Regulations

1799 Censorship of Press Act imposed war time restrictions including

pre-censorship.

1818 Lord Hastings relaxed the restrictions under the Censorship of

Press Act

1823 Licensing Regulations made starting or operating a press with

license as a penal offence. It was mainly directed at vernacular press
and those run by Indians

1835 Press Act or Metcalfe Act repealed the 1823 ordinance. The new act
simply required the printer/publisher to give details of their
publication premises and cease publishing, when required to.

1857 Licensing Act imposed added restrictions whereby the government

reserved the right to stop publication and circulation of any printed
material, book or newspaper

1867 Registration Act, 1867, replaced the Metcalfe Act. It required every
book/newspaper to print the name of printer, publisher and the
place of publication; and a copy was to be given to the local
government within one month of the publication of a book

1878 Vernacular Press Act curtailed the freedom of vernacular press to

criticise the policies of the government. The Act excluded English
language Press. This led to widespread protest in India. This gave
momentum to the freedom movement in India. Amrit Bazar patrika
started publishing in India as it the act gave immunity to English
publications. In 1881, the law was repealed. The provisions of the Act
included the following.

97
Year Press Rules and Regulations

1867 • The district magistrate was empowered to call upon the printer and
publisher of any vernacular newspaper to enter into a bond with the
Government undertaking not to cause disaffection against the
Government or antipathy between persons of different religions,
caste, race through published material; the printer and publisher
could also be required to deposit security which could be forfeited
if the regulation were contravened, and press equipment could be
seized if the offence reoccurred
• The magistrate's action was final and no appeal could be made in a
court of law
• A vernacular newspaper could get exemption from the operation
of the Act by submitting proofs to a government censor. The Act
came to be nicknamed "the gagging act".

1878 Lord Rippon repealed the Act

1908 Newspapers(Incitement to Offences) Act allowed the magistrates to

confiscate press property if they published objectionable material that
was likely to cause incitement to murder/acts of violence

1910 Indian Press Act empowered the local government to demand a

security deposit at the time of registration of newspapers. They were
given the right to deregister offending newspapers which would then
forfeit the security amount. In addition, the newspapers were required
to submit two copies of all issues free of charge to the local
government

1931 Following the Civil Disobedience Movement by the Indian National

Congress in 1930, Indian Press Emergency Powers Act was enacted to
suppress seditious writings. It included provision for imprisonment for
up to 6 months for printing without permission

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Early Newspapers in India
James Augustus Hicky started the first newspaper in India, Bengal Gazette, also
known as Hicky’s Gazette. The paper was also named Calcutta General Advertiser.
This weekly newspaper had space allotted for advertisements.

Read the following article gives an excerpt from Andrew Otis’ book “The
Untold story of India’s first newspaper”

https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/excerpt-hicky-s-bengal-gazette-the-
untold- story-of-india-s-first-newspaper-by-andrew-otis/story-
vS9m7V0mrUIUjBCHwsWExL.html

99
In 1785, Richard Johnston started the Madras Courier, the first newspaper in the
Madras Presidency. It ran for 36 years. It has been recently revived as a digital
publication with curated stories/articles. Madras Gazette and Indian Herald were
started in 1795.

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In 1780, Bernard Messink and Peter Reed, two East India Company employees,
started the Indian Gazette. It was seen as rival to Bengal Gazette. In 1784, Calcutta
Gazette was published, followed by Bengal Journal in 1785, and Calcutta Chronicle in
1786.

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In 1789, Bombay Herald became the first newspaper in the Bombay Presidency. This
was followed by Bombay Courier.

The first Hindi newspaper Udant Martand was published in 1826 by Jugal Kishore
Shukla

Prominent Names in the History of Indian Press

James Silk Buckingham was the editor of the
Calcutta Journal. He was a fearless editor who
upheld the best practices in journalism. He was
deported to England because of his criticism of the
British administration in India. He started another
newspaper Oriental Herald in England. He
continued with his relentless criticism of the
British administration in India and advocated for a
free press in India.

102
 Raja Ram Mohan was a social and religious
reformer. He ventured into journalism by starting
the first newspaper in an Indian language Sambad
Koumudi in 1821 and the first Persian newspaper
Mirat ul Akbhar in 1822. He advocated against the
evil practice of Sati through his publications. He
was successful in his attempt to get the
government to abolish the practice of Sati. He was a champion of the freedom of
press and an advocate of universal education.

Lokmanya Tilak, another important leader, ran the English paper Mahratta and the
Marathi newspaper Kesari to reach out to the masses during the freedom struggle.
Mahatma Gandhi’s Young Indian and Harijan were focused on social reforms.

Indian Press Post Independence

Indian Press played a big role in the India’s struggle for independence. After the
independence, Press assumed a new role and was deemed as an instrument of
democracy. Many of the British owned newspapers were transferred to Indian
ownership. Newspapers started selling advertising space to survive. There was an
increased focus on circulation numbers to get more advertisements.

103
During the Emergency 1975-77, the Indira Gandhi government suspended civil
liberties and enforced press censorship. There were reports of power cut at Delhi
Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, where newspapers were printed, on the eve of the
Emergency announcement. Some newspapers escaped the power outage and
managed to report the Emergency.

The government asked to the Press follow certain rules during this time. All
publications were required to seek the permission of the Chief Press Advisor before
publishing any news. This role of Chief Press Advisor was created to censor news.
Newspaper offices were raided and many publications went out of circulation. The
Indian Express and The Statesman were among the first to oppose the move. Many
foreign journalists in India were expelled and forced to return to their countries. Many
journalists were jailed during this time.

Some of the laws in place during this time.

Year Law

1976 The Prevention of Objectionable Matter Act

1976 Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publication) Repeal Act

104
 Year Law

1976 Press Council (Repeal) Act

1977 Repealed The Prevention of Objectionable Matters Act

All of these laws were repealed after the Janata party regime came to power.
Parliament restored the Act of 1956, also known The Feroze Gandhi Act, that gave the
right to the press to report parliamentary proceedings without fear of defamation
charges. The government revived the Press Council in 1978.

Critical Thinking and Discussion

Imagine how many newspapers braved the emergency and fought the curbs
on freedom of expression during Emergency. Discuss whether it is important
to have a free press.

Find Out
Name some of the prominent newspapers which went out of circulation
during Emergency

Name some of the journalists who were arrested during the Emergency

Newspapers as a Medium of Mass Communication

• Regular and frequent dissemination of information
• Uses printing technology for mass production
• Covers a range of topics and areas
• Caters to individual and group reading

Functions of a Newspaper
Newspapers serve the function of news dissemination to people around the world. It
is, in effect, a collection of events and issues on a range of topics that is printed on
newsprint. Newspapers derived their name from that responsibility of providing

105
news to people.

Newspapers collect, write and evaluate news. These stories are fit it into pages, giving
emphasis and space deserving of each news item. One of the chief functions of the
newspapers is to guide the readers. They do this by reporting the news as objectively
as possible by giving all sides of the story. An ideal newspaper will restrict their
opinions and viewpoints on different issues to the editorial column, thereby clearly
distinguishing between factual reporting and opinion pieces. Newspapers also
function as public conscience. They report on issues related to public welfare, draw
attention to the injustices, and create awareness about government policies and
matters of public interest. Press in India is deemed as the fourth estate and pillar of
democracy. Apart from the information function, newspapers also have space for
entertainment like comic strips, puzzles, reviews of movies, music and books, feature
stories, etc.

Newspapers have five broad divisions

1. Editorial: Editorial department gathers writes, edits stories, gather pictures and
illustrations

2. Mechanical: Manages the physical production of the newspaper and involves

newsprint procuring and management of printing facility

3. Business: Takes care of accounting, payroll and records

4. Advertising/promotion: Manages the circulation, advertising department,

running promotional campaigns to increase the readership

5. Administration: Made up of owners, board of directors, editors who manage the

operations and establish policies

106
Classification of Newspapers
Newspapers are classified depending on the size, number of pages, frequency and
time of publication.

Newspapers can be divided into broadsheets and tabloids based on their size and
format.

Broadsheets are usually larger in size and usually measure around 15 inches wide to
20 or more inches long. Different countries have differing sizes. In the 18th century,
the British government began to tax the newspapers based on the number of pages
in the 18th- century. Hence, publishers started large format papers with fewer pages,
making it cheaper to print. Broadsheet papers usually run six columns across. They
emphasise on in-depth coverage and a measured writing tone that upholds
objectivity and fairness in reporting. Broadsheets are now more synonymous with
serious content that is factually reported. They often cater to people looking for in
depth stories and editorials.

Tabloids are smaller in size and usually measures 11 by 17 inches with no more than
five columns across. They are often associated with short and concise stories that
have a distinctive writing style compared to broadsheets. Tabloid readers
traditionally came from the lower working classes. Over time, they have been
associated with sensational news items in some countries like Britain.

National Dailies: These are published daily and enjoy a large circulation. It covers a
wide range of events and issues that are local, regional, national and international
Regional or local dailies: These are published daily and often gives more priority to
extensive coverage of local and regional news.

Newspapers are also classified based on the frequency of publication into dailies, bi-
weekly, tri-weekly, weekly and monthly.

107
Find Out
• Name some of the regional and local newspapers in your area
• Name some of the national newspapers
• Identify the newspapers by looking at their logos given below

Key Points
• Print media is one of the oldest and basic forms of mass communication.
Print media history can be traced back to early forms of news announcements
in ancient Rome, early forms manuscripts on palm leaf, wood, parchments,
silk, invention of printing technology, use of paper and mass publication
• Acta Diurna is the earliest known predecessor of newspaper.
• Daily accounts of local news started appearing in news sheets called diurnals
in England around 1640s. The word newspaper entered the English dictionary
by 1660s.
• The first newspaper in the United States was “Publick Occurrences, Bothe
Foreign and Domestick”.
• Bengal Gazette was the the first newspaper in India, published by James
Augustus Hicky in 1780.
• Indian press was actively involved in mobilising the masses and creating
awareness about the injustices meted out to Indian public by the British

108
government. The Government imposed laws to keep a strict vigil on the Indian
Press.
• The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 was intended to curtail the freedom of
vernacular press to criticise the policies of the government. The Act excluded
English language Press. In 1881, the Act was repealed.
• The first Indian language newspaper was Soumad Koumudi published in
1821 by Ram Mohan Roy.
• James Silk Buckingham, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Lokmanya Tilak were some of
the prominent names in the Indian press during pre-independence.
• During the Emergency, the Indira Gandhi government suspended civil
liberties and enforced press censorship.
• Newspapers serve the function of news gathering and dissemination,
creating awareness about government policies, drawing attention to
injustices, providing guidance to readers through news interpretation,
providing relief through entertainment sections, etc.
• Newspapers have five broad divisions: Editorial, Mechanical, Business,
Advertisement, Administration
• Newspapers are classified depending on the size, number of pages,
frequency and time of publication

Activity
• Study a newspaper of your choice. Make a poster with the following details -
Publisher, year of first publication, editor-in-chief, circulation number, details
about the different pages, types of news reports, features, and supplements.
• Compare a broadsheet and a tabloid newspaper. Note down the difference
• Compare a daily morning newspaper and an evening newspaper. Note down
the difference
• Compare an English daily and regional daily in India. Note down the news
classification in each paper

109
Books
Books are considered as repositories of knowledge and wisdom. Printing technology
enabled mass reproduction of books and accessibility to wider audience. As more
and more books were written and printed, libraries were formed to store and
catalogue books for the benefit of common readers. This confirmed the idea of books
as a permanent medium for reference and a tool for mass enlightenment. The nature
and scope of books have evolved to serve the function of both information and
entertainment. With technological advancements, books are also transforming their
form and medium to reach new age audiences.

Learning objectives
• To track the evolution of books
• To study the growth of publishing industry
• To understand books as a medium of mass communication
• To discuss different types of books and their features
• To introduce students to different categories or genres in fiction and non-fiction

110
Brief History of Books
Stories and storytelling existed even before books were made. The first books were
ancient scrolls made by Egyptians. They made scrolls by weaving together stems of a
papyrus plant, then flattening the woven stems by pounding them flat. These were
handwritten manuscripts on rolled papyrus. The Greeks and Romans adopted the
technique and is said to have used it for a long time. The scrolls were wrapped around
a large piece of wood making it easy to be stored or transported. Precursor to the
books, as we know today, is the Roman codices from the 1st CE. They are written on
parchment paper and are bound with wooden covers. People turned to parchment
made from calf skin, or deer skin when there was a shortage of papyrus. Known to be
more durable and less likely to tear, parchment was treated in alkaline and then
written in ink.

Hand drawn and colourfully sketched pictures called "illuminated manuscripts"

began appearing around 600 AD. These manuscripts depicted a story and gave rise
to the idea of permanence to messages and stories. This was the beginning of picture
books.

Chinese is said to have invented paper. They came out with the first actual book
written on paper. They made a big pulp from mulberries, hemp, bark and even fish,
which was then hard pressed and dried to form paper. Sheets of paper were called a
“leaf" and were as big as a newspaper. They used wooden blocks and ink to print on
paper.

In the 14th century, Korea printed one of the first books in movable metal type - Jikji, a
collection of Buddhist teachings. Later, Gutenberg printed the first Bible in Europe.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is often recorded as the oldest written book. It was
written/inscribed on tablets by the Babylonians and dates back to the 12th century
BC. The first author recorded in history is Enheduanna, a Mesopotamian priestess
who wrote numerous poems and myths.

A venetian printer named Aldus Manutious is credited with creating pocket-sized

books that could be carried easily. He called them libelli portatiles or portable books.

111
The concept of personal reading can be traced back to Aldus’ invention of portable
books.

Read to find out about the story of the man who created pocket sized books

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/arts/design/a-grolier-club-tribute-to-the-
printer-aldus-manutius.html

Publishing Industry
The four major breakthroughs paved way for the publishing industry - writing, paper,
printing and literacy. When people realised the value of writing in trade and
commerce, it broke the monopoly of letters held by the priestly class.
Correspondences, reports, records and transactions became widely used. Very often,
the functions of selecting, editing, and designing of matter to be printed; and
production, distribution and the financial responsibility of publishing were
considered to be that of author, printer, or bookseller.

The 19th century saw the flourishing of publishing industry. Technological

developments in printing led to increased production output and lowered cost.
People started travelling more with the development of railways and hence the need
for more books for leisurely reading during long journeys. All these factors helped
publishing to become a distinctive profession and enterprise. Publishers now run
printing facilities, scout for manuscripts or commission authors to produce original
work, and manage distribution and sales.

With the growth in public literacy, book trade also expanded within and beyond
regional boundaries. Availability of printed matter on a vast variety of topics
promoted the spread of education in the lower and middle class sectors, especially
among women. The 18th century saw the establishment of commercial lending
libraries in countries like America and Britain. Free public libraries became common
in the 19th century.

112
Piracy, Copyrights and Censorship
Book piracy was reported during this time in many countries. The absence of
international copyrights agreements led to publication and circulation of many
cheap reprints. Piracy helped the availability of foreign books at low cost. It was bad
for authors who ended up making monetary loss.

With high competition and increasing piracy, there was a need for better
organisation of the publishing industry. Fair practices like contracts and royalties
were put in place in US and Britain that helped to regulate book prices. By the end of
the 19th century, international copyrights agreements were put in place by most
countries as per the rules of the Universal Copyrights convention and the Berne
conventions. Book publishing depends on copyright, a mutual agreement between
authors and publishers which gives the publisher the sole right to copy or to produce
a work.

Censorship of printed material was prevalent in many countries as the authorities

wanted to monitor and control the spread of printed matter. By the 18th century,
many countries like Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France abolished censorship.
Countries like US and Britain continued to monitor free thought in the interest of
public welfare and national security.

Growth of the Publishing Industry

By the 20th century, rise in school education and better standards of living in many
countries led to the further growth of publishing industry. Many new publishing
houses

were founded during this time. Publishing houses saw a profitable market in
specialisation, especially educational books. Leading houses like Macmillan and The
American Book Company started separated units for educational books.

Authors started employing literary agents to secure better advances and higher
royalties from publishers. This led to increased marketing and sales efforts by the
publishers to make more profit.

113
By 1950, paperback books became popular. Low price of paperback books made it an
affordable option in developing countries. Paperbacks were usually reprints of
popular clothbound books. The increase in the number of universities led to the
starting of university presses. These units publish only specialised materials. Oxford
University Press is one of the oldest university press. They publish both specialised
and general materials. Various governments set up state printing offices during this
time to handle official transcripts, books and papers.

There are two main categories of published matter - periodicals and non periodicals.
Books fall under the category of non periodicals.

Find Out
• What type of publications come under periodicals and non-periodicals?
• Name some of the periodicals in your region

Books as a Medium of Communication

Books have taken different forms in its long history, starting with clay tablets, papyrus
scrolls, parchment sheets, codices, paper and now its new digital form. Books contain
lengthy messages that require specialised writing skills, style, and area of expertise.
The main features of a book are its volume, portability and permanent nature. Books
document and preserve knowledge and stories from every era. Books cater to a
diverse audience across different cultures and societies, thereby acting as social and
cultural bridge between countries.

The principle aspects of book as a medium of communication

• Most books have individual authorship. Some books are authored by more than
one person. Some books hold compilation of works by different authors
• Books come in different forms - Hardbound, paperback, digital copies, audio
books
• Different categories of books cover wide range of topics and areas
• Books cater to a diverse audience - for personal reading and group reading

114
Types of Books
Books can be broadly classified as fiction and non-fiction.

Fiction is usually stories based on the writer’s imagination. Fiction takes different
forms like drama, poetry, novels, short stories, etc.

Non-fiction is based on factual information and real life events. Non-fiction forms
include biographies, autobiographies, reference books, educational books, etc.

Fiction Genres
Genres are characterised by particular
style, form and content. Some of the
main genres in fiction are
1. Literary fiction: They are usually
character driven and centred around a
character’s journey.

2. Mystery and thriller: They follow a

detective style and usually centred
around solving a case involving murder
or mysterious events. These stories are
mainly plot-driven. They start with an
interesting hook, contain many twists,
cliffhangers and suspenseful elements to
keep reader’s guessing.

3. Horror: Horror novels are usually centred around themes of death, afterlife, ghosts,
spirits, witches, monsters, supernatural elements like vampires and werewolves.
They use both characters and plot to create a sense of fear and repulsion, and tense
moments

4. Historical fiction: These are fictional stories based on actual historical events and
characters. The writers use creative freedom and imaginative accounts for narrating

115
well researched episodes in history.

5. Romance: They are lighted hearted and positive stories that are centred around
love and conflict in relationships.

6. Science fiction: They are focused on themes of space exploration, time travel,
futuristic worlds, etc. They are imaginary stories based on well researched concepts
in science.

7. Fantasy: They are fictional stories set in imaginary worlds. They usually contain
magical and supernatural elements inspired by mythology and folk tales.

8. Magic realism: It is a style of writing that use magical elements to depict a story
based in real life.

Non-fiction Genres
Some of the non-fiction genres are as follows
1. History: They are focused on true historical events and characters. They are usually
written with objective facts or can contain the author’s personal beliefs.

2. Biographies, autobiographies and Memoirs: These are based on real life events
of a particular subject. Biographies are real life account of a person written by a third
person. Autographies and memoirs are self narrated accounts of events in life.

3. Travel guides and travelogues: Travel guides are instructive and informational
giving practical suggestions and recommendations for travellers heading to
different destinations.

4. Travelogues: They narrate personal accounts of an author’s journey to different

locations. They include interesting experiences encountered during traveling

5. Academic and educational books: They are focussed on specific topics that are
well researched and act as instructive material for readers.

116
6. Self-help books, guides, manuals: These books are centred on themes of
confidence building, financial management, exercise and dieting, personality
development, organisation skills, cookbooks, tutorials for hobbies.

Find Out
• Name some of the non-fiction books and authors in India
• Name books belonging to different non-fiction genres

Activity
• Read and compare a short fiction and a non fiction book on any common
theme. Discuss the difference between fiction and non-fiction books
• Take a tour of the library and note down the sections in a library. Pick up five
books you find interesting from fiction and non-fiction section. List out the
reasons why they find those books interesting.

Key Points
• Books are repositories of knowledge and wisdom. Printing technology led to
mass reproduction of books and accessibility to wider audience.
• The main features of a book are its volume, portability and permanent nature.
• The first books were written in clay tablets, papyrus scrolls, parchment sheets
and codices. Koreans printed one of the first books in movable metal type -
Jikji, a collection of Buddhist teachings. Later, Gutenberg printed the first Bible
in Europe. The concept of personal reading can be traced back to Aldus
Manutiuos’ invention of portable books.
• The four major breakthroughs paved way for the publishing industry -
writing, paper, printing and literacy
• The 18th century saw the establishment of commercial lending libraries in
countries like America and Britain. Free public libraries became common in
the 19th century.
• The absence of international copyrights agreements led to book piracy

117
 • Censorship of printed material became prevalent as many countries wanted
to monitor and control the spread of printed matter.
• Books can be broadly classified as fiction and non-fiction.
• Fiction is usually stories based on the writer’s imagination. Fiction takes
different forms like drama, poetry, novels, short stories, etc.
• Non-fiction is based on factual information and real life events. Non-fiction
forms include biographies, autobiographies, reference books, educational
books, etc.

Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Comic books tell a single story or a series of stories in a chronological order. They are
characterised by sequential sketches and drawing that represent individual scenes
from a story in chronological order.

Graphic novels are similar to comic books. They use sequential sketching of scenes to
narrate a standalone story with complex plots. Compilations of short comic stories

118
are also considered as graphic novels.

In the beginning, newspapers used to run comic strips

on various events and issues. Most of these were
political in nature. In 1897, the first ever self
acknowledged comic named “The Yellow Kid in
McFadden’s flat” was published in the UK. In 1922,
glossy covers and colourful illustration became the
standard format of comic books.

In 1935, the National Allied Publications came out with

comic books centred on a modern superhero. These

comics have longer storylines and elaborate character sketches that instantly
appealed to older audiences. The period between 1938 and 1956 is known as the
Golden Age of Comic books. We see the appearance of Captain America, Wonder
Woman and Superman during this time. Comic books were focused on subtle
wartime propaganda during this time. The comic books became massively popular
among young readers and it served to inspire young men to join the wartime efforts,
especially army. The American government realised the value of comics as a mass
entertainer and used it to showcase the US victory in war.

119
Between 1956 and 1970, censorship of comic books grew. Storyline became lighter
and contained less political propaganda. This period saw the creation of super heroes
tapping on animal powers and unnatural strength became popular. Hulk,
Spiderman and Fantastic Four made their first appearance during this time.

During the 60s and 70s, Marvel and DC comics became households names with a full
catalogue of heroes and specific universes. 1980s saw comic books dealing with
darker themes. The style and tone also became very dark. Around this time, graphic
novels started gaining popularity. Japanese comic books Manga, with its distinctive
black and white style, content and form, became popular in the 20st century. It
developed as an art form from the old woodblock illustrations. Now, comics are one
of the most popular mediums of storytelling. DC and Marvel have taken to screens
and digital platforms with their stories and characters.

120
Indian Comic Books

Indian comic books were around from as

early as 1920s. Hindi and Urdu comic
magazines Baalak and Honhar were
p u b l i s h e d d u ri n g 1 9 2 6 . I n 1 9 47,
Chandamama, another children’s comic
magazine with a series of mythological and
magical tales, was published. Indian comics
during this time were centred on moral lessons with a third person narration. During
the 1940s, translations of foreign comic strips like the Phantom, and Mandrake
began appearing in Illustrated Weekly of India. R. K. Laxman and Mario Miranda are
notable figures who contributed cartoons and comic strips in Indian publications.
A major milestone in the Indian comic field is marked by the entry of Anant Pai, also
known as Uncle Pai. He used to edit Indrjaal comics and later created Amar Chithra
Katha and Tinkle. Amar Chithra Katha was started in 1967 and became India’s largest
selling comic book series. It contained stories on Indian mythology and folk tales.

121
Indrajaal comics were the first to feature Indian talents in the comics space. Around
this time, Deewana magazine was started. Its content focused on social satire using
comic characters.

In 1969, the iconic comic character Chacha Chaudhary was conceptualised by Pran
Kumar Sharma. It first appeared in the Hindi magazine Lotpot. The endearing
characterisation of an old man with his intelligent anecdotes became a national
favourite. His stories were translated into numerous Indian languages. Many
indigenous titles and Indian publishers like Manoj comics, Goyal comics, Diamond
Comics came up following the success of Amar Chithra Katha. 1980s is known as the
golden age of Indian comics. Tinkle magazine was founded during this time and it
popularise characters like Shikari Shambu and Suppandi. Raj comic’s Super
Commando Dhruv and Target magazine’s Detective Moochwala and Gardabh Das
became the favourites of Indian audience. Graphic novels started becoming popular
during the 1990s in India. Orijit Singh’s River of Stories is referred to as the first graphic
novel in India. Gotham comics made a foothold in the Indian market following the
increasing sales of comic books in India. They brought with them the publishing
rights of DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and Mad Magazine for the Indian market.

With the coming of new technology, digital platforms and media, comic book sales
declined by the end of 1990s and many comic book houses went out of business. Only

122
few houses like Raj Comics and Diamond Comics survive to this day. Bombaby, The
Screen Goddess, Spiderman: Indian Project were some of the major publications in
this era. Liquid comics and Gotham comics collaborated in 2006 to create a series of
comics on Indian mythology. Some of their titles include Sadhu, Devi, Snake Woman
and Ramayana 3392 AD. Amruta Patil’s Kari and Campfire Graphic Novel’s graphics of
English classics, Sumit Kumar’s ‘An Itch You Can’t Scratch,’ Holy Cow Entertainment’s
ten-part comic book series titled Ravanayan and Image Comic’s ‘Krishna - A Journey
Within’ by internationally renowned Image Comics are among the noteworthy
mentions of this time.

Key Points
• Comic books tell a single story or a series of stories in a chronological order.
They are characterised by sequential sketches and drawing that represent
individual scenes from a story in chronological order.
• Graphic novels are similar to comic books. They use sequential sketching of
scenes to narrate a standalone story with complex plots. Compilations of short
comic stories are also considered as graphic novels.
• The first ever self acknowledged comic named “The Yellow Kid in McFadden’s
flat” was published in the UK.
• The Golden Age of Comic books Captain America, Wonder Woman and
Superman were released during this time. During the 60s and 70s, Marvel and
DC comics became households names with a full catalogue of heroes and
specific universes.
• Japanese comic books Manga, with its distinctive black and white style,
content and form, became popular in the 20st century.
• A major milestone in the Indian comic field is marked by the entry of Anant
Pai, also known as Uncle Pai. He created Amar Chithra Katha and Tinkle.
In 1969, the iconic comic character Chacha Chaudhary was conceptualised by
Pran Kumar Sharma for the Hindi magazine Lotpot.
• Liquid comics and Gotham comics collaborated in 2006 to create a series of
comics on Indian mythology. Some of their titles include Sadhu, Devi, Snake
Woman and Ramayana 3392 AD.

123
Find Out
Read to find out more about the history of Indian comic books
https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-explore/a-complete-timeline-the-
evolution-of- comic-books-in-india-1926-present

Activity
Reading a comic book, graphic novel or manga of your choice. Share the story
with the class and explain the visual features that appealed to you

Critical Thinking and Discussion

Think of your favourite comics or graphic novels or comic strips. Discuss your
thoughts and experience of reading comics. Discuss the comics books as a
medium of mass communication

124
Magazines
Magazines are periodical publications containing articles and illustrations, on a
particular subject, and cater to specific audience types. It is a medium that focuses
on specialisation. Magazines publish in depth news stories, entertainment stories
and specialisation stories for general and niche audience.

History of Magazines
The history of magazines can be traced to early pamphlets
and broadsides. Gradually, magazines found a place
between books and newspapers as a niche medium with a
potential for specialised information on a variety of topics.
The German magazine “Edifying Monthly Discussions” is
often credited as the first magazine. This was followed by
many literary journals, learned periodicals on specialised
topics and lighter magazines called periodical of
amusements. The early magazines were targeted at a niche
audience who could afford them and hence they were
rightly called “quality magazines”.
As the readership grew for in-depth stories, less expensive magazines focused on
family entertainment and amusement started in the 1830s. Tit-Bits and The Strand
Magazine were among the first monthly magazines with light literature. The Strand
was famous for its Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The invention of photography transformed the look of magazines. There were no

advertisements in early magazines, keeping in line with their credibility as a medium
of specialised and in depth information. Most magazines now depend on the
advertising revenue for survival. Advertisements have an effect on the look of
magazines including editorial typography, layout, photographs and illustrations.

125
Magazine Industry in India
The British published the first magazines in India.
The Calcutta Journal is considered as one of the first
serious magazine publications in India. Launched in
1818, it covered political, commercial, social and
literary news and views. The Hindustan Review is
the first periodical founded and edited by an Indian
in 1900.

Some of the important 20th-century magazines in

India include the Illustrated Weekly of India , the
Statesman Weekly, The Frontline, The Outlook, The
Caravan, Current Events, Thought, the Sports Star
etc.

Types of Magazines
Most magazines can be classified based on the frequency of publication as weekly,
monthly, or yearly issues. Magazines can be categorised based on their topics to
more effectively target a select group of audience. The three main categories of
magazine are

• General interest magazines: They are also known

as consumer magazines. They cover a wide variety of
topics and are written for a general audience.
Popular topics include food, fashion, entertainment,
sports, politics, home and technology.

• Special interest magazines: They usually cover

specialised topics catering to particular audience
groups like exclusive magazines on sports, politics,
fashion, heath and nutrition. There are magazines
catering to special audience groups like children
women, men, etc.

126
• Professional magazines: They are professional and educative in nature because
they cover specific areas for a niche group of audience. The content is often well
researched, in depth and written by experts in the field. Trade journals, medical
journals, and literary journals are professional magazines that offer news, analysis
of information, and development articles in their respective fields.

Key Points
• Magazines are periodical publications containing articles and illustrations, on
a particular subject, and cater to specific audience types.
• The German magazine “Edifying Monthly Discussions” is often credited as the
first magazine.
• The Calcutta Journal is considered as one of the first serious magazine
publications in India. The Hindustan Review is the first periodical founded and
edited by an Indian in 1900.
• The three broad categories of magazine are general magazines, special
interest magazines and professional magazines

Find Out
Name some of the general magazines and specialised magazines published
in India

Activity
• Study a magazine of your choice. Note down its defining features like design,
layout and content.
• Think of examples of general magazines, specialised magazines and
professional magazines. Compare and note down their characteristics.

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BROADCAST MEDIA

Broadcast media is any medium that communicates and transmits audio visual
messages via radio, TV and other broadcast channels. As a technology, radio and TV
were primarily designed for transmission and reception of messages. Broadcast
media owes its development to the inventions of telephone, telegraph, moving
images and sound recording. As a medium of information and entertainment, both
radio and TV modelled their content segments based on the format of films, music,
stories, theatre and news.

Learning objectives
• To track the history of broadcasting
• To look at different forms of broadcast media
• To understand the features of broadcast media
• To evaluate the importance of broadcast media in the current world

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Radio
Radio uses transmission of audio signals to broadcast music, news, public
announcements and entertainment programs from broadcasting stations to
listeners who are equipped with radio receivers. Radio is considered as the first
electronic mass medium. Radio uses human voice and sounds to invoke the
listener’s imagination. It produced the programs, introduced genres and stars,
making it in an instant hit among the young generation. When radio was introduced
as a mass medium, people used to listen to it in groups and as individuals. With its
size portability and digital convergence, radio is easy to carry and listen to from
anywhere.

Early Radio
In 1906, a Canadian named Reginald Fessenden produced a program, making it the
first voice and music signals heard over radio wave. In the early days, there were very
few receivers available for tuning into transmissions. Radio receivers became popular
only after 1927, making radio listening a communal experience. Many countries

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imposed restrictions on early experiments in the field of radio broadcasting during
the world war. Broadcasting experiments were conducted during and after the war
without the knowledge and permission of government authorities. Some of these
experiments and broadcasts interfered with the official and military signals,
upsetting the officials.

In 1919, one of the world’s first scheduled radio broadcast services (known as PCGG)
began in Netherlands. Early stations ran on bare minimum facilities. Soon, radio
became part of the popular culture. References to radio broadcasting were made in
magazines, newspapers and movies.

By 1922, many other countries started operating radio stations. The main challenges
of the early broadcasters were poor air quality, finding content, ways to make it
attractive to audience, and the financial support to run operations. The idea of
programs with specific times and lengths, beginnings and endings became popular.
When radio grew as a commercial medium and business, there was a need for air
wave regulation and licensing policies.

The idea of advertising space on radio was rejected by many countries on the
grounds that it would hamper radio’s potential as an educational and social medium.
In the absence of advertising revenue, radio stations turned to government support,
listener subscription and voluntary contributions to run operations. By the end of
1922, advertisements started appearing on radio. Radio stations sold air time in set
blocks, determined by the length of the programs. Radio stations soon came up
standardised time slots and length for different types of programs. Advertisers
started the practice of combining their name with the title of programs. Rating
systems were devised to determine the popularity of programs that helped guide
the pricing of advertising slots.

Radio acting became popular with radio dramas. A radio actor was a skilled vocal
artist who could handle different dialects and voice to play different age ranges and
multiple roles. These actors were in high demand and had to run between stations to
go on air. Some radio programs were either produced in studios or enacted before a

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live audience. Earlier, audience were not allowed to make noise as reaction to the live
show as it was thought to interfere with the listener’s attention. But later most
comedy and variety shows used live audience reaction as an essential ingredient.

Writers honed the talent to think visually and then create a drama by combining
dialogue, sound effects, music, and occasional narration. There was a need for better
sound effects to establish a scene. Performers recorded some stock sound effects
using props - thunder was recorded by shaking a sheets of metal; sound of galloping
horses by pounding coconut half shells in a sandbox; and the sound of footsteps by
using shoes and various floor surfaces on hand.

Producers realised the potential of music to enhance the story. Music was used as a
transition technique to indicate a change in mood from comedy to drama. Theme
songs and background music were extensively employed in radio dramas.

History of Radio in India

The first radio broadcast in India was done
by Radio Club of Bombay in 1923. Few
months later, the Calcutta Radio Club was
set up. In 1927, Indian Broadcasting
Company was set up and in 1930, Indian
Broadcasting Service, under the
Department of Industries and Labour
started its operations. In 1935, Akashvani
Mysore , a private radio station was set up.
In 1936, Indian State Broadcasting service
became All India Radio. Few years later,
AIR came under the Department of
Information and Broadcasting. During the time of Indian independence, India had
six radio stations - Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras,

Tiruchirapalli and Lucknow. In 1956, the National Broadcaster adopted the name
Akashvani. In 1957, Vividh Bharati Service was launched with popular film music as its

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main segment.

All India Radio soon became one of the largest media organisations in the world.
External Services Division broadcasts programs in 11 Indian and 16 foreign languages
to more than 100 countries. The News Services Division of All India Radio broadcasts
daily bulletins, and news-based programmes. Today, it has a network of 262 radio
stations, programs in 23 languages and 146 dialects catering to a diverse population.
AIR also operates 18 FM stereo channels, called AIR FM Rainbow, and four more FM
channels called, AIR FM Gold, broadcasting news and entertainment programmes
from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. Now, AIR is switching from analog to
digital in a phased manner.

Types of Radio
• AM Radio: It stands for Amplitude Modulation and is one of the oldest type of
wireless communication. Through the process of modulation, an audio signal
works to alter the strength of radio waves. The receiver uses AM radio to decode
this modulation into a sound that the human ear can pick up. AM Radio is often
characterised by poor sound quality and noise barrier

• FM Radio: It stands for Frequency Modulation. It was developed in the 1930s. It

relies on the signal strength, resulting in improved sound quality with less noise
barrier.

• Shortwave Radio: Shortwave radio frequencies broadcasts to travel hundreds

and even thousands of miles, whereby people can tune in to a broadcast from
anywhere around the world.

• Satellite Radio: It is powered by satellite, covers huge areas without

compromising sound quality. Satellite radio signals are encrypted and therefore
listeners require a special receiver and a subscription plan to access the satellite
radio channels.

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Types of Radio Broadcast
Public Service Broadcasting: Public service broadcasting gives access to
educational, informative and developmental content to all sections of the society
without any intent of profit making

Core principles include universal appeal, wider reach and availability, no vested
interests and commitment to educational, informative and developmental content

Community Radio: People in a community develop and produce local content.

Community radio is owned, operated by the communities they serve. It helps
communities to share and express their stories and experiences through an
affordable medium of communication. It gives a platform for their social, cultural,
political and artistic voices to be heard

Commercial Radio: Private broadcasting or independent radio broadcast news and

entertainment. Unlike public and community radio, private radios use advertising for
monetising. This leads to an increase in promotional content. This aids the
development of niche content and helps in higher penetration of content.

Activity
Study a public radio channel, a community radio or a commercial radio
channel of your choice. Categorise the program segments under education,
information and entertainment. Note down the advertisements between the
segments. Compare and discuss the difference in formats, segments and
advertisement slots in different channels.

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Critical Thinking and Discussion
Take a classroom survey to find out the following
• How many of you listen to radio?
• What do you like about radio?
• Which channels do you listen to?
• What segments do you listen to?

Discuss the result of the survey with the students.

Key Points
• Radio uses transmission of audio signals to broadcast music, news, public
announcements and entertainment programs from broadcasting stations to
listeners who are equipped with radio receivers. Radio is considered as the
first electronic mass medium.
• In 1906, a Canadian named Reginald Fessenden produced a program,
making it the first voice and music signals heard over radio wave.
• Radio receivers became popular only after 1927, making radio listening a
communal experience.
• By the end of 1922, advertisements started appearing on radio. Radio stations
sold air time in set blocks, determined by the length of the programs.
Advertisers started the practice of combining their name with the title of
programs.
• Radio acting became popular with radio dramas.Writers honed the talent to
think visually and then create a drama by combining dialogue, sound effects,
music, and occasional narration.
• The first radio broadcast in India was done by Radio Club of Bombay in 1923.
• In 1936, Indian State Broadcasting service became All India Radio. It soon
became one of the largest media organisations in the world.
• Types of Radio: FM radio, AM radio, Shortwave radio, Satellite radio
• Types of Radio broadcast: Public service broadcasting, commercial radio,
community radio

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Television
Ever since its inception, television served as a window to the world in real time. The
main feature of the television technology is its capacity to transmit multiple images
and sounds, both recorded and live. It creates a sense of intimacy and personal
involvement for the spectator, bridging the gap between them and the performers
on screen. People tuned to television for information, news, and entertainment,
making it the most popular mass media in terms of its reach, time spend and variety
of content. It also became the largest platform for advertisements, considering its
wider reach. Producers started innovating programs segments to attract more
audience, in a bid to make more advertising revenue. Television brings together
diverse groups of audience to share same experiences through its programs.

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History of Television
The word television was coined by a Frenchman, Constantin Perskyi, at the 1900 Paris
Exhibition. However, the concept of television was successfully experimented by
Charles Francis Jenkins and John Logie Baird in the 1920s. In 1922, Jenkins sent a still
picture by radio waves in 1922 and Baird was successful in the transmission of a live
human face in 1925. Baird is also known to have conducted experiments in
developing a colour television. It was only in the 1950s that colour televisions came
into public use in select cities.

Rise of Cable TV
In the early days of television broadcasting in the US, the networks sent the
electromagnetic signals that carried TV programs exclusively over airwaves.
Networks built tall towers that could broadcast audio and video signals through air to
surrounding areas. Viewers used antennas on rooftops and attached it to television
sets to receive the signals. The signals grew weaker as they traveled farther from the
towers. Most TV networks in the US operated in populated urban areas, where their
signals would reach the largest number of viewers. As a result, people in the rural
areas had poor TV reception or no access to broadcast television signals. This led to
experiments to figure out alternative methods of transmission.

In 1948, the first successful alternative transmission method—originally known as

Community Antenna Television (CATV) and later called cable TV—appeared. The
cable TV systems used fixed cable lines to deliver existing broadcast network signals
to communities that could not receive them over the airwaves. It was successful in
providing the viewer with better reception and a larger selection of existing TV
stations. During 1950s and 1960s, cable TV systems saw phenomenal rise in the rural
US.

The main broadcast television networks in the US expressed concerns over the fact
that these cable TV networks were intercepting their signals and delivering their
programs to viewers for a subscription fee. The cable systems began using new
technology to transmit television signals from distant cities, thereby bringing in
more programs with improved reception. Then the regulatory body FCC stepped

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into regulate the cable TV networks by limiting their transmission to small local
markets that were not being served by the major broadcast networks. The FCC rules
also prohibited cable operators from bringing in programs from distant stations that
were already available through local stations. The rules were put in place to allow the
broadcast networks to maintain their control over national TV audiences.

In 1969, the FCC issued new regulations that prevented cable TV systems from
entering urban markets, where they would enter into direct competition with the
broadcast networks. The rules also required the cable operators to provide channels
for local residents to air their own programming.

Cable TV continued to grow despite these regulations. Eventually these regulations

were relaxed.

Milestones in the History of TV Broadcasting in India

1959 Television broadcasting began in India with an experimental

transmission from Delhi

1965 All India Radio started transmitting daily one-hour service with a news
bulletin.

1975 Television stations came up in Calcutta, Chennai, Srinagar, Amritsar

and Lucknow

1976 Doordarshan separated from AIR to become a separate department

1975 - Launch of Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). Under

1976 the experiment, the government used the American satellite ATS -6 to
broadcast educational programs twice a day to villages in six states.
Doordarshan produced these educational programs on agriculture,
heath and family planning.

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 1982 The 9th Asian Games was telecasted by Doordarshan using the
INSAT 1 A satellite

1983 Government sanctions the expansion of Doordarshan. Many new

transmitters are set up around the country. Doordarshan runs
successful programs like Hum Log, Buniyaad, and Nukkad

1997 Prasar Bharati Act is enacted. Prasar Bharati is established as India’s

public broadcaster, an autonomous body comprising of AIR and
Doordarshan

Today, Doordarshan has around 30 channels, including regional language satellite

channels, state networks, international channel and national channels like DD
National, DD News, DD Sports, DD Gyandarshan, DD Bharati, Loksabha Channel and
DD Urdu.

Private channels came to India in the 1990s, marked by the coverage of Gulf war by
CNN. Satellite dishes were used to receive CNN signals and this led to the rise of cable
operators in India.

Methods of Television Transmission

Meanwhile television transmission also evolved from the traditional method of
terrestrial transmission to the cable network transmission over fixed cable lines and
direct to transmission via satellites.

Cable TV
This method of transmission relayed the channel signals sent by the broadcaster to
viewer homes. These channels were categorised as free to air channels and pay
channels. As the names suggest, free channels were free of cost whereas pay
channels required the viewers to pay subscription fee.

Even before satellite networks came to India in 1990s, there was already an
unregulated network of cable operators in India. The major cities - Delhi, Mumbai,

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Chennai and Kolkata - had cable networks by 1991. Cable networks with satellite
dishes had free access to foreign channels like BBC, CNN and STAR TV. Cable
networks could bring the CNN coverage of the Gulf war to Indian homes. This posed
the first real challenge to the monopoly of Doordarshan channels. Urban middle
class audience became the avid viewers of soap operas like The Bold and the
Beautiful, Santa Barbara and The Cosby Show. STAR also started offering
advertisement slots for a significantly lower rate than Doordarshan. They ran
audience research to find out more about the viewing patterns to Indian audience.
They changed their program schedule to cater to the viewing habits of the Indian
audience, which increased their viewership in India. India saw the launch of its first
privately owned Hindi television channel, Zee TV. It was founded in collaboration with
Hong Kong based STAR network. The emergence of private channels broke the
monopoly of Doordarshan. Several regional private channels like Sun TV, Asianet,
Eenadu and international channels like CNN, BBC, and Discovery were available to
Indian audience through cable and satellite channels. However, Doordarshan had
the largest viewership base in India.

Most cable operators did not have enough financial means to invest in better
equipments and cable lines for redistribution of channels. This affected the quality of
channels received in many areas. Larger operators known as multi system operators
(MSO) became middlemen who took signals from broadcasters and passed them
onto cable operators.

Indian viewers continued to access private channels through cable operators

because of the higher cost of satellite dishes. Some of the MSOs were InCableNet,
SitiCable, Sumanagali Cable Vision and Hathway. Doordarshan responded by
launching more regional channels. Cable networks slowly declined with the
introduction of DTH technology.

Direct to Home
This method enables broadcasting companies to distribute multi channel TV signals
by using a satellite system to viewer TV sets. DTH connection usually comprises dish
antenna and a receiving set. The company’s encrypted signal can be only be received

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by the set top boxes installed at viewer homes. This method of transmission had
many advantages including doing away with cable operators serving as middle men,
better audio visual quality as the signals were not split through a cable, better choice
of channels and possibility of reducing cable bill.

In 2000, government invited companies interested in investing in the DTH

technology. In 2003, Zee group launched the first DTH service Dish TV in India. Their
main focus was rural areas and regions untouched by cable operators. In 2004, Prasar
Bharati launch DD Direct Plus offering only free to air channels. TataSky launched its
DTH service in 2006 and they focused on urban areas. Other operators like Airtel TV,
Sun Direct, Reliance Big TV also launched DTH services.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)

This method of transmission uses internet to provide viewers access to television
content on computers and mobile phones. This method requires an internet
connection and set top box that allows viewers to watch and record content. Viewers

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can get better choice of content, exercise greater control with recording of content,
and access content at your convenience.

Find Out
• Name some of the popular programs during the early days of Cable TV in
India. Give a brief description of the programmes and channels.
• Name some of the IPTV service providers in India

Activity
• Make a list of TV channels and programs under broad categories like news,
music sport, etc
• Make a chart of different DTH operators with details of their founders/owners,
timelines, and bouquet of channels

Key Points
• The main feature of the television technology is its capacity to transmit
multiple images and sounds, both recorded and live
• The word television was coined by a Frenchman, Constantin Perskyi, at the
1900. However, the concept of television was successfully experimented by
Charles Francis Jenkins and John Logie Baird in the 1920s
• Colour televisions came into public use in 1950s
• In 1948, cable TV appeared in the US. The cable TV systems used fixed cable
lines to deliver existing broadcast network signals to communities that could
not receive them over the airwaves
• The first television broadcast in India was in 1959
• The broadcasting of educational programs under the experiment SITE was
launched between 1975 and 1976
• Private channels came to India in the 1990s, marked by the coverage of Gulf
war by CNN. Satellite dishes were used to receive CNN signals and this led to
the rise of cable operators in India

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 • Methods of TV transmission:
• Cable TV - This method of transmission relayed the channel signals sent by
the broadcaster to viewer homes over fixed cable lines. These channels were
categorised as free to air channels and pay channels
• DTH - This method enables broadcasting companies to distribute multi
channel TV signals by using a satellite system to viewer TV sets. DTH
connection usually comprises dish antenna and a receiving set
• IPTV - This method of transmission uses internet to provide viewers access
to television content on computers and mobile phones. This method requires
an internet connection and set top box that allows viewers to watch and
record content

DIGITAL MEDIA

Digital media has become an integral part of our daily lives. The invention of
computers and internet boosted the growth of digital media. The recent years have
seen huge advancements in digital media that has revolutionised our ways of
communication, content consumption, buying behaviours and outlook of the world.
Digital media requires new set of communication skills and media literacy skills to
navigate vast web of information on Internet and to create digital content.

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Learning objectives
• To define digital media
• To look at the different digital media platforms
• To look at the evolution of digital media

Evolution of Digital Media

Digital media can be defined as any form of
data that is digitally transmitted to devices
that can decode them into audio, video,
graphic, text, etc. Digital media history can
be traced back to the idea of computing
machines that could process large amounts
ENIAC, on of the first computer systems
of data faster. The main driving forces that
led to the development of digital media are satellite communication, invention of
computer and internet. The first design of a computer was conceived by Charles
Babbage in the 19th century. His design
inspired many others to experiment in the
following years. The first digital computers
were Colossus built in England 1943 and the
ENIAC in the US in 1945. The first electronic
digital computer designed and built in India is
TIFRAC (Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research Automatic calculator) in 1959. Early
computers were bulky machines. Steve Jobs
and Stephen Wozniak are often considered as
t h e l ea d e r s o f t h e p e r s o n a l co m p u te r
revolution.

Internet was invented by computer scientists Vinton Cerf and Bob Cahn. This
enabled interconnectivity between computers and data transfer through
interconnected network of computers. Cerf is credited with the first written use of
the term internet. However, development of personal computers and its public use
played a crucial part in the story of internet. With the growing popularity of internet,

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the number of Internet service providers increased. This provided users access to
numerous services like email, VoIP (voice calls over internet), social networking and
the World Wide Web.

Interesting Facts
Long before the WWW, the first email was sent in 1971. Computer engineer
Ray Tomlinson sent the first network email from one computer to another
computer. The email to himself said “something like QWERTYUIOP”

1989 is marked by the birth of the World Wide Web, invented by the British scientist
Tim Berners Lee. It can be defined as an interconnected system of public webpages
accessible over internet. This information system was made available to general
public in 1991. It allows users to access all the public web pages and sites on their
personal computer. By 1992, “Surfing the web/net” became a common phrase
among internet users

Interesting Facts
Berners-Lee uploaded the first image on the internet in 1992. It was the
image of a parody pop band founded by CERN employees

Webcam was invented in 1993. Researchers at Cambridge is accredited with the

invention of webcam, which can be seen as a precursor to video chats and live
webcasts.

Read the story of the first webcam invention

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20439301

Digital media came to be widely used as a term only in the late 20th century. The key
features of digital media are interconnectivity, accessibility to individual users as
senders and receivers, and interactivity. Traditional media is essentially one
directional whereas digital media is interactive. Digital media provides individual

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users high levels of control and interaction. The growth of digital media has also
raised concerns over copyright protection and the need for data privacy. With more
advancements in information and communication technology, digital media is
constantly reshaping all other mass media.

Critical Thinking and Discussion

Can you imagine a world without internet? Discuss the role of internet in our
daily life

Activity
• List down the different popular sites and apps used for shopping, money
transactions, entertainment, travel, news etc
• Conduct a classroom survey to find out the usage of traditional media and
digital media

Types of Digital Media

Websites
Websites are collection of information on particular topic that can be accessed via
internet on different media devices. There are different types of websites catering to
different interests and purpose. Websites can be interactive, loaded with content and
user friendly. World Wide Web was invented by the British scientist Tim Berners Lee
in 1989. According to Tim Berners Lee “The Web is more a social creation than a
technical one”. He said, “I designed it for social effect - to help people work together -
and not as a technical toy. The ultimate goal of the Web is to support and improve our
web-like existence in the world.”

I m p o r t a n t m i l e s to n e s i n we b s i te
development
1991 - First webpage was launched. This was
a simple page containing information
about the World Wide Web, hosted on the
NeXT computer at CERN.

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1992 - The first photo on the internet was uploaded by Tim Berners Lee. Now, photos
are an important element in website design, from telling stories, adding context and
contributing to the overall aesthetic.

1994 - AT&T purchased the first banner ad on HotWired.com in 1994. Advertisers soon
realised the potential of buying ad space on websites. Another turning point in the
same year was the launch of Geocities, a web hosting service. This allowed users to
create their own websites.

1995 - Javascript, the world’s most important web programming language, was
invented. This programming language helped to add interactive elements, such as
drop-down menus, in websites.

1996 - Web designers used FutureFlash, later known as Adobe Flash, to integrate
animation, video, and audio, making websites more appealing.

1998 - Invention of Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is a programming software that

allows to separate the content (HTML) from the visual elements. This gave designers
more control over the appearance of a website.

2010: Invention of responsive design allowed designers and developers to optimise

browsing experience on all devices, regardless of its size. This technology helped to
build websites that automatically adjust and scale to any size.

Web developers focus on improving user experience and interactive features with
latest developments in digital technology.

Find Out
Identify some of the popular websites under different fields

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Blog
Blog is an online journal or information website where people can share and write
stories, experiences, informational content and connect with a community of like
minded individuals.

The first blog is considered as links.net, created by Justin Hall in 1994. At that time, it
was referred to as his personal homepage. However, the term “weblog” was coined
only in 1997. It was a term used to refer to the process of logging the web. It was
shortened to blog in 1999.

In 1998, Jonathan Dube’s blog on Hurricane Bonnie for The Charlotte Observer is
considered as the first blog on a traditional news site. Blogging came into
mainstream with the starting of Blogger in 1999. Today, there are more than 600
millions blogs online.

There are different types of blogs.

Personal blogs: Early blogs were all personal blogs where people typed in their
personal experiences, thoughts, opinions and stories. It was more like a digital
extension of personal diary. A person can blog about anything. The only requirement
was to sign up for a domain name on blogging sites like Blogger or Wordpress.
People can share the links to their blog posts with others and get more people to read
their blog.

• Business blogs: Business blogs are informative and promotional in nature. They
are written with the intent to promote businesses, their products and services.
Many organisations use blogs to market their brand, to increase their visibility
among consumers and to boost their image in the market
• Niche blogs: Niche blogs cover specialised topics like food, fashion, politics, tech
and gadgets, etc. Professional bloggers write content around their area of
specialisation and promote their blog posts to their target audience.
• Affiliate blogs: These blogs are usually part of the marketing tools employed by
businesses. They get professional bloggers to write about their products and

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 services. They provide links to these products and services on their blog post and
direct the readers to buy the products through these affiliate links. Affiliate
bloggers work on a commission basis. Affiliate blogging also helps in increasing
audience traffic

Find Out
Identify some of the popular blogs and bloggers in different fields

Critical Thinking and Discussion

Read a food blog or a film blog. Discuss the style of writing, creative elements
and audience traffic in these blogs

Email
Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson invented the concept of electronic mail. He sent
the first network mail from one computer to another via ARPANET, an early network
of computers. The email to himself said “something like QWERTYUIOP”. The concept
of instant communication between machines developed into its current form of
email, enabling internet users around the world to communicate wit each other. In
1991, the crew of the Atlantis Shuttle sent the first mail from space. This event truly
marked the potential of email as a new means of communication. The term email
replaced electronic mail in 1993. The use of @ symbol to indicate the destination of
the mail is Tomlinson’s other landmark contribution to internet communication.

With growing number of email users, email spams began to grow. Spam mails are
usually unsolicited, unwanted and sometimes misleading and false messages that
are sent en masse via email. There are different types of spam mails. Majority of the
spam mails are commercial in nature and are sent repetitively to purchased email
lists. There are spam mails that attempt to gain sensitive data, spread computer
viruses, or money scams.

A man named Gary Thurek is known to have to sent the first spam mail promoting a
new product for Digital Equipment Corporation (the company he worked for) to

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hundreds of ARPANET users. He earned millions in sales through this unsolicited
message.

In 1993, the first version of webmail was developed. It is an email system in which a
user can access their emails via a browser on any computer or device that is
connected to the internet. Hotmail (which became Outlook) and RocketMail (which
became Yahoo! Mail), were the first free webmail services. As internet users grew
exponentially, having an email address became a necessity. It became similar to
having a phone number.

In 1999, the concept of ethical email marketing was proposed by a man named Seth
Godin. He proposed the efficient and responsible use of email as a marketing tool by
building a list of subscribers who actually want to hear from companies about their
products and services.

In 2002, the BlackBerry 5810 was the first device to be marketed as a

mobile phone with email features. In 2004, Gmail was launched.
They took down the competitors in the webmail field with their offer
of one whole gigabyte of storage space, improved search and added
threaded conversations.

Social Media
Social media can be defined as medium of communication over the internet where
users can share and access information, create content and network with people
from around the world. The earliest known form of social media can be traced back to
the creation of a discussion forum USENET in 1979. Users could send and receive
messages within specific newsgroups.

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The first social media networks based on web technology was classmates.com and
sixdegrees.com. Sixdegrees is considered as the first true social networking site. It
was launched in 1997. It allowed the users to create personal profiles, maintain
friends list and message one another through the site’s private messaging system.

By the early 21st century, there were other social media sites that allowed people to
connect online. In 2004, few students at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg,
Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, founded a social networking
site called Facebook. It became the most popular social networking site with millions
of users. Soon, other social media sites carrying specific type of content and catering
to specific audience groups emerged. YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram are some of
the popular social media sites.

Critical Thinking and Discussion

Think how often we are influenced by the people around us. Discuss whether
opinions of our friends/other people online change the way we understand
specific issues/the world

Activity
Do a classroom survey to find out about the use of social media platforms
and awareness of privacy settings among students. Follow up with a classroom
discussion.

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Digital news
Any news that is delivered on digital media platforms is considered as digital news.
Advancements in digital technology led to various experiments in the area of
publishing news online. One of the first newspapers to publish news online is The
Columbus Dispatch in 1980.

In 1983, newspaper company Knight-Ridder launched a project

known as Viewtron to send electronic news directly to readers.
The invention of World Wide Web enabled newspapers to publish
news online. Pioneers include CNN, The Chicago Tribune and the
News & Observer.

Watch the video showcasing Viewtron

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ogOPYLrxU

Most digital news sites focussed on specific content and topics unlike the wide
variety of content published on print. Digital news sites gave customers access to
multiple news sources. Soon, there were news sites that aggregated different stories
from different sources under one site. The increase in internet subscription saw a
decline in newspaper subscription that subsequently affected the advertising
revenue. Yahoo started featuring news stories on their home page.

Apart from running their own news sites online, news organisations also publish
news stories on social media platforms like Twitter, Youtube and Instagram. This
enables immediate feedback, instant sharing and discussion of news stories. The
different forms of digital news include stories on news sites, news feed on social
media, news on live radio, news updates and notifications, curated news, news blogs,
live reporting, etc.

Activity
Study any digital news site. Note down the features and the format of the
news site.

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Digital advertising
Digital advertising is referred to any promotional content that is delivered on digital
media platforms. Digital media has changed the way we consume and experience
advertisements. With the increasing number of internet users, advertisers realised
the true potential of the digital medium to target messages to specific audience
groups. The interactive nature of the medium allowed advertisers to gather data on
audience behaviours, viewing and buying patterns. This allows advertisers to target
the right set of audience with the right message at the right site.

The first online advertisement was the banner ad by AT&T that appeared on
hotwired.com. The success of this banner ad made online display ads popular. In
1995, ‘Double Click’ was launched. It was one of the first ad-serving technologies that
could track the performance of ads. Pop-up ads were invented in 1997 to draw instant
attention of people browsing sites. Pop-up ad blockers were invented to provide an
ad free experience for web users.

Google search engine was launched in 1998. It changed the face of digital advertising
business. Mobile advertising started around 2000. Facebook ran its first banner ad
called Facebook flyers. In 2005, YouTube was launched and it became the largest
video advertising platform. This was followed by the launch of Instagram, Twitter and
Snapchat, providing advertisers new platforms to reach audiences. Celebrities and
influencers were used to promote products and services to their large follower base
on these new platforms. Promoted tweets, sponsored tweets, paid advertisements,
in-app advertisements are all newer forms of digital advertisements.

Features of digital advertising

• Creating and delivering promotional content online
• Targeted to specific audience categories
• Data driven advertising

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• Takes the consumers through every stage of the buying channel, from creating
awareness about a product to the final stage of decision making to buy the
product

Activity
Compare television ads and digital ads of any product or service of your choice.
Note down the difference in ad messaging

Audiobooks
Audio books are voice recordings of a book that are accessible for listening both
online and offline. The first audiobooks were recorded by the American foundation
for the Blind in 1932. These were recorded on vinyl records, 15 minutes on each side.
Early audiobooks were made for the benefit of blind people.

With new technologies in audio recording, audiobooks were recorded on cassette

tapes and later compact discs. Audio publishing divisions were started by major
publishing houses like Random House. By 1994, the term “audiobook” was widely
used in the publishing industry. In 1995, Audible was launched. It is a paid
subscription platform that allowed downloading of books onto desktop computers.
Today, audiobooks are available in digital format and it can be downloaded on
smartphones, iPads, desktops and Kindle. There are also many free applications
through local library systems, such as Hoopla and Overdrive. With the growing
popularity of audiobooks, voice performers and artistes are in high demand to record
books in multiple voices. Voice performer Jim Dale’s reading of J. K. Rowling’s Harry

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Potter series in over 200 different voices was a huge hit.

Activity
Listen to an audio book in class. Find out if you are able to comprehend a story
better with listening than reading

Podcasts
Podcasts are digital audio files on a great variety of
topics in the form of series or single documents that
are available online. Audio recordings called audio
blogging was around as early as 1980s. These were
mainly recordings of people’s thoughts and
experiences. However, the medium did not last long
because there were no proper distribution systems to
share these recordings.

In 2001, Apple launched iPod, a portable music player. This invention helped revive
the audio blogs. In 2004, a program called iPodder was developed. It enabled people
to download audio blogs to their iPod. The term ‘podcasting’ is coined by joining the
words — iPod and broadcast.

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The first podcast service provider, Libsyn.com (Liberated Syndication) emerged in
2004. In 2005, Apple officially added podcasting to its iTunes Music Library. During an
interview onstage, Steve Jobs demonstrated how to create a podcast. Google
podcasts and Spotify are some of the other podcast platforms.

Characteristics of podcasts
• Digital audio files
• Variety of topics
• Shared by individuals, community, companies, groups, radio and TV networks
• Targeted at people with similar interests
• Can be a single episode or a series of episodes
• You can subscribe to podcast hosting platforms like apple podcasts, google
podcasts, spotify etc. and get notified
• Relatively easy to produce and upload podcasts

Activity
• Listen to a podcast on an interesting topic of your choice. Share your
experience
• Search different podcasts platforms. Note down the features and the type of
content.

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Music Streaming Services
Streaming is referred to any audio or video file that is played directly from the
internet. Streaming service providers allow users to stream copyrighted songs on
demand from the service provider’s centralised library for a subscription fee. These
services have a recommendation engine that introduces listeners to other songs and
music based on their listening history. It also allows listeners to create personal
playlists and share with other users.

Digital music distribution gained popularity during late 1990s and early 2000. In 1999,
an online peer-peer music sharing site called Napster was used by American
students to share MP3 files of music and songs for free. It allowed users to download
albums for free, gain access to live performances, alternate cuts, and demo versions
of their favourite artists. Napster was forced to shut down following accusations of
copyrights breaching.

Digital music platforms like MP3.com ad People Sound allowed musicians to upload
and distribute their music in MP3 format. A more viable streaming business model
started with the launch of iTunes Store in 2003. iPod users could download music at
an affordable price from this online music library.

Pandora Radio launched in 2005 allowed listeners to bookmark favourite albums and
artists heard via internet radio stations. The service had a recommendation engine

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that suggested music based on user history. However, the service did not allow users
to freely play choice of songs on demand and users could skip only a limited number
of songs at a time.

YouTube became a popular music and video streaming platform. In 2008, Spotify was
launched as a streaming platform based on a subscription model . It allowed users to
stream songs on-demand using peer-to-peer technology.

Other competitors in the field include Beats Music, later acquired by Apple Inc and
replaced with Apple Music; Microsoft Groove Music Pass, which was later
discontinued; Amazon Music Unlimited; Google Play Music All Access and Tidal,
featuring exclusive content.

YouTube Red was launched in 2015 offering ad free steaming of video on its platform.
In 2018, it got rebranded as YouTube Premium. In 2020, YouTube Music service
replaced Google Play Music

Though on demand music streaming services form the major revenue stream of
digital music, they are also criticised for not paying fair compensation to artistes.

Activity
Listen to some of the music streaming services. Make a list of their latest/
trending music offerings

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Video Streaming Services
Streaming is referred to any audio or video file that is played directly from the
internet. Streaming of live and recorded audio and video files are part of our everyday
communication and entertainment routine.

In 1993, the music performance of a garage band named Severe Tire Damage
officially became the first show to be live-streamed online. In 1995, the first media
player capable of live streaming was developed by RealNetwork, an internet
company. The company hosted the first live streaming broadcast of a baseball
match. The company launched RealVideo in 1997. This service was one of the first
programs to commercialise live video streaming.

Watch the first live band on the internet and their story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZn0HW9OHD4

Live streaming became popular with the streaming of a webcast participated by

President Bill Clinton. The program followed the format of an online discussion forum
in which President attempted to answer questions from online users logged in to the
chat.

In 2008, YouTube Live first live streamed from both San Francisco and Tokyo
simultaneously and featured interviews and performances by superstars. Other

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notable live streams were U2 concert in 2009 and the Q&A with Barack Obama in
2010.

In 2011, a new streaming platform designed for video games was launched by Twitch.
Within two years it became a profitable streaming business. By the end of 2013, any
registered user could live stream on YouTube. Twitter acquired the live streaming
application Periscope in 2015. Facebook and Instagram presented their live
streaming services in 2016.

Streaming technology like Restream.io and their latest tool Restream Studio have
features that allows anyone to create and broadcast live streams to multiple
platforms, invite guests and interact with viewers from different platforms in one
place.

Apple TV, Chromecast and Amazon Fire are also important streaming devices that
allows users to play video on demand. OTT platforms like Netflix, Hotstar Disney,
Amazon Prime and Hulu allow subscribers to stream both original content as well as
copyrighted content.

Activity
Make a list of different OTT platforms and note down the trending content in
these platforms

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Search Engines
Search engines are web-based tools
that allow users to locate
information on the World Wide
Web. Google is considered as the
most popular search engine.

Early search engines were operated

manually by choosing the sites and
they could only index limited
number of sites. The first search
engine Archie was created long
before the invention of World Wide Web. In 1993, a group of Standford students
proposed a project titled Architext to improve search engine capabilities. In 1993,
Matthew Gray created the World Wide Web Wanderer bot to measure the growth of
the web by counting the active web servers. He upgraded the bot to capture actual
URLs and created a database called Wandex.

In 1993 Martin Koster created ALIWEB, considered as the true predecessor of the
modern day search engines. It did not use web crawlers to collect data. Instead, it
allowed users to submit pages they wanted indexed with their own page description.
But many users had no idea how to submit their sites.

In 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo created Yahoo! It started as a listing of their
favourite websites with URL and page description. In the same year, the first crawler
to index entire pages, called WebCrawler, was created. It was eventually bought by
AOL.

In 1996, Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin started
working on a search engine called BackRub. BackRub ranked pages using “citation
notation”. In 1998, they launched Google with a mission to organise the worldwide
information and make it universally accessible and useful. Since then, Google search
has added many additional features to improve their search engine capabilities,

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making it the most popular search engine.

Activity
Search for the same topic on different search engines. Compare the search
results, ranking and ads on the page

Key Points
• Digital media can be defined as any form of data that is digitally transmitted
to devices that can decode them into audio, video, graphic, text, etc
• Digital media history can be traced back to the idea of computing machines
that could process large amounts of data faster
• The first design of a computer was conceived by Charles Babbage in the 19th
century
• The first digital computers were the Colossus built in England 1943 and the
ENIAC in the US in 1945. The first electronic digital computer designed and
built in India is TIFRAC (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic
calculator) in 1959
• Internet was invented by computer scientists Vinton Cerf and Bob Cahn.
This enabled interconnectivity between computers and data transfer through
interconnected network of computers. Cerf is also credited with the first
written use of the term internet
• 1989 is marked by the birth of the World Wide Web, invented by the British
scientist Tim Berners Lee. It can be defined as an interconnected system of
public webpages accessible over internet
• Digital media came to be widely used as a term only in the late 20th century.
The key features of digital media are interconnectivity, accessibility to
individual users as senders and receivers, and interactivity.Digital media
platforms:
• Websites: Websites are collection of information on particular topic that can
be accessed via internet on different media devices. There are different types of
websites catering to different interests and purpose

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• Blog: Blog is an online journal or information website where people can share
and write stories, experiences, informational content and connect with a
community of like minded individuals
• Email: The concept of instant communication enabling internet users around
the world to communicate with each other. Email platforms allow users to
access their emails via a browser on any computer or device that is connected
to the internet.
• Social media: It can be defined as medium of communication over the
internet where users can share and access information, create content and
network with people from around the world
• Digital news: Any news that is delivered on digital media platforms is
considered as digital news. Advancements in digital technology led to various
experiments in the area of publishing news online
• Digital advertising is referred to any promotional content that is delivered on
digital media platforms. Digital media has changed the way we consume and
experience advertisements.
• Audio books are voice recordings of a book that are accessible for listening
both online and offline.
• Podcasts are digital audio files on a great variety of topics in the form of series
or single documents that are available online.
• Streaming is referred to any audio or video file that is played directly from the
internet. Streaming service providers allow users to stream copyrighted songs
on demand from the service provider’s centralised library for a subscription fee.
• Search engines are web-based tools that allow users to locate information on
the World Wide Web. Google is considered as the most popular search engine

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Resources for Further Reading
•Mass Communication and Journalism in India - By D S Mehta
•Mass Communications and Media Studies: An Introduction - By Peyton Paxson
•Media/Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media - By Shirley Biagi
•Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture -
By Stanley J Baran
•Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology - By Joseph
Straubhaar, Robert LaRose, Lucinda Davenport
•Comics Studies: A Guidebook - By Rutgers University Press
•Public Service Broadcasting in the Age of Globalization - Edited by Indrajit
Banerjee, Kalinga Seneviratne

Sources of images and illustrations

https://www.istockphoto.com/
https://www.dreamstime.com/
https://www.britannica.com/

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 MEDIA PRODUCTION
& MEDIA LITERACY

Mass media has been shaping public literacy and public outlook in every phase of its
development. The latest advancements in communication and information
technology are constantly changing the methods of media production. A better
appreciation of the medium and different platforms call for an understanding of the
operations involved in the stages of different media production. Convergence of
media technologies is bridging the gap between different medium by enabling
users to access information and entertainment in different formats and platforms
through a single device. Are we media literate enough to navigate through this maze
of information and entertainment available on mass media? The need for gaining
higher levels of media literacy is essential to efficiently use media to achieve our goals
rather than allowing the media to effectively use us to achieve their goals.

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MEDIA PRODUCTION

Learning objectives
• To understand the types of media production
• To understand the different stages of media production in different medium

TV Production
Television has a rich creative and technical history that has laid the foundation for our
current TV watching experience. Early producers used the medium of television to
create compelling content that entertained and informed the audience. Television
continues to capture our interest even in the digital age where information and
entertainment are easily accessible on other media. The medium of television has
evolved to keep in tune with changes in the digital media by integrating internet
technology to offer diversified content from different platforms and by transforming
itself to a medium of communication, allowing people to browse content, use TV
screens for video calls and use voice interface to select content. Television still has the
power to create a strong impact. It is a permanent member and a familiar voice in
most households.

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Stages of TV Production
TV producers are the responsible for bringing all the entertaining and informative
content we see on TV. They develop concepts to create compelling content in
innovative formats and distribute to different audience groups. A television
producer’s job requires creative expertise, good knowledge about audience and
trending genres, and skills to seek out new opportunities in content creation. The
production in TV follows different stages.

Stage one - The Idea/Concept (Project Development): The first stage starts with
an idea. Idea can be in the form of a thought or a one liner about an interesting
concept that can be potentially developed into an interesting narrative for a TV
program. A producer either originates the idea/concept or buys the rights to an
existing material (idea, book, script, news article) to produce it for TV. A producer also
evaluates the project for calculating production cost, budget estimate, funding,
potential market and distribution channels. The idea is then developed into a pitch
proposal that includes synopsis, full-length script and treatment plan. The project
proposal is pitched either to a TV channel or potential investor to secure funding for
the development of a pilot episode.

Stage two - The Plan (Pre-production): The second stage is the planning stage.
Once the project secures enough funding, steps are taken to develop the project. At
this stage, a research team works on the finer details of the script. Creative and
technical crew are hired. Different teams are involved in budgeting, scheduling,
negotiating contracts and procuring rights and permits for shooting. Different
departments are set up to look into the creative and technical aspects of production
like direction, cinematography, lighting, sound and music, art direction and set
construction, artist management, makeup and costumes, transportation and
catering. Every aspect of a production unit is planned at this stage.

Stage three - The Shoot (Production): The third stage is the production stage
where the concept gets fully transformed into a TV program. This stage involves a lot
of coordination to make sure the production is completed within budget. The
producer coordinates with all the teams to ensure the smooth functioning of the

166
project. The creative and technical teams work to ensure the script is shot within the
scheduled time. The producer also coordinates with publicity and marketing teams
to create enough talk and interest about the project among the target audience
through different media.

Stage four - The Final Product (Post-production): The fourth stage is the post-
production stage where the project gets fine tuned. This stage includes editing,
visual effects, sound effects and dubbing. The editor goes through all the approved
shots to construct scenes and sequences as per the script. The visual effects
department works on computer generated graphics, 3D models, animation and
visual enhancements. The graphics department works on titles, opening and closing
credits, special effects, etc. The sound effects department works on dubbing,
ambient sounds, background sound, music and special sound effects to enhance the
feel of the program narrative. Once the final cut is done, the producer arranges for
audience focus groups to test and gauge the response to the program.

Stage five - The Delivery (Marketing and distribution): The fifth and final stage is
the distribution stage. The program is ready for broadcast. The final date for public
broadcast is set and announced on the channel or the platform. Trailers of the
program are played to grab the interest of the audience. The program is marketed
through promotional campaigns on different media channels like print ads, social
media posts, TV promos, etc. The publicity department works on creating enough
talk about the program among the target audience through press conferences,
interviews, news stories, pilot launch and special screening for select audience, TV
channel executives, production personnel and people in the entertainment and
news media.

Radio Production
Radio has been one of the first mass medium to reach a wider audience base
irrespective of literacy levels. The joy of listening to a human over radio and its
portable nature made it an instantly popular medium. Radio has been constantly
innovating its formats and content to appeal to audience in this digital age.

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Stages of Radio Production
The production of radio programs follow three stages.

Stage one - Pre-production: The first stage involves conceptualising an idea for
radio program. A radio producer develops the idea further by deciding on the genre
(sports, film, news, politics, food, fashion, etc.), content type (educational,
promotional, entertainment) and format of the program (feature, docudrama, expert
talk, debates, phone-ins and anchor managed programs). The producer evaluates
the practical viability of the project including its budget, availability of resources,
creative and technical support. Adequate research is done to look into content
development. Depending on the format, programs are either fully scripted or semi-
scripted. For example, during live shows involving phone-ins and interviews, the
script depends on the spontaneous reactions and talking points of the anchor or
radio jockey. The other important steps at this stage include arranging for recording
studio, scouting for talents and voice artists for features and docudrama, deciding on

168
announcers and anchors, and scheduling a time frame for the production stages.
The producer has to get rights and permission for broadcasting certain programs like
official events of governments, sports events, etc.

Stage two - Production: The second stage is the actual recording of a program.
Programs are either recorded or live. Recorded programs are produced in advance.
Rehearsals are undertaken to practice the content delivery before actual recording.
Microphone positioning, tapes, checking the sound quality, clarity of presentation,
smooth handling of calls during phone in are all of utmost importance during this
stage.

Stage three - Post-production: The final stage is the post-production stage. This
stage involves editing of recorded sound tapes to create a logical sequence,
removing repetitive and unclear portions, adding sound effects, transition sounds,
silence, mixing of different sound and music tapes, ensuring smooth transmission
between program segment and advertisements. Once the program is ready to air,
time slots are fixed for broadcasting. Program promos are aired to announce the
program details and time slots.

Multimedia Production
Multimedia productions are any form of content that uses a combination of video,
text, audio and graphic elements to enhance a media message. Multimedia makes
media messages more dynamic and engaging. Traditional media also uses
multimedia to promote their content. For example, online news use video footages,
text and audio to keep audience engaged.

Stages of Multimedia Production

Stage one - Project proposal: The first stage is the ideation stage. Similar to other
productions, this stage involves conceptualising and developing an idea into a
project proposal. The project manager outlines the vision, goals, objectives, time
frame and target audience.

Stage two: Pre-production: The second stage is the planning and strategy stage. A

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detailed plan laying out creative brief, content treatment and format, creative and
technical support, and marketing strategy is drawn. A storyboard is made to act a
scripting guide for the production execution stage. A storyboard has sketches of the
project’s visual elements, notes on audio and text. A project manager evaluates the
project proposal and develops a budget estimate, hires creative and technical talent
for the production execution, arranges recording studios, acquires necessary
hardware and installs softwares. The manager also sets up teams of writers,
researchers, storyboard artists, graphic designers, animators, sound and visual
effects teams to work on content development.

Stage three - Production: The second stage is the execution stage which involves
the actual content production by integrating visual, text and audio elements. The
visual designers work on the look and feel of the production. The storyboard is used
as a guide to design graphics and illustrations, collect photographs and content, web
design, and adding sound effects and visual effects to enhance user experience.

Stage four - Post production: The final stage is the editing, testing and delivery
stage. The multimedia content undergoes hours of editing depending on the
volume of graphics and other visual elements. The final product is reviewed by all the
teams involved. The project is tested by a group of potential users to understand user
experience and reaction. This is done to test if all the project objectives are met. After
making necessary changes following the feedback from testing, the product is ready
for distribution.

Key Points
Media production means producing any content for publishing, broadcasting
or streaming for public consumption
• The main purpose of a media production is to educate, entertain or persuade
• In general, all media productions go through stages of pre-production,
production and post production

Stages of TV production: Project proposal and development stage (Ideation,

170
story synopsis, target audience, rough budget estimate, proposal pitching);
pre-production stage involves research and script development, arranging
the cast and crew, location and set construction, production design, legal
contracts, rights and permits; production stage involves the actual shooting
of the program where the director translates the script into audio visuals; and
post production stage involves editing, dubbing, visual effects, sound effects,
marketing and promotion.

Stages of Radio production: Pre-production stage is the planning and

development stage. It involves research, writing a script with guidelines for
production; production stage involves the actual recording; and post
production stage involves editing, dubbing,, mixing of music, sound effects
and silence

Stages of Multimedia production: Project proposal - Project ideation, goals,

objectives and target audience; Pre-production - Creative brief, scripting,
storyboarding; Production - Designing graphics, creating visual and audio
effects, video and audio recording, animation, web design and content; Post
production - Editing, testing and delivery

Project
• Organise a field trip to a TV studio/radio station. Ask the students to make a
report on the different stages of production as seen and learned during the
field trip

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 Resources for Further Reading
• Television Production - By Gerald Millerson, Jim Owens
• Introduction to Media Production: The Path to Digital Media Production
- By Robert B. Musburger, Gorham Kindem
• Handbook of Print Media: Technologies and Production Methods
- Edited by Helmut Kipphan
• Radio Programme Production By Neelamalar, M.
• Multimedia Foundations: Core Concepts for Digital Design
- By Vic Costello, Susan A. Youngblood, Norman E. Youngblood

MEDIA LITERACY

Learning objectives
• To consider the media penetration and information overflow in our society
• To understand the importance of media literacy
• To learn different skills to improve media literacy
• To encourage students to practice media literacy skills

Media literacy is the ability to think critically about what you are seeing, hearing and
reading on different media platforms. It can be defined as a set of perspectives that
we actively use to expose ourselves to mass media to interpret the meaning of the
messages we encounter. The ability to read and write, understand institutions,
systems and practices in a society and culture makes literate enough to navigate the
world. Mass media adds to the complexity by constantly shaping and influencing the
way we understand our world. Media is all pervasive in every aspect of our life and we
see and understand the world through it. With new devices and platforms making its
way to homes and lives, we need to keep updating our media literacy skills. How often
do we think of who controls the media, its economics, message/content creation and
distribution, and media effects on us and the society at large. People operating at a
low level of media literacy most often can find information and access messages on
different media but may not able to process them enough understand how these

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messages shape our beliefs and expectations and influence our behaviours. It is
therefore important to attain higher levels of media literacy to have better control
over the effects that media messages exert on us.

Media Penetration and Information Overload

The amount of information available on different media and their platforms is
growing every second. Earlier, only people with high literacy, knowledge and
expertise in a given field could add and publish information in traditional media.
With the digital age, almost anyone can add and publish information freely on
different platforms. The amount of information and entertainment produced and
circulated through digital media surpass that of traditional media. As of January
2023, there is more than 3.17 billion pages indexed on web, and the number will keep
growing. Add to this, the information floating on traditional media platforms like
books, newspapers, magazines, television and radio. It is impossible to cover all the
information available on any given topic. There are more than five billion internet
users worldwide. Internet penetration covers around 60 percent of the world
population. A large portion of the information is contributed by email messages,
tweets, video and photo uploads, web pages and blogs. Information is growing at an
exponential rate. The challenge lies in organising and sifting information for
meaningful use and in not letting information drown us. Try typing anything on
google search and it will pull out information within .045 seconds. Think about the
amount of information pulled out by search engines in fraction of seconds.

Activity
Try typing keywords on any subject on different search engines. Note down
the number of search results and the speed at which the results are displayed
(look at the portion below search engine tab).

Media Literacy Skills

The most important skill required to handle the information overload is the skill to
select the most appropriate and useful information. Most often, people’s mind are on
auto pilot mode while going through loads of information. Over time, our minds
develop an automatic routine to filter messages through a process of skimming and

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skipping when looking for information. This process of filtering helps in the
automatic processing of information everyday. Automatic routines are formed by
sequences of behaviours, thoughts and actions performed regularly and repeated
with little effort. Having a clear purpose helps in the navigation of media messages.

Building Blocks of Media Literacy

• Personal goals and drives: People should have be aware of their goals while
navigating the media world. Goals shape the information processing by filtering
out information that is useful. Better awareness of goals can lead to efficient
seeking of information. A strong drive for attaining those goals will determine the
effort involved in information seeking. When people have low awareness of their
goals and low drive to attain those goals, it becomes easy for media to exert
control through over exposure and overload of information . When people are
conscious of their goals and drives, they are aware of their options, make better
decisions and are in control of the information processing and meaning making.
But when your goals and drives operate at an unconscious level, the media most
likely will exert more powerful effect on you.

• Knowledge structures: They are sets of organised information in a person’s

memory. These structures are formed over time with care, precision and
experience. Information and knowledge are essential ingredients of knowledge
structures. Not all information is useful and accurate. Information resides in
messages whereas knowledge lies in a person’s mind. Information leads to
interpretation whereas knowledge is a reflection of an already interpreted
information. Information is composed of facts whereas knowledge comprises of
context and meaning. One of the main characteristic of media literacy is the ability
and habit of transforming information into knowledge structures. The idea of
information includes message that contain factual information and social
information. Factual information is raw, unprocessed and context free. For
example the news story “President Murmu to address the nation on Republic Day
eve” gives only the factual information on name, title, date, place, occasion”. Social
information is composed of accepted beliefs that cannot be easily verified.
Examples include the guidelines we learn about what is considered well dressed

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 or smart or outspoken. These are very subjective ideas of information. In the
context of media literacy, we need knowledge structure in five areas: media
content, media effects, media industries, real world and self. With strong
knowledge structures in these areas, people can make better decisions while
seeking information, processing that information and and constructing meaning
from that information to serve their goals. Knowledge structures provide context
while dealing with new media messages.

• Skills required to analyse and evaluate messages: Skills are the tools required
to construct knowledge structures. These tools are used to navigate the pile of
information to uncover the useful facts while filtering out the rest. These useful
pieces of information is then carefully organised as knowledge structures in one’s
memory. Skills require constant practice to keep it strong. Skills crucial to media
literacy are analysis, evaluation, grouping, induction, deduction, synthesis and
abstraction. Analysis is breaking down the message into meaningful elements.
For example, in a news story, you can either accept the facts presented by the
journalist or dig deeper to analyse the full story. Here, analysis will include
breaking down the news story to find out “who, what, when, where, how and why”.

Evaluation is making judgements about the value of an element. This value

judgment is made by comparing the message element to some standard. For
example, think of the times when you accept the opinions in a news editorial or a
message in a movie without questioning. When a news story presents opinions
about an issue in the editorial, evaluation is done by comparing the information
elements in the story to our personal standards with regard to the issue. If it meets
our standards, the elements including the opinion expressed can be concluded as
good. But it will be considered unacceptable, if it does not meet our standards. Or the
information elements should persuade to change our standards with regard to the
issue. The bottomline of evaluation is not accept anything without questioning.

Grouping is determining which elements of the message are alike in some way and
grouping them together. Media constantly tell us what classifications they want us
to use. But it is important to make an effort to determine which classification or

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grouping of elements provide meaning and value to us.

Induction is coming to a conclusion after inferring a pattern from across a number of

elements. There are many instances where people infer pattern from across a small
number elements and then generalising that pattern to all elements in the larger set.
People use elements in the media messages to dominate their perception of a
pattern in real life. For example, people believe that their neighbourhoods are unsafe
based on their viewing patterns that include watching crime news coverage, crime
shows and movies. A careful induction will also take into account the reality of
situations in their neighbour before making an inference only on viewing patterns of
crime related content.

Deduction is based on general principle, observation and logical reasoning. When

we have faulty general principles, it will lead to explaining messages in a faulty
manner. For example if you start with a general principle that television is bad for
children. It will lead to deducting that all television content is bad without any
observation or logical reasoning. Deducting conclusion on any media message
should be based on a combination of general principles, observation and logical
reasoning.

Synthesis is the assembling of elements into a new structure. It is the process of using
new messages to refine, reformulate and update our existing knowledge structures.
For example, earlier books referred to its physical format either paperback or
hardcover books. Now, books refer to both physical format and digital format with
the popularity of audiobooks and ebooks. So this new information should be used to
refine and update ourexisting knowledge structure about books.

Abstracting is creating a brief, clear and accurate description capturing the essence
of a media message using a significantly smaller number of words than the message
itself. We can use the skill of abstracting while reviewing a media message or
describing it to others. It is the ability to capture the central idea of the message in
few words.

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Development of Media Literacy
Development of media literacy goes through different stages. People have varying
levels of media literacy depending on the knowledge structures, skills and
experience.

Stages Degree of skill, knowledge and understanding

Fundamental Fundamentals knowledge of people, relationships,

knowledge body language, nature, animals, shapes and sizes,
colour, time, etc.

Learning language Learn sound, letters, words, speech and meaning;

observe characters and movement in visual media
and music and sounds in audio media; form physical
and emotional reactions.

Understanding of Develop an understanding of difference between

narrative elements fact and opinion, reality and fantasy; understand the
use of time and space in stories, characters and
elements of plot (premise-action/conflict-resolution)
in stories.

Ability to question Ability to question the claims made in ads, character

motives and plot elements in stories, fact and
opinions presented in news.

Knowledge seeking Motivated to seek information on various subjects or

and opinion areas of interest; ability to judge the usefulness of
formation information; develops likes and dislikes based on
individual values and belief systems.

Curiosity and Actively seeks new content, explores new media and
exploration experiences; open to exploring new ideas and
develop new perspectives.

Critical thinking Ability to process a message in its own terms and

also evaluate it in context of social, historical, political,
economic and cultural perspective; ability to make
comparisons and contrasts

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 Stages Degree of skill, knowledge and understanding

Social Strong understanding of the impact of individual

responsibility decisions on society; ability to take a stand on issues
that matter; taking responsibility for one’s actions.

All of us pass through the earlier stages of media literacy as children. As we grow and
gather more knowledge, skills and experiences, we keep moving up and down
through the following stages of media literacy depending on the medium, content,
motive and exposure.

Advantages of Media Literacy

People with higher levels of media literacy can better navigate the overload of
information, identify and judge the usefulness of the message, control the effects of
media on them rather than letting the media control them. The following are some of
the main advantages of developing higher media literacy

• Higher media literacy prompts you to actively seek new content and media
experiences. Mass media companies and platforms rely on our habitual exposure
to media and messages. Both traditional media and digital media are constantly
evolving their platforms to offer a wide variety of choices in terms of content.
Media makes us believe that we have a wide variety of choices but in reality is
limiting our choices. By constraining our choices, media is trying to condition us
into habitual exposure to few media vehicles and content type. For example, think
of the number of times YouTube, Instagram, Kindle, OTT platform, etc gives us
leads on recommended content. These recommendations are based on our
media habits and exposure. By developing a higher degree of media literacy,
people can make active and conscious decision to seek out new content outside
of this recommendation and comfort zone, and develop new perspectives.
Habitual exposures make people more predictable from a marketing point of
view. This is good for media companies trying to control their audiences through
advertisements and other media messages.

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• Better control of media conditioning: Higher level of media literacy can empower
people to have a better understanding of the different ways media messages can
affect their decisions, behaviours and outlook. The purpose of developing media
literacy is to gain control over the way we think about media messages. One of the
main steps in controlling the effects of media messages is by understanding the
ways media tries to condition us through habitual exposures and reinforcing our
experiences and thought process. For example, think of our news and
entertainment feeds, and ads that pop up on our Instagram page and YouTube
home page. How many times have you experienced multiple news story feeds
and ad pop ups on your different media accounts just after casually reading about
a certain news issue or checking a certain product online? Do you realise how
media tries to limit your choices and your control your thought process and
actions?

• Control over media: Mass media is very successful in using people to achieve their
goals through attractive content and repeated exposures. Sometimes our
personal goals are different from that of the media. Higher degree of media
literacy can help people to have a greater awareness of their personal goals. This
will help them break away from habitual exposure of media messages and treat
media messages as tools to reach their goals. For example, people with low media
literacy can easily fall prey to product ads without a realisation of the usefulness or
the need for that product. Someone with higher media literacy will actively seek
out information about the product by reading product review, ingredients and its
credibility. They will also think about whether the product is useful to them and
whether they really need that product.

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 Key Points
• Media literacy is the ability to think critically about what you are seeing,
hearing and reading. It can be defined as a set of perspectives that we
actively use to expose ourselves to mass media to interpret the meaning of
the messages we encounter
• Information is growing at an exponential rate. The challenge lies in
organising and sifting information for meaningful use and in not letting
information drown us.
• Development of media literacy goes through different stages. People have
varying levels of media literacy depending on knowledge structures, skills
and experience

Advantages of media literacy

• Prompts you to explore a wide variety of media messages
• Can see the layers of meaning in media message
•Increases control over media and handle media influences

Building blocks of media literacy are

• Personal goals and drives
• Refining and adding to our knowledge structures
• Skills required to analyse and evaluate messages: Evaluation, grouping,
induction, deduction, synthesis and abstracting

Media Message
Media message means any form of content that is communicated to a target
audience via a media channel. Media messages can be analysed to find out their true
meaning and their effects. When you are analysing any media message, find out
answers to the following questions
1. Who is the creator of the media message/content?
2. What is the central idea/theme?
3. What creative elements are used to support the messages?
4. What is the purpose or intent of the message?

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The author or producer or creator of a media message has a definitive purpose in
creating a content. The creator uses different methods and formats and media
vehicle to convey the message to achieve that purpose. Media creators are the true
source of the media message. It is important to answer the question of authorship or
source of a media message in order to better understand the content of the message
and its intended meanings. The authorship of a FMCG ad is not necessarily the
person who directed the ad or wrote the ad script. The creator is the one who has
definitive purpose in making and conveying the message in the ad film. So, the
creator here is the brand or the business that sells the product. Hence, the purpose of
the creator is to create awareness about the product and to persuade the target
audience to buy the product. Now, think about the authorship of a film. Films are a
collective effort of so many artists and technicians. But it is the director who directs
the collective effort to tell a story from his perspective. So, the author of a film is its
director.

Central idea/theme: Theme of a media message can be defined as the central idea
or unifying idea that supports the true purpose of the message. The theme of a film is
the central idea that the story is trying to convey. The theme of an ad film is the
central idea used to narrate an appealing story or message around a product or
service of a brand or business to trigger a desired response from the target audience.

Creative elements: The creative elements are used to enhance the experience and
understanding of the message. The creative elements carry meaning and work
together to appeal to the target audience. The creative elements of an ad includes
slogan, jingle, colours, music, sound effects, special effects and graphics. In a movie,
the creative elements include visual effects, sound effects, camera angles, colour,
costume, graphic, music etc.

Purpose/intent of the media message: Media messages have different purposes

depending on the content and the media audience. In general, the main purpose of
media messages are as follows

• To entertain: Media messages in films, TV series, web series, music albums, video

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games, fictional books are meant to entertain the audience. Media producers and
content creators come up with innovative creative ways to entertain the masses.
With the emergence of digital media, media messages in entertainment field create
interactive content.

• To educate: In a news media, media messages are stories about the issues and
events around world. The creator of the news media messages are the news
organisations and journalists. There are different types of news and areas of news
reporting. The creative elements of a news story in print media include the use of
photographs, illustrations, blurbs, caricatures, tables, font style and fonts of
headlines. All of these eleemts are used to draw the attention of the readers. In a
broadcast medium, creative elements of news story include graphical
illustrations, audio visual footages, stock images, etc.

• To persuade: Promotional messages are intended to sell and create awareness

about products and services to the target audience. The main purpose of the
promotional media messages is to persuade the audience. Advertisements in
print media use creative elements like tagline, colour, images, caricatures, fonts,
illustration to attract the audience. The television ads use music, visual effects,
sound effects, graphics, colour, tagline etc to make an appeal to the audience. In
the digital media, promotional messages are constantly experimenting with
different formats, styles, interactive elements to appeal to the audience. The
emergence of influencers (group of people with large follower base make paid
promotional content to persuade target audience) have increased the amount of
innovative promotional content and formats online

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Key Points
• Media message means any form of content that is communicated to a
target audience via a media channel

• Media messages can be analysed based on its authorship, central

idea/theme, creative elements and the purpose/intent of the message

• Purpose of a media message

• To entertain (Films, TV shows, fictional books, music, etc.)
• To inform (News reports, news podcasts, documentaries, specialised blogs,
etc.)
• To persuade (Advertisements, promos, influencer posts and stories)

Activity
• Read a news story, watch a TV ad or listen to a music album on a streaming
app. Identify the creators of the message, the theme and the treatment, and
the purpose of the message. Does these messages prompt you to do
something?

• Study a news report that appeared on TV, newspaper or online site. Answer
the following questions
• What is the news story?
• Differentiate between facts and opinions in the story?
• Are sources mentioned?
• What creative elements (blurbs, pictures, illustrations, videos) are used to
enhance the story?

• Collect a TV ad, a print ad and an online ad of a product of your choice.

Study the product message in each media by answering the following
• How is the message communicated in each medium?
• Did the creative elements in the ad attract you? Give reasons

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 • Do you believe in the message communicated? Give reasons
• What is the intent of the message?

• Play the following animated short film in class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCf56Tb0CP8
• Ask the students to note down what aspects of the movie appealed to them
• Play the animation movie a second time and ask them to pay attention to
the theme. Ask the students to write about the theme and the characters
• Play it a third time and ask them to focus on the creative elements and
treatment. Ask them to note down the use of colour, visuals, music, and
songs

Media Audience
Audience is the group of people who receives media text. All media content is made
with the audience in mind. The success of a media content depends on its reception
by audience. Media creators are constantly trying to find out more about who is
listening, watching, accessing and engaging with media content. Like in any
communication process, messages are formed with the receiver in mind. Audience is
the receiver of the media message. Think about how we communicate the same
message to a child and an adult. There will be marked difference in the language,
tone, words and format in the way we communicate to a child and an adult.

Audience research gained popularity with broadcast media. Print media depended
on circulation numbers to get an understanding of their audience base.
Broadcasters , however, had no means to find out about their audience base for
different programs. It became important for broadcasters to conduct audience
research since they depended on revenue from ad slots and program sponsorship. It
refers to the methods and techniques used to find out about audience. Broadcasters
used face-to-face interviews and electronic meters like people meter to measure the
audience.

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 Earlier, broadcasters conducted audience research to find answers to the
following questions
• Who are the target audience?
• Are they receiving the message?
• How many people are watching different programs?
• What is the profile of audience watching different programs?
• Do they know the broadcasting times of programs?
• Are they able to watch the program at the time allocated?
• Are they familiar with the programs intended for them?
• What is their experience and feedback on the programs?
• Which channels and programs have maximum viewership?

With the emergence of digital media, audience research has been constantly
evolving to find out not just about audience watching which content but also about
audience behaviours, like and dislikes, demographics and psychographic profiles to
create well crafted messages to target different audience types.

Audience classification is done to identify subgroups within target audience.

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• Demographic profiles - geographic location, age, gender, race and ethnicity,
education, occupation, income
• Psychographic profiles - Behaviour and personality traits, values, attitudes and
beliefs

Audience segmentation is important to have a better understanding of target

audience groups and to customise messages to appeal to every group of audience.
Segmentation helps in
• Defining target audience
• Create personalised and customised messages to resonate with individual
audience
• Helps in better conversion rates per ad views and clicks
• Building brand loyalty and relationship
• Audience response

Audience engages, responds and interprets media messages in different ways. They
can be active or passive.
• Active audience are capable of questioning the media message. They are likely to
be in control of the media messages.
• Passive audience accepts the media message without questioning. They are
more likely to be influenced or controlled by the media message

Key Points
• Audience is the receiver of any media message
• The success of a media content depends on its reception by audience
• Media creators are constantly trying to find out more about who is listening,
watching, accessing and engaging with media content.
• Earlier, print media used to depend on circulation numbers to get an
understanding of their audience base. Broadcasters used face-to-face
interviews and electronic meters like people meter to measure the audience
• Now, media conducts audience research to find out not just about who is
watching what content but also about audience behaviours, like and dislikes,

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 demographics and psychographic profiles to create well crafted messages to
target different audience type
• Audience classification based on demographic and psychographic profile of
audience to identify subgroups within target audience
• Audience can be active or passive depending on how they engage, respond
and interpret media messages

Activity
Play the following PSAs in class and answer the following questions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dex6YmtaAw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6XUA8kEmT4
• Who are the creators of the message?
• What is the message?
• Did the PSA speak to you?
• Do you believe the PSA message and story?
• Who are the target audience?

Media Effects
Media effects are the influence of media exposure on people. We live in a world
saturated with information. Media messages are constantly targeting everyone
everywhere and exert their influence on how we think, how we feel and how we react
and behave with and without our realisation. Media messages are more aggressive in
seeking audience attention. Media is so pervasive that every time we switch on the TV
or log in to our devices, media messages are being pumped into us.

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Most of the time, people are not fully conscious of how the media is constantly
influencing us. Because we are exposed to a multitude of media message, making
our exposure habitual. How many of you automatically switch on the television as
soon as you are home, or switch on the radio to listen to music or news while on a
moving vehicle, or open up social media or check your messages on WhatsApp as
soon as you wake up every morning. All of these automatic routines and habitual
exposures that unconsciously shape our mental codes. It then becomes easy for
media creators, especially advertisers to program the way we think and behave.

Media is constantly adding new information to reinforce our existing knowledge

structures to stimulate certain patterns of responses. How many times our attention
is automatically drawn to the advertisements on products with offers and discounts,
or news on our favourite sports, or songs and movies of our favourite actors? Media

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influence does not stop when we switch off devices and exposure. These influences
are always present in our conscious and unconscious mind. This is why when we walk
through the aisle of items in a supermarket, our mental codes are automatically
triggered upon seeing products familiarised through advertisements.

Media effect on our behaviours and thinking can be easily visible or difficult to notice
until someone points it out. Therefore, acquiring a higher degree of media literacy
can helps us see the larger picture of media influence on us and others in the society
and in turn help control those influences.

Types of Media Effects

• Immediate and delayed effects: Some media effects show up their influence on
our thinking and behaviours immediately during a media exposure or happen
immediately afterwards. For example, when we click on a pop up ad on a product
or service that grabs our interest on a website or social media, it is an immediate
effect. Now if that ad triggers an impulsive buying, those media messages have
succeeded in creating an immediate influence on our buying decisions.
Sometimes these media effects makes an impression on our minds and may
show up later. For example, when you walk into a supermarket and our attention is
automatically drawn to a product familiarised through constant advertisements.

• Short term and long term effects: Some media effects are short term and then
disappear. For example, when you are able to recall certain dialogues from a
movie you have watched recently or lyrics of music album but forgets the same
after sometime. Some media messages have long term effects on people. For
example, those dialogues or music lyrics remain active in your memory for a long
term.

• Positive or negative: Media messages can trigger both positive and negative
effects on people. Positive effects are typically all the information and content
from different media that enhance our knowledge and awareness about the
world. These information can be improve and refine our knowledge structures,
thereby being aware and in control of media messages. On a base level, positive

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 effects also include media messages that immediately trigger pleasant response.
Our moods get better when we listen to music. We feel relaxed watching a
comedy or feel good movie after a tiring day. Negative effects are triggered when
media messages translate into negative thinking and anti social behaviours.
Children exposed to violence in super hero movies can start feeling an affinity for
violence if there is no proper parental guidance to help them understand the right
context of messages. This is why movies are certified to help people make
informed choices about the content they watch.

• Intended and unintended: Media producers often create content to entertain,

inform and persuade the audience. There are always certain intended meanings
and purpose attached to every media message, which results in triggering
intended effects. The makers of a superhero action film can argue that the
intentional purpose of the portrayal of violence is to entertain the audience and
not to teach them violent behaviours. Intended effects, then occurs if people are
merely entertained by the movie whereas unintended effects occur when some
people start using the violence in real life inspired by the movie.

• Direct and indirect: Direct media effects are triggered when people are directly
influenced by the media exposure. For example, when people watch a movie after
being impressed by its trailer, it is a direct effect. Indirect effects are usually
consequences of direct effects on people who have no exposure to the media
content in question. For example, when a news coverage focus continuously on
certain issues over others, it is making people believe that those are the important
issues to think about. People might miss out on certain important stories and
issues when they are not covered by the media extensively. The indirect effect
results in ignorance and poor awareness about those events or issues.

• Visible and invisible: Some effects can be easily observed. For example, when
people are triggered to buy food items upon seeing refreshments ads during
intervals at a theatre. Some effects are invisible and hard to notice. But this does
not mean that they are not occurring or exerting an influence. For example,
continuous exposure to news coverage on issues, exposure to friends and family

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 talking about those issues, exposure to social media reactions to those issues
combined with personal experiences related to those issues trigger certain biases
and opinions about those issues in our minds. These are invisible effects.

Media effects can be positive and negative depending on the type of content, media
message, media exposure, type of audience.

Key Points
• We live in a world filled with an overload of information, making it difficult
to escape media exposure
• Habitual exposures and automatic routines of consuming media messages
makes it easy for media to constantly influence how we think and behave
without our conscious realisation
• Media is constantly adding new information to reinforce our existing
knowledge structures to stimulate certain patterns of responses
• There is a wide range of visible as well as invisible media effects
• There are different types of media effects: Immediate and delayed effects;
short term and long term effects; positive and negative; intended and
unintended; direct and indirect; visible and invisible

Critical Thinking and Discussion

• What is your favourite mass media? Why do you prefer certain media over
others?
• What are your favourite media programs? Why do you like certain types of
media programs over others?
• How much time do you consciously spend on media? Have you thought
about how much time you spend on media without being fully aware of it?
• Can you think of the positive and negative effects of media? Have you
experienced any positive and negative effects as a result of media exposure?
• Discuss how media affects children and teenagers
• Think of the different ways you can control and handle media effects

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Resources for Further Reading
Media Literacy - By James W Potter
Media Studies: A Complete Introduction: Teach Yourself - By Joanne Hollows
Media Literacy in action: Questioning the Media - By Renee Hobbs

Sources of images and illustrations

https://www.istockphoto.com/
https://www.dreamstime.com/
https://www.britannica.com/

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