Topic 1: Introduction

to Mass
Communication Theory
The Concept of Mass Communication
One of the changes the new technologies are bringing about is that the very
definition of mass communication is coming into question. The definition of
mass communication used to be fairly clear. Mass communication could be
defined by three characteristics:
1. It is directed toward relatively large, heterogeneous, and anonymous
audiences.
2. Messages are transmitted publicly, are often timed to reach most audience
members simultaneously, and are transient in character.
3. The communicator tends to be or operate within a complex organization that
may involve great expense (Wright, 1959, p. 15).
Some of the characteristics of the new media environment are the following
(McManus, 1994):
1. Previously distinct technologies such as printing and broadcasting are
merging.
2. We are shifting from media scarcity to media abundance.
3. We are shifting from content geared to mass audiences to content tailored for
groups or individuals.
4. We are shifting from one-way to interactive media.
Journalism educator Richard Cole has noted, "The differences between media
are blurring. Newspapers are becoming much more like magazines and
broadcast" (Fonti, 1995, p. 16).
The Role of Theory

Theory is the ultimate goal of science. Theories are general statements that
summarize our understandings of the way the world works.
Basically, the goal of theory is to formulate statements or propositions that will
have some explanatory power.
Communication theory is aimed at improving our understanding of the process
of mass communication. With better understanding, we are in a better position
to predict and control the outcomes of mass communication efforts.
These theoretical statements can take various forms:

1. An if-then statement. For example: "If a young person watches a great deal of
violent television, then he or she will commit aggressive acts." In the study of
communication, there are not many propositions that hold so absolutely that they
can be stated as if-then statements. A more common form of statement is the is
more likely to statement.
2. An ‘is more likely to statement’ For example: "A person who watches violent
television is more likely to behave aggressively than a person who watches
nonviolent television."
3. The greater the X, the greater the Y statement (see Hage, 1972). For example:
"The greater the violent television viewing, the greater the aggressive behavior."
4. Statements using phrases like leads to. For example: "Watching violent television
leads to more aggressive behavior than watching nonviolent television."
The communication scientist argues that since we have some theory operating
all the time anyway, why not try to make it the best possible theory?
The scientist believes that the greatest faith should be placed in those
statements about the way things work that have been tested and verified and
that have some generality and predictive power.
These are the kinds of statements that make up scientific theory, and these
statements are useful.
As social psychologist Kurt Lewin said in an often-quoted remark, "There is
nothing so practical as a good theory" (Lewin, 1951, p. 169).
The Goals of Mass Communication Theory

The more specific goals of mass communication theory include the following:
1. To explain the effects of mass communication. These effects can be intended,
such as informing the public during an election, or unintended, such as causing
an increase in violence in society.
2. To explain the uses to which people put mass communication. In many cases,
it is more meaningful to look at the uses to which people are putting mass
communication than to look at the effects. This approach recognizes a more
active role on the part of the communication audience.
3. To explain learning from the mass media. One important question still not
fully answered is, How do people learn from the mass media? For example,
Albert Bandura's social learning theory can be helpful in answering this
question.
4. To explain the role of the mass media in shaping people's values and views.
Politicians and members of the general public often attribute an important role
to mass communication in shaping people's world views and values. The area is
an important one in which further research is needed.
The Effects of Mass Communication
Right from the beginning and for almost the whole of the twentieth century, the
effects of mass communication has been a major area of concern and research
and even today when the media landscape has changed this concern remains
important.
Some of the earliest thinking attributed great power to mass communication to
influence its audiences. This kind of conceptualization of the effects of mass
communication is sometimes known as the ‘ bullet theory’ or the ‘hypodermic
needle theory’ of mass communication effects. Under this conceptualization,
audience members were isolated from one another and were vulnerable targets
easily influenced by mass communication messages.
One example of bullet theory thinking would be a fear of the power of
propaganda that was fairly wide-spread after World War I.
After a period of years and some research on how mass communication was
actually working, thinkers about mass communication decided that the bullet
theory or the hypodermic needle theory was not accurate.
This new conceptualization grew primarily out of election studies during the
1940s reported in the books, ‘The People's Choice’ (Lazarsfeld, Berelson and
Gaudet, 1944/1968) and Voting (Berelson, Lazarsfeld, and McPhee, 1954).
The new view attributed much less power to mass communication messages.
.
A major statement of this view, often called the limited-effects model, was
presented in Joseph Klapper's (1960) book ‘The Effects of Mass Communication’.
People were seen as ordinarily having a great deal of resistance to mass
communication messages.
This resistance was due to a number of factors, including support for opinions
that individuals received from other people and various kinds of psychological
filtering that took place when people received messages
More recent research has led to further revision of the thinking about mass
communication. This newer research restores some of the power to mass
communication messages, although not as much as they had under the bullet
theory.
Approaches such as the agenda-setting hypothesis or cultivation theory
attribute to mass communication what might be called moderate effects.
And other theories such as the spiral of silence suggest, under certain
circumstances, what we might call powerful effects of mass communication.
.
 Not only can effects due to mass communication be large or small, but there
can be a number of different kinds of effects. To put it in social science
language, there are a number of different dependent variables that can be
examined in the quest for possible effects of mass communication
Some effects-such as the effects of newspaper reading on levels of knowledge
about political candidates- are probably intended by communicators. Other
effects- such as the effect of television violence on a tendency toward aggressive
behavior- are probably not intended.
In general, communication theorists are interested in both types of effects-
intended and unintended
Changes in Mass Communication
Theory
Mass communication theory is changing and probably needs to change even
more-to keep up with the changes in the media. Among the noticeable changes
are the following:
1. There is a greater emphasis on uses of mass communication than there used
to be. The important role of audience activity has become even clearer with the
moves to newer forms of media.
2. There is a shift to cognitive science or information-processing approaches
(Beniger and Gusek, 1995).
For example, there is a shift in independent variables from the variables of
persuasion (e.g., source credibility) to concepts such as discourse (e.g., the
nature of language used) and framing (e.g., how an event is packaged and
presented in the media).
Another aspect is the concept of social construction of reality
Some examples of social construction of reality include: Gender: Gender is a
social construct that is shaped by cultural norms and expectations. Gender is not
just determined by biology only, but is also influenced by factors such as
socialization, media, and cultural beliefs about masculinity and femininity
3. One result of the changes in technology is that it is no longer possible to think
of television as a uniform or monolithic system, transmitting essentially the
same message to everyone.
Essentially, it appears that the fragmented or segmented audience that is
characteristic of the new media probably leads to a lessening of the impact of
the mass media suggested by cultivation theory, the spiral of silence, and the
agenda-setting function.
In general, the rapid changes in communication technology suggest that
researchers should try to formulate communication theory in terms that go
beyond the details of a specific medium or technology.
For example, we probably should avoid phrasing our theories in terms of
newspaper reading or television exposure and, instead, phrase them in terms of
variables like public affairs information seeking, the need for companionship,
degree of user control, and so forth.
In doing so, we would be making the shift from what sociologist Jerald Hage
called specific non-variables to general variables (Hage, 1972).
Also, students of communication might want to shift some of the emphasis on effects to
thinking about the social impacts of communication.
Rogers (1986) suggests that some important social impacts of new communication
technology are:
 unemployment
 an increasing information gap between the rich and the poor
 information overload
increased invasions of privacy
 decentralization of power in society, and
segmentation of mass media audiences.
Critical Theory and Cultural Studies
Not all scholars studying mass communication take the scientific approach. For
many years, the study of mass communication has been marked by two
contrasting approaches-the empirical school and the critical school (Rogers,
1982).
The empirical school is characterized by quantitative research and empiricism
(basing knowledge on observation and experiments).
It has often focused on the effects of mass communication, while disregarding
the broader cultural context in which mass communication takes place.
The critical school takes a more philosophical approach, emphasizes the broader
social structure in which communication takes place, and focuses on the issue of
who controls a communication system.
Some critical theorists, but not all, have a Marxist orientation. Critical research
grew out of a Marxist approach to studying society but later shifted its emphasis
from class conflict to the role of domination in society.
Critical theorists tend to criticize empirical researchers for inappropriately
applying the methods of the physical sciences to human beings and society, for
focusing their research too narrowly, and for ignoring the overwhelming
importance of ownership and control of the media.
Empirical researchers tend to criticize critical theorists for presenting
conclusions without evidence, for substituting argumentation for scholarship,
and for reiterating a few basic ideas over and over without adding new
knowledge.
DeFleur (1998) goes so far as to blame a decline in significant theoretical
advances in mass communication on the shift to qualitative studies and critical
theory.
Another approach to the study of mass communication is the cultural studies
approach. Cultural studies scholars join the critical theorists in shunning the
scientific approach used by scholars of the empirical school.
Cultural theorists attempt to examine the symbolic environment created by the
mass media and study the role that the mass media play in culture and society
Theoretical Questions Raised by
Changes in the Media Environment

The changes in the media environment are bringing new challenges for the
communication theorist. How should communication theory change to deal with
the new media? What approaches should be taken for developing theories to
deal with the new media?
Three approaches might be useful in developing theories to deal with
communication in cyberspace:
1. Focus on major theoretical concepts relating to the new media. These
concepts include interactivity, multimedia, hypertext, hyperlinks, media
convergence, digital information, and others. These concepts may need
clarification and explanation before they can be effectively used in theories. In
addition, still other concepts may need to be developed.
2. Investigate how existing theories can be applied to the new communication
environment. For instance, do agenda setting and cultivation theory operate in
cyberspace in the same ways they do in the traditional mass media? How might
established theories need to be modified to deal with new forms of
communication?
3. Develop new theories and new research approaches to deal with the new
media. One example of this type of new theory is Roger Fidler's (1997) idea of
mediamorphosis, which attempts to explain the impact of new media on
existing media.
Conclusion
Mass communication theory is aimed at improving our understanding of how
mass communication works.
Mass communication theory attempts to formulate and test scientific
explanations of various phenomena in mass communication.
Basically, mass communication theory attempts to provide the best possible
answers to questions about how mass communication works.
Some of the more important of these questions deal with the effects of mass
communication. Others deal with how people use mass communication for their
own purposes
Mass communication theory can be used to help the media practitioner
communicate better. It can also be used to inform consumers and other
interested parties about the effects of mass communication. The field of
communication is in a state of dramatic flux. As new media technologies give
more control to the user, the very concept of mass communication is undergoing
challenge.
Communication theory needs to adapt and adjust to these changes. Some
existing theories may hold up in the new communication environment, but
others may need modification in order to fit the new circumstances.
References
Severin, w.,J. & Tankard,Jr. J., W. (2014). Pearson New International Edition. Communication
Theories: Origins, Methods and Uses in Mass Media. Fifth Edition. Pearson Education Limited. UK