Media Planning Essay Example

Media Planning Essay â€Å"Whoever controls the media controls the culture. † – ALLEN GINSBERG, POET â€Å"Information is the oxygen of the modern age. † – RONALD REAGAN, US PRESIDENT Media Today â€Å"Your TV is ringing. † Maybe you saw the Verizon ad that shows a cellphone with a TV attached to it—pointing out that you can talk on the phone and watch TV at the same time, on one piece of equipment. If you saw it, you might have said, â€Å"cool,† or â€Å"I want that,† or â€Å"what a ridiculous thing to do. † But Verizon could have gone further. The ad could have pointed out that some of the company’s cellphones also let you watch movies, play video games, download and listen to music, and read a newspaper or magazine. It’s an exciting time to study mass communication. None of the activities described above could have been attempted on a cellphone (call it a mobile device) just a few years ago. They raise questions about the impact that these and other technologies will have on us, our society, and the content of TV, movies, video games, music, newspapers, magazines, and movie companies. In fact, the transformations are so great that you have the opportunity to know more than conventional experts, to challenge traditional thinking, and to encourage fresh public discussions about media and society. Consider the mass media menu that Americans have today. Instead of three or four TV channels, most Americans receive more than fifty and a substantial number receive one hundred and fifty and more. Radio in urban areas delivers dozens of stations; satellite radio brings in hundreds more, and music streaming on the Web—sometimes called Internet radio—is carried out by countless broadcast and non-broadcast entities. We will write a custom essay sample on Media Planning specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Media Planning specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Media Planning specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The advent of home computers, VCRs, CD players, DVDs, and DBS has brought far more channels of sights and sounds into people’s lives than ever before. So has the Internet and the World Wide Web, the computer network that Americans use to interact with information, news and entertainment from all over the nation and the world. Research indicates that Americans typically spend an enormous amount of time with mass media. 1 Think about your own media habits. How close do you come to the average 32 hours a week (about 4. hours a day) of television that Americans view on the traditional TV set as well as online? What about radio? Studies suggest that Americans listen to around 15 hours a week of radio in the regular broadcast mode, via satellite channels or from their online feeds. Do you do that, or do you instead listen to recorded music on your iPod or on your MP3 or CD player? Studies show that Americans spend an average of about 3. 5 hours a week with recorded music, but colleg e students undoubtedly do more of it. And what about your time reading books, newspapers and magazines? Data show that on average Americans spend about 8 hours a week with one or another of these, both their printed versions and their websites. Just a few years ago, media such as television, radio, books and newspapers seemed pretty separate. It was clear what content from each medium looked or sounded like, and it would have been foolish to suggest that newspaper articles and television programs would show up on the same channel. Today, with the rise of new computer technologies that we will explain in the coming pages, this â€Å"foolishness† is exactly what has happened. The access people have on the Internet to content from different types of media is part of a process called convergence. Convergence takes place when content that has traditionally been confined to one medium appears on multiple media channels. The media of mass communication, then, are an integral part of our lives, occurring in a wide variety of settings. In this chapter, we will explore and define communication, media, and culture, and we will consider how the relationships among them affect us and the world in which we live. We will also consider why the term mass communication remains relevant in the twenty-first century, contrary to what some writers say. In fact, the changes taking place in the media system actually make a rethought and redefined version of the term more important than ever. U N D E R S T A N D I N G T H E N A T U R E O F M A S S M E D I A Varieties of Communication onvergence when content that has traditionally been confined to one medium appears on multiple media channels audience fragmentation the process of dividing audience members into segments based on background and lifestyle in order to send them messages targeted to their specific characteristics mass production process the industrial process that creates the potential for reaching millions, even billions, of diverse, anonymous people at around the same time industrial nature what distinguishes mass communication from other forms of communication is the industrialized—or mass production—process that is involved in creating the message material. This industrial process creates the potential for reaching billions of diverse, anonymous people simultaneously. The traditional notion of the audience as a large mass of anonymous individuals has given way beneath the fragmenting of audiences to reveal smaller, specially targeted media audiences made up of individuals who are segmented by any number of characteristics. To understand why some writers suggest that the term mass communication doesn’t connect to what’s going on in today’s world, we have to look at how the term has traditionally been used. Over the past one hundred years, people who wrote about mass communication tended to relate it to the size of the audience. That made a lot of sense back then. From the mid-nineteenth century onward, new technologies such as high-speed newspaper presses, radio, movies, and television provided access to the huge â€Å"masses† of people. Not only were those audiences very large, they were dispersed geographically, quite diverse (that is, made up of different types of people), and typically anonymous to the companies that created the material. The essential reason newspapers, radio, television, and other such media were considered different from other means of communication had to do with the size and composition of the audience. This perspective on mass communication worked very well until the past couple of decades when the key aspects of the traditional definition of mass communication as reaching huge, diverse groups no longer fit. The reason is that the arrival of media channels—including the growing number of radio and TV stations, the rise of the VCR, the multiplication of cable networks, and the rise of the Web— led to audience fragmentation (see Figure 1. 1). That is, as people watched or read these new channels, there were fewer people using any one of them. Because these new media channels do not necessarily individually reach large numbers of people—the â€Å"masses†Ã¢â‚¬â€some writers suggested that we can abandon the term mass communication. However, the view in this book is that mass communication is still a critically important part of society. In our view, what really separates mass communication from other forms of communication is not the size of the audience—it can be large or small. Rather, what makes mass communication special is the way the content of the communication message is created. Mass communication is carried out by organizations working together in industries to produce and circulate a wide range of content—from entertainment to news to educational materials. It is this industrial, mass production process that creates the potential for reaching millions, even billions, of diverse, anonymous people at around the same time (say, through televising the Olympic games). And it is the industrial nature of the process—for example, the various companies that work together within the television or Internet industries—that makes mass communication different from other forms of communication even when 6 U N D E R S T A N D I N G M A S S M E D I A Figure 1. 1 Audience Fragmentation The arrival of the diverse Media channel A array of media channels has had a fragmenting effect on audiences—as audience members move to watch, read, or listen to a new channel, fewer people use any single channel. Media channel B Media channel E Media channel C Media channel F Media channel D C Media channel G C the audience is relatively small and even one-to-one. To help you understand how mass communication relates to other forms of communication, let’s take a closer look. Communication Defined Different types of communication are a basic feature of human life. In general, the word communication refers to people interacting in ways that at least one of the parties involved understands as messages. What are messages? Messages are collections of symbols that appear purposefully organized (meaningful) to those sending or receiving them. Think about the many ways that you signal to others what you want to do or how much you care about them. The signals are often verbal but they can also be through body language. When Jane shouts excitedly to her friend Jack and leaps with joy into his arms after she wins a tennis match, that’s a form of communication. It’s likely that Jack, whose arms she almost broke, realizes that she wants to tell him something. People who study communication would typically call the interaction just described interpersonal communication, a form that involves two or three individuals signaling to each other using their voices, facial and hand gestures, and other signs (even clothes) that they use to convey meaning. When you talk to your parents about your coursework, discuss a recent movie over dinner with friends, or converse with your professor during her office hours, you are participating in the interpersonal form of communication. ommunication refers to people interacting in ways that at least one of the parties involved understands as messages messages collections of symbols that appear purposefully organized (meaningful) to those sending or receiving them interpersonal communication a form of communication that involves two or three individuals signaling to each other using their voices, facial, and hand gestures, and other signs (even clothes) that they use to convey meaning 7 U N D E R S T A N D I N G T H E N A T U R E O F M A S S M E D I A Mediated Interpersonal Communication Breakdown When tragedy strikes, it is not unusual for people to lose their sense of security in the world—at least temporarily. Yet large-scale crises may also prompt people to lose faith in the communication systems that they have come to depend on for information. During the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many media channels were inaccessible. Phone lines were jammed for hours, and some local radio and television stations were knocked off the air. In addition, a number of websites crashed while others failed to provide information about the attacks, leading one reporter to declare that â€Å"the Internet failed miserably. † In 2007 during the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, dis, cussions resurfaced about communication during crises. This time, however, the focus was not on the technology but on the way people were using it, particularly new media formats such as mobile devices, blogs, and social networking sites. C U L T U R E T O D A Y As the attacks unfolded, many students used their Facebook and MySpace pages to let family and friends know they were okay. In fact, science reporter Alan Boyle remarked that â€Å"the media methods employed during [the] crisis broke new ground—and undoubtedly saved lives in the process. Others, meanwhile, questioned why Virginia Tech authorities did not take advantage of communication technologies to immediately alert members of the campus community that they were in danger. Andrew Kantor, a technology reporter for USA Today, saw this event and its aftermath as evidence that people have yet to adapt fully to new types of communication. Sources: Alan Boyle, â€Å"How Smart Mobs Coped with a Massacre, † MSNBC, accessed on 6/11/07, http://www. msnbc. msn. com/ id/18184075/; Andrew Kantor, â€Å"Virginia Tech Tragedy Highlights Differences between Old, New Media, USA Today, accessed on † 6/11/07, www. usatoday. com; Jen Muehlbauer, â€Å"Reporting the Unthinkable, The Industry Standard’s Media Grok, accessed on † 9/12/01, http://www. nettime. rg/Lists-Archives/nettime-bold-0109/ msg00273. html. mediated interpersonal communication a specialized type of interpersonal communication that is assisted by a device, such as a pen or pencil, a computer, or a telephone intrapersonal communication an individual â€Å"talking† to himself or herself small group communication communication among three or more individuals organizational communication the interactions of individuals in a formal working environment Mediated interpersonal communication, which is a specialized type of interpersonal communication, can be described as interpersonal communication that is assisted by a device, such as a pen, a computer, or a telephone. When you write a thank you note to your grandmother, send an email to your graduate teaching assistant, or call a friend on the phone, you are participating in the mediated form of interpersonal communication. In this form of communication, the people you are interacting with can’t touch you and you can’t touch them. You might even be thousands of miles from each other. The technology—the pen and paper, the computer, the telephone—becomes the vehicle (the medium) that allows you to interact with them. Communication scholars also differentiate among other forms of communication. Some write about intrapersonal communication, which involves an individual â€Å"talking† to himself or herself—for example, an internal â€Å"conversation† that weighs the pros and cons of a decision. Other researchers write about small group communication, organizational communication, or public communication. Small group communication involves communication among three or more individuals. Think of the deliberations of five friends who get together to plan a ski trip. Organizational communication involves the interaction of individuals in a formal working environment. When an executive sends messages down the chain of command, this is a form of orga- 8 U N D E R S T A N D I N G M A S S M E D I A nizational communication. Public communication involves one person who speaks to a large number of people—for instance, a professor speaking to students, or a candidate for public office talking to a crowd at a rally. Note that hese forms of communication can each take place interpersonally or they can be mediated. A group planning a ski group can meet face-to-face or can interact through email. The boss could talk to her department heads in her office, or leave a message on their phone mail system. A professor can talk in front of the class, or leave a video of himself or herself for the students to watch. While the types of communication described above have their differences, they have a central similarity: they involve messages. Seven major elements are involved in every interaction that involves messages. These elements are the source, encoder, transmitter, channel, decoder, receiver, and feedback. Let’s take them one at a time. In communication, the source is the originator of a message. public communication one person who speaks to a large number of people Source The source is the originator of the message. The source may be a person (when Jane speaks to Jack), or several people (a choir singing). But the source can also be an organization. For example, suppose you receive a notice in your mailbox from your bank. While individuals who work there created and sent the notice, from your standpoint, â€Å"the bank† was the source of the message. The source may or may not have knowledge about the intended receiver of the message, but it does have a thought or idea to transmit to some other person or organization. Encoding Encoding is the process by which the source translates the thoughts and ideas so that they can be perceived by the human senses—these are primarily sight and sound, but may also include smell, taste, and touch. A source creates or encodes a message in anticipation of its transmission to a receiver. When the source is an individual, the encoding goes on in the individual’s brain. When the source is an organization, encoding takes place when people in the organization create messages. Transmitting The transmitter performs the physical activity of actually sending out the message. Picture an employee apologizing to a supervisor for taking an unauthorized day off from work. The employee’s vocal cords and face muscles— in fact, his entire body—will be involved in the transmission of the words, tone, and physical movements that the supervisor standing in front of him will understand as meaningful. Now, picture this same employee apologizing to his supervisor, not in person, but over the phone. In this case, a second type of transmitter operates along with the vocal cords. That second transmitter is the telephone, which turns sound waves from the vocal cords into electrical impulses that can travel across the phone lines. The telephone is an example of a mediating technology, or medium, of communication. A medium is part of a technical system that helps in the transmission, ource the originator of the message which may be a person, several people or an organization encoding the process by which the source translates the thoughts and ideas so that they can be perceived by the human senses— primarily sight and sound, but may also include smell, taste, and touch transmitter performs the physical activity of distributing the message medium part of a technical system that helps in the transmission, distribution, or reception of messages 9 U N D E R S T A N D I N G T H E N A T U R E O F M A S S M E D I A 1 The source encodes a message using the brain and transmits it through the air waves (a medium) using parts of the body (vocal cords, facial muscles). 2 The receiver hears the source’s voice, decodes the message using the senses, and prepares to encode an answer. This process of responding is called interpersonal feedback. The message travels through the air (the channel ) to reach the other person (the receiver ). 6 The former source is now the receiver. The receiver decodes the message and prepares to encode an answer (more interpersonal feedback ). In this way the interpersonal communication episode continues. 5 4 The receiver encodes a response using the brain and transmits it (the feedback) using pa rts of the body. When transmitting, the receiver becomes a source. The message travels through the air (the channel ) to reach the other person. Figure 1. 2 A Model of Interpersonal Communication In this model of interpersonal communication, information moves from a starting point at the source, through the transmitter, via the channel, to the receiver for decoding. channels the pathways through which the transmitter sends all features of the message, whether they involve sight, sound, smell, or touch distribution, or reception of messages. It helps communication take place when senders and receivers are not face-to-face. The Internet is an example of a medium, as are the radio, CD, television, and DVD. (Note that the term medium is singular; it refers to one technological vehicle for communication. The plural is media. ) Channel All communication, whether mediated or not, takes place through channels. Channels are the pathways through which the transmitter sends all features of the message, whether they involve sight, sound, smell, or touch. When a man on the street walks up to you and shouts at you in a way that you can hardly understand, the channel is the air through which the sound waves move from the man’s vocal cords. If your roommate yells at you through the phone, two channels are at work: one channel is the air that vibrates the phone mechanism, and the other is the wire through which the electrical impulses move toward you. Decoding Before a receiver can hear (and make sense of) a source’s message, the transmitted impulses must be converted to signs that the brain can perceive as meaningful. Decoding is the way in which this is done. It is the reverse of the encoding process—it is the process by which the receiver translates the source’s thoughts and ideas so that they have meaning. In the case of the interpersonal communication, the decoder is biological: the brain is the decoder. When the telephone is involved, the electrical impulses that traveled through the phone lines must be decoded into sound waves before they can be decoded by the brain. In fact, all media require this sort of decoding. When you play music on an MP3 player or iPod, it decodes the impulses that have been laid down on the disk so that you can hear the tunes. Similarly, the television is the decoding the process by which the receiver translates the source’s thoughts and ideas so that they have meaning 10 U N D E R S T A N D I N G M A S S M E D I A The source (a person) encodes a message using the brain and transmits it through the telephone (a medium) using parts of the body (vocal cords, facial muscles). The phone enco des the message as electrical signals. 2 The message travels through the air, phone, and phone lines (the media channels) to reach the other person (the receiver). 3 The phone (a receiver medium) rings. A human receiver (a person) answers the phone. The phone decodes the electrical transmission into sound, and the human receiver decodes the human source’s message using the senses and prepares to encode an answer. This process of responding is called interpersonal feedback. 6 The former source is now the receiver. The receiver (a person) decodes the message and prepares to encode an answer (more interpersonal feedback). In this way the mediated interpersonal communication episode continues. 5 4 The receiver (a person) encodes a response using the brain and transmits it (the feedback) using parts of the body and the phone. When transmitting, the receiver becomes a source. The message travels through the air, phone, and phone lines (the media channels) to reach the other person. Figure 1. 3 decoder that takes the electrical impulses from the air or cable and converts them into the programs you watch. A Model of Mediated Interpersonal Communication In this model of mediated interpersonal communication, information moves from a starting point to a source, who encodes a message. The message is transmitted through channels to the receiver, who decodes the message. receiver the person or organization that gets the message feedback when the receiver responds to the message with what the sender perceives as a message Receiver As suggested above, the receiver is the person or organization that gets the message. Sometimes the source’s message will reach its intended receiver; sometimes it reaches another receiver altogether. But even if someone other than the intended receiver receives the message, communication has still taken place. Say, for example, that you assume that your friend Brad is in the next room and, as a result, you shout your opinion about his new girlfriend, Keiko. Even if it turns out that Brad wasn’t in the next room at all and did not hear (receive) the message you sent him, but instead his girlfriend, Keiko, was in the next room, the episode can still be considered interpersonal communication: your message was encoded, transmitted via your vocal cords, sent through the channel of the air, decoded by the receiver (although not the one you intended), and received. Feedback Feedback occurs when the receiver responds to the message with what the sender perceives as a message. When Keiko, your friend’s girlfriend, tells you, â€Å"I never knew you felt that way about me, you jerk,† that is feedback. In fact, this sort of feedback continues the interpersonal communication process. As Figure 1. shows, two people continue their communication by continually receiving and responding to each other’s messages. The same thing happens with mediated interpersonal communication, as shown in Figure 1. 3. The communication â€Å" episode† 11 U N D E R S T A N D I N G T H E N A T U R E O F M A S S M E D I A between the two ends when one of them sends no more feedback to the other (the person walks away, the parties hang up the phone). Feedback doesn’t always take place immediately, especially in mediated interpersonal communication. Say you send your friend an email. Keiko reads it, gets embarrassed by something you wrote and decides to write you a reply. You read the note and then, after thinking about it for a day, write back directly to her. Her email and your response are examples of delayed feedback. noise is an environmental, mechanical, and semantic sound in the communication situation that interferes with the delivery of the message. Environmental noise comes from the setting where the source and receiver are communicating. Mechanical noise comes from the medium through which the communication is taking place. Semantic noise involves language that one or more of the participants doesn’t understand. Noise Noise is an environmental, mechanical, and semantic sound in the communication situation that interferes with the delivery of the message. Environmental noise comes from the setting where the source and receiver are communicating. In an interpersonal communication situation, Ahmed, the source, may be at a cricket match trying to talk on the phone, and Sally, the receiver, might be at an auction where people are screaming bids. Mechanical noise comes from the medium through which the communication is taking place. Say there is static on the phone—that would be mechanical noise that would add to the environmental noise. Semantic noise involves language that one or more of the participants doesn’t understand. Let’s say Ahmed tells Sally that â€Å"the bowler attempted a bouncer that turned into a beamer. † Even when Ahmed repeats the words three times through the environmental and mechanical noise so that she hears them, Sally has no idea what Ahmed is talking about, since she knows little about the sport of cricket. From Communication to Mass Communication One way to understand mass communication is to show its similarities to and differences from other forms of communication. One similarity is that mass communication takes place through media. Small groups can come together in virtual chat rooms that are connected by wired networks, organizations can connect their far-flung employees via video conference facilities that are linked through cables and satellites, and professors who deliver public lectures can record them for projection from a computer server to different classes at different times. In other words, the channels used in mediated forms of interpersonal, group, organizational and public communication are sometimes similar to those used in mass communication. Yet another similarity between these other forms of communication and mass communication is that we can describe mass communication using the same terms of source, encoder, transmitter, channel, decoder, receiver, feedback, and noise that are shown in Table 1. 1. But here is also where we begin to see differences. The most important differences relate to the source of the message, its transmitter and the way feedback takes place. Differences in the Source In the other forms of communication we’ve discussed, individuals are the source of the message that scholars study. In mass communication, by contrast, complex organizations, often companies, take responsibility for the activity. The source is an organization such as a company, not a single person. To get a strong grasp of the difference, think of Jon Stewart delivering his version of the news on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. If Jon were in the same room as you telling you about what he just read in the paper, that would be a clear case of interpersonal communication and Stewart would be a source. If your friend were to record that conversation on his video camera and his brother were to watch 12 U N D E R S T A N D I N G M A S S M E D I A Ta b l e 1 . 1 Differences in Types of Communication Interpersonal Communication Message Source Encoding Uses all the senses An individual By an individual’s brain Mediated Interpersonal Communication Typically verbal and/or visual An individual By an individual’s brain and technology The air, technology A few or many individuals in the same location By technology and an individual’s brain Immediate or delayed; generally direct Mass Communication Typically verbal and/or visual One or more organizations By an organization and technology The air, technology Typically, many people in different locations By technology and an individual’s brain Immediate or delayed; generally indirect Environmental, mechanical, and semantic, sometimes caused by organizations Channel Receiver The air A few individuals in the same location By an individual’s brain Decoding Feedback Immediate and direct Noise Environmental, mechanical, and semantic Environmental, mechanical, and semantic, with environmental sometimes caused by organizations the video of Jon talking about the news, that is an example of mediated interpersonal communication where Jon is still the source. The difference between these two examples of the source and Jon’s appearance on The Daily Show is that behind Stewart is an organization that is creating the news satire for him to present. Sure, Jon is reading the messages, and so it may seem that he should be called â€Å"the source. † But employees of The Daily Show helped him write his script, produced and edited the videos he introduces, and prepared his set for the broadcast. Moreover, the photos and clips he satirizes sometimes come from news firms, such as ABC News. So Jon is really just the most visible representative of an organizational source. Differences in Transmission The critical role of organizations in mass communication compared to other communication forms also shows up in the transmission of the message. In interpersonal, small group, and public communication, an individual sender or a committee takes responsibility for transmittingthe message—perhaps using microphones when speaking to a crowd or telephones when speaking at a distance. In mass communication, however, transmission is too complex to be accomplished by an indi- Mediated forms of interpersonal, group, organizational, and public communication may use channels similar to those used in mass communication. 13 U N D E R S T A N D I N G T H E N A T U R E O F M A S S M E D I A Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, isn’t a oneman band. It takes the entire Comedy Central organization—writers, producers, engineers, stage managers, sound technicians, camera people (to name a few)—to create each evening’s program. Stewart is the most visible representative of the organizational source that creates The Daily Show. vidual or even a few people. That is because transmission involves distributing the material to several locations and presenting the material (that is, exhibiting it) at those locations. Instead of a few individuals, a number of organizations (usually large ones) are typically involved in the process. Think of our Daily Show example again. When Jon reads the script on The Daily Show, his vocal cords transmit the words into a microphone; the air and electric current ar