Category: Mass Communication

The average US adult spends upwards of 10 hours watching TV listening to the radio, surfing the web, scrolling through their phones etc. which is over 40% of an individual’s day. Never before in history have humans spend so much waking hours consuming media. Since it takes up more and more of our time each year, it is important that we understand its influence on everything we do.

When we speak about media, we speak about a variety of different things – the literal definition of media is the plural of medium or multiple mediums – and a medium is a substance or a method in which something is communicated ( vehicle for a message ) books, film, paintings, songs, tv shows, video games, magazines, web forums etc. those are all media. When we think about it that way it makes sense that we spend so much time consuming media. Whether you’re at work or school or just hanging around, chances are you’re almost always interacting with some sort of artifact of communication.

As a culture we often stick a “the” in front of “media” to refer collectively to mass communication, it’s an umbrella term we use to talk about the widely distributed newspaper, tv channels, websites and more that create or distribute information like CNN, NYT, or Youtube. Whether we are talking about media as in multiple mediums or “the media”, the ability to navigate the media is a powerful and crucial skill. Media scholars refer to that skill as Media Literacy. As a field of study, Media Literacy comprises and overlaps many different theories and subjects from critical thinking and psychology to linguistics and ethics in technology. Using the definition of Media Literacy by The National Association of Media Literacy Educators and it describes Media Literacy as the “ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication”. Giving you the ability to think through every content consumed by you when you pick up your phone or flip on the radio. Unfortunately, many in the 21st century tend to lack the ability to distinguish media content from reality. Media products/content has distorted both men and women views on the way they look at their own body image. The media has shown what their ideal body type is, while leaving people to feel as if the average weight is not adequate ( Social comparison theory states that individuals determine their own social and personal worth based on how they stack up against others they perceive as somehow faring better or worse.). According to Ad Media, “Over twenty years ago, the diet business was not as profitable as it is now, with much of this relating to the media. Today, this industry consists of over $33 billion each year.”

Furthermore, Day in and day out we are constantly reminded of what society has deemed an acceptable image, presenting a negative effect to a mass group of people who don’t even come close to looking like a computer-generated model. But what is body image? It is the mental representation we create of what we think we look like, which may or may not bear close relations to how others actually see us. Nevertheless, it strongly influences behavior and the way we carry ourselves, but the real question is what negative effect these plastered images have. The way beauty is portrayed in media causes dissatisfaction and negative thoughts about oneself when those results are not achieved. A study by Chris Downs and Sheila Harrison from sex roles: a journal of research found that 1 out of every 3.8 TV commercials have a message about attractiveness in it, this determines that viewers receive roughly 5 thousand two hundred and sixty ads related to attractiveness per year or at least 14 per day of these messages one thousand eight hundred and fifty of them are specifically talking about beauty. Body dissatisfaction and eating disorder patterns have been found to be especially prevalent issue in adolescent and collage females’ body concerns become a major issue as females go through puberty. Girls In middle adolescence frequently report being dissatisfied with their weight and fearing further weight gain ( Sociocultural Theory- is an emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society makes to individual development. ). Traditionally, most of the concerns about media and body images have revolved around girls but more and more researchers and health professionals are turning their attention to boys as well. A growing body of research indicates that although boys are less likely to talk about their insecurities, they too experience anxiety about their bodies. Eating disorders are also on the rise amongst boys particularly athletes there are also concerns that some boys, some as young as 10 year old, are becoming obsessed with building a muscular physique, a condition that is thought to be related to changes in how muscular males sex symbols have become over the last few decades.

In addition, The National Eating Disorders Association states that the media influence on body image is one contributing factor to the development of eating disorders. Over 8 million people in the US have an eating disorder, 90 percent being women. More than half of girls engage in fasting, vomiting, laxatives and skipping meals. A study found that adolescent girls are more fearful of gaining weight than cancer, nuclear war and losing their parents. Despite the constant effort of bringing awareness of eating disorders in communities, it is mostly stigmatized as a female issue. According to Eating Disorder Hope, 25 percent of those struggling with bulimia/anorexia and binge eating disorders are male.

Therefore, making it not only a “female” issue, yet a problem that is spreading in both genders with eating disorders increasing by 400 percent since 1970. In conclusion, the mass medias depiction of women and men portrays a standard of beauty that is both unrealistic and unattainable for a majority of the society. Causing negative effects such as depression eating disorders, low self esteem and body dysmorphic disorder. Yet, with intervention and stopping the “airbrushing” done by the media, we can bump up the measures of physical self-identity and self-acceptance

A Brief History of the Study of Mass Communication

Today’s Mass Communication scholars can, to some degree, trace their academic lineage to Walter Lippman and John Dewey, particularly through the famed “Lippman-Dewey” debate(s) of the 1920s and 30s that considered the role of journalism as a form of mass communication and its impact on their preferred version of democracy. At least initially, Lippman favored a journalistic approach that placed intellectual elites as the true – and better equipped – stewards of democracy, so news reporting ought to be written for these intellectuals. While Lippman saw experts as more capable of maintaining the promise of democracy, Dewey, on the other hand, advocated for journalists to write for common, everyday citizens as these citizens are democracy’s foundation.

While Lippman later wrote of the dangers of his approach, Dewey did agree that mass media and culture were becoming too much for the average citizen to comprehend. Instead of looking to experts to sift through the mess of mass culture, Dewey hoped that through communication Americans could band together to form a “Great Community,” an inclusive group comprised of various local and co-publics that were educated and civically engaged.

Almost a century has passed since Lippman and Dewey discussed and debated the nature of democracy and mass media’s impact, and even with the passage of time and the profound advancement in telecommunication technology, the core tenets of their philosophies continue to influence our perspectives on mass media and communication. Indeed, building off Lippman and Dewey, the study of Mass Communication took further shape following the Second World War. Like with the developing study of Persuasion in Communication Studies, Mass Communication researchers began to study propaganda, its effects, and the uses of mass media in spreading and combatting propaganda.

Studying Mass Communication Today

Today, Mass Communication continues to grow. As evidenced by the number of Mass Communication programs offered by universities across the country and around the world, as well as the increasing number of employers needing skilled professionals in this realm of research and practice, Mass Communication is as every bit part of our society as the technologies that make it possible. The field of Mass Communication, it seems, is synonymous with progress and modernity.

Within Communication Studies, Mass Communication is perhaps more important than ever. An example of its import is in the study of “fake news.” The recent onslaught of fake news and its socio-political consequences here in America and around the world is a communicative phenomenon ripe for Mass Communication scholars to examine. Indeed, studying fake news is not only relevant as it is occurring at this moment in time, it is crucial, as some scholars contend, to the survival of Western liberal democracy. Here, the echoes of Dewey and Lippman reverberate.

As new mass media technologies continue to develop, so too will our conceptions of Mass Communication. If the 21st Century has taught us anything thus far, it is that Mass Communication is indeed woven into the fabric of modern society, its presence, for better or for worse, integral to our survival and well-being.

Allor (1988) in his ‘Relocating the Site of the Audience’ a Critical Study in Mass Communication argues that “The concept of audience is more importantly the underpinning prop for the analysis of the social impact of mass communication in general’. Within the last few decades, the extent at which the audience participates with new media has shifted dramatically, this shift is directly correlated with the recent influx of new technology and social media networking sites. “The audience that once blindly accepted mass media in a form of passivity has become a more active, engaged, participant or ‘prosumer’ in creating and participating in new media for themselves” (Harrison cited in Moe, Poell & Van Dijck 2016)

As of recent decades the concept of mass communication has transformed from a process that once restricted the audience to passively approach their media content to a practice that now invites the audience to be an active participant of media. The conventional notion of mass communication, in its simplest form, refers to the flow of communication that extends ‘from one to many’ often reaching a global audience through mediums such as books, newspapers, television, radio. Traditionally mass communication has been viewed exclusively as television during prime time, the radio that wakes the individual up in the morning or newspapers read on a Sunday morning. Recipients of this media in the past have only had the capacity to participate as passive bystanders restricted by one-way communication to now having the opportunity to collaborate in an atmosphere of two-way communication, where users of media can now engage with the content and control what is being broadcast to them. Audiences now are still engaging in these traditional forms of content but are not limited by it. Furthermore, the individual is given the opportunity to personalise their content due to new media and more specifically social media networking sites. For example, the news that was once a dry, old fashioned, stale form of mass media communication is now up-to-date, personalised and tailored to the individual (Conboy & Steel 2008). Social Media has directly facilitated this, transforming and evolving audiences into active participants or ‘prosumers’ of mass communication (Moe, Poell & Van Dijck 2016). Thompson (1999) comments that “The shift from analogue to digital systems of information codification, combined with the development of new systems of transmission are creating a new technical scenario in which information and communication can be handled in more flexible ways.” This flexibility has progressed mass communication from a ‘one to many’ approach to both ‘one to one’ and ‘many to many’ encouraging increased user engagement (Livingston 2004). Although it is important to note here that this recent influx of engagement did not just evolve itself but has been the result of “mediated interaction in a growingly complex ecosystem of connective media” (Van Dijck 2013).

Driven by new technologies, the user is now occupying the space between old and new media demanding the right to participate in culture. By combining the role of producer and consumer the audience has now become a ‘prosumer’ that actively engages in new media content. This new digital environment expands the scope and reach of what the consumer is able to achieve. Van Dijck in Users like you? Theorising agency in user-generated content states that “since the 1980s, the term ‘prosumer’ has been deployed by various academics to denote how users’ agency hovers between the bipolar categories of producer versus consumer, (Van Dijck 2009). An example of the scale at which audience engagement has sky rocketed can be seen in Van Es’s (2015) analysis of social media’s effect on the broadcasted network of NBC’s television program ‘The Voice’. In the initial seasons of the show producers were faced with such high user engagement that it challenged the narrative needed to keep the audience coming back. Consequently, producers took back control and scaled back the viewers’ potential to interfere with the program. This example showcases just how far mass communication has transformed from the passivity of times held before, Thompson (1999) articulates “We must abandon the assumption that the recipients of media products are passive onlookers whose senses have been permanently dulled by the continuous reception of similar messages”. This example of ‘The Voice’ showcases the magnitude as well as the consequences of high active user engagement.

Allor (1988) explores this engagement issue further “The audience, as it is used as a concept within mass communication research is such a chaotic conception of the whole. As the site of the problematic of mediation between the individual consciousness and the social sphere, it reproduces the tradition of abstract conceptions of totality that extend from population to the public, the crowd, the mass. The popular, and the subject”. With an almost straining high amount of audience participation poses the question, what really is the role of the audience if we are all engaged with the content that we in part create? Allor argues this concept further “the audience exists nowhere, it inhabits no real space, only positions within analytic discourses.” On the other hand, a positive example of the intensity of user engagement is When Time magazine announced ‘You’ meaning the audience, the individual as ‘Person of the Year’, Van Dijck’s (2009) articulation of this states “In doing this the magazine recognised “the millions of anonymous, productive contributors to the web – a tribute akin to the badge of honour bestowed upon the unknown soldier. This powerful but contrived metaphor has come to define the concept of user agency as it dissipated into academic and professional discourses. Notions of ‘participatory culture’ tend to accentuate the emancipation of the engaged citizen, who unleashes her need for self-expression and creativity onto the digital spaces created expressly for this purpose” (Van Dijck 2009) In doing this, Time Magazine presented a well thought out recognition of user engagement in new media. A take on audience engagement that encompasses all of the previous ideas is Fiske’s thoughts that, “Without people’s physical and hence visible participation in the process of communication, there will be neither text nor reception in the first place. Hence, while the nature of ‘audiencing’ is surely changing, just as surely will audiences remain central to the analysis of the new communication environment (Fiske 1992). It is examples like the above that depict a world that is positively evolving alongside new media and further encouraging audience engagement.

Audiences of the new media are quickly becoming increasingly active, selective, self-directed, producers, as well as receivers of texts (Livingston 2004). Van Dijck (2009) comments that “media use was and still is strongly defined by evolving group identities, as individual viewers tie in their personal taste and lifestyles with shared ‘mediated’ experiences”. Furthermore, Thompson states that “by enabling individuals to communicate across extended stretches of space and time, the use of technical media enables individuals to transcend the spatial and temporal boundaries characteristic of face to face interaction (Thompson 1999). In this world where media content is constantly transforming, the role of the prosumer is changing, and user engagement is more involved than ever before. The question now is – how does the new media evolve alongside these changes in audience? Couldry (2011) states, “the fate of ‘the media” is indeed closely tied to that of ‘the audience”. An example of the way the media world is shifting in a positive way due to new media and encompassing the role of the prosumers can be seen by the broadcasted network the BBC as it is ‘rethinking its relation to the audience in a digital age’. Livingstone (2004) comments “No longer is the elite and powerful mass broadcaster seeking to inform, entertain and educate the nation. Instead, BBC hopes to be ‘connecting communities’, ‘a facilitator of communities of interest online’, seeking to address and – significantly – to invite or ‘mediate user generated content’ from a diversity of audiences, local and global, according to their specific interests and across a range of platforms including broadcasting and the Internet” (Livingstone Cited Childs 2003). The BBC’s response to new media as a whole is incredibly important, by remodelling their ideas the network has the power to construct a community in which the audience feel’s a sense of being heard further facilitating user engagement. Not only this but by being such a large-scale network, other networks will be put in the position to follow suit. Couldry (2011) states that by having “an open-minded, practice-based approach to whatever it is that people are doing with, or around, media is likely to serve us best in these uncertain times for audience research.” The audience as a construct will always be of key importance for media research and particularly for understanding contemporary medias social consequences in society.

To conclude, audiences are in fact enormously actively engaged in new media, as they are actual participants in understanding the media and are now able to create their own meaning through their personal beliefs and social contexts. New media has shifted the audience’s reliance on mass media such as newspapers and the 6pm nightly news and now invites the individual to engage with media instantly through social media networks. The audience like never before now has the opportunity to comment on elements of the media immediately and engage with live events as they happen. Studies of this have suggested that social media facilitated this transformation of audiences into active “prosumers”. (Moe, Poell & Van Dijck 2016)

The study of Media history, Media and Society is one that requires one to have an open mind and offer critic when necessary. This study also requires one to be very analytical in terms of how the media displays reality to its audiences. This study also involved the relationship between the producers of media information and the receivers of the information provided by the media.

The early forms of oral communication and printed communication, globally

Oral communication has its origin and dominance during the pre-industrial and pre-literate communities. Ideas, feelings and attitudes were expressed using ‘spoken word’ in the early societies due to the fact that people could not read nor write, nothing was written. During that period there were no televisions, no radios, no written records, no written reports, no newspapers and if there were, they were very few. Things such as politics, human interest matters, views and the state of the society were expressed with the use of the spoken word (Fourie,91). Oral communication influenced theorists why writing that developed linguistics that focused on understanding the rules of language. Printed communication culture has its origin from about 6000 years ago, that is when visual recordings of history and messages started and they started with cave paintings and carvings. For about three thousand years, phonetic alphabets have been known. The history the paintings that we know today goes back as far as 800 BC this therefore explains why writing makes up a small part of the more than a quarter of the million years of the history of Homo sapiens (Inglis 1990). In countries such as China printed communications as made use of by things like scripts that were preserved in monasteries. In India temples had scribes. Egypt made use of hiepglyphics and other orthographies. Books are the oldest form of printed communication.

The way printed communication became mass communication, and eventually developed into broadcasting.

A German known as Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press. The invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg can be viewed as the start of the information revolution (Fourie 2007:93) as it had a significant impact on civilization. Publishing contributed to the literacy levels being more advanced. The accessibility of artistic, scientific, religious and legal documents increased as even the less privileged could access them. The access to document, books and the advancement of print media as it is known in the present day has influenced politics, science, education, religion, art and the way and the way mass communication were conducted changed due to the change of literacy over five hundred years. books, newspapers and the later development of magazines in the early 1700s. Electronic media started to rapidly develop and in the 1920s radio emerged as a mass media medium. As the popularity for mass entertainment grew and the advancement in technology led to the introduction of telegraphs, cellphones and the wireless due to the increased demand for these. An addition of pictures influenced the invention of technology in the early 1940s. Television was considered to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

The elements of mass communication and the two theories used to explain how this communication functions

Mass communication is made up of five elements which are namely the communicator, the medium, the message, the audience and the communication. The communicator can be defined as the ‘collective body’ of professionals that create programs, screen news items, and the sources that provide the news items (Fourie 2007:97). The medium could be the radio, newspapers, television, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, videos, compact disks, sound cassettes and so forth (Fourie 2007:98). The message is known to have an abstract and concrete meanings, the content can be expressed in two forms namely linguistically and visually. The substance, content, form and the message are he four elements of a message (Fourie 2007:99). The audience can be defined as the recipients of media messages (Fourie 2007:100). Communication can be regarded as a dialogue that moves towards mutual understanding. The cultivation theory by the George Gerbner is one of the theories that are to explain how mass communication works. Cultivation is a term that is used to describe how television as a significant contribution the conceptions of social reality. Another theory that is used to describe how mass media works is the ‘The Medium is the message’ theory by Marshal McLuhan. This theory is about how the personal and social consequences of any medium which how we extend ourselves is the result of how we extend ourselves is a result of the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by a single extension of ourselves (Durham 2012:100).

The basic assumptions of the positivist media studies, examples of where it could be used and its limitations especially in multi-group society such as South Africa

The main assumption of the positivist media studies is that the media assists shaping the public opinion and, in this manner, may ignite social change. This shows that mass media could be a tool to better society. The mass positivist media studies may be used in politics to influence the minds of the people, may also be used to economically grow a media company and can also be used in the running of effective campaigns (Fourie 2007:120). The limitations of this approach are that the media may generalize on the basis of the facts that are calculated (Fourie 2007:121), considering that South Africa is a ‘diverse’ country and the fact that positivism encouraged reductionism makes it difficult to just assume that the variables that are chosen by positivism have a similar influence on the different and diverse people of South Africa. The positivist approach can have a negative impact when it comes to influencing the minds of people in South Africa because the assumptions of the positivism tend to be vague a they’re made based on generalized facts and stats and do not tend to have the same impact on different people in South Africa.

The way that the media landscape in South Africa has developed since the emergence of a) the Internet, b) social media

In South Africa the Internet is believed to have the potential of enhancing and improving the development in a number of sectors (Fourie 2001:605). The media landscape has improved since the internet emerged in the sense that the committees that South Africa is in have made use of the internet in order to digitally improve the connections that Africa will have with other international countries (Fourie 2007:81). The internet in South Africa has to a large extent ignited social change. The lives of scholars have been eased due to the access to the internet. The media has now become more effective in terms of communication since the Internet emerged. The emergence of the Internet has also had a great impact on the strategies of marketing communications. The media landscape in South Africa has developed since social media emerged as social media is used as a tool for crisis communication.

The way critical theory is used today

Today critical theory has to do with the need for changing the world in a positive way (Tyson 2015:5). Feminism for example shows how critical theory allows for freedom of expression as women now have a voice and can express their views and challenge the inequalities between sexes and has been seen to have been successful in terms of increasing the self-esteem of women. There has been freedom of expression in terms of gender because the LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Queer, Intersex) can freely express themselves unlike in the olden days when they were attacked for being themselves. The media today is known for being an industry that instills a sense of consciousness (Fourie 2007:130) among audiences. Today media is believed to be in favor of certain groups such as economic, social, political and cultural at the cost of other groups (Fourie 2007:135). The media allows for the views, opinions of people (Fourie 2007:144) which shows that indeed critical theory is critical of ideologies that can influence the media as well as audiences.

The short-term effect theories of mass communication

Between the 1930s and the 1940s it was believed that the way that people behave, their attitudes and ways of thinking were strongly influenced by the media and this is known as the hypodermic needle theory. The media reports that are produced have the potential of causing fear among the media audience. This theory has its basis on the belief that the media ‘injects’ certain attributes such as values, attitudes and ideas (Fourie 2007:232). Dangerous reactions such as fear, anger and anxiety can cause panic and disturbances by civilians (McQuail 2005:466). Another short-term theory is the gratification theory. The gratification theory seeks to find what it is exactly that people use the media for. In this theory ‘diversion’ is believe to be one the reasons why people use the media, by this it is implied at people use the media to distract themselves from their day to day routines. The media for some people is used for relations that are personal, for some it is a personal identity and for some it is for the purpose of surveillance (Fourie 2007:236)

The long-term effects theories of mass communication

The fact that the audiences of media may not immediately affected by the content but can be affected over a long period of time (Fourie 2007:238). One of the theories of the long-term effects is the accumulation theory. The accumulation theory has its basis on the fact that if the media is mainly focused on a certain topic or content consistently for over a long period of time, the attitudes and behaviors of the audience may change. This theory explains the impact of media regarding the changing of people’s attitudes in issues such as style, politics, style, divorce and so forth over a long period of time. the accumulation theory also shows that the media could change how things such as ace relations can be viewed different over long period time (Fourie 2007:239). Another theory is the social expectation theory which is based on the fact that the more people consume the content of the media for example watching television can contribute to the audience inheriting social norms of that television program over a long period time (Fourie 2007:239).

The development of the public sphere concept

The public sphere can be defined as a place where people can debate, where rational choices can be taken, it is a platform where views of different people can be put together in order to come out with a rational decision. The public sphere is also a platform where public political debate can take place. Through the concept of the public sphere one can understand that power plays a major role in mass communication (Fourie 2007:140). If it happens that the government has power over the public sphere it may limit the freedom of expression that the public has. According to McQuail if the media acts as a public sphere there can be issues such as views that oppose maybe shut out, the diversity in media may decrease. Criticism may arise about the rise and fall of the public. The drift from entrainment and education to the increased desire to keep up with the pressure of competition and commercialization that has increased. (Fourie 2007:139)

The socio-political origins of Frankfurt School and how it became the foundation for critical media studies

The Frankfurt school was made official in Germany in 1923, it was established to manage sociological research, although it was closed down by the Nazis, its leaders moved to America where they proceeded with their research at the Columbia University in the United States of America.it was the ideas of Frankfurt school that embodied the critical theory with the point of showing that the society’s reality had contradictions within itself. The ideology of the media became the focal point of the critical theory and the Frankfurt school started to pay attention spreading the ideology of capitalism through the media. The beliefs of the Frankfurt school are that a capitalist society could be changed by being democratic (Horkheimer 1972: 249-250).

Finally, above information has shown how the study of media history, media society requires one to be very analytical and critical.

References

1. McQuail, D. 2005: McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. 5th edition, London: McGraw-Hill.
2. Tyson, L, 2015: Critical Theory Today. 3rd edition.
3. IDJEDICT, 2006. Volume 2. number 4. open campus; The University of West Indies; West Indies.
4. Belch, M. 2006 Media has been effective in communication since the emergence of the internet. 28th International Conference on Information. IEE.
5. RGL Prayor, J. 2003: Bright. Australian Journal of Career.
6. Fourie, PJ 2007. Media Studies. Vol.1. Media History, Media and Society.

Introduction

It is surprising the impact a language can have on a people and its influence on a nation as a whole. What is more intriguing is the prospect of an informal language assuming an almost similar role and rising to the surface with the potential to become a nationwide language. Pidgin languages – languages formed through the blending of two or more others – are growing languages which integrate societies and unite people through their relatable nature. In Kenya, Sheng’, a mixture of English and Kiswahili, the two primary national languages, with the spontaneous inclusion of one of the other 40 indigenous languages, is assuming the role of Kenya’s number one ‘pidgin language’. So much so that its inclusion in mass communication has stirred up various debates.

The immense growth of Sheng’ in mass communication, in speeches and advertisements in particular, has seen some of Kenya’s largest corporations and various political leaders include the use of sheng’ in their pieces. The irony, I noticed, comes from the use of sheng’ in a formal setting. Why is it that formal settings have warmed up to the use of an informal language? Could it be that sheng’ has the potential to be recognized as a national language? Having experienced first-hand the creation of advertisements and driving slogans by my father such as “Nipo, natambulika!” for the 2009 general census and “Jisomee, Jiamulie, Jichagulie” for the 2010 new constitution referendum, I realized that sheng’, like any other pidgin language, has its advantages and its shortcomings. This realization triggered me to trace the growth of Sheng’ in Kenya, to see how it came about, and how it is slowly becoming more, and more accepted in Kenya.

Thousands of advertisements and speeches in Kenya are heavily supported by the use of Sheng’, and Sheng’ has since turned out to be a fundamental component of mass communication in Kenya even in the formal setting. For example, in an advertisement produced by Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile operator network, the word “Jisort” is used to call on users to literally ‘sort themselves out’ by subscribing to one of the company’s promotional deals. On another occasion, their Mobile money branch MPESA writes in an advertisement “Lock your Chumz, to unlock your dreams” when urging their users to secure their loan accounts with a durable Personal Identification Number. The use of the sheng’ word ‘chumz’ which translates to ‘money’ is intriguing due to the irony behind the statement. This is due to the fact that MPESA users come from all backgrounds and, according to a report produced by Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) in March of 2017, Safaricom has over 28.13 million subscribers. The statistics that these subscribers, ranging from corporates, the youth, businesspeople, dictate that the setting ought to be formal. That said, why sheng’?

In this essay, I will be examining the impact of Sheng’ and why it has been used so heavily in mass communication and persuasive works to covey the role played my mass communication in the growth and development of Sheng. I hope to extensively evaluate the question How has the exponential growth of Kenya’s pidgin language Sheng’ been influenced by mass communication?

How sheng’ gained traction

The introduction of sheng’ was ‘as a result of a large migration of people from the countryside to the (metropolitan city) of Nairobi in the 1980s and 90s’(CITE). Tracking back to the reasons for formation of pidgin languages, the emergence of these languages comes from the quest to bring together and integrate groups of people. The communication barrier between different people from all over the country who have suddenly now become one gave rise to the idea of sheng’ where a desire for a connection to fill the vacuum encouraged citizens to customize the national languages, and add elements of their own traditional languages to better understand each other. This mass exodus of people into Nairobi was the genesis of the growth of sheng’ as a language. (CITE)

To try to gain deeper understanding of how sheng’ and mass communication became one, I sat down with Mr. Ngari Gituku from whom I learned that “(sheng’ was) A language cobbled up by the youth… to try and keep off so that people don’t understand (what they are saying). That’s where sheng’ begun. Then it became the language of expression for the youth, especially for those who live in backgrounds that are heterogeneous.’ ‘Young people are by far more than older people. That is why, depending on what segment and audiences you aim at addressing, it becomes easy, or rather logical to use sheng’ because that’s where the majority of them (potential customers) are.” This provided an extra insight on how mass communication took up sheng’, and why since its introduction, it has never fallen out of favour.

Moreover, as Kiswahili is known as the regional language in East Africa, and a national language in Kenya, it is no shock that over 75% of Kenyans speak the language(CITE). English likewise, is a national language of Kenya and majority of Kenyans are fluent speakers of the language.

Sheng’-based adverts use Kiswahili and English switching regularly between the two languages, in order to find the appropriate word to make sense of the sentence. An example would be the CFC Stanbic Bank advert which says “Macash… leo hustler, kesho sonko.” This advert translates to “Lots of money… today a hustler, tomorrow a wealthy person” when advertising an offer in which they had prize money to be won. The Swahili word “Ma-” used when describing a large multitude of things, is used to describe the English stem “-cash” and the sentence goes on to alternate between English and Kiswahili lexicalisation, the process of adding words or phrases to a languages’ lexicon. This is done in the field of advertising in an attempt to lure potential customers and tempt them into buying a product or using a service. The significance of the use of sheng’ is also to provide a memorable catchphrase which is relatable and has a positive effect on the audience in ensuring they are eager to find out more. A comparison where the exact same advertisement is produced in formal Kiswahili translates to leo mshtuko, kesho mtu tajiri. A Kiswahili speaker would conclude that the sentence loses its zest and is now not even remotely as exciting as before. The use of both languages interchangeably, allows for an easier understanding, depicting the flexibility of Sheng’.

Sheng’ also gained traction and credibility through its recent use in ‘formal’ settings. Only a few years ago, sheng’ carried a strong negative connotation which made many citizens remain reluctant to use Sheng’ as a part of their day to day language. Even though sheng’ was developed in the urban setting, the very fact it is used predominantly in informal settlements including slums such as Kibera Slums – Africa’s largest slum(CITE), Mathare slum, and Kangemi slums among others contributes heavily to this common misconception. Many at times, the slums are associated with crime, gang violence, poor standards of hygiene and living and assorted types of malpractice. It is therefore for these reasons that many Kenyans either are not fond of the language, are not willing to be associated with the language, or do not bother to gain competence.

In this advert by Barclays, one of the largest banks in Kenya and the greater world, sheng’ is deployed to reach out to the youth who rarely ever bank with them because the bank generally attracts corporate customers and is not known for their youth banking solutions. The billboard, which reads “Hii advert haina stori mingi”, a sentence which means “This advert doesn’t have ‘many stories’” has become an online talking point where many have credited its nature and its ability to effectively catch the attention of the audience. It is only recently that Kenyans have become more susceptible of the idea of sheng’. The fact that sheng’ has been used by such a prestigious and well-respected company in the Lavington and Hurlingham areas that are often considered as areas of opulent living, triggers citizens to try and follow the thought process carried out by the company and this eventually allows them to conclude that ‘if the large companies are using it, then so can I”. This reasoning allows Kenyans to see the language as less derogatory subsequently presenting the rise of sheng’ thus demystifying the idea that sheng’ is a ‘language for the lower class’.

As humans, it is our innate nature to seek out acceptance and our own identity (Lauren Suval, 2018, What drives our need for approval?). Therefore, pidgin languages, which are often characterized as flexible and malleable, are used as a means to achieve this end. For many people who seek to be different, Sheng’ affords one the opportunity to have a sense of belonging. One of Kenya’s most popular radio stations Ghetto Radio has revolutionized broadcasting in Kenya through their unconventional style. The 10 year old radio station has managed to amass hundreds of thousands of listeners in the capital Nairobi. However, what makes the station stand out is the means of presenting as the breaking news, announcements and advertisements are all made in sheng’. This comes as a surprise to many that such a large number of people are comfortable with using the informal language on radio where it is expected that the formal register and subsequently formal languages – English and Kiswahili, would or should be used. This profound use of sheng’ conveys the role played by mass communication in giving people the ability to have self-identity, and act as a means of expression for the youth as it provides a middle-ground for citizens who’s preference does not align with the formal register.

Additionally, this use of sheng’ in mass communication acts as a unifying factor between the people of Kenya and particularly Nairobi who hail from different backgrounds. Take this Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) advert, where they are advertising a banking system, the slogan is ‘Bankika na KCB!´ Which directly translates to ‘Be banked with KCB’ essentially urging their customers to not get left behind, and join to begin banking with KCB. The technique, Nativization, which is defined as the “process of adapting a loan word to the phonetic structure of the native language (Kiswahili)” is used to appeal to the audience. In the KCB advert “Bankika na KCB!”, the product being sold, their banking, is advertised as an act to be carried out through the use of the word “Bank-” while the suffix “-ika” is derived from Kiswahili as being the act of doing something. Thus, the final product translates to “Be banked with KCB.” The Kenya Commercial Bank is a reputable bank in which has been present in Kenya for over 45 years. In the past, many have associated with this bank as a bank for those who were wealthy and of high status. However, with the introduction of sheng’, the company has been able to utilize it in their advertising and thus reach out to a larger audience and appeal to customers who do not necessarily fit into that social bracket KCB is often linked with.

This advertisement allows us to trace the impact of mass communication on sheng’ where it has been able to integrate the society to include people from all social classes to bridge the underlying social gap. Furthermore, due to the fact that only 28% of the country is urbanized (CITE), this could be yet another factor which traces the exponential growth of sheng’ as it could be the key to bringing the society together as it serves as a middle-ground for all people. Having deduced that both formal Kiswahili, and the formal English register which would be used in the conventional style of mass communication may leave out unintentionally a group of people, a mix of the two- Sheng’ provides for a clear understanding of a message, as well as a means of fusing the social divide.

Why is sheng’ so accepted?

Only few years ago, a work pertaining to sheng’, or use of sheng’ would have been dismissed quickly or frowned upon, particularly by the older generation. However, with various changes and factors coming into play such as the reduction of the median age in Kenya to 19.2 (CITE), sheng’ has surprisingly managed to become more recognized and become more of a ‘household name’. The changes of this language are encapsulated though tracking the style and type of language used in older adverts in Kenya. In the past, adverts have seen the prevalent use of formal English or formal Kiswahili however, in recent times; this has not been the case. A comparison between this advert from Tusker Lager in the early 1990s which reads “The last one tastes as good as the first!” and a 2016 advert from the same company which reads “Nduru ya team Kenya” depicts intensively the change in language despite no change in the audience. The more recent advert uses informal language in the word “nduru” meaning “cheers” while the older advert uses a total formal structure with no lexicalisation, nativisation or sheng’ vocabulary whatsoever. This shows the reception the language has received over the years, while conveying the growth of the Kenyan cant.

This raised the question and triggered me to ask, why has sheng’ turned around and become so widely accepted?

The structure of majority of Sheng’-based adverts comprises of either a Kiswahili or English stem, or, a Kiswahili or English suffix. They usually switch regularly between the two languages, in order to find the appropriate word to make sense of the sentence. The compounding of words – which is the integration of two or more words, a common characteristic of sheng’, is used through either short forms or verbs, and is applied to the advert together with sheng’. M-Pesa, Kenya’s largest Mobile money network, owned by Safaricom, is an example of compounding as the English prefix of the shortened word “mobile” becomes “M-“ and the Kiswahili stem “Pesa” meaning ‘money’ is then added to the now hyphenated word. Thus, the full meaning is “Mobile money”. However, the use of the compounded word “M-Pesa” brings about a more memorable catchphrase, while including the use of Kiswahili, subsequently forming sheng’, to reach a wider audience in the process of advertising. As many of M-Pesa’s customers comprises greatly of people who constantly need to have money on-the-go such as service providers, farmers, and other tertiary workers; it is thus fitting and effective in completing this task. This is one of the key reasons sheng’ is growing to be accepted widely at a steady rate due to its ability to appeal to an audience coupled with its trendy nature.

Furthermore, the aforementioned structure of sheng’ as a language comprising greatly of Kenya’s two national languages English and Kiswahili, gives speakers the opportunity to select words from a wider range, and include jargon from different languages to get their points across. On top of that, the option of choosing from one Kenya’s 40 other indigenous languages advances the acceptance of sheng’ where it manages to include people who live in rural communities outside of the metropolitan area.

During my conversation with Mr. Gituku, I decided to ask him why we as a people have warmed up to sheng’ and he said ‘It’s acceptable because it cuts across ethnic barriers. You don’t feel like you’re being profiled, or left out. It brings up the question of inclusion for the youth.” This quote goes to show how mass communication has demystified the misconception that sheng’ is ‘bad’ and sheng’ can never be recognized fully as one of our languages because it came up as a means of concealing information from the older generation and to an extent, a code. Moreover, he added that “Other languages refuse to assimilate new words, and new phrases; they’re slower. But sheng’ is extremely dynamic so much so that tomorrow, there’ll be a new name for anything that comes up. It is therefore necessary to follow that trait as a mass media practitioner so that you ‘catch’ them.’ Essentially, what Mr. Gituku brought out was that mass media practitioners play on sheng’s flexibility and dynamism in order to effectively deliver a desired message.

The above-mentioned term lexicalization is “the process of making a word to express a concept.” (ThoughtCo, 2017) Lexicalization simply put is the creation of new words to convey different things. This is a large part of sheng’ is arguably the backbone of the credibility, flexibility and dynamism of the language. The KCB advertisement ‘Bankika na KCB!´ uses sheng’ in a lexicalized form to deliver a message to potential customers and compel them to use their banking services. Another element of Sheng’ which has aided its growth and allowed it to be adopted by mass communication outlets is its heavy use of Nativization. This can be defined as “the policy of making something native.” (Oxford Dictionary, n.d) Recognizing that Kiswahili is the more favorable language in Kenya with over 75% of Kenyans being fluent speakers of the language, the use of sheng’ which includes both English and Kiswahili also aids credibility of sheng’ where it too appeals to the emotions of the audience, and builds credibility for the author or speaker. The two techniques when used together give sheng’ credibility as they contextualize the messages and make messages bitesize by speaking to the heart. The phrase which is lexicaized is “Bankika…” which as stated previously means “be banked with”. This creation of the new word to express the concept “to be banked with” builds up and advances sheng’s credibility where it appeals to the audience’s emotions contextually and in Mr. Gituku’s words “you (media practitioner) get a lot more when you advertise in the language that speaks to the heart” The immense outreach and influence of advertisements on a people has allowed citizens to welcome the language and view it in a slightly less disparaging light.

The entertainment industry in Kenya encapsulates fully the positive reception of sheng’ in Kenya. It is evident that entertainment plays a significant role in the lives of people where icons, idols and role models are found. The heavy use of sheng’ in the entertainment scene also depicts the role of mass communication in Kenya. The television show Churchill Show which airs on Sunday from 8:00pm to 8:30pm. The show, which attracts over 1.5 million subscribers (GeoPoll, 2015), is a platform for upcoming Kenyan comedians who primarily hail from rural settlements and make their performances using sheng’. The large audience the show has conveys how the show has managed to use sheng’ to reach the audience. This is evidence of the role of mass communication in the growth of sheng’ in Kenya.

Furthermore, the Kenyan songs “Position”, which has amassed over 3 million views in a span of three months, and “Kirimino” which has accumulated over 325 thousand views in the span of 3 weeks, depict the influence on music in demystifying sheng’. Similarly to the Churchill show, the large audience is a symbol for the positive reception of the language, thus, serving as an appropriate means of tracking the growth of sheng’ in Kenya.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mass communication has almost concretely concluded the conversation as to whether sheng’ should be recognized as one of the Kenyan patois rather than mere argot for the youth who seek to conceal intentions from adults. Sheng’ is a tool which has the potential to make a remarkable impact on the lives of youth which can consequently translate to a similar impact on all groups of people of Kenya. Its integration into the society through mass communication provides a platform to see it grow as one of the Kenyan languages. Through dispelling the notion that sheng’ is derogatory, aggressive and vile, the self-created dark cloud hovering above sheng’ could be done away with leaving the people to realise that sheng’ does indeed pose various benefits.

So, can sheng’ become a recognized language? Juxtaposing Sheng’ with Pidgin English used in Nigeria can offer insights as to what overall drawbacks or advantages sheng’ can have on a society considering that the two ‘languages are used in similar cultural contexts. Pidgin English, which has been around longer that sheng’ and is more widely recognized than sheng’ has to an extent hampered the learning of children in schools through its informal nature. This has caused pidgin English to sometimes take precedence and many at times has found students preferring to express themselves in pidgin English rather than formal English. These ungrammatical structures could have adverse effects on the society as it may be counter-progressive to ideals of global citizenship and diversification which are being propagated in Kenya which are set to afford Kenyans the ability to integrate themselves with other societies all around the world.

Do I believe it can become recognized as a language? No. As close-minded as it may seem, in my humble opinion, this would require formal teaching and learning in all schools where all subjects would require jargon and other such terms to be translated appropriately from Kiswahili or English to sheng’, where some key terms may be lost in translation, similar to in literary works where meaning of a work is juggled through translation. Furthermore, recognizing that 1% of Kenya’s 47,615,739 (as of July 2017) population comprises of foreigners, the prospect of learning a new language on top of Kiswahili – which may not have already been learned poses a great challenge which could prove exigent.

Word Count: 3,529.

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Marshall McLuhan, known for his eccentric ideas, brought a new insight into the way media is looked at today though medium. Though McLuhan’s book ‘Understanding Media: Extensions of man’ he explored the idea of how the ‘medium is the message’. He focuses on the idea of television and radio as a medium being much more interesting than the actual message that they are trying to say. We then focus too much on the context and forget about how we get the content in the first place. He further explains how the medium can affect how a massage is perceived as different mediums such as a text or email can have different ideologies and style. This is helpful as it helps us better understand how important the medium is and how different media has its own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to how you want the message to engage with your audience. He also talks about the hot and cold media and how different types of media needs different participation from the audience with hot needing less participation from the audience such as a Book, Film or photograph, whereas cool media requires a high amount of participation from the audience and has low definition, an example of this is comics, television and a cartoon. All of these concepts from Marshall McLuhan has many advantages, however some disagree on his opinion on the instrumental view on technology which other might find be limiting and lack perspective.

McLuhan believed that the medium plays such an important role when it comes to communication and sending a message. He was more fascinated in the medium such as the radio and television much more than the actual message that was being portrayed. ‘It is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action’ (McLuhan, 1964) this refers to the light-bulb and how it’s ‘not until the electric light is used to spell out some brands name that it is noticed as a medium…. Then it is not the light but the content that is noticed’ (McLuhan, 1964, p. 13) this helps us understand how the medium is more significant than the message itself as without the medium (light bulb) there wouldn’t be a message to show. McLuhan as well as talks about the concept of hot and cold media. With cold media needing a high amount of participation as they need more participation from the audience to help get the full message from that particular medium. He explains then about hot media saying ‘any hot medium allows of less participation than a cool one’ (McLuhan, 1964 pg. 24). He further explains how hot media has a ‘high Definition’ and ‘filled with data’, examples used by McLuhan is how photography has a high definition as the audience would instantly recognize what is in the photo. However compared to a cartoon which has a low definition and a lower amount of detail meaning that the person viewing the cartoon would need to figure out from the drawing by looking at the text and the image closely to figure out what then cartoon is. McLuhan brought new idea to how mediums should be looked at by demonstrating how much influence the medium has on each of us.

Even though McLuhan’s concept was created in 1964 with the idea of ‘medium is the message’ it is still very relatable to today with the growth in new technology and the way we communicate. He brings ‘potential of electronically based media to re-shape human experience is of major significance’ (Devereux, 2014) in today’s day and age.

This is beneficial as people who create media must use his idea to choose how they want their message to be perceived as different mediums can show different messages. They would also better appreciate the medium they are using and how vital it is in our society. An example of this would be printed media such as books and print media producers produce ‘a fairly impersonal, linear, rational way of thinking and relating to others’ however with the growth in ‘wireless communication and computer-mediated communication’ such as text messaging and emails there is an increase in ‘interactivity….. and choice on the part of the user’ (Media and Society, Chapter 7) this means that the audience has more control over the media through different mediums such as online media. This can help prove how different ‘medium is the message’ and how much a change in medium can influence the message that is being portrayed as the audience is gained more control over what they see online through comments and social media. Though this example of emails this type of media is seen as hot media as has a low definition and less participation than texting which requires a high amount of participation as text messages are constant and multiple texts are sent which is cold media.

Many people believe that McLuhan’s beliefs in the ‘medium are the message’ is correct and has many advantages. However, many believe that his belief in the instrumental view of technology is wrong and is limited. When it comes to the instrumental view it is common to think ‘The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value…. Firearms are in themselves neither good nor bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value’ (David Sarnoff, Understanding Media pg. 16) this means that we have complete control over the technology, and we tell it what to do. However in this case from McLuhan’s point of view, he doesn’t look at it from that perspective he explains how ‘there is simply nothing in the Sarnoff statement that will bear scrutiny, for it ignores the nature of the medium, of all media’ (McLuhan, 1964) He explains with the link to technology and how the ‘medium is the message’, he argues that media doesn’t fully bend to those who are using it and ‘any technology could do anything but add itself onto what we already are’. They aren’t just so they can supply us, but they also shape the way we process information. To sum up McLuhan says that media doesn’t fully adapt to how we want to use media. An example of this is Television with programs giving us different information and thoughts, they influence the way we think and adapt it to real life and doesn’t adapt to how we want to use it. This example of Television is known to be a Cold media in contrast to a film which is hot media as a Television needs a high amount of participation with more distractions in the room you watch the television compared to a film which is set in a dark room with little to no distraction.

The ‘medium is the message’ is seen throughout Marshal McLuhan’s work and has affected the way we see mediums today with the growth of new means of communication every day. He explains how the media content isn’t as important as the medium influences itself on us. And how ‘it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action’. He was always fascinated by how the medium plays such an important role that he never cared about the message itself. He also gave the idea of hot and cold media which helped us classify what types of mediums have a high definition and participation from the audience, we can use this information to analyse different mediums as one with a low definition (cold media) would have a different effect on the audience than one that has a high definition (hot media). This approach on both hot and cold media and the idea that ‘medium is the message’ has helped the world and media organisation to choose more carefully on what kinds of mediums they want to use as the same message sent on different mediums can mean different things. The organisations can pay more attention to this and ensure that the audience is getting the right message on whatever medium they view the message on. Marshal McLuhan has, however, has had opinions that others have disagreed on and can be seen to limit his ideas. His though on the instrumental view on the technology being less technology using doing whatever we want it to do and instead believes from a technologies point of view that it cannot do what we want it to do but instead add to what we already are.

Nowadays, when you are thinking about the relationship between these two words, the first sense that flash in your head is probably President Trump and Twitter. The man who posts all the thoughts and decisions on twitter, even faster than ‘Fake News Company’ CNN reporters. Lots of people nowadays are saying that the media and the news company are the fourth power of the politicians, in my opinion, it is partly true.

The TV show presented by Netflix, also shows the deep games and chaotic relationships between the politicians. Just a short background, the play tells the story of a cold-blooded and ruthless US congressman and his ambitious wife working in the White House, Francis Underwood is the whip of the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives and a scheming professional politician. He firmly believes the newly-elected U.S. president and his staff have betrayed him, that promised him he would become the new vice-president, but actually chose another one. The first thing he did for his revenge is not either raising the money or showing his ambition right away, he pretended he is still on the president’s side and loyal to him. Then he found a female newswoman that is easy to be controlled – Zoe Barnes, a rookie reporter in Washington News, who wants to write some reports in deep but got stuck by the company’s strict rule. Anyway, his assistant Doug found an editorial in a school newspaper. The inappropriate remarks about Israel in the article were easily misunderstood as opposed to the US-Israel alliance, and the nominee of the Vice President of the United States Michael Cohen was the editor at the time. This reminded Frank of his plan to let Cohen step down. By using Media and news power, which means using the power to make the event bigger and more serious, he successfully defeated the nominee of the VP of the U.S. Although this is just an example of the TV show, in fact, it is rewritten by a true story. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially stepped down and the new Secretary of State Kerry announced his inauguration. After Obama was re-elected, the first press conference made it clear that he hoped that the former ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice would succeed Hillary Clinton as the new secretary of state. The strong opposition. Because in an interview with five television stations on September 16, 2012, Rice said that the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya on September, 11 was caused by local demonstrations. However, after being dug up by the media, it was discovered that it was actually An organized and premeditated terrorist attack. Therefore, Rice was suspected of misleading the public. After being fiercely attacked by the media and congressmen, Rice declared that she had given up seeking the post of Secretary of State, and Congressman Kerry successfully became the new Secretary of State. After serving the side dish — a short introduction about how media plays an important role in the game, now is the actual meal – Watergate Scandal.

The Watergate incident or the Watergate scandal is one of the most disgraceful political scandals in American history. It has a long-term impact on American history and the entire international press. In the 1972 presidential election, in order to obtain intelligence on the Democratic Party’s internal campaign strategy, on June 17, 1972, five people led by James McCord, the chief security advisor of the Nixon campaign team of the United States, sneaked into the Watergate Building in Washington. The office of the Democratic National Committee was arrested on the spot while installing a wiretap and secretly photographing relevant documents. Because of this, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974 that he would resign the next day, thus becoming the first president in American history to resign due to a scandal.

Although Nixon and his Republican leadership repeatedly denied that they had ‘eavesdropped’ on the insider of the Democratic campaign, they were eventually followed up by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post in 1974. The story of this incident was presented to the world on August 8, 2005. It can be said that this kind of behavior of ‘stealing chickens and losing rice’ has deeply caused a sensation in the United States and the world. The revelation and development of this incident depended on the untiring excavation of the Washington Post, the struggle of American power groups, and the participation of the U.S. Congress and the judiciary.

As far as initiative is concerned, any incident must first appear before it occurs, and good news media generally catch clues, which means that the staff of the news media or the entire organization will take the initiative to dig out the back of the incident. The inside story. Stilson Hutchins founded the most distinctive newspaper in the United States, the Washington Post, in the 1870s. In 1933, Eugene Meyer bought it and formulated several guiding principles: the primary mission of a newspaper is to report as far as possible the facts that can be confirmed; a newspaper should report all the facts that it can understand about major events in the United States and the world; as a disseminator of the news, the newspaper should obey ordinary gentlemen Etiquette followed. Although not every news company follow the rules, but it is still the essence of the news companies.

The ‘Watergate Incident’ that occurred on June 17, 1972 was originally to be treated as a ‘third-rate theft.’ Nixon also strongly denied any connection with this incident. Coupled with the fact that the United States was busy ending the Vietnam War, the president’s second inauguration and other major events that attracted people’s attention, the ‘Watergate Incident’ did not initially attract the attention of voters, so that Nixon was able to run for re-election. But because reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post always believed that this incident was not a simple theft, they were trying to obtain information from the then editor-in-chief Simmons and the post owner Gray After Ms. Um’s support, the whole incident was followed up and analyzed for several months. Of course, they have also been helped by those ‘deep throats’, who hold state secrets. It can be said that the Washington Post interviewed and consulted people from different departments and classes in order to clarify the ins and outs of the entire incident. So that the authenticity of the report content is beyond doubt. In other words, “without the courage and persistence of the two reporters and publishers of the Washington Post, these deceptions may never be exposed”.

Let me summary this event and the topic in the field of media studies. Through this incident, we have realized the importance of mass communication, the speed of communication, and the communication between people and society. I also saw the role of mass communication in life.

Abstract

Mass Communication is field through which people express their believes, attitudes, opinions, emotions, ideas, values and different sorts of behaviour. Different effects and psychological scenarios of media is what it has been aimed while the research. Another such highlighter of this research is that it gives a brief definition on deep impact of media on society. Can Mass Communication impact human behaviour in positive, negative or neutral manner? Or what methods of psychological effects could be consumed in process of Mass Communication etc. many more such aims to be a review of the main findings of this topic.

Keywords: mass communication, communication theories, psychological effects, social impacts etc.

Introduction

When it comes to organisation society is the biggest organisation created and recreated by time by the individuals on basis of guidelines to maintain certain behaviours in different ways as it is one of the necessary conditions when it come to fulfilment of life. That is why it is necessary for every individual and known as society. Behaviours are effected in many ways from different mediums and media is one of them. Mass media includes radio, cinema, magazines, television, newspaper etc and is one of the biggest medium of influencers like for example, children watching television, spending a large amount of time same as when attending school or meeting family or friends. people never look at other socialising factors whether they have positive or negative effects but when it comes to mass media they always raise a question about its positive and negative attributes, they always pay more heed to social influencing sources of mass communication and media rather than personal and private and other social influencing factors surrounding them. Likewise for example when it come to television it is in top discussion that television has taken as a sole cause of social behavioural changes, whether you take it a stereotype view or not it is responsible for making viewers choices more rational as in what to see and what not.

Mass Communication is a gigantic procedure of forming a wide channel of trade through thoughts, ideas, views, information between mediums. Mass Media is a huge path of various mediums for interaction of large segments of society. It is a whole new arena of modern sources of mechanism when it comes to communication. Communication can happen in different ways depending on the situation the respective mediums have formed, it could be more than oral or written. Therefore it involves a large gathering or mass audiences as when we talk about the psychological factors involved in mass communication, it affects different age groups of audience in different ways as they could be both negative or positive.

Psychological factors are those which happens to be more logical as it involves thinking skills of a person . They are very important when Psychological effect are concerned, in any field to have an understanding, as in which direction is specific field holds a position is our society. Hence, communication is itself a tool of psychology.

Mass media and communication provide a wide range of perspective and thinking skills, different eye views different idea in different sense.

Occurrence of changes in society

Since changes are divided into three sections positive, negative as mass media is exposed to psychological effects. There are many studies which can reflect or could be considered when it come psychological behavioural changes for their elaboration in this specific field but here the main focus of attention come on how those behavioural changes are considered psychological effects in a proper interactive session of thoughts.

a.) Positive factors

Mass communication channels are used for creating awareness amongst people for social, cultural, economical, political and health issues such campaigns are sponsored by many NGO’s, organisations etc. They mostly use some ideal face or personality to make people recognise the influence by idealising themselves with that respective personality in a particular field. On the other it influences lifestyle, career and behaviour. Success for such campaigns do lack. Mostly social issues are covered during campaigns.

Many mass media programmes create a huge influence including informative, motivated and inspirational provided content produced to create awareness and knowledge and different positive attitude among public .

Effects occur differently on different age groups. There are three kinds of age groups, children, adult and old age. When we talk about children they are most likely to get influenced, as their knowledge span increases, they are exposed to world on social platform, experience the competition around them, learn from the campaigns about the bad habits ( drinking, abusing, smoking etc.), provided with entertainment, gets more exposure to the social life, gets to idealise with different personalities etc. On the other hand, when we talk about adults, they are certainly aware of the outcome as what change is good and bad for them. Therefore Mass media has made it possible to make their life at a ease pace. The last age group we talk about is old age in this age group they have nothing logical to learn or lose, all they need is means to pass their time, for example, television.

It provides people to enhance their self esteem and helps them channelize their emotions. Earlier it was a bit hard for news channels to reach the masses because of lack of sources but now everything is at the click of a button.

b.) Negative factors

• Mass media provokes serious emotional problems.
• Can be a reason of social failure while adapting
• Convey two sided information about the reality
• Provide erroneous images
• Makes people receive stereotype and failures of models of conduct
• Sometimes makes too much socialisation a necessary agent of exploitation
• Sometimes promote dominant ideology
• Reflects violent behaviour and content under some culture

c.) Impacts of television

Useful and progressive product of technology

Effects both cognitive and social behaviour especially under some culture, for example, western culture of mixed impact

Children are more vulnerable to the culture than adults

It provides huge amount of information in an attractive form and in visual mode as this makes it a powerful instruction medium

Habits like reading and writing, games, activities whether indoor or outdoor for children started declining due to the attractive television programme

When we talk about psychological factor under it, the ability to concentrate on a target, creativity to understand and social interactions etc. all together are effected by watching television

While on the other hand it provides useful factual information and some exceptional programmes interpreted

Forty years ago television was a heed of debates in USA and Canada as in displaying aggressiveness amongst the viewers including children

Few researches provided the outcome of such shows, indeed reflected a huge change of aggressive behaviour in viewers as children tended to imitate what they saw

A consequence of such behaviour was lack of maturity

III. Communication theories

Communication is a process of verbal, non verbal, technological, non technological, meditated, non meditated, participatory, non participatory, etc methods of interaction. Communication can be of two type intrapersonal and interpersonal.

Intrapersonal communication is also said as transpersonal communication .

Interpersonal communication is also known as face-to-face communication. This is divided into three stages

• a. phatic stage- When people communicate using just Hi, Hello, etc.
• b. Personal stage- When people communicate with use of personal elements in communication by exposing their feelings and themselves.
• c. The intimate stage- Includes friends and relatives as it is reserved for closeness.

Interpersonal communication includes interactions which could be of two types 1. Focused interaction and 2. Unfocused interaction. Focused interaction encounter conversation between two individuals and also those conversation that are conveyed through body language. Unfocused interaction include observing and listening to an individual while not conversing, also includes eye contacts.

There are three main communication theories that are as follows:

a. The Lasswell model of communication process

It is a process through which an individual ( person who provides a content ) sends a message through a medium ( for example, telephone, letter etc. ) to a receiver ( person who receives a message ), in the last with what effect ( impact ).

b. The shannol and weaver model

In this model there are five ways to pursue it 1. information source – from where the information is producing, 2. a transmitter – a source of transferring the information, 3. a channel, 4. includes the receiver, 5. destination. In this whole process one more essential component is the part of this communication process that is known as noise. Noise is unwanted element of disturbance occurred during a communication process.

c. The Osgood and Schramm circular model

In this process encoder and decoder plays an important role as encoder is the source or the person considered to release the information while on the other hand decoder is the destination, the other person receiving on the other end. This whole process depends on the circulation of the message and it is a never ending process. Both encoder and decoder plays equal roles in exchanging information as there is no end in the cycle of communication and it keeps going on from one partnership of exchange of ideas to another.

IV.Psychological effects

1. Barriers of commuting

Mental conditions are way more important when process of communication is needed to be conducted, as in what kind of mental balance or state both sender and receiver or the communicators are specifically in. Sometimes different states or the communicators do create an obstacle in producing effective communication. On the other hand they are required to have emotional balance too. Every mind works differently likewise, for example, in a workplace, a new employ would receive selective information only while on the hand, an old employ would be more trust worthy when it comes to sharing of information, this is known as ineffective communication.

2. Causes of barriers

Feedback plays a very important role when it come to seeking of information or message and paying attention to lack of attention is what we are talking about. If a min d is preoccupied, distracted, dealing or thinking about some other issue during commuting will face problems giving feedback and would be referred as ineffective. These preoccupied thoughts makes a person’s life more tragic by making them disinterested and puzzling them up with their personal and professional life dealings which could affect both equally.

Weak recollection, while gathering of information our brain is able to process only a limited amount in memory as it does not store all of it but only that which is useful for future. This is a known process for loss of sometimes more than half of information. The old information is what the brain misplays when new information is gathered while keeping in mind its requirement. On the hand, sometimes the lost information is what the brain tries to recalculate depending on the situation the information can be used or not.

Distrust and defensiveness

• a. Forcible message on a receiver can not make the receiver listen or understand the views, opinion, ideas of the sender properly.
• b. Negative personality reflects lack of trust of receiver and could be the result for ignorance of message.
• c. Agreement of understanding is must between the sender and receiver for conduct of a message as it could also lead to failure of transmitting.

View Point; It is a thinking process of having a idea of the message if the sender is not able to reciprocate it in a proper manner then the chances are that the receiver may not understand the purpose of message.

Attitude; Attitude is an organisation of feelings, ideas and emotions according to a situation in dealing with it. It could be anything harmful or beneficial.

Perception; It is a mindset and judgement through different experience shaped in different sense of each person.

Abuse of a person is set by themselves by making sense to the communication they would be indulged in by listening, observing and learning. For example, gender discrimination is what we have been seeing for ages but now the society is not all about male chauvinism. Since the people are having variation in their mindset, thinking, opinion and perspective by changing them and looking at the women in a more stronger sense. Although there are many who still thinks female is a weak gender. Misunderstanding can also play a very important role in the process of communication as in the way of their communicating ideas would haven’t been clear enough to reciprocate the sender’s idea to receive it.

3. Effects of media

Sexual and violence, now days television is the candidate to express such emotions through different shows, movies, news to the viewers. It creates a huge influence on the viewers following are some studies which could through light on these issues.

• a. Catharsis Theory – as mass media includes radio, television, newspaper and cyber internet etc, they somewhere or the other reflect some sort of visual appealing that could be harmful for creating disrupting mindset whether adult or minor. By watching such visuals people may create certain emotion like frustration, aggression, depression, anxiety and argumentative behaviour. This theory reflects such emotions as positive effects on society, for example, when it comes aggression people do use it as releasing tension.
• b. Aggressive Cues Theory – in this theory all the attention is on aggression as it plays the opposite role over here. In this case the aggression provokes more violent behaviour in physiological and emotional senses.
• c. Observational Learning Theory – in this observational learning theory it clearly specifies that aggression takes one step ahead in this procedure when compared with aggressive cues theory likewise, for example, while watching an aggressive show you can see how the participants act but instead of reacting to them or being try to mimic them, human behaviour act in a way that they would store that information in memory. This is how the behavioural changes occur more in cognitive sense.
• d. Reinforcement Theory – Under this theory factors act in a way to shape a proper human behaviour with the help of reward and punishment . For example; a child is punished when she/he happens to do something wrong like getting bad result and get a scolding from their respective guardians this could make child follow two ways whether get motivated to improve for better or get offended by the punishment . Just like this when a child gets a reward she /he would get motivated and inspired to do better and get more rewards.
• e. Cultivation Theory – It tells us about long- term effects of media. The main advice of this theory is that it suggests that the more time people spend living in the media world, they more likely to believe that whatever is shown on television or any other form of media is true.

V. Social and cultural approach

1. Sociological Theories of Communication

• a. Uses and Gratification Theory – It makes us understand how people use different modes of media to satisfy different needs. It was introduced by Bulmer and Katz.
• b. Agenda Setting Theory – Media houses work in a certain way by keeping their audience’s perspective and feedbacks and ideas in mind by combining them all together and work according to the need of their audience. It was introduced in 1972 by Dr. Maxwell Mccombs and Dr. Donald Shaw.
• c. Play Theory – It was introduced by scientist William Stephenson. In this mass communication this theory is the first step towards providing entertainment through media.
• d. Social Learning Theory – It is a process through symbolising and idealising someone else’s personality through observation and imitation. Hence acquiring their skills.

2. Forms and impacts of Media Acquired by Youth

The impacts of media gives exposure to difference between reel and real, introduces fear and phobias, skill and talent, lifestyle, attitude, opinion, acquires a huge amount of time usage, facility and privileges of modern technologies, provide a broader perspective, means of entertainment (television, video games), exposure to socialising, educates people, provide with news, insure effective democracy, give pathways to social change, provide advertisement ( trade and industry ), effects the political scenario of the country, sometimes major health problems, etc.

Different forms of media used are YouTube, Facebook, computers, movies, emails, texting, video games, television, radio, etc.

3. Forms of Bullying Introduced by Media

• a. Cyber Bullying – aggression build up on social networking sites for an issue, shown electronically only.
• b. Direct Bullying –
  • i. vocal threats, bodily or physical harm
• c. Indirect Bullying – socially being backward and peer influence and rejection.

VI. Conclusion

While writing this research paper I have come to this conclusion that mass media communication do effect our society in both positive and negative manner, while on the other hand all the effects or impacts are well justified by theories whether they psychological or sociological. Therefore communication theories also helps us to understand the impact on different masses. I also found that the age group most likely to get influenced are youth or children. Mass communication and media is one the stepping stones for development of our country but it do consist of its merits and demerits, advantages and disadvantages. Media plays a very constructive role in our social but at the same time destructive too. At the end its your opinion that matters.

VII. Bibliography

1. ‘http://WWW.businesstopia.in’WWW.businesstopia.in
2. ‘http://en.wikipedia.org’en.wikipedia.org
3. ‘http://www.study.com’www.study.com
4. ‘http://www.12manage.com’www.12manage.com

Development communication is a communication used for the development of the society. The role of Print Media and Electronic Media plays a part in the development communication of any country. The Government of India, Print Media is used to obtain a wide coverage of messages through various newspapers and journals. Print media is a classic media plays a remarkable part in the development communication. Print media sculptured India by its historical experience in specific by its association with the freedom struggle and also the movements of social liberation, reform and development. Print media is used in developed as well as undeveloped countries with the modern technologies today. Now a day’s print media face heavy competition it has its own standard though. The press is still the presiding medium for advertising in the country. Even now people prefer print though the electronic media is more effective than the former. This paper studies the development of print media and how the role of print media in the development communication is making difference in modern era.

Human being use verbal and non-verbal form of communication. Communication is used as an empowerment aid for developing society. In other terms, communication is used to enhance the participation of people in the development activities. Millions of people in the developing countries are not aware of the wide range of information and knowledge so print media helps them to improve their live through communication technologies.

Development means change for the better and communication means sharing of experience. Hence Development communication could be about the change in the social and economic for the improvement and welfare of the society. The information which are designed to change the behaviour of people or for enhancing their life quality can be referred as development communication and this information used to transform the socio-economic condition of people. Hence it can be defined as the use of communication to promote in a better way. The offering of print media in contributing information and transfer of knowledge is sensational. Print media is faster than before because of the amazing advances in technology in recent years. The technical advancement changed the way we perceive universe and manner in which we communicate with one another.

As a classical media, print media in development communication is nearer to people who need messages of development like the farmers and workers. Such type of media is participatory and fruitful. As long as the print media is concerned, after independence when the Five Year Plans were begun by the government for planned development, it was the newspaper which gave great impact to development courses. They wrote on different government enhancement programs and how the people could utilize them. They include about farming and other related subjects and particulars about weather and implements. The development of scientific and technology improvements have brought about steady fast development in the world of media. New media are rising up and where the old ones are being improved upon and in this process their availability has increased manifolds. Printing media was the first one to be utilized as the mass media for communicating the information. Even today print media is one of the powerful media among the rural society.

Before freedom, print media and written communication attends the progress of civilization which results in the changing cultural technologies. The transfer of information, facts, concepts from one person to another undergone huge evolution since pre-historic times. The Indian press in particular the Indian language newspapers were in the lead of the struggle for freedom. Many leaders like Mahatma Gandhi used the newspaper to activate the people to join in the freedom struggle. Political leaders used the press to arouse people. Newspapers were used as a weapon.

The first newspaper published in India was the Bengal Gazette, commenced by James Augustus Hickey in 1780. Soon after this Bombay Courier and Bombay Herald were started in the country. Later the Times of India and Bombay Samachar evolved. Bal Ganghadar Thilak is a prominent staunch of the pre-independence era, who used his newspaper as the medium of communicating his ideas and the ideas of freedom struggle. Kesari newspaper industry had only one goal that is to escalate the cause of independence. After independence, British owners of newspaper like The Times of India also left and handover the companies to the Indian companies. Hence there was a change in print media. The quality of production has improved and the medium of the Indian language newspapers have taken power of the advancement in printing and communication technology to bring various edition dailies. Newspaper had the stiff competition with the other Newspapers due to the equal well production. Newspapers were concerned about the local problems acting the active role in fighting against poverty, disease etc. So people were aware about the happenings around them through the newspaper.

Colour printing has created the newspaper more attractive. Areas of commerce found a prominent place in all Indian language newspaper so it was useful for the business people so that they felt easy for the social dealings and other stuffs. It made lighter for the business people to deal their business. Newspaper influenced the government and the people. Everyone was benefited with the news that was published in the newspaper which made them to know about the knowledge around the world. Government was also highly benefited with the newspaper in many ways.

After independence newspapers in India had the choice to make either situate with the government and support all its initiatives or act as a critic to the democratised country and its lead. So with the various aspects of the news made the people to understand the events happening in and around the world in different connotations which was much needed one for them. Most of the newspaper came into existence after the independence. And today thousands of articles and newspapers are circulation. In independence era newspaper was widely used as an instrument of social change. Now it’s acting as the agent to deliver the events happening around. At present in 21st century Indian print media is one of the biggest print media in the world which bears all the information; let it be universal or local. Hence people of different places are connected and through the newspaper the messages were shared worldwide. Times of India newspaper top the list of the best newspaper in India.

The publication of societal events, availabilities, trade, commerce, calamities, weather, share markets, price of gold, petrol, vegetables and so on will helps the people to understand the things and will make their movements in the profitable way. These profitable movements create the enrichment of the society. The newspaper also provides the information of the government and their schemes, which make the people aware of the good and bad deeds of the government, will paves way for the people to react accordingly, will make the people to fight for the proper society with proper dogmas. This enhances the development of the society.

Newspaper plays the important role in the field of advertisement. Press media is the dominant medium for advertising in the country even if television has increased its share continuously. Advertisement in the newspaper makes the people to get the information about the new things which came into the market and makes them aware of the things that are prevailing.

With the emergence of the new media though the importance of newspaper downed it has its own importance in the society. People still gets newspaper to know the worldwide news to get connected. The information delivered in the newspaper is genuine and authentic but it is not in the case of new media. So people trusted the print media. Print media is easily reachable by everyone. It is accessible even in the rural area. But it’s difficult in the case of new media.

Print media act as a tool which makes the people to engage with the stakeholders, policy makers, promotes conductive environment, create social change via its sustainable development. Hence print media plays a vital part in the Development Communication and enriches the grade of the society in every possible field. Many media can come and go but print media has its own stand and paves richest way for the development communication. Print media has its great share in the development communication of both developed and undeveloped countries.