INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION MAC (114) DEPARTMENT OF MASS - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION MAC (114) DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION Mr. Linus M. Ngantem (Lecturer)

INTRODUCTION Communication is essential in every area of our lives as individuals and as groups. The desire to communicate is innate in man and this is exhibited even by babies, who in their own way express their needs and feelings by crying, laughing, groaning, etc. Man has diverse needs and the only way through which these needs can be expressed and fulfilled is through communication. We communicate to share information, to persuade, to influence relationships and to satisfy several other needs. In the words of Hybels and Weaver (1992), • To live is to communicate. • To communicate effectively is to enjoy life more fully. Ella and Onwochei (2005) observed that as social beings we interact with our kind in order to satisfy our various needs. This desire explains why we engage in one form of communication or another almost all the time.

Communication is the ‘‘life wire’’ of every individual and organization’s existence. No man can survive the various experiences of this life without any form of communication. The need to be understood by the people we interact with as students, teachers, children, parents, friends and associate is a major concern today in schools, homes and organizations. Many relationships have been cut short as a result of misunderstanding caused by ineffective communication of intended meaning. Indeed, the truth remains that people cannot interact without some form of communication. We will succeed in our relationships and interactions with others if we fully grasp the fact that, the essence of communication, the goal, the ultimate aim of every exchange is the transfer of meaning. Communication is effective when the intended meaning of the speaker is understood by the listener. It is hoped that the simple approach to communication generally, will help students and other readers communicate effectively as they interact on a daily basis.

Week 1: What is Communication? Communication is from a Latin word- COMMUNIS , which means common or shared understanding. Communication therefore is a purposeful effort to establish commonness between a source and receiver (Schramn 1965). Whatever is being shared could be associated with knowledge, experience, thought, ideas, suggestion, opinions, feelings etc. We will define communication here as the process of exchanging or sharing information, ideas and feeling between the sender and the receiver. Communication is very central to all human activities; this is because everything we do and do not, communicate. Man’s interaction with other human beings is a result of communication. Communication is the key around which human life revolves. Communication is a common phenomenon that cuts across the daily activities of human being. Obilade (1989) defines communication as a process that involves the transmission of message from a sender to the receiver.

Orewere (2006) defines communication as the process of sending (transmitting) and receiving messages between individuals, among a group of people in a place or locality or between people in a wider society. He added that a message is the actual physical product of the Sender/Source/Encoder, e.g speech, writing, painting, picture, movement of the arms in a gesture. Several communication scholars such as Soola (2000), Ode (1999) and Ugboajah (2001) pointed out that Communication is the process by which any person or a group shares and impacts, information with/to another person(or group) so that both people(or groups) clearly understand one another (Soola 2000). Not just giving of information, it is the giving of understandable information and receiving and therefore, the transferring of a message to another party so that it can be understood and acted upon (Ode 1999). That communication is the process which involves all acts of transmitting messages to channels which link people to the languages and symbolic codes which are used to transmit such messages.

It is also the means by which such messages are received and stored. It includes the rules, customs and conventions which define and regulate human relationships and events (Ugboajah 2001). In addition, Communication is the transmission of a message from a source to a receiver or the process of creating shared meaning. Communication is also innate – every man is born with the ability, from childhood, we learn to communicate by crying, smiling, kicking etc. Communication is dynamic, ongoing and ever changing. Communication is made up of activities of interrelated elements which continue to function in the communication process. The fact is that the word communication is encompassing, ambiguous and pervasive. These three words capture the universal nature of communication and make everyone think they know something about communication. Similarly, communication started with the simplest vocal and gestural signals rooted in their physical structure. People then developed a range of non-verbal means of communication for conveying messages, such as music, dance, drum message, signal fires, drawings, paintings, tying of bush leaves etc. The development of language rendered human communication powerful and gave mankind his pre-eminent position in the animal world (Orewere, 2006).

FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION Communication performs diverse kinds of functions. We will look at the following functions: a . Social Interaction: Human interaction is possible because we can communicate. We relate with friends, parents, colleagues, etc because we share codes that make us understand each other. Without communication this will not be possible. b. Business and Trade: Communication provides opportunity to transact business and engage in trade. We are able to make known what we are offering for sales and what we want to buy. We also negotiate the prices, mode of delivery etc. through communication c. Exchange of Ideas and Spread of Knowledge: We express freely our ideas, opinions and feelings on issues affecting us. We also share knowledge as we engage in discussion and write books. In classroom situation, a teacher is able to impart knowledge into students through communication. d. Social-Political Development: Development is made possible through communication. Communication helps to mobilise people to work together for their social and political development. e. Social-Cultural Integration: Communication enables exchange of culture and values. Through music, interaction in communities, we are able to learn one another’s cultures and blend for harmonious co-habitation.

Purpose of Communication Communication serves five major purposes: to inform , to express feelings, to imagine , to influence , and to meet social expectations . Each of these purposes is reflected in a form of communication. From the fore-going, we can conclude here that, communication can serve a number of different functions like information, education, entertainment, persuasion, and so on. PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION Communication as a process is dynamic, recursive, on-going and continuous. It includes the means by which messages are received and stored as the rules, customs, beliefs, and conventions which define and regulate human relationship and events. The process of communication is a cyclic one as it begins with the sender and ends with the sender in the form of feedback. Sambe (2005) pointed out that the communication process involves an action, reaction and interaction. a. Stimulation: T his is the point at which the source or sender sees the need to communicate. He receives stimulus that triggers him to communicate. b . Encoding: here the source processes the message he want to communicate. For instance, feelings, thoughts opinion, ideas etc . The sender puts the message into a series of symbols, pictures or words which will be communicated to the intended receiver. Encoding is an important step in the communication process as wrong and inappropriate encoding may defeat the true intent of the communication process.

c. Transmission: in this process of communication, the message is passed across to the receiver through a chosen medium or channel. E.g radio, television, newspaper or magazines etc. d. Reception: in this communication process, the receiver gets the message sent from the source/sender/originator or communicator. e. Decoding: this is a communication process where the message is processed, dissected, understood and interpreted by the receiver in form of feedback. Decoding refers to interpreting or converting the sent message into intelligible language. It simply means comprehending the message. The receiver after receiving the message interprets it and tries to understand it in the best possible manner.