12

DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE

APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES

Quarter 2

Module 2
SETTINGS, PROCESSES, METHODS AND
TOOLS IN COMMUNICATION

0
At the end of the module, the learner should be able to:
1. illustrate the different processes and methods involved in undertaking
communication; and
2. distinguish the appropriate communication media channel (s) to use in
different settings and situations.

Code: HUMSS DIASS_12-IIa-40, HUMSS DIASS_12-IIa-41

What’s UP?
Instructions: What do you know and want to know about communication media
channels? Tell us by filling out the KWL chart below. The first column lists the different
mediums. In the second column (K, for ‘Know’), write what you already know about the
respective media. In the third column (W, for ‘Want to know’), indicate what you want to
know about each of these. After completing this lesson, return to this chart and write
what you have learned about the topic in the fourth column (L, for what I have Learned).
Please add as many rows as you need.
KWL Chart
Communication
What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned
Media Channels
Newspapers
Radio
Social Media

Let’s Navigate…
COMMUNICATION MEDIA CHANNELS
MASS MEDIA

In the previous module, we discussed mass communication as one of the levels of

communication. It involves the transmission of messages to large audiences using the technology
of communication. Its key characteristics are: (1) mass audience, (2) a communication process
that flows one-way, is large scale distribution, and has an impersonal and anonymous
relationship with the audience, (3) a communication process that is mediated by a mass medium
or communication technology, and (4) a communication process that is organized by mass media
institutions.

PRINT MEDIA: THE NEWSPAPER

As a mass medium, the newspaper’s key features are:

• regular or periodical appearance
• uses of print technology
• news content
• individual or group reading

1
 Newspapers are classified according to:
• type of content: general news, political newspapers, business newspapers, sports
newspapers
• Circulation area: national, local, metropolitan newspapers
• Audience: community newspapers, religious newspapers
• Language: national, vernacular
• Periodicity: daily, weekly

The staple of newspapers are news stories, or newsworthy stories, that is, interesting enough
to an audience so it should be reported. Newsworthiness is defined in many ways, but most
journalists agree that the following makes a story newsworthy:
• The exceptional or out of the ordinary
• Proximity
• Impact
• Prominence
• Conflict
• Human interest

A study done by OECD concludes that the rise of the internet and other technologies have
radically changed how news is produced and diffused. It enables the entry of new intermediaries
that create and distribute news, including online aggregators, online newspapers, mobile news
actors, citizen journalism, and many more. Information providers with different trajectories (TV,
newspapers, and internet companies) are now competing for head-on in a global online news
environment. More recently newspaper websites have seen strong growth in their own pages,
with large newspapers reporting several million unique visitors to their pages per month,
increasingly including readers from abroad, a radical shift from national patterns of established
newspapers.

BROADCAST MEDIA: RADIO AND TELEVISION

RADIO. Why radio is so dominant among the mass media? The following are the reasons:
▪ Cost-effective. The device needed to listen to the radio and the hardware and technology
needed to produce and transmit programs is much cheaper than the other media.
▪ Low demand for literacy skills. A person does not have to be literate to listen to the radio.
Apart from cost, this is the other main reason behind the popularity of radio in areas
where there is low literacy among people.
▪ Portability. The radio can be located and lugged anywhere. People have it at their
bedsides, on their desks, in cars, in mobile phones.
▪ A background medium. Radio-listening can be combined with other tasks like driving,
reading, and doing household chores.

Radio programs are broadcast from a centrally-located source called a station. Radio stations
may be commercial or government-owned stations. The vast majority are commercial stations
that obtain revenue from advertising.

Based on the type of waves used for transmitting radio messages, radio stations are classified
as either AM or FM stations. With AM (Amplitude Modulation) radio, the amplitude or strength
of the carrier wave’s vibration fluctuates with the sound. With FM (Frequency Modulation) radio,

2
the strength of the carrier wave remains constant; it is the frequency or number of vibrations
within the wave that changes.
Radio programs fall into two broad categories: news programs and nonnews. Nonnews
programs include talk programs, book readings, public service programs, drama, and music.

TELEVISION. It comes next to radio in popularity, according to the latest UNESCO World
Communication and Information Report.

Moreover, data from the International Television Expert Group state that in 2007 Americans
spent 297 minutes (4.95 hours) per day watching television. The figures are almost similar to
Filipinos. Data released in 2012 by the market research firm, Kantar Media, said that Filipinos
spend between four to five hours per day watching. This is much higher compared to the viewing
hours in Singapore and Hong Kong which averages two and three hours a day. Viewing in urban
areas is higher at a little over five hours a day while in rural areas, it lies at about four hours a day
(Agcaoili, 2012).

Television can transmit pictures and sound and to do live is television’s main strength as a
mass medium. Sporting, cultural, and political events draw huge audiences when broadcast live.
Another important feature of television is the ‘sense of intimacy and personal involvement that it
seems to cultivate between spectator and presenter or the actors and participants on-screen’
(McQuail, 2010).

Most television stations are commercial enterprises but in most countries, there is a
government-run television. A significant player in the broadcast media landscape is public
service media such as BBC (UK) and NHK (Japan).

The communication scholar, Denis McQuail (2010) notes that despite the fact ‘television is
primarily considered a medium of entertainment, it plays a vital role in politics.’ He describes the
other important roles of television in society as follows:
‘…is considered to be the main source of news and information for most people and the
main channel of communication between politicians and citizens, especially at election times. In
this informally allocated role of public informer, television has generally remained credible and
trusted. Another role is that of educator---for children at school and adults at home. It is the
largest single channel of advertising in nearly all countries.
‘…an enduring feature of the appeal of television seems to lie in the very fact that it is a
medium that brings people together to share the same experiences in an otherwise fragmented
and individuated society and not only in the circle of the family.

Television will continue to have a huge influence on our lives and society as it evolves alongside
digital information and communication technologies. Already, mobile TV and internet TV are fast
developing. Many viewers are watching television programs from their mobile phones and their
laptops.

FILM AND RECORDED MUSIC. Relatively little attention is given to film and recorded music
as mass media despite their importance.

The film is a true mass medium in the sense that it reaches a large part of the population, even
in rural areas. The film has grown as an independent cultural and entertainment industry that
attracts millions of people the world over.

3
 Even lesser attention has been devoted to recorded music as a mass medium. And yet replaying
of music dominates much of radio content and the auxiliary use of mobile phones. While music
is generally thought of as entertainment, its relationships to social and political events are
recognized.

NEW MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA

NEW MEDIA. The term ‘new media’ covers a set of applied communication technologies that
continue to evolve. One definition describes them as ‘interactive; forms of communication that
use the internet, including podcasts, blogs, social networks, text messaging, wikis, virtual worlds,
and all other computer-aided communication formats that are available online.’ Apart from being
internet-based among the characteristics of the new media are:

• Interactivity: allow dialogue or interaction between the individual and a computer

program
• Ubiquity and de-locatedness: present wherever there are hardware and connectivity
• Accessible to individual users as senders and/or receivers: allow users to create their
messages or content as well as receive these
• A medium of both mass and personal communication
• Hypertextuality: can connect one format of information with other formats and
information sources through hyperlinks
• Multimediality: can contain various types of media formats on a single platform such as
when a website features video, music as well as texts

SOCIAL MEDIA. The subset of the new media has dominated the mass media landscape in
recent years. These are internet-based applications that build on the ideological and
technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated
content (Kaplan and Haenlin, 2010). These may be classified into six types, namely:

• Social networking: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram

• Collaborative projects: YouTube
• Virtual game worlds
• Virtual social worlds
• Technologies such as blogs, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, and crowdsourcing

In its report, ‘State of the Social Media’, the media research firm Nielsen provides data showing
the power of social media over consumer behavior both online and offline. Internet users, the
data show, spend more time on social media than any other site.

Indeed, with the steady rise in the penetration of information and communication technology
in developing countries such as the Philippines, social life in the country is increasingly influenced
by social media.

Let’s Knot It!

1. What are communication media channels?
2. How do these communication media channels differ from each other?

4
Do It!
Share your idea on the situation below. You may present your answer in an essay form or using
a graphic organizer.

In this continuing threat of COVID 19 and its new variant, how the communication media
channels become relevant in the continuous delivery of basic education programs to all Filipino
learners?

Criteria:
Content (Accuracy of Facts, Organization, Relevance/Connection to the Lesson) -40
Writing Mechanics -10
50 points

Test Yourself!
TRUE OR FALSE: Write TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if it is incorrect. Write
your answer on the required sheet of paper.

1. A good newspaper must carry only news stories.

2. Opinions and advertisements do not have a place in newspapers.
3. The action of public officials is newsworthy because these affect citizens.
4. Radio most popular mass medium because it appeals to those who may not be highly
educated.
5. Entertainment is the primary communication function of television.
6. Television’s main strength is its capacity to transmit live images and sound.
7. Most television and radio stations are commercial enterprises.
8. Commercial radio and TV obtain revenues from advertising.
9. TV is an important medium of communication during election times.
10. Social media is thought of as powerful because they influenced consumer behavior.

REFERENCES
Dela Cruz, AR., Fernandez, C., Melegrito, ML., & Valdez, V. (2016). Disciplines and Ideas in the Applied Social Sciences, Padayon Series. Phoenix
Publishing House, Inc.

IMAGES
www.google.com