E-Learning Guide on Media and Information Literacy
The Media and Information Languages
Media and Information Languages. FLASHCARDS. Language. It pertains to the technical and symbolic ingredients or codes and conventions that media and information professionals may select and use in an effort to communicate ideas, information and knowledge. Media Language
According to Berrelson (1952), content analysis is a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication. The content analysis aims to decipher the real message of the content, through careful evaluation of the elements found in the message. Content in this context can refer to letters, diaries, newspaper content, folk songs, short stories, poetry, radio and television programs, books, films, documents, or symbols. Devi Prasad explains that content analysis conforms to three basics principles of scientific method.
1. Objectivity: Content analysis requires objectivity. Evaluation of contents must be impartial that other researcher will be able to arrive at the same results of your study if they use the same content.
2. Systematic: Content inclusion and exclusion are done according to some consistently applied rules whereby the possibility of including only materials which support the researcher’s ideas – is eliminated.
3. Generalizability: Results obtained from a successful content analysis can be applied to similar situations.
The process of content analysis answers Lasswell’s “Who says What in which Channel to Whom and with What effect” model of communication. While content analysis has a variety of application in several fields, it is most widely used in social sciences and mass communication research. Prasad detailed the process involved in doing content analysis in these six steps.
1. Formulation of the research questions or objectives
2. Selection of communication content and sample
3. Developing content categories
4. Finalizing units of analysis
5. Preparing a coding schedule, pilot testing and checking intercoder reliabilities
6. Analyzing collected data
The codes and conventions in media
The operative definition of codes in this context is the meaningful pattern into which signs are conveyed. Conventions, on the other hand, are the rules, which describe predictable patterns. They govern which patterns are normally appropriate and can also predict the meanings, which the patterns convey. Hence, codes and convention govern the way in which signs are chosen and combined (Nicholas & Price 1998).
The source of the message
The source in the communication process is the origin of information. In the earlier models of communication, the source typically acts as both the origin of thought the sender of the message as well. It is not necessarily the case with media. Media platforms merely serve as mediums in communicating information. The information they broadcast typically originate from somewhere or someone else. It is first acquired through research, interview, coverage, and etc. In their book entitled Advance studies in Media, Joe Nicholas, and John Prince listed the following as sources.
1. News Agencies are organizations employing journalists to find and write stories. These stories are then made available to any news organizations which pays and annual subscription.
2. Stories are written by a news organisation’s own staff.
3. Press releases are publicity statements released by organizations
4. Emergency services such as police, fire, ambulance, search and rescue teams are valuable sources of information for incidents worth reporting on.
5. Members of the public give good leads for stories.
6. Another media refers to previously released materials which can be further developed.
7. Court the judicial system can provide compelling stories through court cases.
8. Diary stories or coverage stories. Typically journalists cover public meetings and events to produce a story.
9. Contact refer to a journalist’s connections in organizations that willingly provides alternative information provides by PR sources
The audience of the message
The audience refers to the recipients of information or the consumers of media. There are two general types of media audience, the mass, and the niche.
· Mass Audience – refers to the mainstream consumers
· Niche Audience – a small, influential audience with a unique taste.
As a commercial industry, the media depends on advertisers or profit. An audience is necessary to encourage advertisers to invest. It is for the reason that media producers spare no expense in understanding their audience. Among their many efforts is classifying the audience according to their demographic profiles.
a. Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors, and other highly salaried professionals
b. Middle management, teachers, many ‘creative’ e.g. graphic designers, etc.
c. Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses, specialists clerical staff, etc.
d. Skilled workers, tradespersons (white collar)
e. Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue collar)
f. Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers
Other players in the process: Gatekeepers and Regulators
The abundance of information creates the need for gatekeepers. According to Westley and Maclean (1957) gatekeepers filters the message according to the needs of the audience and media institutions. They determine which information passes through the communication process and those, which discarded. Their communication model further explains that a gatekeeper’s job happens in the following levels.
Individual level: Refers primarily on who the gatekeeper is as an individual and his or her preferences.
Routine practice level: This is the standard operating procedure followed by a gatekeeper as dictated by the type of work to be done.
Communication organizations: The policies of the organization that will publish the work
Social institutions: The social systems by which the message is formed.
Societies: Societal values and belief systems, rules and norms, etc.
Laws and regulations govern the media, like most industries. These regulations keep them in check and sets up boundaries for them to operate. Examples of media regulators are government institutions, non-government organizations that promote media responsibility, and associations of media producers.
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