Chapter 1: The Communications Supermodel

The Communications Model is one of those things which, as you learn, leads you to say "Oh. That makes sense. I feel like I knew it all along. I just never thought of it that way." I think part of the reason this feeling comes when learning of the model is that any thoughtful analysis of media throughout life shows evidence of communication, noise, and interpretation.

CASE IN POINT #1: NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

On Friday September 26, 2008, the Daily Universe ran an article with the headline: "Bailout deal breaks down; Paulson goes back to Capitol." This article chronicles the difficulty our national leaders are having in finding a solution for the enormous financial crisis on America's doorstep. It tells how leaders are disagreeing on important issues and percieved progress is illusory. The interesting thing about this article (as with all articles) is the inherent bias. This spin originates in the encoding the article writer performs while composing his article. Noise could include edits and revisions made by the paper editor. Decoding changes the meaning conveyed as well.

For instance, let us observe the following sentence: "John Boehner expressed misgivings about the emerging plan and McCain would not commit to supporting it..." This sentence could paint two distinct images in the readers' minds, depending on how they happen to decode it. Either they see the fact that McCain "would not commit" implying a lack of conviction or competency This version of McCain is wishwashy.

Another reader might decode the message to mean "Boehner had misgivings, but McCain was firm in his stance and would not commit to a bad plan."

This is a drastically different message, differing in the decoding of the article.

There is a very limitted feedback available in this medium. One could write a letter to the editor, or the associated press reporter, but it wouldn't make much difference. Newspaper involve basically half of the Communications Model. Reporters encode information, it is published, and we decode it as we wish, without much feedback. The channel is the writing, printing, and reading of the newspaper. The most significant noise in this model is probably lack of readership. If people don't read the articles, they won't get the message.

CASE IN POINT: Magazines.

Time Magazine recently ran a front-page article entitled "The End of Prosperity?" illustrating the similarities between the 1929 depression and our current economic situation. The author (sender)of this article communicated thru images, facts, and opinions written in the article. Part of the message encoded was

"In the case of households, debt rose from about 50% of GDP in 1980 to a peak of 100% in 2006. In other words, households now owe as much as the entire U.S. economy can produce in a year. " This stark fact communicated the message to the readers of the article: "Oh boy, we are in trouble!" Of course, this depends entirely on the decoding, or interpretation, the reader applies to the information.

Noise involved in this scenario is similar to the noise involved in newspapers: lack of readership, functional issues, and faulty encoding can distort or prevent the message from being transmitted thru the channel of magazine composition, distribution, and literary consumption. Feedback is limited in this medium as well. Letters to the magazine headquarters are permissable, and some magazines allow letters to the editor to be published. The internet has greatly allowed more readers of magazines to provide feedback by leaving online comments, blogs, and ratings of articles.

EXAMPLE: RADIO

Glenn Beck, a very popular national radio host, spoke in a show recently about the bailout bill just passed by the Senate. In that show, he rhetorically asked of senators:

It's not enough to vote for the bill to save your country? You need an incentive? You need something to convince you besides your sacred duty, besides our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor? This bill last night that was passed is the size of a novel. I'm a pretty fast reader. I couldn't read 435 pages in one night, let alone 435 pages written by attorneys! Section 325 provides essential tax breaks for the wool research fund. What else do we need to know! Could we make sandwiches out of wool? No! Sweaters! What else do you need to know about wool! Section 503 gives tax breaks for the manufacturer of wooden arrows used in toys for children. Price tag, $6 million. Wooden arrows? Aren't you the same people that are telling me that it's politically incorrect to play cowboys and Indians!

This is a prime showcase of the differences between print and radio media. Herein, the encoding of the message is Glenn Beck writing a speech and speaking into a microphone. The channel of transmission is thru radio airwaves, and the decoding takes play in car stereo systems and listener's minds all around the country. This message is conveyed not only with facts, but also with intense emotion, and talk radio shows are generally designed to make listeners resonate and emote in harmony with the sender. With both talk radio and music radio, noise comes thru static as mechanical noise, verbal mistakes from the sender and lack of comprehension as semantic noise, and outside influences such as other cars or crying children as environmental noise. Feedback in the radio medium is more common today than ever before, as many stations allow callers to express their opinions and agree or disagree with speakers or to request songs. Noise can interrupt feedback in the form of lost calls. There are also gatekeepers who screen the callers and can interrupt the channel of feedback.

TELEVISON:

CNN covered the vice-presidential debates, and put this clip of the debate online:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/02/sot.debate.biden.iraq.cnn

Television is a very popular medium for people to get their news. This may be due partly to the fact that there is very little noise involved in the television communication model. I am currently in the midst of a music project, an original CD that I will be releasing in about a month. The fellow who is mixing the music told me "in some ways you benefit from mixing via headphones. In other ways you shortchange yourself. Headphones give a very severe, blatant perspective to the sound you are making, and expose every little detail." The same might be said of television. Because it allows viewers such and unadulterated and direct channel to the sender of the message conveyed, it exposes minute details unavailable thru other media.

In this clip, Joe Biden sends a message in many ways. His appearance, his words, his slightest gesture and change of posture all send a message to the receivers: the American viewers. The endcoding lies in all of these factors, as well as the lighting, camera angle, and editting put in by workers at CNN. The message is that Barack Obama will end the war in Iraq, and McCain won't. The channel is thru electromagnetic waves thru-out the country. The decoding is in the televisions themselves, as well as in the minds and eyes of the viewers. Feedback occurs in forums online, and no feedback is available for viewers wishing to respond directly thru the same channel as they received the message. Noise can occur semantically (I don't understand what he just said!) , mechanically, (Oop, we've got static again!) and environmentally (Kids, quiet down! I can't hear the TV!)

All of these forms of media have different limitations and benefits. Notwithstanding, each can fit into the Communications Model. Some admittedly fit better than others. For instance, Television and magazines have less feedback opportunities than do radio and newspapers. And the channel is more tangible in television and radio than in newspaper and magazines. Still, the model can be stretched to apply to every medium with some degree of success.