Chapter 1: The communication model

In the communications model, there is a sender who encodes his/her/its message to the receiver through a channel. The message is then decoded and the receiver gives feedback. Noise is anything that disrupts the flow of the message or feedback to and/or from the sender and receiver. Every medium in communications utilizes each component well.

Newspapers: To begin, the reporter is the sender in that he/she writes the article that is published in the newspaper. The process of writing the article is also the encoding process of te model. The newspaper is the channel through which the message, aka the article, is sent. The newspaper is then sent out to houses and vending machines everywhere where receivers, also known as avid readers of the newspaper, then decode the message by reading the article. They may or may not give feedback by writing to the editor or emailing the reporter. The noise in this process could be a variety of things, such as a bad mood which prevents reading without a suspicion of bias AGAINST anything you think, literal noise which makes reading difficult, or even a friend who has an opposing viewpoint on what you're reading.

Here's an example: A reporter for the Daily Herald writes an opinionated article on the most recent BYU win saying BYU is the best, period. The article is then published in the Herald and sent out to readers everywhere. BYU fans welcome this article with open arms and U of U fans feel differently. BYU fans email the reporter, heralding his story, while U of U fans detest the article. Some BYU fans have friends at U of U and create noise between each other and make the article less receptive because it causes tension.

Magazines: virtually identical to newspapers. A Sports Illustrated reporter puts out an article in the issue every week. Lets say one article claims that the Broncos are Super Bowl-bound. (doubt it) He submits the article, the article is first criticized by his editor who is a Raiders fan. However, the article is distributed to loyal readers. Soon, Broncos fans everywhere email this writer calling him a hero. Raiders fans are moderately offended by the article, even though their team is bad too. However, this causes controversy, goes to SportsCenter, and the reporter goes on, causing him to take a long time before checking most of his emails.

Radio: Lets use Rush Limbaugh, one of the most liked and hated radio personalities. He (the sender) goes on the radio (channel) everyday to profess (encode) his ideas and views on politics (message). However, he only comes on AM channels (noise) and some people never hear him. However, those who do (receivers) often have different takes on what he says (decoding). The liberals encode a message as hateful while, usually, conservatives are welcoming the message. Both parties want to call the radio station. However, friends and family advise against it because they think he or she will make a fool of themself (noise). Some eventually call (feedback) and Rush interprets messages as he chooses (decoding). And the process begins all over again.

TV: NBC airs the Office (sender) every thursday night. Channel 5 for us in the Heritage Halls dorms is NBC (channel). Not that it will, but let's just say the Office is changing to Tuesday nights (encoding). They send out the message through commercials. Some don't receive the message because they have fuzzy signals, they change the channel during ads, or they simply ignore commercials (noise) Office fans (receivers) decode it differently. Some think it's for one reason, some think it's for another. They send feedback to the network through emails, forums, etc. Not every email is read (noise) and not every message is received. They decode the feedback negatively and keep the time slot on thursday.

I think it works more efficiently for radio programs because of how direct the feedback can be and is. Radio personalities will change the course of their program based solely on an angry phone call. That alone makes the model work better because the message can be encoded and decoded more efficiently.

Informing: Newspapers. Look on the front page of any newspaper, and what do you see? NEWS. ALWAYS NEWS. Yes, there are other sections. But newspapers always start with the news.

Entertaining: TV. With hundreds of channels to suit any taste, It's fairly obvious that entertainment in any form is the goal of tv. ESPN, OLN, Oxygen, Spike, USA Network, all of these networks are pretty specialized. So TV is the most specialized in entertainment.

Persuading: Radio and TV. When listening to radio or watching TV, the power of someone's voice is a definite factor in how well they're persuaded. For example, Obama is a powerful orator and has persuaded many people to his side. However, so is Rush Limbaugh and he's hazed many of these "sheep" as he calls them with his powerful language.