Journal Entries #1 (Ch. 1 response)

The communication model could be applied to a newspaper article the following way: A reporter writes a story about the war in Iraq, and encodes it into his message which is sent to the receiver, who is a man who just picked up the morning paper. While he receives the message, there could be Environmental Noise, where there are cars passing by and honking, Internal noise, where the receiver's thoughts are elsewhere, or semantic noise, where the receiver does not understand the message at all. However, through all of this noise, the reader gets the message that the soldiers in Iraq are dying quickly. In response, the reader quickly writes a letter to the editor saying that if the soldiers are dying, they should put the draft out. As the reporter receives the feedback, there is the internal noise of five other stories that he's working on right now. He then gets the message back that they should put the draft out and that this reader is an old crazy guy.

As for a magazine article, a writer writes an article about anything at all, and it is published into the magazine they work for. The subscribers to the magazine receive the magazine and the article with the message, however there is the internal noise of random thoughts inside the receiver's head as they read the article. It may also be possible that there is semantic noise, that is that the receiver does not understand the message conveyed in the article. Then, the subscriber to the magazine could either email the author or write a letter to the editor about the article. The magazine will receive the message that the reader enjoyed the article through the semantic and internal noise of those who may be reading the article.

With a radio program, the communication model changes a little bit. It might be broadcasted over satellite radio, reaching a much larger audience than a newspaper or magazine might. As as it sends it's message to it's listeners, there may be Environmental noise from the listener's surrounding area, there may be Mechanical noise as there may be something wrong with the radio or the range of the broadcast, there may be Semantic noise where the listener may not understand, and there may be Internal noise inside the listener's head as they may be thinking about something else. As the listener (receiver) decodes the message, they could call into the radio station and tell them what they think about what they just heard on the radio. This feedback may be interrupted by all of the noises listed above. There could be environmental noise where there is people talking in the background, etc. However, the radio station receives the message and decodes it, realizing they should probably upgrade their program in order to include other listener's views.


For a television show, the communication model is typical. The Sender is the TV Station who broadcasts it's programs to various Receivers (people who watch the station) throughout the country. The message that is sent is the show being broad casted. However, there are many distractions of noise while watching TV, there are commercials actually included with the show which could be considered semantic noise. There is also potential environmental noise in the place where the viewer is watching the show, and there could also be internal and mechanical noise. As the viewer watches the show, they may rate the TV Shows, thus providing feedback to the broadcasting company.

The communication model does work for more efficiently for some media than for others. For instance, there is a lot more noise while watching television than while reading a magazine or newspaper article. I think that Television programs and radio stations have the most noise because of the frequent commercial breaks that they have and the potential of the receivers not to be paying attention to the message being sent, or other noise going on. However, when it comes to entertainment, radio and television have a lot more to offer. All you have to do is listen and watch, which require almost no mental work at all. However when you read a newspaper or magazine, you have to comprehend what you just read. Not very many people like to make the effort to find things out for themselves by reading it, they would much rather have it presented to them through a much easier form of media. When it comes to persuasion, however, I think that it goes back to the newspapers and magazines again. I think it's very easy for someone to be persuaded when they are reading something, because they are already engaged in the text. Also, using rhetorical tools in writing is very powerful and you can very easily be persuaded to a particular side.

Journal Entries #2 (Ch. 3 response)

Yes, of course negative stereotypes still exist in the media today. For example, there is the stereotype that all teenagers now are unruly, depressed psychopaths, immoral, have no respect for authority, and/or have some kind of problem with drugs/alcohol/porn. There is a good number who have that sort of problem, but it is extremely frustrating to be judged just because you are a young teen. You have almost no respect at that age. I think another negative stereotype that exists in media is against Muslim people. I'm pretty sure they are not all anti-Americans. There are some very nice people I have met over the years that are Muslim and I'm pretty sure they didn't have some crazy plans to take over the country or whatever.

Yes, I think there is a very very strong possibility that people will be immersing themselves in the world of mass media to a point where they begin to tune out the real world. It's already happening! There are people around the world who go for days without food or sleep who sit playing a computer game all day! There have been people that have died from exhaustion by cutting themselves off from the real world and immersing themselves into a virtual reality that the world of mass media provides. When people try to escape the real world by immersing themselves into another superficial one constantly, they eventually become ostracized from the real world. Thus, they lose their ability to communicate with people face to face, and a lot of genuineness or authenticity is lost in conversation with others.

When people do begin to overly distance themselves from the outside world, they lose a lot of skills that they would have had. For example, if Sally was to talk to her "friends" through means of only texting, facebook, and/or myspace, it would probably be much harder and more awkward for her to talk to people face to face or even over the phone. She would lose her ability to communicate with others in person. Cases like this were apparent all over my High School. I knew several kids who would come to school, keep to themselves and be shy most of the time, and then go home and facebook, myspace, text, play video games, or whatever. That's why it's extremely important to find a balance of our use of Mass Media. Too much of good thing can be bad, and so is the case with Mass Media.

My BYU Comms 101 Blog!

Well, this is the official opening of my Blog for my comms class, I hope you will enjoy it!