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.