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Short summary per chapter McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory (6th edition)(whole book)
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Part One - PreliminariesChapter 1 – Introduction to the book
The mass media = the organized means of communicating openly, at a distance, and to many in a
short space of time (mass communication: large-scale, one-way flow).
Mass communication = all types and processes of communication that are extensive, public and
technically mediated.
General themes in discussions of the social origins, significance and effects of communication, whether at
the personal level or that of a whole society: time (when, length, speed, storing information), place
(context, reducing distance, (de)localizing), power (means), social reality (reflection of reality), meaning
(interpretation, denotation), causation/determination (causing effects in society or they
outcome/reflection of society), mediation (meanings formed by way of the media (influence)), identity
(formation, maintenance, dissolution, (de)integration), cultural difference (production and use),
governance (regulation, control (market/laws).
Specific matters that are problematic or in dispute in the public arena:
Relations with politics and the state: Political campaigns and propaganda; Citizen participation
and democracy; Media role in relation to war and terrorism; Influence on the making of foreign
policy; Serving or resisting sources of power.
Cultural issues: Globalization of content and flow; Promoting the quality of cultural life and
cultural production; Effects on cultural and social identity.
Social concerns: The definition of reality and mediation of social experience; Links to crime,
violence, pornography and deviance; Relation to social order and disorder; Promotion of an
information society; The use and quality of leisure time; Social and cultural inequality.
Normative questions: Freedom of speech and expression; Social and cultural inequality: class,
ethnicity, gender and sexuality; Media norms, ethics and professionalism; Media accountability
and social responsibility.
Economic concerns: Degree of concentration; Commercialization of content; Global imperialism
and dependency.
Difference of approach between:
1. Critical orientation: seeks to expose underlying problems and faults of media practice and relate
them to social issues, guided by certain values.
2. Administrative orientation/applied approach: harness an understanding of communication
processes to solving practical problems of using mass communication more effectively
Multiple & divergent perspectives
(1) Leftish theory (progressive/liberal): critical of power exercised by media in the hands of the
state/large global corporations VS. Rightist theory (conservative): point to ‘liberal bias’ of
news/damage done by media to traditional values
(2) Critical orientation seeks to expose underlying problems and faults of media practice and relate
them to social issues, guided by certain values VS. Administrative orientation/applied approach:
harness an understanding of communication processes to solving practical problems of using mass
communication more effectively
(3) Media-centric: focus on media's sphere of activity as autonomous; mass media as primary mover in
social change, driven forward by irresistible developments in communication technology; pays
more attention to specific content of media and potential consequences of different kinds of media
VS. Socio-centric: views media as reflection of political and economic forces
(4) Culturalist: culture and ideas; humanistic; quantitative, subjective VS. Materialist: material forces
and factors; scientific; qualitative; objective
,Four different perspectives on media and society:
1. Media-culturalist: focus on media content and form, and to the subjective reception (meaning) of
media messages as influenced by immediate personal environment
2. Media-materialist: emphasizes shaping of media content and thus potential effects, by nature of
medium in respect of technology and the social relation of reception and production. Attributes
influence to specific organizational contexts + dynamics or production
3. Social-culturalist: subordinates media (experience) to deeper + more powerful forces affecting
society and individuals. Social/cultural issues predominate over political/economic
4. Social-materialist: critical view of media ownership and control to shape dominant ideology
transmitted/endorsed by the media; media & contents mainly as reflection of political-economic
& material forces & conditions
Five kinds of theory relevant to mass communication (MC)
1. Social scientific: offers general statements about the nature, working and effect of MC, based on
systematic and objective observation of media and other relevant sources, which can be put to
the test and validated or rejected (primary, quantitative research).
2. Cultural: evaluative (seeking to differentiate cultural artefacts according to some criteria of
quality; challenge hierarchical classification to the true significance of culture); core component
often imaginative + ideational; resist demand testing/validation by observation
3. Normative: examining/prescribing how media ought to operate if certain social values are to be
observed/attained. Role in shaping/legitimating media institutions.
4. Operational: practical ideas assembled and applied by media practitioners in conduct of their own
media work (similar practical wisdom in most organizational/professional settings); may overlap
with normative theory in matters of journalistic ethics and codes of practice.
5. Common-sense: knowledge we all have from personal experience gives ability to make
consistent choices, construct lifestyles/identities as media consumers and supports ability to
make critical judgements shapes what the media offer to their audiences. Social definitions of
media emerge from the experience and practices of audiences over time.
, Because of globalization: Networks are to an
increasing degree not confined to any one ‘level’
of society, as implied by Figure 1.2. The Internet,
for instance, now supports communication at
virtually all levels. It also sustains chains or
networks that connect the social ‘top’ with the
‘base’ and are vertical (in both directions) or
diagonal, not just horizontal.
There are essentially three main alternative approaches:
1. Structural approach: starting point is ‘Socio-centric’; primary object of attention is likely to be
media systems and organizations and their relationship to the wider society. Media content
questions: focus on the effect of social structure and media systems on patterns of news and
entertainment (commercial media systems tend to concentrate more on entertainment, while
public service media provide relatively more information and traditional culture). Media use and
effect questions: emphasizes consequences of mass communication for other social institutions
(influence of political marketing on the conduct of elections or the role of news management and
PR in government policy). The fundamental dynamics of media phenomena are located in the
exercise of power, in the economy and the socially organized application of technology. The
structural approach to media analysis is more linked to the needs of management and also of
media policy formation.
2. Behavioural approach: principal roots in psychology and social psychology but also a sociological
variant. Primary object of interest is individual human behaviour, especially in matters to do with
choosing, processing and responding to communication messages. Mass media use is generally
treated as a form of rational, motivated action that has a certain function or use for the individual
and also some objective consequences. Psychological approaches are more likely to use
experimental methods of research based on individual subjects. The sociological variant focuses
on the behaviour of members of socially defined populations and favours the multivariate
analysis of representative survey data collected in natural conditions. Individuals are classified
according to relevant variables of social position, disposition and behaviour, and the variables can
be statistically manipulated. In the study of organizations, participant observation is commonly
adopted. This approach is mainly found in relation to the study of persuasion, propaganda and
advertising. Communication is primarily understood in the sense of transmission.
3. The cultural approach: roots in the humanities, in anthropology and in linguistics. Mainly applied
to questions of meaning and language, to the minutiae of particular social contexts and cultural
experiences. ‘Media-centric’ (although not exclusively), sensitive to differences between media
and settings of media transmission and reception, more interested in the in-depth understanding
of particular contents and situations than in generalization. Methods favour the qualitative and
in-depth analysis of social and human signifying practices and the analysis and interpretation of
‘texts’. Draws on a much wider range of theory, including feminist, philosophical, semiotic,
psychoanalytic, film and literary theories. Typically, there is no direct application for the cultural
approach, although it can yield many important insights for media producers and planners. It
helps in a fuller understanding of the audience and in accounting for success and failure in
qualitative ways.
, Chapter 2 - The Rise of Mass Media
Main mass media:
- Print (book): at first only ‘reproducing’; later change in content (secular, practical, political etc.)
- Print (newspaper): novelty in its functions (rather than technology/manner of distribution):
orientation to the individual reader and to reality, its utility and disposability, and its secularity and
suitability for the needs of a new class: town-based business and professional people.
Party-political press: task of activation, information and organization
Prestige press: objective reporting of events by journalists
Poplar press: for urban industrial masses and designed to be read by almost everyone
(economies of scale; advertising revenue); ‘human interest stories’ (dramatic)
- Other print: plays, songs, tracts, serial stories, poems etc.
- Film: technological novelty; scarcely new in content/function (new means of presentation/
distribution of older tradition of entertainment for popular consumption); shared public experience
of film made private (tv at home; not mass exposure); audience has control of selection; often
apparatus of licensing, censorship and powers of control
- Broadcasting: radio and television; novelty in technology; high degree of regulation, control or
licensing by public authority; centralized pattern of distribution (metropolitan areas)
- Recorded music: content not easy to regulate; distribution in hands of established institutions
- ‘New Media: internet’: : interconnectedness, accessibility to individual users as senders and/or
receivers, interactivity, multiplicity of use and open-ended character, and ubiquity and
‘delocatedness’. Shifted ‘balance of power’ from the media to the audience (active user)
Form Medium aspects Institutional aspects
Book Technology of movable type Commodity form
Bound pages (codes form) Market distribution
Multiple copies Diversity of content and form
For personal reading Claim to freedom of publication
Individual authorship Subject to some legal limits
Newspaper Regular and frequent appearance Urban, secular audience
Print technology Relative freedom, but self-censored
Topicality of contents and reference In public domain
Individual or group reading Commodity form
Commercial basis
Film Audio-visual channels of reception Subjection to social control
Private experience of public content Complex organization of and distribution
Extensive (universal) appeal High cost of production
Predominantly narrative fiction Multiple platforms of distribution
International in genre and format
Television Very diverse types of content Complex technology and organization
Audio-visual channels Subject to legal and social control
Close, personal and domestic association National and international character
Low intensity and involvement experience High public visibility
Radio Sound appeal only Relative freedom
Portable and flexible in use Local and decentralized
Multiple types of content, but more music Economical to produce
Participative (two-way) potential
Individual and intimate in use
Recorded Sound experience Low degree of regulation
Music Personal and emotional satisfaction High degree of internationalization
(phonogram) Main appeal to youth Multiple technologies and platforms
Mobile, flexible individual use Links to major media industry
Organizational fragmentation
Central to youth culture
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