Communication,
functions many and varied
listings have been made by
communications analysts.
The following eight
functions are usually
quoted as being central:
instrumental (to achieve or
obtain something); control
(to get someone to behave
in a particular way);
information (to find out or
explain something);
expression (to express
one’s feelings or put
oneself over in a particular
way); social contact
(participating in company);
alleviation of anxiety (to
sort out a problem, ease a
worry about something);
stimulation (response to
something of interest); and
role-related (because the
situation requires it).
Though the term
‘community radio’ was
probably first used in the
UK by Rachel Powell in a
pamphlet Possibilities for
Local Radio (Centre for
Contemporary Cultural
Studies, University of
Birmingham, December
1965), the idea goes as far
back as the Beveridge
report, 1950, which
proposed the use of VHF
frequencies to ‘establish
local radio stations with
independent programs of
their own.
Conglomerates: media
conglomerates The
increasing cost of entering
the media market has, in
part, fostered a communications industry
concentration of ownership
in the various sectors of
the communications
industry. Peter Golding
and Graham Murdock in
an article entitled ‘Culture,
communications and
political economy’ in Mass
Media and Society
(Arnold, 1996), edited by
James Curran and Michael
Gurevitch, write, ‘The rise
of communications
conglomerates adds a new
element to the old debate
about the potential abuses
of owner power. It is no
longer a simple case of
proprietors intervening in
editorial decisions or firing
key personnel who fall foul
of their political
philosophies. Cultural
production is also strongly
influenced by commercial
strategies built around
“synergies” which exploit
the overlaps between the
company’s different media
interests.’ (See also
Curran, ed., Media and
Society, 5th edition,
Bloomsbury Academic,
2010). A communications
conglomerate is an
amalgam of corporations
such as Sony, Disney,
Time Warner, Bertelsmann
and News Corporation (see
news corp.) which operate
mainly or wholly with
communications or leisure
interests and function
globally. Significant
sectors of the
are part of general
conglomerates whose main
business concerns are
outside the
communications field. The
mass media can be seen as
related to the industrial
system in two ways: first,
they are part of it as large-
scale buyers and sellers
and makers of profit;
second, they are preachers
of its (industry’s) messages
(see media imperialism).
The concentration of
ownership, the increased
potential for power which
it facilitates, and the
interrelationship between
the communications
industry and other
industrial and commercial
interests constitute
important areas of current
media research; in
particular the focus of
attention is on the role of
conglomerates in the world
of the internet. Considering
that in the UK alone Net
advertising has been
estimated (in 2010) to be
worth in excess of 100
billion, corporate
ownership and control is a
hot issue of the day. What
big business is uneasy
about is the Net allowing
free use of online content,
a worry which in 2010
decided Rupert Murdoch’s
News International to
introduce charges for the
online services of its
flagship newspaper, The
Times.
Google Conceived by
Stanford University
computer-science graduate
students Larry Page and
SergeiBrin in 1995 and
launched in 1997, Google
experienced almost instant
and exponential growth, by
2000 becoming the world’s
largest search engine. The
original name was
BackRub. ‘Googal’ is a
mathematical term coined
by Milton Sirotta, nephew
of the US mathematician
Edward Kasner, for the
number represented by 1
followed by 100 zeros;
thus a ‘google’ stood for
an extremely large number,
reflecting the new
company’s ambition to
provide vast amounts of
information on the World
Wide Web. Partner with
yahoo in 2000, image
search was launched in
2001, google book and
google print followed by
same year.
YouTube An audio-visual
network platform launched
in February 2005 to which
millions post their videos.
Its slogan is ‘Broadcast
Yourself’ and it has been
described as a ‘speakers’
corner’. It limits
submissions by individuals
to 15 minutes. Part of the
google empire since 2006,
YouTube is easy to use,
observes no criteria for
selection, is anarchic in the art, trade, profession,
sense that there are no political party, etc. We can
classifications of order, have educational jargon,
and is virtually impossible cricket jargon, and
to regulate, monitor or sociological jargon – that
censor. It renders copyright is, the in-language of
prote people with specialist
knowledge or interest. For
Hot media, cold media those creating and
operating jargon, it is a
Terms coined by Marshall
useful if not vital means of
McLuhan, author of The
communicating quickly
Gutenberg Galaxy
between expert and expert.
(University of Toronto
For those outside, jargon
Press, 1962) and
appears to be an
Understanding Media
unnecessarily complicated
(Routledge & Kegan Paul,
alternative to plain
1964), and forming a basic
speaking, and a barrier to
tool of his analysis of the
good communication.
media. For McLuhan, ‘hot’
media extend one sense-
mode with high-definition
data: examples of ‘hot’
media are radio and film.
‘Cold’ media provide, in
contrast, low-definition
data, requiring much more
participation by the
individual. Examples are
TV, telephone and
cartoons. As Ralph Berry
queries in Communication
Through the Mass Media
(Edward Arnold, 1971),
‘all this is highly
controversial ... for
example, the “hotcold”
metaphor runs speedily
into difficulties (is the
living theatre significantly
different in the front or the
rear stalls?)
Jargon The specialist
speech of groups of people
with common identity – of
religion, science, medicine,