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COMMUNICATION AS 

AN ACADEMIC FIELD
Introduction to Media & Society

Dr. Vincent Manzerolle

September 18, 2017
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This week…
• Major media “events” of the past year to consider the
“converged” state of media and bring out key chapter 1 themes.
• The history of “shrinking space through time” with new
communication technologies.
• The early history of communication studies as an academic field.
• Different approaches to communication, emphasis on the “social
model.”


Also this week:

• Assignment #1 information at the end of lecture today.
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2016 in review
• News: Trump, Brexit, Zika, Fort McMurray, Orlando mass shooting,
Nice attack, Baghdad bombing, police shootings of Alton Sterling
and Philando Castile, Dallas shooting of police, Standing Rock,
Aleppo, Fidel Castro.
• Entertainment and popular culture: Notable celebrity deaths,
Pokemon Go, Finding Dory, Suicide Squad, Rogue One, Gilmore
Girls, The Tragically Hip, Drake, Arthur memes… (audible sigh)
Harambe.
• Sports: Rio Olympics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Cubs, Euro
2016, Muhammad Ali.
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Convergence
• Important concept from chapter
1, see pages 18-20.
• Captures recent shifts/changes
in media over the last 10-15
years.
• Convergence often refers to
technological convergence, the
merging of formerly separate
mediums.
• Digital technology (“new
media”) allows for this.
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Analog = Discrete Media

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Digital Media = Convergence

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Convergence
• Convergence can also refer to a
convergence of media producers and
consumers, and a more interactive,
participatory media culture.
• Remix and mash-up media culture.
• However, as the textbook authors warn
(see page 9), we must be cautious in
declaring that new media offer us a
utopia of choice, participation, and
democracy.
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Convergence
• … because convergence can also
refer to corporate convergence.
• Corporate convergence, where more
and more of our media and
communications are owned by fewer
and fewer massive companies, is
also on the rise.
• More on this topic in the second half
of the course.
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Shrinking space through time

• All the big media events of 2016 had the function of “shrinking
space through time.” (see page 6)
• This is another important concept to understand the significance
of studying media and communication.
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…. almost 200 years earlier

• Electric “Morse telegraph.”
• Massive growth in mid-1800s, cables across Atlantic Ocean by the
1860s.
• Shrinking space through time.
• Communication free from transportation for the first time.
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The impact of the telegraph

1. Delivery of news: headlines only… and inaccuracies.
2. Emergence of stock markets and “futures” trading.
3. Military and government power.
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Picture of Finn
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War propaganda
• By the start of the twentieth century,
recognition that wars needed to be fought
not only with military strength, but also
media persuasion.
• During World War I, the American
government created the “Committee on
Public Information” – a government
propaganda agency.
• This agency produced newspapers, films,
posters.
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Radio Broadcasting
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World War II propaganda

• German propaganda, created by Joseph
Goebbels, used all forms of media, including
film, radio, literature, and newspapers.
• America countered with their own propaganda,
including Disney cartoons!
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Emergence of the academic field

• New interest in communication as an academic field by the 1940s.
• What is an “academic field”? Teaching and research.
• During this era, emphasis on “media effects.” Connection to war
propaganda and “mass audience” concerns.
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Founding thinkers and researchers

1. Harold Lasswell: 

Psychologist from Yale, who studied propaganda films extensively
to figure out brainwashing effects.
• "Who (says) What (to) Whom (in) What Channel (with) What Effect"
2. Paul Lazarsfeld: 

Sociologist from Columbia who used large-scale statistical surveys
to figure out influence of mass media. Theory of “opinion
leaders” and limited effects. (more in chapter 2 of textbook)
3. Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver: 

Created “mathematical model of communication,” noted on page
12.
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Founding thinkers and researchers

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“Propaganda” and 2016 American presidential election

• “Questionable” news trended on
Facebook throughout the fall.
• This story, about a FBI agent related to
Hillary Clinton e-mails, is fake. There is
no such thing as the “Denver
Guardian.”
• Yet, this trended on Facebook and, as
we know, many will only read the
headline.
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“Propaganda” and 2016 American presidential election

• “Fake news” a major media controversy.
• Beyond Facebook news, other forms of
election “propaganda” could include
individual tweets/statements from
candidates, or even more traditional
television ads:
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Hypododermic Needle Theory

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Two - Step Flow Model

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Two - Step Flow Model

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Applying 1940s/1950s thinking to 2016

• Election “propaganda,” from fake news to Facebook ads.
• Microtargeting Advertisements on Social Media
• Apply early models…
• What would Lasswell say?
• What would Lazarsfeld say?
• Shannon and Weaver’s “mathematical model”?
• Early models limited – simplifying communication.
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Social model of communication

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Key concepts, examples, names

Concepts: Examples:
• Convergence • Telegraph history
• Dimensions of mass media • 2016 election and “propaganda”
• Mathematical model of communication
• New media Names:
• “Shrinking space through time” • Harold Lasswell
• Social model of communication • Paul Lazarsfeld
• Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver
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Assignment #1 – background
• Professors are both teachers and researchers.
• Professors publish research, most commonly: academic books,
articles in academic “journals” (“periodicals”).
• Older model: professors publish articles in journals. These
journals then charge university libraries for print and/or digital
subscriptions. Optional reading on this subject:

cbc.ca/news/technology/academic-publishers-reap-huge-profits-as-libraries-go-
broke-1.3111535
• Newer model: “open access” journals offer articles online, for
free, to everyone. The spirit driving open access is that research
and knowledge are meant to be shared.
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Assignment #1 – instructions
• The first assignment asks you to read and summarize a single
article from a prominent open access journal, The International
Journal of Communication.
• See Blackboard for a detailed assignment instruction sheet and
grading rubric. Read this information carefully.
• Have questions? Ask in lab! Visit office hours!
• Worried about writing? Utilize the Writing Support Desk:

leddy.uwindsor.ca/writing-help-services
• Due October 2 @ 4pm – uploaded to Blackboard for “SafeAssign”
plagiarism check and a hard copy in lecture.
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QUESTIONS?