Harold Lasswells Narrative Model

Harold Lasswells Narrative Model What is communication? According to G.G.Brown, it means the transfer of information to one person to another, whether or not it elicits confidence. But the information transferred must be understandable to the receiver. Therefore, in order to communicate, one can use the medium as a channel to pass over a piece of information to another person but whether or not the message gets through perfectly, it will be entirely up to the individuals interpretation. However, Lasswells model does not take the audiences opinion into account. This is one of the many weaknesses of the 64-year-old model. Communication is basically to provide and find information, persuade the readers and express our emotions. A model can help create theories and indicate the relationships between the elements. Lasswell came up with the model initially to answer five very important questions to ensure a smooth communication process which consists of who(Communicator), what(Message), which(Medium), whom(Receiver), and what effect(Effect). Lasswell was inspired by the earliest mass communication model that the famous philosopher, Aristotle initiated and tried to improve the model by adding the channel as a medium to replace occasion which was previously proposed by Aristotle. Aristotle mainly emphasized on the role of the audience in his model and public speaking rather than interpersonal communication. As for the occasion model, Aristotle suggested constructing speech for the different types of audiences at different occasion to obtain the response that are desired. The act of constructing the speech is done by the speaker. For every public speaking session, the speaker must be fully prepared by making sure he understands what the audiences interests are before speaking. What the speaker says should have some sort of an influence to the audience and try to convince the audience with his brilliant ideas. Thus, Lasswells model concentrates more on verbal communication just like Aristotles model. The model involves a speaker who passes on information to an audience through the media such as radio, television, newspaper, magazines, music and many more to successfully deliver the message. A model is usually used to explain the process of mass communication. As for Lasswells model, it is explained in words and not in diagrams. Who: Communicator(Control analysis) The first element of the model is control analysis which involves the communicator to control the messages that are being passed. This is usually the gatekeepers responsibility. In a way, a gatekeeper could be holding too much power as they can choose to hide information that could be important for the public to know but might not be helpful to their personal cause. Only what the media choose to publish is known to the public, thus making it unfair for the other party especially during elections where only those who possess greater political influence can benefit from. This principle is quite similar to the agenda setting theory. No matter how bias the situation may seem, gatekeeping is actually a very necessary tool to both the public and media. With crucial information that the media has, they would be able to educate the public so they would not be ignorant towards their surroundings and starts to be more aware about the current worldwide issues. The media would only broadcast what they think is newsworthy and interesting to attract more readers. Therefore, they tend to neglect the audiences safety and rights to all information. Even so, there are still many factors to be put into consideration before making a decision about what to publish, the gatekeepers actually go through a lot of trouble researching about the owner of the newspaper company, their goals, the effect they would have to face for posting about certain issues, their political commitments and many more. The communicators might seem irresponsible and selfish with their business decisions but that is just the way certain gatekeepers work. Says what: Message(Content analysis) The message is the subject of the content analysis. It could be a piece of news about the recent natural disaster in Japan or even gossips about whether or not Britney Spears is pregnant. Lasswell was particularly worried about what the mass medias response towards the message that was portrayed by the media. This led to the introduction to a new study called content research. Questions of representation were usually asked, it is especially to make sure the women, and the blacks were properly represented on television or tabloids. Other than that, Lasswell studied the role of society in the movies closely for collecting statistics purposes. In Lasswells research would involve calculating the number of occasions of a specific representation and evaluate the results with an objective measure like an official statistics to obtain accurate results. The formula can also be applied to our everyday life and improve our interpersonal skills without having to consciously think too much about our messages. From the clothes you wear to how you smell, your appearance can tell people a lot about your personality, taste in music and messages about you. All these analysis would be useful to the media to construct a message accordingly. The media must also be very careful with the content of the message so that the public would not be offended or angry. In which channel: Medium(Media analysis) The third element would be the medium that is also known as the media analysis. In media analysis, there can be more than one channel to pass on a message. These channels are researched in media analysis. Lasswell introduced an efficient way to study the mass media known as media content analysis(1927). It was previously introduced to study propaganda but it started being used to study the roles of communication that was becoming more and more prominent in movies during the 1920s and 1930s. Media content analysis then grew to be the main research method in social sciences and mass communication studies with the appearance of television in the 1950s(Barton 2012). It is also used to research about representations of racism, women and violence in movies, television programmes, newspapers and magazines. To whom: Receiver(Audience analysis) As the medias responsibility is to construct and influence the audiences, the receiver plays a very important role in Lasswells model. The first theory about the media and audiences is called the stimulus-response(SR) that was originated from behaviourism. The audience are perceived to be fickle-minded, easily influenced and needs to be protected. The vulnerability image of the audience that was created limits their use of media and content. This is a result of the communicator and mediums doing and not the other way around. Lasswell often pay attention to the media, their content and audience and the effects of the media on the audience(Nielson, 2004 ) Lasswell considered his audience to be the passive type that does not like to interact with others, and not likely to give in to the pressure just to fit into society. The second theory is functionalism that was originated from media sociology. Functionalism is the opposite of the stimulus-response theory as the audience are believed to be independent and capable of making their own decisions. The audiences here are of mixed culture and democratic so they are more laid-back about media content and use. In functionalism, in order to fulfil their sociological and psychological needs, they use media content. The relationship between the media and the audience are closely related as the media affects the audiences behaviour. This theory explains how important the mass media is to the society. It brings order, stability, change, culture and values and many more. Without functionalism, the society would not know how to behave or speak appropriately. With what effect(Effect analysis) According to Lasswell, there must be an effect at the end of every communication process. This is because then this will determine on whether or not the communicator was able to change or motivate the audiences attitude. The audiences reaction to the news would determine how successful the communication process was. The more believable the source is, the more likely it will influence the audience. The way the model works In 1948, Lasswell introduced an interpretation of the media on a macro-sociological level. Functionalism in media sociology explains social practices and institutions in terms of the needs of society and individuals. Specializations that carry on certain functions are : 1) The surveillance of the environment; 2) the correlation of the parts of society in responding to the environment; 3) the transmission of the social heritage from one generation to the next. The mass media do not just supply facts and data, they provide information on the ultimate meaning and significance of events. They act to confer legitimacy to advocacy groups and leaders of social movements, whose success is dependant on attaining wide mainstream attention. The media serves as a catalyst to accelerate issues onto public agenda. Lasswell theorized that society and the media were dependant on each other. He said that society used media as a surveillance tool to monitor salient information around their environment. Surveillance of the environment is the collection and distribution of information by the media. This function is easily seen on news programs and newspapers. For example, As mass media report illegal actions going in the society, it awakes the awareness of people. Also, the information is distributed to everyone in the society, stimulating equalitarianism. However, it has side effects. Reporting the international events of certain countries may endanger the political stability of these countries and may even stimulate over-tension among society. Lasswell states that When the stimuli receiving and disseminating patterns operate smoothly, the several parts of the animal act in concert in reference to the enviroment (feeding, fleeing, attacking). Correlation of parts of society refers to the interpretive or analytical activities of the media. It functions to interpret issues and give solutions to the public, which solutions eventually affects the formation of the publics attitudes. Columns, editorial articles, criticisms and explanations are examples. The correlation function differentiates itself from surveillance function by presenting subjectivity while the Surveillance Function supposedly maintains objectivity. Correlation function acts during editing process, deciding what kind of news to choose, which news to grant more importance, and where to emphasize. The side effects of this function is that it can announce news without fairness. The newspapers may exclude important social problems. This brings limited interpretation of information and blocks the development of social revolution. This also drops the individuals ability of self-interpreting and self-criticizing. Transmission of the social heritage refers to the ability of the media to communicate values, norms, and styles across time and between groups. It is the function that spreads the common norms and values among the public. This action is called socialization, which is helpful for the unification of a country. As citizens are being touched with common norms and new cultural traditions of others, they can grow social adaptation abilities. The function is also effective as an educational tool by providing valuable information to the mass, or as a regulation tool by preventing the exposure of information on crime suspects. People who arrive in foreign countries can get familiar with the new culture by this function. However, getting only the structured forms of information and the uniformed cultures may lowered cultural variability and human creativity. Pros and cons Pros: As for the benefits of the narrative model, it is said to be a very straightforward and simple model to understand that can be applied to many communication theories. Lasswell was one of the first few who came up with the concept and it is still being used up till today. Cons: The model only assumes that there would be an effect at the end but does not worry about whether the effect is good or bad. What the audience think about the message was not taken into account so the improvement of the communication process can be non-existent. Its strengths and weaknesses are also due to it being a linear model. As easy as it looks, it does not allow for a two-way communication where the speaker can get an immediate feedback. The audience can lose interest pretty quickly if they have to pay attention to the speaker for a very long time especially if the speaker has a monotone voice and is talking about a boring topic. Those who has a very short attention span and is not a good listener would face that kind of problem. Other than that, Lasswell did not think about the surroundings where the audience might be facing. For instance, audience that listens to the radio for daily news can face external distractions in the car such as thunder, sound of the car horn, or the sound from the car engine. These are noises that need to be addressed in order to obtain the accurate statistics of people who gave a desired response. There are also cases of those who might have a neutral stand on current issues, thus not producing an effect. A lot of assumptions are made without verifying the results first that the results obtained might not be very reliable. Therefore the model is not very realistic as it does not fully represent the physical reality. Application in real life According to Lasswell, there are usually three types of communicators in each society, the first type are those who are involved in politics such as the foreign media and diplomats while those who compare the states reactions to the society are called journalists. The last type of communicator are called the educators, these are the people that pass on information from the older generation to the younger generation(Lasswell 1948). Targeting a group makes it easier for the media to specialize through advertising. It saves them money and time to figure what the latest trend is through surveys in order to maximise their profits. With the advancement of technology nowadays, there are more satellite broadcast and Internet channels available unlike during Lasswells time where there were only a few types of media channels like television and radio. The public can easily obtain information that may seem limited on television from the Internet so it is now harder for the gatekeeper to enforce the agenda setting theory on the public and manipulate the audiences mind. This is because the group of audiences have become more separated due to their personal preference to the type of media they choose to pay attention to. The killings at the Batman premier in Colorado can be used as an example for the narrative model. The communicator would be the media, the message would be the information about the number of people who die d during the shooting, the medium would be Huffington Post(online newspaper), the receiver would be the public and lastly the effect would be feelings of shock by the people about the incident. Lasswells narrative model is one of the earliest forms of communication models and also the simplest. Lasswells model could also be applied to all manner of other forms of communication, from telephone calls to web conversations, etc. It serves as the basis of the development of future communication models. A lot of improvements can be made to this model. Firstly, it should take into account the way audiences may perceive and interpret the message that is being relayed to them, it should also take into account the difference in circumstances that the communication is taking place, and whether or not the message reaches the receiver at all, why would the audience want to seek out that particular information? It should also make references to concepts like context, noise (whether the message is received accurately and clearly and can be fully interpreted by the receiver), purpose and feedback.

Miranda vs. Arizona Essay -- essays research papers

Miranda vs. Arizona:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This case had to do with an Ernest Miranda who raped a Patty McGee*. After extracting a written confession from the rapist about the situation, Miranda’s lawyer argued that it was not valid since the Phoenix Police Department failed to read Miranda his rights, also in violation of the Sixth Amendment which is the right to counsel. Some factors that helped support Miranda’s arguments were that the suspect had requested and been denied an opportunity to consult with a lawyer; the suspect had not been effectively warned about his right to remain silent; and an incriminating statement must have been given by the suspect. The author of the Arizona court’s decision, former U.S. Senator and Arizona governor Ernest W. McFarland, said that Miranda had not requested a lawyer at the time of his detention and therefore was not entitled to the protections offered by such thins as in the Escobedo vs. Illinois case.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Two months after the nation’s highest court agreed to hear arguments in the case of Miranda vs. Arizona, John Flynn and John Frank submitted their outline of the case and legal arguments in support of their position. They continued their argument that Ernest Miranda’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel had been violated by the Phoenix Police Department: â€Å"The day is here to recognize the full meaning of the Sixth Amendment,† they wrote. â€Å"We invoke the basic principles (that) ‘he requires the guiding...

Amazon in E-Commerce

Question 1: How has Amazon.com and their use of internet changed the retailing industry? Give examples. Answer: 1 Amazon.com has revolutionized the selling and purchasing of all products over the internet. It started with selling books over the internet and progressed in selling almost all consumer goods within a short span of time. Its engineering and quality principals make sure that all the various standard compliances are met and justified for improving the system behavior for its customers. Customers have now moved from the brick and mortars model, a traditional model for purchase of products, to the click and mortars model for ease of access, anytime anywhere access, take part in auctions and avail several promotion offers and gifts. The very perspective towards retail buying has been changed by Amazon.com. The virtual store concept is quite likely followed by many retailers after the success of Amazon.com and they have created a benchmark for its products and selling models define the very success over the long period since its inception. Question 2: Comparisons have been made by giant bookstore retailer Barnes & Nobles and Amazon.com. Barnes and Noble operate dozens of bookstores in many local communities. Yet Amazon.com’s reach goes anywhere and everywhere with the Web. What, in your opinion, should Barnes and Nobles do to compete with Amazon.com? Answer 2: Barnes and Nobles must identify the very future requirements for its physical bookstores and come up with â€Å"click and mortars† model for fetching the right customer focus and model. Identifying the competition around and the changing outlook of the customers towards decision making for purchasing products is the greatest differentiator for change. The decision making for taking the business of Barnes & Nobles over the internet would make sure that all the various present disadvantages would be capitalized upon. The brand mark of Barnes & Nobles makes sure that every activity towards the envelopment of skyrocketing technologies would develop into a mammoth in promoting its success and growth. Only setting up the website is not enough. The representation model, sound engineering techniques, quality standards and affiliation techniques makes sure that its representation over the internet is strong and makes a presence really promising. Question 3: In order to more quickly realize and sustain its profitability should Amazon.com have remained a solely clicks based e-business (without warehouses) selling only books? Why or why not? Answer 3: Amazon’s decision to cater to several products would definitely move its primary base of selling books to other products. This is a sort of erosion of its primary brand which it created for selling books. The very brand creation and sustenance for selling books online had created a larger market share for book selling. The various bookstores at that time were in greater risk concerning their sales as Amazon grew in its market share for selling books. It was a brand which no one could deny. Its decision towards clicks business for selling other products over books makes sure that monopoly was broken to some extent and other small to medium sellers in the market found opportunity to make some business. These created a balanced view for existence in the marketplace allowing every dimension of sellers and customers to interact for good. Another reason for making the right move is for long term business continuity and spreading its wing to several other products which did not make it to the internet in that era. Amazon’s decision to be clicks based business must be changed into â€Å"clicks and mortars† business model for improving its supply chain by making it efficient and effective. The effective supply chain would cut down extra costs of transportation and shipping and would in turn create trust for its safety and quality policies. Warehouses would make sure that timely delivery of products can be made at lesser costs, which otherwise would create a sense of misunderstanding and evolve privacy and security aspects to a larger scale. Question 4: How can Amazon.com complete Bezos’s vision? What do they need to do to individualize their services to 25 million customers? Answer: 4 Amazon.com must fetch the customers according to their tastes and product liking. The following can be the various options that can be exercised: Provide a survey with questionnaires of what is important, how it can be bettered, what else is desired and so on. The survey questions would serve quite helpful in fetching the right suggestion from its customers to in turn get them everything they desire. The adoption of B2B and C2C model where various sellers and buyers can meet for selling the products of their choice. This would help users to customize according to their preferences so that more number of customers is fetched for purpose. The customer logs must be duly analyzed for fetching the right decision and data mining approaches to the vast data can be devised for getting the facts out for better customization of products and services. Request boxes and techniques must be presented so that in case a customer fails to find exactly what he desires, he can make a request for the new product. This would help to fetch the needs in micro detail for better capturing of the customer base. The above approaches would enhance Bezos’s vision to cater to individual needs and demands. Amazon is a virtual reseller, one of the main new intermediaries (Sarkar, 1996.) They are an electronic-commerce only intermediary; business and customer relationship management (CRM) is conducted purely via their website; a virtual marketplace with no direct contact between buyers and sellers. Amazon have created a virtualized value system through their accelerated ordering, delivery and payment of goods and services, while reducing operating and inventory costs associated with traditional bricks and mortar stores. This model demands a change to bring every buyer and seller to meet for catering individualized services. References Sarkar, M., Butler, B. & Steinfield, C. (1996) Intermediaries & Cybermediaries.      

The 10 Stages of a Criminal Case

The 10 Stages of a Criminal Case If you have been arrested for a crime, you are at the beginning of what could become a long journey through the criminal justice system. Although the process may vary somewhat from state to state, these are the steps that most criminal cases follow until their case is resolved. Some cases end quickly with a guilty plea and paying a fine, while others can go on for decades through the appeals process. Stages of a Criminal Case ArrestA criminal case begins when you are arrested for a crime. Under what circumstances can you be arrested? What constitutes being under arrest? How can you tell if you have been arrested or detained? This article answers those questions and more. Booking ProcessAfter you are arrested you are then processed into police custody. Your fingerprints and photo are taken during the booking process, a background check is performed and you are placed in a cell. Bail or BondThe first thing you want to know after being placed in jail is how much its going to cost to get out. How is your bail amount set? What if you dont have the money? Is there anything that you can do that might influence the decision? ArraignmentUsually, your first appearance in court after you have been arrested is a hearing called the arraignment. Depending on your crime, you may have to wait until the arraignment to have your bail set. It is also the time that you will learn about your right to an attorney. Plea BargainingWith the criminal court system overwhelmed with cases, only 10 percent of cases go to trial. Most of them are resolved during a process known as plea bargaining. But you have to have something with which to bargain and both sides must agree on the agreement. Preliminary HearingAt the preliminary hearing, the prosecutor tries to convince the judge there is enough evidence to show that a crime was committed and you probably committed it. Some states use a grand jury system instead of preliminary hearings. It is also the time that your attorney tried to convince the judge that the evidence is not convincing enough. Pre-Trial MotionsYour attorney has the opportunity to exclude some of the evidence against you and try to establish some of the ground rules for your trial by making pre-trial motions. It is also the time when a change of venue is requested. Rulings made during this stage of the case can also be issues for appealing the case later. Criminal TrialIf you are truly innocent or if you are not satisfied with any plea deals offered to you, you have the option to allow a jury to decide your fate. The trial itself usually has six important stages before a verdict is reached. The final stage is right before the jury is sent to deliberate and decides on your guilt or innocence. Prior to that, the  judge explains what legal principles are involved with the case and  outlines the ground rules the jury must utilize during its deliberations. SentencingIf you plead guilty or you were found guilty by a jury, you will be sentenced for your crime. But there are many factors that can affect whether you get a minimum sentence or the maximum. In many states,   judges must also hear statements from the victims of the crime before sentencing. These  victim impact statements  can have a significant influence on the final sentence. Appeals ProcessIf you think a legal error caused you to be convicted and sentenced unfairly, you have the ability to appeal to a higher court. Successful appeals are very rare, however, and usually make headlines when they happen. In the United States, everyone accused of a crime is assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and has the right to a fair trial, even if they cannot afford to hire their own attorney. The criminal justice system is there to protect the innocent and seek the truth. In criminal cases, an appeal asks a higher court to look at the record of the trial proceedings to determine if a legal error occurred that may have affected the outcome of the trial or the sentence imposed by the judge.

Rise of the Novel essays

Rise of the Novel essays William Warner in his essay The Elevation of the Novel in England: Hegemony and Literary Theory from which the above quotation is taken outlines his theory of a dependence on the part of Fielding and Richardson on the novels of earlier writers despite their attempts to devalue their work. In this essay I will examine this relationship from Warner's standpoint and show that it is a relationship is both complex and paradoxical. Prior to his first novel in 1749, Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) published, in 1740-41, an advisory work called Letters Written to and for Particular Friends. This publication intended to instil in the reader a correct code of conduct or "how to think and act justly and prudently in the common concerns of life". With the publication of the 1749 novel "Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded, Richardson fully assumed his role as an author expounding the moralistic values of the bourgeois society to which he had ascended from more humble beginnings. This role would become impounded by his two subsequent novels Clarissa: or the History of a Young Lady (1747-48) and The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753-54). Henry Fielding (1707-1754) had published poems, satirical pieces, comedies, farces and ballad operas before he published his first novel. Incensed at the publication of Richardson's Pamela, Fielding set out to ridicule his contemporaries work with the often hilarious An apology for the life of Mrs Shamala Andrews (1741). Though apparently antagonistic to Richardson in this regard, his later novel Tom Jones (1748) is prefaced with all of the moralistic overtones that became synonimous with Richardson and built on the same foundations of judgement and opinionated moral comment....

ING Life Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ING Life - Case Study Example This is because ING Life has done some investment in information and technology solutions through implementing the Val IT to ensure that the business organization gets a maximum return on it investment in information and technology. Limitations of using a public infrastructure (Internet) When deciding on what information and technology infrastructure to use it is important for a company to evaluate the content of the information which the handle. Since ING is an investment institution it usually handles information and data which might be sensitive in nature. One common dis advantage of using a public infrastructure for companies such as ING is that information is not secure and such companies are often targets of hacker. Public interfaces are easy to get in for professional hackers since they do not have complex security protocols and firewalls. For example, if an investment company uses public interface information technology solutions their customers might suffer from identity the ft since this information is usually contained in the company’s servers. ... ING’s public infrastructor solution is effective because though being public its access is only limited to specific ING partners internationally. Security is ensured by investing in solutions that will involve each partner ensuring that the public interface is secure on their end. However, this is not enough because its network systems can be still be hacked through systems such as sql injunctions which have happened to the organization specifically in Belgium. ING should invest in more secure infrastructures such as Vsat which will ensure direct communication of ING branches internationally in a secure manner since Vsat incorporates security protocols which are very effective. Vsat is an effective communication infrastructure because it incorporates both voice and data traffic. Vsat will give ING a onetime solutions in it communication and data due to the incorporation of voice and data traffic in the interface (Ramon, 2004). The company will also be able to control traffic s ince they will be in charge of their own network. By using advanced network solutions such as Vsat, Ing company will be able to link its local area networks and wide are network forming a mesh of different inter connected networks that cover the whole business establishment internationally (Elbert, 2004). The institution should also implement local area networks technologies that are secure, easy to maintain and reliable. For example, if the company invests in wireless local area networks it should consider hiring network security experts to ensure that their databases cannot be accesed by hackers since wireless networks are the most commonly hacked network since they can be harged from a distance (Bhaiji,

Profit implications of customer loyalty, market segments, market share Research Paper

Profit implications of customer loyalty, market segments, market share and potential market for Sony - Research Paper Example This essay entails the implications of profits to the market variables and specifically draws comparisons on Apple Company and Sony Company (Capon, & Hulbert, 2007:60). Apple company inc. wins over its close competitors by trying different strategies that seek to lure customers into the company’s loyalty team. Some of the biggest strategies that Apple endures on are product innovative, aimed at producing the best gadgets that the customer may desire in the technological world. Apple Company outlines the customers who may make a given purchase at a given price (Lamb, et al 2009:45). The company further establishes the possibility that demographic variables will act in favor of its products. For example, Apple Company designs its products to attract the high-end market with the best products possible. Most of The Apple’s product prices squarely revolve around the market skimming technique. Therefore, its prices are relatively high to meet the cost of innovation, and the upper class consumers. During the product lifecycle, Apple reduces prices to meet the demand of other consumers down the purchase module (Treacy, 2005:70). The company defines the features that customers seek in their products. Under such circumstances, the company documents on the various technological improvements that customers may be seeking in their products. Initially, Apple was the first company to introduce iPads, tablets, and iPhones in the Technological market. The technology attracted buyers to make purchases for products served the purposes of phones and computers (Aaker & Mcloughlin, 2010:68). Therefore, the company associates itself with the best technological innovations in the mobile industry not forgetting the fact that, its gadgets support other features, for example, iTunes, voice recognition, high levels of security measures, and grid directions (Lamb,