The Model of Media

NEWSPAPER-- sender: the news corporation or publisher
encoding: the newspaper articles (by writers)
decoding: readers receiving, reading and interpreting the paper
feedback: letters to the editor, sales trends, online surveys

MAGAZINE -- sender: the magazine publisher
encoding: message is sent in the form of pictures, "spreads" and articles
decoding: readers read articles
feeback: readers respond by buying or not buying advertised products and through letters to the editor, or even in online surveys

RADIO -- sender: disc jockey or talk host
encoding: message is sent through short blurbs, talk shows, or music selections
decoding: listen and interpret information and choices
feedback: listeners begin or stop tuning in, "call in" or "request" services, listeners respond to advertisements or promotions or not

TELEVISION -- sender: television stations or corporations
encoding: images, sounds, music, dialogue, animation- each has a part in the message TV sends
decoding: audiences watch television and interpret its message
feedback: calling in or writing in, sponsorship (in some cases), tuning in, some voting services

I think radio has the most "noise" interference, because it has all four of the types of noise, and represents the least amount of commitment to the consumer. What I mean, is that an audience must buy or at least pick up a newspaper, buy a magazine, or sit down to the television-- but the radio is free and easily switched off. The message radio sends is the most easily confused (semantic noise) because of its constantly-streaming characteristic. You can "come in" to the conversation halfway through it, and turn it off before it finishes--simply because you've arrived at your destination or you have something else to do. Radio also has the most mechanical and environmental noise, because often it cannot tune in well, and other noises in the environment (screaming kids, loud engine, etc) distract one easily. Internal noise is the most prevalent of all, because if the conversation in the reader's head does not go along with the radio, then it is simply too easy to change stations or just switch it off. Radio has the least amount of "coming soon" as well. Television keeps our attention through commercials with promises of the end of episodes, and magazines keep us turning with promotions and extended articles. Radio cannot accomplish these tasks, and suffers for it.

Coming soon-- Does the model work more efficiently for some media than it does for others?

Several of the media do not have a very clear "response" mechanism--especially radio and television. Television is getting better at involving audiences in order to elicit the "response" in the model, but it is still seemingly a one-way process. Radio seems to be very one-sided in its communication. The disk jockeys encode and send messages, but they have no idea if the audience received, decoded, or sent a response. Internet, on the other hand, is much easier to break into the model. Content is "published" online, people read it, process it, and respond, and the process starts all over.