Chapter 5

MEDIA AND MODES OF

COMMUNICATION

A medium (plural: media or mediums) is the means of transmitting or

conveying a message. Some media carry written words and/or pictures/graphics
(like the mail) and other media carry the voice (like the telephone). Electronic
media can carry both voice and written material.
You can transmit a message by any suitable medium; there are many
media to choose from. Each medium has its own characteristics which are
advantageous in one situation but disadvantageous in another situation.
Besides, each medium makes a different kind of impression and impact on
the receiver.

CHOICE OF MEDIUM
You need to consider several aspects in choosing a medium for a particular
message. The main aspects are:
(a) The type of audience you want to reach.
(b) The.speed with which the message should be conveyed: The pressure
of time and the distance between the sender and the receiver influence
the choice of the medium. Some media are faster and can travel
distances rapidly, like the telephone, the fax and the e.mail; these
media also have the advantage of the message being conveyed from
person to person.
(c) Need for confidentiality of the message is an important consideration.
The choice will certainly be influenced by requirement of secrecy; media
do not ensure the same secrecy of the message. Messages like warning
memo, report on a customer's credit standing, demand for overdue
payment,etc., are confidential. They cannot be sent by media like
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telegram or telex or fax even if they are urgent.

(d) Need for accuracy in transmission is not the same for all messages. If
the content to be tr.ansmitted is mainly data, you make the choice for
accuracy and speed in transmitting.
(e) Need for reliability of the medium is an important factor. Sending a
message by hand delivery is more reliable than ordinary mail;
registered post is more reliable than ordinary mail.
(f) Cost of the medium and its relative importance and urgency.

Rai, U, & Rai, S 2008, Effective Communication, Global Media, Mumbai. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 April 2023].
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 MEDIA AND MODES OF COMMUNICATION 35

(g) Availability of a particular medium to the sender and to the receiver

is obviously an affecting factor. You can use only those media which
both you and the intended receiver can access. You may have a fax
machine but if the receiver does not have one and has no arrangements
for receiving a fax message, you cannot use that medium.
(h) Feedback capacity of the medium: For some messages, you need
immediate feedback; you have to use a medium which will enable you
to get it at once, like the telephone.
(i) Availability of hard copy for record.
(j) Formality of the medium must be suitable to content of the message.
A letter of congratulation is more formal and has a different effect from
conveying the same message orally.
(k) Intensity and complexity of the message is a major factor. Many
messages in an organization have an emotional content, which
influences the choice considerably; the emotional content is not carried
equally by all media. In order to understand the importance of choosing
the medium carefully, consider an occasion when you have to convey
a tough message. People do not want to get bad news; employees do
not want to hear about changes in practices which they have been
following, and certainly do not want to learn that their job is in danger.
Such message have high intensity and are very complex. How should
you convey such messages? Which medium or a combination of media
will be the best?
Generally, the best method is to convey the information personally, face-to-
face; the advantage of instant feedback and continuous two-way communication
allows for a satisfactory closure to the communication. Since it may not be
possible to do this with a large number, the next best thing is to choose a
medium (or a combination) that is as personal as possible.
The first decision is between oral and written and non-verbal. Within each
of these, there are further decisions to be made.
Written messages are transmitted by the mail, courier, telegraph, telex,
fax, e.mail, notice boards and bulletin boards, newspapers and magazines.
Oral messages are carried by air vibrations, the microphonelloud-speaker, the
telephone, cellular phone, voice mail and the radio. The cinema and the TV
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are the most powerful media as they can transmit all types of messages,
written, oral, visual and auditory.

CONVENTIONAL MODES
Media which have been in use for a long time and depend on traditional
carriers are called conventional for convenience and to distinguish them fr01.1
the modern media based on advances in electronics.
Mail
The postal service uses rail, road and air transport, and is usually a
government-owned network with links with all other countries. Various types
of mail services are available: ordinary mail, registered mail which may include

Rai, U, & Rai, S 2008, Effective Communication, Global Media, Mumbai. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 April 2023].
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 36 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

A.D. (acknowledgement due), Quick Mail Service (QMS), Express delivery,

Under certificate of posting.
Speed post is a special service offered by the Post Office, it ensures delivery
of letters and parcels on the same day within the city, within 24 hours to
certain cities in the country and within 48 hours to cities in other countries.
This service is not available in all cities.
The Post Office now offers electronic media for new services like hybrid
mail in some cities.
Courier
Courier services are private; they collect and deliver packets door-to-door
at any time during the day. Though the cost is high, this is a very quick
service for the delivery of letters and parcels. Courier services are limited to
the cities where they maintain their network. Their door-to-door service is a
great advantage.
Courier companies are recognized as commercial companies. Courier services
are the modernized, sophisticated form of the messenger or runner of the old
days before the postal service.
Hand delivery
Written messages and documents and parcels can be delivered within the
city by an organization's delivery boys. The effectiveness and speed of this
method depends on the organization's own system of messengers. It requires
a number of employees for outdoor work, and may be expensive; but it ensures
prompt delivery, and acknowledgement from the receiver. It is most useful
when proof of delivery is necessary for the record, as the messenger can bring
back a signed copy, or an official receipt or a signature in the sender's peon
book.
Telegraph
Telegraph is a government-owned network in most countries; it has links
with all other countries. It works by transmitting sounds in the Morse code.
Telegrams can be sent 'ordinary' or 'express'. There is also facility for reply-
paid telegrams; you can send a telegram and pay for the other party's reply
telegram at your telegraph office. This facility is used to impress upon the
receiver that immediate reply is expected.
The telegraph office registers special telegraphic addresses for companies,
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on application. This address is only one word; the only addition needed is the
pin code number. Organizations which receive and send a large number of
telegrams can thus save expenditure for themselves and their correspondents.
The telegraphic address can also be used as signature of the organization in
telegrams.
A telegram is used for external communication, for contacting customers,
suppliers, travelling salesmen, branches, offices, etc. A telegram gives an
impression of urgency, and therefore gets immediate response. It is used
when there is an urgent message to be conveyed or urgent action is required.
This medium's importance has been substantially reduced by fax and mobile
phones in large cities, but it has an excellent network which reaches even

Rai, U, & Rai, S 2008, Effective Communication, Global Media, Mumbai. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 April 2023].
Created from anahuac-ebooks on 2023-04-19 21:09:45.
 MEDIA AND MODES OF COMMUNICATION 37

remote parts of the country where the modern media have not yet reached.
Hence, it will continue to be used for a long time.
Telex
Telex (short form of Teleprinter Exchange) is a world-wide teletype service
providing instantaneous communication through a direct dial teleprinter-to-
teleprinter system. Messages can be sent and received 24 hours a day.
The system of direct dial teleprinter exchange was introduced in 1958;
within ten years it had more than 25,000 subscribers. It enabled subscribers
to send messages and data directly to each other.
Telex connection is got through the Post Office; each subscriber has an
Identification code for connection.
The teleprinter has a key board for typing messages and a transmitter/
receiver for sending and receiving messages. The machine is fitted with a roll
of paper, and messages can be typed out continuously. When a message is
typed on the sender's machine, the same message gets typed at the same time
on the receiver's machine also.
The advantage of this machine is that it automatically types out received
messages even if the machine is not attended; the received messages can be
read later. When the receiver's machine is attended, the sender and the receiver
can carryon a two-way "dialogue" by typing out in turn.
Telex messages are paid for on the basis of the time taken for transmission
and the distance; the charge begins as soon as the connection is made. Telex
users have developed a language of contractions and abbreviations for saving
time.
Telex has an excellent international network and installation of good
machines in good working condition. Recent developments have made it
possible to use a computer instead of a teleprinter for transmission of telex.
As technologies converge, the use of teleprinters may become outdated.
As telex connects the two communicants in real time, it is" not subject to
problems like viruses.
It is used mainly by organizations like railways, ports, stock exchange,
banks etc. which need constant international communication. Telex messages
are relayed on a screen in newspaper offices, share markets, air ports, railway
stations and places where moment-to-moment information has to be conveyed
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to many people.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION
These are media which transmit signals instantly from any source to any
destination in the world by modern electronic technology.
Telephone
This form of electronic communication has been around for nearly a century.
It is the most useful and universal medium of oral communication with a
person who is not present at the same place as the sender. The telephone
instrument has evolved, over the years, into very sophisticated forms with
many new facilities.

Rai, U, & Rai, S 2008, Effective Communication, Global Media, Mumbai. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 April 2023].
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 38 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

The intercom is an internal telephone system which allows communication

between persons in different parts of a building. It eliminates the need for
visiting another part of the office and the need for a peon to carry written
notes and messages. Information can be passed quickly from one person to
another in the office. Some intercom instruments have facility to broadcast
messages to the entire office over all the internal lines or a particular location
on one line.
STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling) allows a user to make call to a number
in another city directly, without having to call the operator at the telephone
exchange. This service is available to almost all cities in the country. Every
city has a code number which you dial before dialling the personal telephone
number. The code number for Mumbai is 022.
ISD (International Subscriber Dialling) allows the user to call a number
to any of the major cities of the world, without calling the operator at the
telephone exchange. Every country has an international code number which
you dial before dialling the required city code and personal telephone number.
The code for India is 091.
STD and ISD facilities can be locked with a number code on telephones
attached to electronic exchanges. On other telephones, you may have to pay
a fee and/or deposit to get the facilities activated. These facilities have made
the telephone an instrument for instant communication to any part of the
world.
Technological advance has made the telephone instrument so sophisticated
that it is able to provide a number of services. An answering machine can
take a message if you cannot answer it. Conference facility permits three or
more persons from different parts of the world to have a discussion by
telephone. Cordless telephone frees the handset from the hand-hold and allows
the user to take it around within a range of 100 metres from the hand-hold.
Caller identity device attached to the telephone can show the number from
which the incoming call is being made.
Cellular phone
The cellular phone is based on a combination of the old radio technology
and emerging telecommunication technology. Cellular or mobile phones have
some of the characteristics of the home phones but there are several differences.
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Cellular phones operate through airways, much like a radio. This means that
weather conditions, underground parking or passages, and fortified buildings
may affect reception. There are some boundaries to cellular coverage outside
metropolitan areas and away from major highways.
Air time is charged by the minute on calls made from and received by the
cellular phone; a fraction of a minute is rounded off to the next higher minute.
Calls made are charged from the time the "send" button is pressed.
When a cellular call is placed, a radio signal travels from the phone to a
receiver/transmitter within a cell. A cell is a geographic area ranging from
less than a quarter mile to 20 miles in diameter, and contains a fixed radio
signal receiver/transmitter. The size of a cell depends on the population and

Rai, U, & Rai, S 2008, Effective Communication, Global Media, Mumbai. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 April 2023].
Created from anahuac-ebooks on 2023-04-19 21:09:45.