Media and Communication

What is communication?

Communication can be described as being the transfer of information between two or more individuals. The result of this transfer can be positive or negative, where culture plays a significant role in the translation of the transmissions. It is meant to educate and inform the participants.

Communication can be between individuals, institutions or a combination of both. They can persuade, inform, and be casual or serious depending on the context. 

Media is one of the prominent agents of communication in todays’ society. They transfer information to wide sections of the population with every publication or broadcast. Media content is set by the editorial policy, which is set by the owners and carried out by the employees. The content can be political, religious, social, and financial or gender specific based on the audience. 

In Trinidad and Tobago the media carries content that covers a variety of topics which target specific segments or the general public. The content communicated comprises local, regional and international news items. The content is transmitted at specific times during any given day to achieve the maximum effect. Content such as news, entertainment, sports and culture occupy the majority of what is communicated.

News communicated comprises of local, regional and international items such as crime, politics, human interest and sports. Entertainment is mainly international with a few items being local and regional to a lesser extent. Sports features are somewhat equal between local, regional and international. Culture occupies seasonal transmission throughout the year. However western culture and or pop-culture is at the core of what is communicated via entertainment.

Communication as a means to inform can influence what individuals do or not do, meaning it can affect their lives based on how the transmission is received and understood. Communication as described by many scholars, influences human interaction and donates how we understand the human experience. 

Media, through what it communicates has the ability to shape human interaction and the society in which it occurs. The context in which media communication occurs has relevance on the society and maybe understood as the thought of its members. Many decisions are made based on what is communicated by the media; the result of the 2010 general can be seen as a reflection of what media can be used to communicate.

What is Communication? Is it different within the Media?