MCommToday

Communicating with people of different cultural systems can become challenging, misunderstanding may happen because of cultural barriers... With the advent of the digital technology, communication has transformed into a global one. As advances in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) continue to revolutionize every aspect of modern life, it is expected that individuals are prepared to communicate not only with people who are similar to themselves, but also with the global world. With about 6.12 billion people using the Internet for trading, business, migration and social networks, the era of global communication is likely to remain, directing, regulating and modifying how people see, interact and communicate within their communities and with people of diverse cultures, beliefs, sets of values and behaviors. Communicating with people of different cultural systems can become challenging, even frustrating at times. Misunderstandings in basic human interaction may happe...

Development communication makes use of strategic communication such as mass media, community participation and social marketing to foster behavioral change… Development Communication (DevCom), according to the Filipino academic Dr. Nora C. Quebral, is “the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality and the larger fulfillment of human potential.” DevCom is a powerful tool that can boost the success of development projects because it makes use of strategic communication such as mass media, community participation and social marketing to relay information to the target audience and to primarily foster behavioral change that impedes development. Development is a complex process and it takes more than education, awareness and information sharing to foster it. Most often it is vital to seek behavioral change, get rid of l...

A meme is an idea, a behavior or style that stays in the minds of individuals and, eventually, modifies it… A meme is an idea, a behavior or style that stays in the minds of individuals and, eventually, modifies it. This tiny piece of information can take the form of a picture, an action, a sequence of words or an expression (e.g. Pres. Barrack Obama’s, “yes, we can!”). Memes are self-replicating patterns within a culture. It makes use of our minds to be emulated. It was the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins who introduced the term “meme.” In the book, The Selfish Gene (1976), he asserted that memes could spread like a virus, influencing people’s behavior. In the field of Development Communication, a message/information that has been conceptualized to take the form of a meme may have the following advantages: . A meme facilitates message dissemination. A meme is similar to a commercial spot, the refrain of a song, an echo in a canyon. It grabs the attention of the people, provo...

A radio ad should contain only one principal message in order to be effective. This message should also be mentioned and repeated several times within the ad… A communication material like a radio ad is an audio marketing message transmitted over the radio or other streaming platforms. The primary scope or a radio ad is to promote products or services or simply to transmit a single message. Radio ads usually last 15-60 seconds and they employ voice overs, music and sound effects to make it more appealing and to capture the attention of the target audience. A radio ad is produced in three stages: pre-production, production, testing and evaluation of the material. A. Pre-production stage – the editorial staff prepares the script of the radio ad bearing in mind the following considerations: 1. Discussion among the editorial staff – the editorial staff meets for brainstorming. The focus of this is to understand all the aspects related to the radio ad being produced (e.g. what the se...

The most important characteristic of radio is that it can be employed easily, which means that radio can be listened to while doing household chores… Radio is a popular mass communication medium employed in Development Communication (DevCom). This is because radio can easily reach people in remote areas and because of its cheap price the local population can afford to buy radio receivers. Furthermore, listening to radio does not require internet access nor electricity: a universal medium accessible to all. In the DevCom context, there are three types of radio broadcasting: 1.Rural radio - refers to a specific central radio station reaching or transmitting to a particular rural area. 2 . Community radio - refers to radio programs that are produced locally and are transmitted to a specific community by means of loudspeakers or via 3 .  Compact discs (CDs), which are employed for community use or for recording radio programs on issues that may concern the community. The mos...

With the onset of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), radio broadcasting is changing nature while it continues to uphold its primary purpose to inform and to entertain listeners… The radio has long been considered a valuable and functional instrument in reaching people living in remote areas of the world. This is because radios are cheap to buy, easy to manage and very portable. You can, in fact, listen to a radio wherever you are, at home while cooking, washing dishes or ironing clothes. You can listen to a radio outdoors, while driving a car or even while running for an errand. Challenges related to the use of radio are real and concrete. The choice of suitable airing time and the difficulty for broadcasters to capture and hold the listener’s attention to what is being discussed in a radio program are concerns that could determine the program’s success or failure. Nevertheless, in spite of these challenges, the radio can without doubt provide listeners usefu...

Development communication makes use of strategic communication such as mass media, community participation and social marketing to foster behavioral change… Development Communication (DevCom), according to the Filipino academic Dr. Nora C. Quebral, is “the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality and the larger fulfillment of human potential.” DevCom is a powerful tool that can boost the success of development projects because it makes use of strategic communication such as mass media, community participation and social marketing to relay information to the target audience and to primarily foster behavioral change that impede development. Development is a complex process and it takes more than education, awareness and information sharing to foster it. Most often it is vital to seek behavioral change, get rid of long-e...

The popularity of social media surged in the 2020s, transforming from simple online communities to valuable channels of communication… Social media refers to a web based form of mass media communication on which individuals can create an account and through which they can send messages, share information, ideas, photos or even videos to a selected group of people. The popularity of social media surged in the 2020s, transforming from simple online communities to valuable channels of communication employed for educational purposes, advocacy, professional networking, marketing and social change. Data from Statista revealed that as of October 2025, the most used social media platforms are owned by Meta: Facebook with over 3 billion users, followed by WhatsApp and Instagram with both 3 billion users. YouTube owned by Alphabet Inc. is a popular video sharing platform with about 2.5 billion users. Reasons why people use social media platforms : .Information and news sharing - social ...

Technological advancement has opened the door to new digital media channels or platforms such as social media, podcasts and videos and streaming services, allowing media consumers to experience innovative and more engaging ways to consume content…. The media landscape is undergoing remarkable changes driven by advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), thus affecting news and information distribution methods. These changes have altered consumer behavior on news and information consumption as well as the strategies media companies are using to be competitive in this evolving world. An important factor in this transformation has been the swift progress of digital technologies. The shift from the traditional media outlets to digital platforms has altered the manner in which news and information or content is created, distributed and consumed. With the rise of high speed internet, smart phones, tablets and modern personal computers, media companies now have the capa...

   Multimedia can be defined as the synergy of content forms such as texts, audio, animation, video and others: a combination of different forms of content into a single presentation and is also delivered electronically… The term "multimedia" was first introduced by singer and artist Bob Goldstein to promote the opening of his show called "Lightworks at L'Oursin" on July 1966 at Southampton, Long Island. Since then, the term and context of multimedia has taken on various meanings, including presentations that consist of multi-projector slide shows, timed to an audio track. Multimedia can be defined as the synergy of content forms such as texts, audio, animation, video and others: a combination of different forms of content into a single presentation and is also delivered electronically. Multimedia differs a lot from media that utilizes only basic computer displays like static content, wherein texts are only displayed, or the traditional printed material such as...

Cultivation theory suggests that long term exposure to television can cause media users to presume that reality reflects the steadfast, contorted and often violent messages the television usually depicts… Cultivation theory was developed by Hungarian-American communication scholar George Gerbner in the 1960s. Cultivation theory posits that media users’ views of reality are affected by long term exposure to media channels, most specially by the television. The theory also suggests that because of the long term exposure to television, media users presume that reality reflects the steadfast, contorted and often violent messages the television usually depicts. Gerbner coined the term “Mean World Syndrome”, which outlines how high TV exposure makes media users consider the world as more treacherous than it really is. The important concepts of the Cultivation theory are the following: . Television as storyteller of modern society : cultivation theory suggests that the TV has become th...

In his Prison Notebooks , Antonio Gramsci analyzed the powerful role of the media and popular culture in the creation of cultural hegemony by the political and economic elite over the… Hegemony came from the Greek word hegemonia, dominance over, which was employed to characterize relations between city/states. It was the Italian communist and theorist Antonio Gramsci who developed the concept of cultural hegemony in the 1930s. His discussions about hegemony were focused to comprehend the survival of the capitalist state in the most developed Western countries. Hegemony, according to Gramsci, is the process through which the political and economic elites maintain power over the subordinate groups not only by coercion or force but by means of instilling their (the elite) societal worldviews in institutions like education, religion and,  most of all,  the media.  Antonio Gramsci suggested that the elite’s worldview is pervasive in all types of institutions, making their b...

The Symbolic Interaction and Social Construction of Reality theories are foundational theories of mass communication that show the driving forces that link together culture and communication. The study of mass communication has always been a dynamic process. Over the years, various ideas, perspectives and frameworks have been developed and introduced to maximize its potentials and to adapt itself to the evolving global society. The mainstream view is that culture and social interaction via verbal and non-verbal communication are influential factors on how people construct knowledge and reality. The Symbolic Interaction and Social Construction of Reality theories are foundational theories of mass communication that show the driving forces that link together culture and communication. 1. The Symbolic Interaction Perspective The Symbolic Interaction Perspective, also known as symbolic interactionism, is an important framework that came from sociological theory. This is based on the ...