Any substance that can make people, people and things, things and things contact or have a relationship is a generalized medium. Even in a narrow sense, people's understanding and application of "media" are different and quite confusing. Sometimes it is confused with symbols: "Media refers to the physical form that carries and transmits information, including physical entities and physical energy. The former includes characters, various printed materials, marks, symbolic objects, information dissemination equipment, etc. The latter are sound waves, light, radio waves, etc. " (Gong Wei, 1988) is sometimes confused with forms of communication: "Media is a simple and convenient term, which is usually used to refer to all forms of information communication with a wide range of communication objects, including movies, television, radio, newspapers, popular literature, music, etc." (Barit, 1986) is sometimes confused with channels and news: "Strictly speaking, the media is channels-spoken words, printed words and so on. However, this term is often used to refer to channels and sources, and sometimes even includes information. " "When we talk about' mass media', we often refer not only to the channels of mass communication, but also to the content of these channels, and even to the behavior of people working for these channels." (David Sandeman, etc. 199 1) We believe that the confusion of media concept will lead to the confusion of discussion, and the confusion of discussion will inevitably lead to the confusion of theory and cannot guide the practice of communication. Therefore, the concept of media must be clarified and positioned.
In his book The Origin of Media in China (1988), Wu Dongquan thinks that it is not safe to translate "media" into "media", so it is better to translate it into "media". Because the word "body" itself contains the meaning of body, noumenon, shape and shape. It has more or less the feeling of entity, and as a kind of "body" of "media", it should also contain the meaning of an entity, that is, it is an entity with a shape and constitutes a communication function. Therefore, "the media is TV stations, newspapers, radio stations, or communication satellite ground receiving stations ... who can play the role of communication." But Wu Dongquan finally succumbed to "convention" and still adopted the word "media".
Mcluhan, a master of media research, believes that "media is an extension of the human body". Media can be everything, everything is media, and all media can have some connection with human organs. The media has always been there. All substances that can make relationships between people, people and things, things and things are generalized media. Shi Lamu once praised McLuhan for making "the media, a word once used mainly by artists, bacteriologists and mass communicators, all the rage". However, this media theory, which is based on "focusing on the central sensory system of media tools", ignores the social relations between people. As Chetrom, an American scholar, pointed out: "His technological naturalism emphasizes that media is a biological extension of human beings, not a social extension of human beings. Although he wants to follow the development of human culture through the media, there is an incredible lack of real people in his history. "
Deffler also constructs media in a broad sense: "Media can be any kind of carrier used to spread human consciousness, or it can be a group of orderly carriers." Even in a narrow sense, there are differences in understanding of the media. Sometimes it is confused with symbols: "Media refers to the physical form that carries and transmits information, including physical entities and physical energy. The former includes words, printed matter, symbols, symbols, information and communication equipment. The latter are sound waves, light, radio waves, etc. " (Gong Wei, 1988) is sometimes confused with forms of communication: "Media is a simple and convenient term, which is usually used to refer to all forms of information communication with a wide range of communication objects, including movies, television, radio, newspapers, popular literature, music, etc." (Butler, 19860) Sometimes it is entangled in carriers, channels and information: "Media is the carrier for transmitting large-scale information, which is the general name of news agencies, newspapers, magazines, books, radio, television and movies, which is also commonly known as mass media." "Strictly speaking, the media is the channel-that is, spoken and printed words. However, this term is often used to refer to channels and sources, and sometimes even includes information. " "When we talk about' mass media', we often refer not only to the channels of mass communication, but also to the content of these channels, and even to the behavior of people working for these channels." (David Sandeman et al., 199 1)
Media phenomenon
Media is different from communication symbols.
Symbols refer to codes (such as language, characters, images, etc.). ) indicates or carries specific information or meaning, and the medium refers to the material entity that carries, expands, extends and transmits specific symbols between the sender and the receiver. As a kind of code or means, symbol reflects the process of people's understanding of things and the logical characteristics of information expression, so it often has the characteristics of abstraction, order, thinking and consciousness. As a material entity, media reflects the characteristics and existing forms of matter and energy, such as hard stone tablets, light and soft paper, rough speakers and exquisite TV sets ... they all have shapes, weights and sizes and can be moved, preserved and destroyed. The relationship between information and symbols, symbols and media is just like the relationship between hair and skin. If the skin does not exist, how can the hair be attached?
(2) The media is different from the form of communication.
The form of communication refers to the specific ways in which the communicator acts on the audience, such as oral communication, written communication, image communication and comprehensive communication. In political communication, people are used to literary forms, musical forms, reminiscing about bitter experiences and visiting forms. In the form of written communication, people can use books, newspapers, magazines, leaflets, brochures and other media to spread information. A form of communication can use different media, and a medium can also serve different forms. For example, television can display this function. But the form of communication only shows the state, mode and structure of communication activities, while the media shows the real objects.
(3) Media is different from communication channels.
The word "Channel" in English originally means waterway, waterway, route, access road, gateway, passage and so on. In communication science, it refers to various channels of communication and information exchange between the two sides, such as interpersonal communication channels, organizational communication channels, mass communication channels and so on. Different communication channels need different media cooperation, and different media shape different communication channels. For example, interpersonal communication channel is face-to-face communication between people, which determines that only human organ media (such as communication media-mouth, receiving media-ears) and air media can be used. However, once information is spread through radio and television, it is also a mass communication channel. Interpersonal media can enter all kinds of communication channels at will, and cooperate with specific media without changing their channel forms, while mass media is completely different. It can be seen that the media is not equal to the communication channel.