Theoretical Underpinnings for PR
Part 6
by:
Charles Lamson
The Language of a Message
Problems in communication are often caused by semantics. The words you use must mean the same thing to the receiver that they mean to you. It does not matter if the words you use to say something are the ones you think sound the best or the most authoritative, rather you must focus on what words have the mot forceful and desirable impact on the viewer or listener. Only people can bestow meanings on words says communication specialist Don Fabun, adding, "When we act as if we believed that a word symbol is the event that was originally experienced we ignore all the steps that have made it something else" (This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations by Doug Newsom, Judy VanSlyke Turk and Dean Kruckeberg, pg. 134).
Jargon and obfuscation abound in government education and elsewhere. Important factors in language choice include clarity, emotional impact and context. A message's consistency with other messages from the same source and its level of repetition are also significant (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, pg. 134).
Clarity has also been lost. Obscurity in language has reached absurd proportions in American usage as today's technical society embraces an entire vocabulary of words that would not have been understood even a decade ago. And since PR practitioners are not around to explain what their messages mean, the language they use had better be self-explanatory. You must chose your words with a feeling for the association that the receivers will make based on their individual frames of reference; the images the words will conjure up for them based usually on stereotypes they hold, and the simple fitness of the word itself (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, pg. 134).
The emotional impact of language has nothing to do with clarity. It depends on emotional association. Emotional impact is of course an important weapon in all propaganda battles. In World War II, Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose, two sultry radio personalities and propagandists, tried to entice American defections. However, two great commanders of the English language Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt urged their countrymen on with eloquent propaganda raising the morale and resolve of those on the front lines as well as those at home (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, pg. 134).
The emotional impact of icons - emotionally arousing images, events or verbal metaphors - is an important mechanism for affecting public opinion. Robert Blood strategic communication analyst in the united Kingdom says, "Icons impact people's beliefs and they replicate by communication - they are viruses of persuasion. His studies indicate that three factors influence the rate at which an icon spreads through the public consciousness emotiveness, resonance and benignity. Emotiveness is the icon's measure of emotional arousal; resonance, its degree of agreement with existing beliefs and anxieties; benignity, its lack of direct effect on the individual exposed to it.
The context of messages - their verbal setting is also important. As one writer advises:
There is no easy way of choosing words. They must not be so general in meaning as to include thoughts not intended. Let the meaning select the word. A word is ambiguous when the reader is unable to choose decisively between alternative meanings, either of which would seem to fit the context. A great deal of unclear writing results from the use of too many broad general words, thus having so many possible meanings that the precise thought is not clear. The more general the words are, the fainter is the picture; the more special they are, the brighter (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, pg. 135).
Because people both seek and avoid messages, it is important to consider the significance of repetition and consistency in public relations messages. Repetition increases the opportunity for exposure. Consistency helps increase credibility (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, pg. 135-136).
Making sure a message gets through to an intended receiver is the first goal, and repetition increases your chances of accomplishing this. Making sure the message is believed is the next goal and consistency helps there. However, both these techniques are based on a time element and communication scholars have made some disquieting discoveries in this area. First, they found that when pressed for time people often make decisions on less information than they would normally require. Second, writers must decide whether their target public needs information piece by piece or whether they need an evaluative structure or frame of reference to permit making comparisons between alternatives.
End
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