Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding Model

Stuart Hall

• Stuart Henry McPhail Hall was a Jamaican-born British Marxist sociologist, cultural theorist, and political activist.
• He was born on February 3, 1932, and died on February 10, 2014.

Encoding/Decoding Model

• Hall's model of mass communication is also called the circuit of communication, and was created in 1980
• Events are encoded into televisual stories to reflect an intended meaning in television news and current affairs programs.
• Television codes' apparent naturalness disguises their ideological potential
• Transparent codes are rich in connotations and decoding (interpretation) is necessary
• Decodings do not inevitably follow from encodings
• Negotiated and oppositional reading are two less compliant stances

Making Sense

• Common sense is unconsciously drawn upon to establish the preferred meaning to make sense of what is seen and heard.
• Hegemonic reading is adopted as framings are accepted
• Reception factors such as class, gender, ethnicity, interpretive repertoires, and context are relevant

George Gerbner

• Gerbner was born on August 8, 1919, in Budapest, Hungary
• He was a professor of communication
• He was the founder of cultivation theory
• In 1956, Gerbner attempted a general purpose communication model and stressed communication's dynamic nature and reliability

Gerbner's Model of Communication

• Gerbner's communication Model is also known as the general Model (1956)
• The model can be best understood beginning at E-Event using the diagram

Perceptual Dimension

• An 'E' is an event happens in the real life and the event content or message is perceived by 'M' (Man or a Machine)
• After perceives the message from "E" by “M” is known as “E1”.
• E1 is not the same as 'E' because any man or machine can't perceives the whole event and they perceives only the part of the event (E1), now knowan as "Perceptual Dimension"

Perceptual Dimension Additional Factors

• Three factors between 'E' and 'M': Selection, Context, and Availability
• M (man or machine) cannot perceive the entire content of the event "E"
• M selects interesting or needed content from the entire event and filters the others
• Context occurs in the event
• Availability is based on 'M's attitude, mood, culture, and personality

Means and Controls Dimension

• E2 is the event content which is drawn or artified by M.
• Here M becomes the source of a message about E to send someone else.
• M creates a statement or signals about the message
• Gerbner termed its form and content as "SE2"
• S (Signal or Form) it takes and E2 (Man's content) the Content (E2) is structured or formed (S) by 'M'
• It can communicate in different ways or based on the structured ways.
• M has to use channels (or media) over to send the message which he has a greater or lesser degree of control
• The question of 'control' relates to M's degree of skill in using communication channels
• This process can be extended to infinitum by adding on other receivers (M2, M3etc.)
• They have further perceptions (SE3, SE4, etc.) of the statements about perceived events.

Example Process

• In news reporting, E can be any event
• The reporter (M) selects a particular part of event (E1) that may provide higher TRP ratings for the channel.
• The news may boost the particular party which the channel supports
• SE2 is sent through a medium to the mass audience
• The audience distributed the message (SE2) and he (M1) sends to his friends with his interpretation, and the process continues.

Explores Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model of communication, focusing on how events are encoded into media stories. It emphasizes the influence of television codes and the potential for various interpretations, including negotiated and oppositional readings. Also discusses the role of common sense and hegemonic readings in the reception process.