Media and The Message

by Nicholas G. Licata, M.A.

Stop and Read the Prose [Back to Columns]

Call me eclectic, but there's something about the mechanics of writing that I can't get from a computer screen and keyboard. While many in this technological world keep their lives in little hand held electronic diaries, I prefer a good fountain pen and a black and white notebook.

Technology has made communication much more complicated than just putting pen to paper. But that's where it starts. Good writing is at the heart of effective advertisements, press releases, and all other forms of mass communication.

No matter what the medium, the first rule when starting to write is to know your audience. Mistakes in this area can range from simple folly to the fatal.

Consider the irony of Chevrolet selling its Nova in Mexico where "no va" means "It doesn't go." Or, a popular American baby food producer, sending thousands of jars of their product to an African country to aid people stricken by famine. Although starving, no one would eat the food in the jars which were adorned with the picture of a smiling infant. With their oral culture and low literacy rate, they were accustomed to the pictures on packages indicating what was inside.

The second example is extreme, but don't think it doesn't happen here. There are unlimited examples of corporate miscommunications. Some are as simple as messages written above the readability level of their intended audiences.

I once worked for a Ph.D. who considered herself a great writer. She may have been, but when I did a readability analysis on one of her brochures the results surprised her. I determined that the only people who would understand her writing had a college level education. This was clearly not the audience we were trying to reach.

Ethnicity, gender, culture, level of education, socio-economic status and other factors must be considered for your communications to be successful. The more you know about your audience, the better your ability to speak to them on a personal level.

Another important factor to consider is the medium through which you are communicating. Radio, television, print, and the internet are all very different. Pictures, sound bites, and video clips have an impact on your message. "Content" may be the catch word in today's technological society, but it shouldn't come at the expense of comprehension.

Thanks to technology, it is easy to become complacent about the format of the messages we create. Spell checkers, grammar checkers and the nature of "word processing" take our minds off the mechanics of writing. In contrast, putting words down on paper with pen and ink is a deliberate act. It forces us to consider the impact of each word on our composition. It forces us to think.

So, don't discard your computer. Just take a deliberate approach to your writing. Keep in mind the reader, the language and the medium, and you will be a better communicator.