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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Mass Media
Communication is a necessity of human connection. The need to communicate is another fundamental need beyond the physical requirement of
food and shelter. Communication is important for people to built social relationship with other by doing interaction in a society. In other words, the need
for it is a prime one as a necessity for survival. According to Emery 1970 :4. communication is the art of transmitting information, ideas, and attitudes from
one person to another. Communication in general and mass communication in particular plays
important parts in our life. In general, communication can be categorized into two kinds, direct and indirect communication. Direct communications means when
each of us communicates with another by directing a message to one or more. For example when we smile, we communicate a desire for friendliness, the ‘greeting’
that can indicate feelings all the way from surliness to warm pleasure. In turn, if between communicator and communicant exit media to connect them both
printed and electronic media, it can be called indirect communication. Therefore, the role of mass media is important in indirect communication.
The mass media transmit message to masses of people in order to fulfill the community’s need of information, by providing them information and
entertainment. The oldest media are those of the printed word and picture which
xxiv carry their message through the sense of sight: the weekly and daily Newspapers,
magazines, books, pamphlets, direct mail circular and so on. Radio is also mass communication medium aimed at the sense of sound, whereas television, film, and
other motion picture appeal both to the visual and auditory sense. So, mass media are tools, instruments of communication that permit us to record and transmit
information and experiences rapidly to large, scattered, heterogeneous audience; as such they extent our ability to talk to each other by helping us overcome
barriers caused by the time and space Gamble Gamble,1989:10. Further, Gamble Gamble ibid added that the mass media perform a
number of essential functions in our lives. First, they serve an information or surveillance function. Second, they serve an agenda –setting and interpretation
function. Third, they help us to create and maintain connections with various group in society. Fourth, they help us to socialize and educate us. Fifth, mass
media persuade us to purchase certain items or accept certain ideas. And sixth, they entertain us.
B. Newspaper
For many persons the newspaper has more vivid “personality” than any of the other media. If it is compared with the electronic mass medium, newspaper
has a superiority that is the printed word has a lasting power for beyond that of the spoken word or the visual image. Thus the readers can refer to it again and again.
The other superiority is the stories printed in today’s column may be clipped and
xxv saved by readers for many years and may be readily examined in the newspaper’s
files decade later Emery et.al.1972.p. 153. Meanwhile, according to Paneth, newspaper is a publication that usually
appears daily or weekly, contain news, information, and comment about current affair, advice columns of various type, entertainment feature comic strips,
puzzle, and classified and displayed advertisements. It is also added with some news summaries and other sections such as sports, lifestyle, the arts, business, and
regional news 1982;328. These ranges of information and the diversity are presented to meet the function of newspaper in order to inform, interpret, explain,
entertain, and influence the society as the readers. As one of the mass communication media, the contemporary newspaper
has three fundamental functions. The basic ones are: a.
to inform its readers objectively about what is happening in their community, country and world
b. to comment editorially on the news in order to bring these
developments into focus c.
to provide the means where by person with goods and services to sell can advertise their wares.
As known that there are many kinds of newspapers as a printed media published come in a variety of size, shape, colors, and kind of news. Some are
printed daily, while other comes out weekly. No matter what their circumstance are, all of them are the same; they are made of type, ink, and newsprint. They
exist to inform and influence the community in which they are published, and the
xxvi men who produce them share a common persuasion to get news and advertising
into print.
C. The Jakarta Post
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