medium and channels

[ankur bhattacharjee]

How will you differentiate between medium and channels of communication?Discuss.

[India Hindi Blog Information]

A medium of communication is the means of transmitting and conveying information while a channel of communication is the path along which information travels. Media can be oral. Non verbal or written. The conventional media of communication comprises of tools such as, postal mail, courier, telegraph, telex, and the telephone. The modern media of communication are the electronic media such as fax machines, printers, phones, telephone answering machines, teleconferencing, sms etc.

A channel of communication on the other hand, is the way along which information flows from sender to receiver. The direction of flow of communication is determined by the formal positions of power and authority and can be seen as flowing from superiors to subordinates. The channels can be classified into various forms such as, outward and inward, horizontal and vertical, downward and upward. Information also travels through group networks which include patterns such as, chain pattern, wheel pattern, circle pattern and grapevine.