The Clientele and Audiences in Communication
From the very genesis of human existence, the need to communicate has been part of
human beings. Our life with others and in the community requires us to interact with the people
around us, to share ideas, thoughts, feelings and experience with others, to ma ke sense of the
world, and to position ourselves in a wider social and cultural reality. In so doing, we listen and
speak, and receive and give information, which is a two-way process. Communication connotes
‘communion,’ community/ ‘making common,’ or `to share.’
Characteristics of Clientele and Audiences of Communication
All people are clientele and audience in communication. However, communication can only
be effective when communicators take into consideration the characteristics of the intended
clientele and audience. Characteristics like social position, education level, age range, race and
ethnicity, primary language, health status, job type, and information sources are worth
considering.
Social position is the status that a person enjoys in a communication context. One may be a
president or leader, middle manager, a colleague or co-equal, or a subordinate in an organization
of community. These social positions dictate how one gets communicated to and how that
communication has to be crafted, packaged, contained, and delivered.
Education level may suggest the reading skills and healthy literacy and the ability to engage with
more complex topics—new and even unfamiliar. An audience that has limited literacy skills may
find it difficult to use written materials; with such audience, oral presentations may be mor e
effective.
Age range can affect choice of communication format or distribution. The communication
materials may be relevant to people of all ages but the age of the audience may affect the
communication format or distribution channels. Social media webs ites and mobile texting for
example may be more appropriate for providing information to younger audience while printed
materials, emails, phone calls, meetings, and memos may be more effective for older audience.
Race and ethnicity is an important consideration in communication particularly in deciding on
graphics and photos. It is important to design the graphics and photos in the communication
materials to reflect the demographics of the intended audience.
Primary language has to be considered if the message is to be effective. If the language used is
different from the one used by the target audience, there is a need to translate the
communication materials into the primary language.
Health status matters a lot as it dictates people’s disposition to listening and responding and the
ability to’ make meaning out of the communicated material. Although people with certain health
conditions tend to be more informed health-care consumers with a greater awareness of issues
within the health-care system, it is important that the materials are more personal and relevant
to specific health conditions or issues.
Job type of the audience can affect the format of materials and the distribution methods to be
used. For an audience without access to their own computers, d isseminating the materials
through an Internet site or email messages may not be effective.
Information sources matter for they affect the format and distribution of the communication
materials and also the medium they trust.
Needs of Various Types of Clientele and Audiences of Communication
Different individuals, groups, and communities have distinct communication needs. They
want to send and receive messages to and from other parties. Let us take a look at the following
communication context to explore how various types of clienteles and audience of communication
may be represented in the April 30, 2015 Mary Jane Veloso case.
On 28 April 2015, the Philippines and the world awaited an execution of a 30-year-old
Filipina and mother of two together with eight other prisoners in Indonesia. Mary Jane Veloso,
was caught with 2.6kg of heroin at Yogyakarta airport in Indonesia and later accused of drug
trafficking in April 2010. In October of 2010 she was sentenced to death.
Veloso maintained her innocence and that she was just tricked but all her appeals through
her legal team were rejected. She claimed that in her desire to support her two children she
sought for work abroad as a domestic helper. She claimed that the person behind her crime was
Maria Kristina Sergio, the daughter of one of her godparents, who convinced her to travel to
Indonesia to start a new job as a maid. A male friend of Sergio gave Veloso new clothes and a new
bag to travel with as her luggage and she was not aware it had heroin sewn int o it.
The family of Veloso pleaded for the Philippine government direct intervention and to
NGOs and media convinced that she was truly an innocent victim. These efforts were met with
resistance from the Indonesian side.
The two appeals which were launched by the Philippine government on the request of
Veloso, to the Indonesian government were both rejected. The Philippine government tried to
argue that Veloso had poor translators during trial which made her incapable of understanding
what was going on during her trial and that she was just a victim of a drug syndicate.
In his capacity, President Aquino had met President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of a
regional meeting in Malaysia to discuss Veloso’s case as well as spoken to Indonesia’s Foreign
Minister Retno Marsudi and proposed keeping Veloso alive so that she could testify against drug
traffickers. This two did not seem to have worked. On April 28, 2015, Veloso, together with the
eight other convicted prisoners found themselves at Nusakambangan Prison I sland awaiting their
executions as scheduled. Groups of people in the Philippines and around the world gave the case
prominent coverage. In Manila the activists protested at outside the Indonesian embassy.
The story of Veloso had reached and received a worldwide sympathy from peoples of all
walks of life. During the time leading to the scheduled execution, Ms. Sergio, the woman accused
of duping Veloso, unexpectedly turned herself up to the police station in Cabanatuan City asking
police protection saying she was receiving death threats. As time went by Indonesia issued a
reprieve, saying Veloso was needed to testify against a “perpetrator suspected of human
trafficking.” She was then transferred back to a prison in Yogyakarta.
What followed next were counterclaims by various groups for credit: political leaders,
NGOs, human rights groups, lawyers, the families and groups that protested in the streets, and in
front of the Indonesian Embassy. Each felt they succeeded in their communication goals.
The Individual as Client of Communication
As an individual, you want to be the first to know about all matters that pertain to you.
Your company may be about to retrench you or to promote you and the anxiety that comes with
not having direct communication may be high. In the case above, no single individual deserved to
know the finality of the case other than Mary Jane Veloso. Every passing time was certainly a
moment of resignation and anguish. Hodgetts (2002) presents four major barriers to
communication that in a situation like this can make things more traumatic: perception,
inference, language, and status.
For sure, in terms of perception, Veloso’s personal view of reality was blurred. Plunged in a
situation she never anticipated made it even harder to comprehend fully her circumstances. All
she wanted, as a mother of two little children, was to find work that would help her earn enough
as a domestic worker to provide for the children. Instead, she found herself counted amo ng drug
traffickers destined for execution.
An inference occurred, presented with large amounts of facts that were incomplete and
not transmitted clearly; her assumptions of the messages left nothing for adequate interpretation
of the meaning of what was going on and of her circumstances in general.
Obviously, she needed a translator to understand the proceedings in Bahasa. That language
barrier meant that she could not process her feelings and express her views adequately before
the courts. Her body language as well as other communication cues could not relay her personal
messages to the court to help them see her reality. The communication was limited to looking at
the evidence and probably explaining to her the sequences of having such evidence in her
suitcase. She could not understand, and she could not communicate.
Her status as a domestic helper or someone seeking that employment made her even not
worthy to be listened to, to be respected, and to be trusted. If her circumstances were of a high
social ranking individual, the credentials could probably have obliged th e courts to take a look at
the evidence in a different way. They may have wanted to examine the evidence in a different
light. Veloso’s problem had also to do with her social rank. Although ironically in the turn of
events, this very lowly status became the battle cry and source of sympathy from many people
that led the Indonesian government to make a last minute consideration.
For an individual as client of communication, these barriers need to be well -managed. One
has to have a way to overcome them to achieve effective communication.
The Community and Organization as Clients of Communication
Groups and organizations tend to have communication needs that are specific to them. In
the Veloso case, groups and organizations may be identified as family and fri ends, migrant
organizations, the legal team, media, and the Philippine government. Their communication needs
had to do with wanting to convince the Indonesian government to stop the pending execution of
Mary Jane Veloso.
They were all bent to hear from the Indonesian government news of consideration and the
longer they heard nothing, the more desperate they became and even resigned to accept the fate.
But the focus of these groups was to make a point for their organizations, to be considered an
achievement. For the family, probably their worry was about losing a family member and having
Veloso’s children to grow without their mother and losing her in such a traumatic way. This was a
paramount concern for the family.
The community as client of communication
When a community is the client of communication, the message has to be responsive to
the need and the channel has to be appropriate, and the subject to be communicated has to be
relevant to the community. The most evident community to recognize in the case of Veloso would
be the Filipino community and the OFW community in particular. For this community, the fate and
reality of Veloso represented the suffering of OFWs and questioned the Philippine government’s
ability to care of and protect its own citizens. This is critical because the OFW community has
been regarded as modern-day heroes due to the large amounts of remittances it pumps into the
Philippine economy. In 2009, over 10 million Filipinos were estimated to be migrants, which made
the Philippines rank among top recipients of remittances.
The World Bank estimated that remittance flew to developing countries in 2009 totaled
$316 billion. The top recipients of migrant remittances were the following (PDI, June 23, 2010
based on the Migration and Development Brief 12, Migration and Remittances Team Development
Prospects Group, World Bank).
In 2014, the World Bank updated the data with India remaining in the top spot at about $71
billion in remittances. China ($64 billion) maintained its second slot while the Philippines ($28
billion) surpassed Mexico ($24 billion) to become the third largest recipient of remittances (World
Bank 2014).
The Settings of Communication
The settings of communication may be defined as the physical surrounding of a communication
event which may be made up of the location where the communication occurs, environmental
conditions, time of the day, or day of the week, as well as proximity of the communicators
(Alberts, Nakayama, & Martin 2007).
What is critical regarding the setting is to know the audience and understand what they need to
hear and how they need to receive information. The process of communication accounts for what
happens between the source of message and the recipient, the skills employed in giving and
receiving information, and conveying our ideas and opinions with those around us. The methods
of communication involves the verbal (i.e., sounds, language, and tone of voice); the aural (i.e.,
listening and hearing; non-verbal (i.e., facial expressions, body language, and posture; the written
(i.e., letters, memos, journals, emails, blogs, and text messages; and the visual (i.e., signs,
symbols, illustrations, and pictures). Tools in communication include all that we use in both
communicating with others and interpreting the information received from others. They range
from language in all its forms, from tone of voice, to performing, re -enacting, television,
storytelling, telephone, cell phones, movie, radio, photographs, cartoon, cyberspace, digital and
social platforms, and the Internet.
The Government Setting
The government deals with citizens and particularly deliver social and public ser vices that
ensure peaceful and orderly living. This being the essence of government, the purpose of
communication becomes more of public to government and government to public. The
government communicates to inform the public about national plans, public s ervices, security
situation, opportunities, and to give general direction to people as a nation. In this sense, the
government setting draws on a variety of communication methods and tools depending on the
subject and intent. They have highly confidential information and the information that is meant to
be accessible to all members of the public. Traditionally, the government relied on mass media to
disseminate public information and propaganda. With the emergence of new media, the
government has also incorporated much of new technological tools. It is more common than less
to find even local government units maintaining a website and communicating with their
communities and general public using social media. For example, class and work suspensions
during typhoons and storms in the Philippines are posted through social networking sites and
informed through texts, in addition to traditional radio and TV announcements.
Private Sectors Setting
The private sector refers to the business community, the people who a re involved in the delivery
of public services that include job creation and employment provision but are not the
government. Essentially, this sector exists for profit. For this broad description of their existence,
communication for them is largely advertisement, to inform the public, individuals, groups, and
communities about available goods and services for sale. On the other hand, they need
information from the public to understand the demand they have to supply. As the private sector
engages with the public, they want to remain relevant, profitable, and accepted. Therefore, the
concept of corporte social responsibility (CSR) is important to foster the goal of maintaining a
positive public perception.
Civil Society Setting
This sector of society sees itself as the “third force.” It comes to complement government and
business action. It includes various groups of non-government organizations, charities,
foundations, people’s organizations, and other pressure groups that exist to advocate the causes
of social justice on behalf of the marginalized sectors, disenfranchised, minorities, and even on
behalf of biodiversity. They do not exist to make a profit or to serve as a government but they do
perform a number of functions that belong to the government. In many cases, they also engage in
business to raise funds needed to respond to problems affecting the represented sector or issue.
Communication in this sense is defined by the mission and actions chosen by the civil society.
They can draw almost all forms of tools available in communication. To highlight issues, they do
produce documentaries and even inspire movies. They are using new and social media to bring
their case to a wide audience possible and effectively .
School Setting
Schools are educational and social institutions. Their participation in communication is to deliver
educational goods to the public and engage communities in agenda setting regarding educational
goals and means. Communication in school setting tends to be very formal and academic.
However, the emergence of new media has transformed communication in schools to include new
forms of communities cutting across schools to create communities of learners that come
together in pursuit of learning beyond the confines of physical schools they b elong to. There is
more exchange of information and documents among students, and traditional group work has
become virtual teamwork, where students learn together and accomplish given tasks without
physically coming together.
Schools can announce enrolment dates and students can enroll in their chosen schools without
even physically going to the campus. Ultimately, this has led to the shrinking of physical campus
and into global campus in education and school management. There is more student -to-student
and student-to-teacher direct communication than at any time in history. Teaching and learning
pedagogies are also affected to fever a highly personalized and learner -centered style.
Community Setting
The community is where all sectors interact: government, business, civil society, and just about all
individuals and groups. In general, communication with communities has tended to favor a one -
directional pattern of mass media. Sectors of a community announce their offering to the wider
community, and government agencies would also inform communities in this fashion regarding
what they want the community to know. 134t there is also within community, individual -to-
individual, group-to-group, and group to general environment communication. Various tools and
methods are appropriately drawn to achieve community setting communication goals. On this
level, a face-to-face communication and tarpaulin as well as graffiti are very common.
The Different Communication Media Channels
Communication that is mediated or transmitted through channels such as television, film, radio,
social networking sites, fax, e-mail, cell phone, overnight couriers, messengers, and print is
generally referred to as media, a plural form of medium (Alberts, N akayama, & Martin 2007). The
only communication that is not mediated is perhaps face-to-face communication, which takes
place among people who understand each other’s language. All other non -face-to-face
communications go through channels.
Mass Media
All forms of communication that are devoted to transmitting standardized messages to
widespread audience are called mass media (Thomson & Heckey 1999). This includes newspapers,
magazines, books, e-books, radio, social networking sites and the Internet, televis ion, and motion
picture. By and large, much of mass media has become electronic media and covers radio,
television, media technology, and web design with streaming audio and video.
Generally, communication involves the giving, receiving or exchanging of in formation, opinions, or
ideas to ensure that the message is completely understood by everybody involved. It is essentially
a two-way process, comprising the elements of the sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback,
and context. Mass media does not consist much of these. It is a one-way system. Yet, the
emergence of new media and social media has transformed media to become more of a dialog,
mimicking a typical two-way system. In mass media, the audience is not obliged to pay attention
or give feedback.
New Media and Social Media
Under new media and social media, communication is not necessarily relational but the issue and
interest-based instead. With the help of technology, new media has helped transform the notion
of a community based on geography to a community based on interest, from citizens to netizens.
People forge a conversational community driven by the common interest and generally focused
on a single issue and are virtually located. Blogging and social networking, the most prominent
forms of social media, tend to resemble a typical mass media style in the sense that there is
impersonality, no privacy nor the specific recipient of the messages nor the obligation to respond.
Yet, it has the provision for concerned people to respond and sustain a d iscussion and exchange
of views in a two-way style. This can be done online and in real-time using instant messaging.
Unlike a carefully researched response, in this communication, people are more concerned with
expressing their opinions and feelings about the issue at hand.
New media and social media have also challenged the profession of communication and ethics of
communication. It is not regulated by members of the profession but by the discourse of
participants. There is more self-censorship than professional and public censorship since
participants can choose to go by any name, may portray a self -image, and they may choose to
remain anonymous. New media and social media have also redefined participatory democracy
with new political implications. Open debates and consensus on issues are increasingly sought and
achieved through new media and social media.
Telecommunication
Telecommunication refers to the transmission of information by electromagnetic means. Large
volumes of information in the form of words, sounds, or images, over long distances, are
transmitted in the form of electromagnetic signals, by telegraph, telephone, radio, or television.
The term covers a vast range of information transmitting technologies including mobile phones,
landlines, VoIP, and broadcast networks (Telecommunication 2015; Techopedia.com 2016).
The data is transmitted in the form of electrical signals, modulated into analog or digital signals
for transmitting the information. Analog modulations used in radio broadcasting ar e amplitude
modulation and digital modulation. Telecommunications and broadcasting are administered
worldwide by the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication
technologies (ICT). This agency allocates global radio spectrum and sat ellite orbits, develop the
technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strives to
improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide. The organization is based on a
public-private partnership since its inception. At present, The International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) has a membership of 193 countries and almost 800 private -sector entities and
academic institutions. Its headquarter is in Geneva, Switzerland, and has twelve regional and area
offices around the world. The membership represents a cross-section of the global ICT sector,
from the world’s largest manufacturers and telecoms carriers to small, innovative players working
with new and emerging technologies, along with leading R&D institutions and academia. ITU was
founded on the principle of international cooperation between governments (Member States) and
the private sector (Sector Members, Associates, and Academia). It now serves as the premier
global forum through which parties work toward consensus on a wide range of issues affecting
the future direction of the ICT industry. Each country has its own agency for enforcing
telecommunications regulations.
In the Philippines, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is the nation’s regulator y
agency responsible to steer the telecommunications sector as a primary engine for national
progress and development. It is responsible for the maintenance and continuous improvement of
a regulatory regime conducive to the development and provision of an affordable, viable, reliable,
and accessible telecommunications infrastructure and services.
NTC fulfills the following mandates: regulate the installation, operation, and maintenance of radio
stations both for private and public use (RA 3846, as amended); regulate and supervise the
provision of public telecommunications services (RA 7925, CA146, as amended); manage the radio
spectrum (RA 3846, as amended and RA 7925); and regulate and supervise radio and television
broadcast stations, cable television (CATV) and pay television (E0 546 and E0 205).
The functions of NTC include:
• Grant certificates of public convenience and necessity/provisional authority to install,
operate and maintain telecommunications, broadcast, and CATV services
• Grant licenses to install, operate, and maintain radio stations
• Allocate/sub-allocate and assign the use of radio frequencies
• Type-approve/type-accept all radio communications, broadcast and customer premises
equipment
• Conduct radio communications examination and issue radio operators certificate
• Prepare, pin, and conduct studies for, policy and regulatory purposes
• Monitor the operation of all telecommunications and broadcast activities
• Enforce applicable domestic and international laws, rules and regulations, prosecute
violation thereof and impose appropriate penalties/sanctions
• Issue licenses to operate land, maritime, aeronautical, and safety devices
• Perform such other telecommunications/broadcast-related activities as may be
necessary in the interest of the public.
There is also a private sector, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), organized in
1973 to provide mechanism for self-regulation in the broadcasting industry.
