Disqualifying communicationA B C D E F G H IJKL M N O P R S T U VXYZWings and emotions because he/she feels unable
to express them towards their real target – the
‘kick the cat’ syndrome. The proposition that
we unconsciously develop such defence mecha-
nisms can be useful in the study of interaction.
An example of how displacement may affect
communicative behaviour is as follows: a waiter
may feel that he has been unfairly treated by a
customer, but also feels unable to do anything
about this so instead later on picks an argument
with a new and more junior member of staff in
order to vent his feelings of frustration.
In relation to studying the media, displacement
eff ect refers to the reorganization of activities
that takes place with the introduction of some
new interest or attention-drawer, such as TV or
surfi ng the Net. Activities such as reading may
be cut down, or stopped altogether; in the case
of social networking, displacing face-to-face
interaction with online exchange. New media
‘displace’ or adjust the placement of other media.
Cinema-going habits have been substantially
aff ected by competition from TV, and in turn
television has been aff ected by video, DVD and
the multi-task possibilities of the mobile phone
(see mobilization). Travellers by train will
have noticed how the potential for a chat with
fellow passengers has largely been displaced by
the prevalence of talk, gaming and fi lm-watching
on mobiles.
Th e notion of functional similarity has often
been applied as a yardstick to measure the extent
and nature of displacement: if the new is func-
tionally similar to the old, then the old is likely
to be displaced. Functionally dissimilar activities
are likely to hold their own. Th e problem lies in
establishing what functions a medium actually
serves, which means that displacement is all the
more diffi cult to assess.
As a result of TV, do people talk less, read
less, go out with friends less, socialize less?
Does the internet mop up marginal activities,
displace real with second-hand experience; does
it displace ‘day-dreaming’? Evidence concerning
people’s reactions to programmes is so open to
infl uence from intervening variables (ivs)
that it is diffi cult to use it as a basis for reliable
theory. See effects of the mass media; uses
and gratifications theory. See also topic
guide under communication theory.
Disqualifying communication A form of
self-protection, or defensive communication
when, in a situation causing embarrassment,
anxiety or uneasiness, people talk aimlessly
about, say, the weather, or go into a variety of
non-verbal responses in order to avoid directlegislation (such as a freedom of information
act or laws facilitating a right of reply) or
public-interest regulation (such as the Charter
of the BBC).
Regulation can also be seen in national press
councils, usually voluntary arrangements,
created to protect the public against abuses
committed by newspapers and journals. The
weaknesses of these forms of empowerment are
many and varied: voluntary watchdogs can so
easily end up dogs without teeth, without the
power to insist that media perform according to
empowerment principles; and all of this presup-
poses that the law itself is a force for equality, of
access and treatment.
In the context of mass communication, a key
tool of empowerment is media education – in
Hamelink’s words ‘the need to make people
critically aware of how media are organized,
how they function, and how their contents can
be analysed’. Th e author quotes Len Masterman
in Teaching the Media (Comedia, 1985), who
believes that ‘media education is an essential
step in the long march towards a truly participa-
tory democracy, and the democratization of our
institutions’. See freedom of information
act (uk), 2005; people’s communication
charter.
Disenfranchisement (of readership)
Researchers have commented on the extent to
which some newspapers refl ect an assumption
- possibly that of the owners and editors – that
their readership is totally uninvolved and unin-
terested in the political processes and events of
the country. It is as if the readers were politically
disenfranchised, not able to participate in the
political process, and thus news of political
aff airs is of no concern to them. Such papers aim
to entertain, to concentrate on stories of human
interest and drama rather than to inform.
Disinformation Derives from the Russian,
‘Dezinformatsiya’, a term especially associated
with the former Soviet Union’s secret service, the
KGB. It applied to the use of forgery and other
techniques to discredit targeted governments,
persons or policies. Th e process of disinforma-
tion is, of course, as old as mankind, and sowing
the seeds of disinformation is matched by accus-
ing the opposition of spreading disinformation.
See effects of the mass media; news
management in times of war.
Displacement eff ect In psychological theory,
displacement is one of the major mechanisms
of ego-defence identified by Sigmund Freud.
Displacement occurs when an individual chooses
an alternative focus for the expression of feel-