Embargo
to avoid such filtering, but to be empathetic
requires that an individual make an eff ort to avoid
judging others on the basis of his/her subjective
experiences and perspectives – attempting to
see things from the other person’s point of view,
whilst retaining his/her own perspectives, values
and so on. Clearly empathy has an important role
to play in eff ective interpersonal communication
and in reducing barriers to communication.
Empirical Based upon experience. Empirical
research in the social sciences centres upon
fieldwork – the collection of evidence about
observable human behaviour.
Its evidence may be used to establish an
isolated proposition, to test certain theoretical
analyses against observable behaviour, or to gain
insight into certain behaviours. Such evidence
may itself generate hypotheses, concepts,
models and theories.
▶David Deacon, Michael Pickering, Peter Golding
and Graham Murdock, Researching Communica-
tions: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media and
Cultural Analysis (Hodder Education, 2007).
Empowerment Giving to people, individually,
as groups or as communities or nations, power
over their lives, of choice and decision. Th e role
of the media in advocating, assisting, blocking
or subverting empowerment is the subject of
keen debate as the media increasingly operate
on a global scale. Empowerment also refers to
the ways in which audience responds to media
messages; the degree to which it is capable of
resistive reading (see dominant, subordi-
nate, radical). Th ose who are ‘empowered’
are fi rstly capable of interpreting for themselves
the agendas and meanings of media communica-
tion. Th ey are able to ‘make use’ of these agendas
and meanings to further individual or communal
needs, ultimately with a political purpose: the
power is to change things.
Th ere is currently much debate on the extent
to which the internet is a force for empower-
ment, off ering opportunities for people to use
Net platforms to comment, exchange views
and campaign on agendas not set by authority
or by mass media. See blogosphere; demotic
turn; facebook; journalism: citizen jour-
nalism; mobilization; myspace; twitter;
web 2.0; wikileaks; youtube.
Encode We communicate by means of a variety
of visual and aural signals which are assembled
according to certain rules or codes. If Person
A wishes to convey to Person B a message
that Person B is likely to understand, then that
message has to be encoded with Person B’s
ability to decode the message-carrying signalsowners or bureaucracy). See blogosphere;
democracy; dominant, subordinate,
radical; internet; networking: social
networking.
Embargo Restriction set upon a news item,
indicating when that item can be published or
broadcast. A press release from government or
industry, for example, will be headed ‘Not for
publication/broadcasting until ... ’ and give a
specifi c date.
Embedded reporters With the invasion of
Iraq in 2003 by American and British forces,
the tactic of the authorities was to insist that
reporters of the war were ‘embedded’ with allied
military personnel – the aim being to exercise
control over the movements of reporters and to
ensure that reports were subject to censorship.
Equally, it was expected that reporters, attached
to operative units, would identify with those
units and subsequently develop an empathy
with them, an emotional bonding that would
make overt censorship unnecessary.
The advantage embedded reporters have
over independents, or ‘unilaterals’, is that they
have the chance to witness battle at fi rst-hand,
share the experience of combat, learn with
their soldier-comrades the nature of fear and
stress in which each individual relies on others
for survival. Th e downside is to be subject to
military influence and control. The system is
not new: reporters were embedded with British
troops during the First World War (1914–18). See
news management in times of war.
Emblem See non-verbal behaviour: reper-
toire.
Emotive language To describe a crowd as a ‘mob’
or a ‘rabble’ is to be emotive, to convey not only
information but also one’s own attitude towards
the crowd and one’s intention of infl uencing the
receiver’s attitude towards it. Emotive language
tells as much about the communicator as the
message. It reveals what he/she thinks and very
often how he/she thinks. ideology is the root
and inspiration of the media use of emotive
language. Newspapers often use it on those they
disagree with, who appear somehow to threaten
what the newspapers wish to preserve. In times
of national emergency such as a war, emotive
language is used to whip up support and fervour
for the cause and to forge a sense of national unity.
Empathetic listening See listening.
Empathy Th e ability to put oneself into another
person’s position, into another person’s shoes,
and to attempt to understand his/her behaviour
and perspectives without fi ltering them through
one’s own value system. It is not possible totally