When we think of the sciences, especially the “hard” ones, everything seems exact and absolute. The speed of light is a constant in the universe that limits the velocity of everything within it. The earth’s gravity is a cool 9.81 m/s². The value of pi is 22/7. For centuries, this has given the illusion that science operates on the achievement of certainty, a significant improvement over the much lower predictability of the arts. However, what we need to understand is that scientists do not operate with 100% certainty. They are more concerned with probability. In fact, uncertainty is inherent in scientific activity (Kampourakis and McCain, 2019).

Hallmarks of science in communication theory

In the study of communications, theories are conceptualized, built, and refined following the tenets of science. The materialist assertion – matter precedes thought – enables theory building through observation of real-world events and representing them in abstract thoughts. Scholars identify the possibility of some degree of predictability given specific conditions, create a theoretical model, and test the repeatability of that model through experimentation. Any results, proving validity or otherwise, are used to further refine abstract thought. There are also the elements of empiricism and criticality which are employed by communication scholars in the pursuit of new knowledge (Craig, 1999).

Messaging by parties from the left and the right continues to captivate the public imagination, and therefore hold significant control over legislative outcomes that affect everyday life for citizens…

Agenda setting theory, for example, which describes the influence of mass media in defining the public agenda, remains highly relevant in today’s hyperpolarized political environment. Messaging by parties from the left and the right continues to captivate the public imagination, and therefore hold significant control over legislative outcomes that affect everyday life for citizens, especially those who live in the margins of society. In developing the theory, new studies have found that this phenomenon also occurs, although to a limited degree, between media outlets, and with an opposing outcome than earlier theorized between the media and the public (Nygaard, 2020). Additionally, the concept has grown to describe a second level, which deals in attributes rather than objects (McCombs et al., 2009). This demonstrates that communication theory is fluid, able to change to accept new knowledge derived from empirical research.

Is communication a science or an art?

Communication is often viewed from the lens of the science-versus-art dichotomy, and there are advocates from either side. Art represents masterful skill in doing and expressing, while science concerns itself with explaining why things are done the way they are. The discipline possibly sits somewhere in the middle. Theory and practice both play a key role in distilling predictable natural phenomena into communication theory. The more we apply theory in practice, the more we understand about its validity and the more we can refine it to match physical reality.

References

Craig, Robert T. (May 1999). “Communication Theory as a Field”. Communication Theory. 9 (2): 119–161. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.1999.tb00355.x 

Kampourakis, Kostas, and Kevin McCain, ‘Uncertainty Is Inherent in Science’, Uncertainty: How It Makes Science Advance (New York, 2019; online edn, Oxford Academic, 24 Oct. 2019), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190871666.003.0011, accessed 17 Oct. 2023.

McCombs, M. E., Shaw, D. L., & Weaver, D. H. (2009). Communication and democracy: Exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory. Routledge.

Nygaard, S. (2020). Boundary work: Intermedia agenda-setting between right-wing alternative media and professional journalism. Journalism Studies, 21(6), 766–782. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670x.2020.1722731