From Individuals to Media Systems: How Communication Really Works
EXPLAINER @jorgebscomm for @empowervmedia Photo: Caleb Oquendo via Pexels · Pexels License A communication outcome can begin in a person, travel through a group, be shaped by an institution and be amplified by a media system. M essages rarely move from sender to audience in a straight line. A short video may be noticed because one person finds it striking, shared because friends are discussing it, packaged according to an organisation's priorities, and amplified by a platform whose recommendation system makes it more visible. Looking only at the person, group, institution or system would capture something real. None would capture the whole process. That is the value of levels of analysis . A 2026 review identified 287 articles using multilevel modelling in communication journals between 1990 and 2024, with studies spanning increasingly diverse subfields. There is no single...
