2. In 1970 Philip J Tichenor, George A. Donohue
and Clarice. N Olien proposed an idea titled as
“Mass media flow and differential growth in
knowledge”
3. theory
• This theory is concerned mainly with information and
knowledge and emphasizes that knowledge is not
distributed equally throughout society
Concept of haves and have-nots with regard to
information just as material wealth Information is
very important in our society because any developed
country depends on well- informed citizens
4. Knowledge Gap Hypothesis
• As the infusion of mass media information into a
social system increases, segments of the population
with higher socio-economic status tend to acquire
this information at a faster rate than the lower status
segments, so that the gap in knowledge between
these two segments tend to increase rather than
decrease
5. Role of Mass Media
One of the great promises of mass communication
is that it provides people with information they
need
It has the potential of reaching people who have
not been reached by other means (poor and
undeveloped people)
6. Hypothesis Prediction
People of both high and low socioeconomic status
will gain in knowledge because of the additional
information, but that persons of higher
socioeconomic status will gain more
This would mean that the relative gap in knowledge
between the well-to-do and less well-off would
increase.
7. Operational forms of the Hypothesis
Techinor et al 1970 say that KG hypothesis might be
stated in two ways:
Overtime, acquisition of knowledge of a heavily
publicized topic will proceed at a faster rate among
better- educated persons than among those with
less education
At a given time, there should be a higher correlation
between acquisition of knowledge and education for
topics highly publicized in the media than for topics
less publicized
8. Possible reasons for Knowledge Gap
There is a difference in communication skills between
those high and low in SES
There is a difference in the amount of stored
information or previously acquired background
knowledge
People of higher SES might have more relevant social
contact
The mechanisms of selective exposure, acceptance and
retention might be operating. (Persons with low SES might
not find or be interested in topics such as public affairs or
science news)
9. How ToReduce The Knowledge Gap
When an issue has immediate and strong local
impact, the knowledge gap is likely to decline
A well-known celebrity involved in the dissemination
of information could help achieve wider visibility for
and acceptance of the information
When an issue arouses basic social concerns, the
knowledge gap is likely to be reduced or eliminated
Researchers found that television may have a special
power to close knowledge gaps or, if not to close
them, at least to keep them from widening
10. Interest and motivation can help in narrowing KG
Information campaigns must beon audience
research
Society mustassure theaccess to information
available toall
It probably begin with needs of the potential
userof information
11. KG and New Technology
• Manyof the new technologiesareexpensive Becauseof
thecost, these technologies may be more available to
thewell-to-do than to less –well-off.
If the access to these information services is not
universally available throughout the society, then those
already “information-rich” may reap the benefits while
the “information-poor” get relatively poorer.
A widening of this “information gap” may lead to
increase tension.
12. The Digital Divide
What is the digital divide?
The digital divide is the gap between people with access to
digital information technology, and those that have limited
access to digital information technology
Gap can be found between individuals, communities, and
countries
The digital divide causes an increased knowledge gap.
People who lack access to the internet will not be receiving
the information provided by the internet
People who have internet learn how to interpret and
understand information the information presented
13. Criticism of the KG Hypothesis
Dervin (1980) criticized the KG for being based on the
traditional source-sending-messages –to-receiver
paradigm of communication
She recommended that communication
campaigns and researchers be more user-based
and user-constructed information
Evatt (1998) argued that researchers should be sure
that the information they are testing is useful and
relevant for the audience being tested
14. Knowledge Gap from Pakistani Perspective
Pakistani rural areas are different from Urban areas
The socio economic status of people of rural areas is
very low than people of urban area
The information and knowledge gap is much more in
between these two sectors
The reason for this is the lack of educational facilities in
rural areas
Lack of information sources
15. Factors widening KG
Lack of professional ethics
Limited accessibility tointernet
Ignorance about currentprofessional knowledge
Poor library infrastructure
Limited state funded resources
Limited capacity toattend international professional
conferences
Lack of personal will
Unavailability of fresh scientificliterature
Obsolete professional knowledge in different
disciplines
16. Examples
When a person from rural area applies for the job
and on the same time the person from Urban area
applies then both of them have different level of
knowledge
The communication skills of the person from Urban
area would be much better than rural area person
Rural area person would not be much confident, he
would lack various trends of suiting's, walk, talk
and so on.