¶ … American newspaper in relation to some aspects of public and group communication. The three aspects to be discussed are focused on the formation of public group identities. Also, the essay will discuss the influence of the mass media on conceptions of public, group, and interpersonal communication. Mainly, it will examine the way that the mass media allows for feedback in public and group communication. The chosen article describes the recent controversy around the comments of Senator Trent Lott. Last week at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, Senator Lott praised Sen. Thurmond's 1948 run for president. The author of the article explains that Sen. Strom Thurmond is a controversial figure because of his views on civil rights. His platform while running for president in 1948 supported racial segregation, and, later in 1957, as Senator for South Carolina, he vehemently argued against a civil rights bill. Lott's exact words from the birthday party were, "We're proud of it [Thurmond's 1948 run for president]. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either." After Lott began receiving criticism for this comment from all sides of the political arena, and apologized by saying, "A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize for my statement to anyone who was offended by it."

How does this article relate to concepts of communication? First of all, Lott's remark concerning Thurmond's 1948 candidacy is an example of how group identity is formed through public discourse. Trent Lott's comment about Thurmond is authoritative because Lott is a Republican Senator. As a public figure, Lott's communications are different from the communications of non-public...

Although he made the controversial remarks at a semi-private occasion (a birthday party), his remarks are not the usual interpersonal communication. In his case, he was speaking not only as a Senator, but also as a highly visible Republican. As such, his comments might be given an air of validity and respectability that otherwise might not exist. The result of this could be that some who agree with racial segregation or who do not support civil rights, might construe his comments to mean that Republicans in general believe in such things. This is not an absurd possibility, given the nature of the history of southern conservative views for which Thurmond is a well-known symbol. Whether Lott knew it or not, his remarks contributed to the imagery that comprises Republican public identity. Lott's remarks caused both unity and dissent among the Republican Party. All of these responses, when broadcast through the mass-media, give the public the impression that they are participants in national discussions about politics.
Secondly, the recent Lott controversy illustrates an aspect of public or group communication that also is found in interpersonal communication: feedback. In interpersonal communication, some situations allow for feedback and some situations do not. Mass media is capable of making public communications into interpersonal communications. News articles, internet, and television all allow for feedback from the public who is listening, reading, or watching the media's coverage of a public communication. In the case of the Lott situation, many people gave feedback. The interesting thing is that, unlike some public figures, Lott responded to the feedback. People who were offended by his comments expressed themselves and his response was to apologize and explain that his comments were not an accurate representation of what he…