In August 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr was the speaker of the famous speech “I Have a Dream” in which, is still one of the top speeches to this day. This speech was to push a Civil Rights Bill to President Kennedy and Congress to pass. After reviewing the most powerful 18 minute speech in history, Rev. King was using the seven communication elements to deliver his message. The seven communication elements of speaker, message, channel, interference, setting, audience, and feedback is summarized in Rev. King’s Dream speech. As the speaker, Rev. King had rolled all three types of appeals into one using effectively logos, pathos, and ethos. The communication element of a speaker in his speech proved that Rev. King is an “ethical speakers believe their messages will improve the lives of listeners, helping their audiences think critically, creatively, and constructively about issues” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 8). The message, a communication element, Rev. King addressed in his opening statement “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation” (King, 1963). Rev. King speaks about freedom in a form equal human rights for any shade of color. He stated his dream “…my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character” (King, 1963). The channel, “…conveys your message to listeners” (Osborn, 2015, Pg.
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10), is quite different today than it was in 1963. In 1963 the “I Have a Dream” speech was access through face to face, television, and radio. There was no Facebook, Twitter, or any social media other than the newspaper that would summarize the “Dream” speech the next day. The speech was relied upon the major news broadcast stations that had many microphones in front of Rev. King on his podium. The interference viewed in the speech was at a minimal. Interference are distractions “…that can disrupt the communication process” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 10). Positive cheering, laughter, and a roar of applause filled the area where Rev. King was speaking. The two distractions on television was what sounded like a plane flying by which made some of the audience, to include Rev. King, to look up and the hand coming across to adjust the microphones on the podium with Rev. King was speaking. Interferences that we may not know about would be audience members not having a television to view the speech, not having a radio or clear frequency to listen to the speech, and different cities or states that refuse to locally broadcast the historical speech. A key communication element for a successful speech is the setting where the speech will be located. “A speech is always presented in a setting that can affect profoundly how it is designed, presented, and received” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 11). For the Rev. King no other place would be more effective than having his setting at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. “The very setting of the speech affected how these listeners – hundreds of thousands of them in the actual audience and millions more listening on radio or watching on television – would respond” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 11). The audience, “…potential listeners the speaker hopes to reach” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 11), was more than
10), is quite different today than it was in 1963. In 1963 the “I Have a Dream” speech was access through face to face, television, and radio. There was no Facebook, Twitter, or any social media other than the newspaper that would summarize the “Dream” speech the next day. The speech was relied upon the major news broadcast stations that had many microphones in front of Rev. King on his podium. The interference viewed in the speech was at a minimal. Interference are distractions “…that can disrupt the communication process” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 10). Positive cheering, laughter, and a roar of applause filled the area where Rev. King was speaking. The two distractions on television was what sounded like a plane flying by which made some of the audience, to include Rev. King, to look up and the hand coming across to adjust the microphones on the podium with Rev. King was speaking. Interferences that we may not know about would be audience members not having a television to view the speech, not having a radio or clear frequency to listen to the speech, and different cities or states that refuse to locally broadcast the historical speech. A key communication element for a successful speech is the setting where the speech will be located. “A speech is always presented in a setting that can affect profoundly how it is designed, presented, and received” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 11). For the Rev. King no other place would be more effective than having his setting at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. “The very setting of the speech affected how these listeners – hundreds of thousands of them in the actual audience and millions more listening on radio or watching on television – would respond” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 11). The audience, “…potential listeners the speaker hopes to reach” (Osborn, 2015, Pg. 11), was more than