Mccroskey's Miscommunication?

The classic model of communication involves a sender sending a message to a receiver through a medium, and getting another message in return. This is the model that all professional communicators agree on, but what the community lacks consensus on is whether or not intention is necessary for communication. McCroskey defines an effective communicator as someone who “can stimulate in the mind of another person a meaning they intend to or want to stimulate.” If the intention of the sender of a message gets to the receiver and the receiver interprets it correctly, successful communication has taken place. If the sender sends a message and the receiver receives it, but the message is skewed, the involved parties have experienced miscommunication. Similarly, if the sender sends a message, but it does not get to the intended receiver but it gets to someone else, the involved parties have once again experienced miscommunication. Traum and Dillenbourg define Miscommunication as “a lack of alignment of agents ' …show more content…
Donald Trump, the sender, sent a message to Billy Bush, the receiver, but Trump unknowingly sent a message out that would be heard by all of America as well. Putting my distaste for Trump aside, I must admit this was a miscommunication. Trump only intended for the receiver to be Bush, maybe another person in the RV, but he had never intended for as many people to hear that did. For a similar, less racy scenario, imagine a child is hiding around the corner while their parents discuss what they will give to their kid for their birthday. The parents only intended to communicate with each other, the sender and the receiver, but the child was an unintended receiver. Therefore, this family has experienced miscommunication. Miscommunication should still be considered a form of communication, as the sender, receiver, and message are all