Important Practice Questions- Mass Com

A guide for aspirants of Entrance Tests of B.A. Mass Communications/Media Studies Written & Published by:- Miss Neelanjana T.
..Contd from Part 1

11. What are the basic functions and roles of mass communication? The roles of the mass communication can be broadly categorized into the following aspects: i. ii. iii. To Inform: The main role of the mass communication is to inform the people of and make them aware by imparting information. To educate: The role of mass communication is not just restricted to impart information but to develop values by instructions. To entertain: To entertain people which one of the major ways in which mass communication influences culture.

12. What are misleading advertisements and how do they affect the consumers? Misleading advertisements are a common trend in mass communication. They make use of false or misleading statements to promote products and increase profit lines for a company or a brand. Such advertisements use deception to persuade people. Such advertisements completely deny the right to know for consumers and are banned in many countries. Still they have been a trend by finding legal ways to deceive people. Misleading advertisements may have the following effects on consumers: Confuse consumers. Deny the right to know for consumers. Deception by the use of false or misleading statement. In some cases even loss of money.

13. What is the pattern of evolution of mass communication and when did it start? Mass communication originated from newspaper publishing. The origin dates back to the 19th century with the invention of the telegraph to send long distance messages. However, with time, mass communication evolved in terms of medium and styles both. It further evolved to publishing of magazines with which also came the concept of advertising. This was followed by films, radio, television and then internet. 14. What is grapevine communication and how can it effect mass communication? Grapevine communication is a form of communication channel used for communicating gossips. It bypasses the formal structure of communication and thus is an informal form of communication. These days such communication channels can be noticed easily on social networking sites and other mediums. The major disadvantage of grapevine communication is that it cannot be filtered and when on a large scale it is impossible to identify the source. Thus this form communication mostly misleads or deceives the end consumer by false news or rumors. 15. In what ways does newspaper effect the development of a nation? Newspaper is the most instrumental form of mass communication. It influences the culture, mentality and the view of its readers in many ways. Today newspaper itself falls into many categories. From regional to national, newspapers have been evolving fast according to the needs of its readers. The local news comes up with depth information reports with local happenings for regional readers and the business papers

Important Practice Questions- Mass Com

A guide for aspirants of Entrance Tests of B.A. Mass Communications/Media Studies Written & Published by:- Miss Neelanjana T.
feed to the ones wanting an edge in the market. Newspapers thus play a very important role in shaping the community by informing and educating the people of a country. 16. What are the current characteristics of news? The characteristics and trends and news change with time and the intended audience. The characteristics of news are influenced by human interest, proximity, current trends, consequences, intelligence, and current affairs. The current characteristics of news are majorly based on entertainment to target a bigger audience. To increase the appeal of the news various trends are being followed to make the news more interesting and gain more attention from the readers. News which are based on disasters, scams, crimes, war, violence and drama are the one which are rated high by news firms as they get more audience. 17. What is promotion strategy used in mass communication? Mass communication helps in reaching out to the masses to promote various products. Promotional strategies generally used are as follows: Sponsorship: Many channels of mass communication are sponsored by companies and make good money to promote their products in return. This is a very general trend followed by marketing experts these days. Advertisement: Advertising is another promotional strategy used in mass communication to promote products and generate money. Public relations: Mass communication uses this strategy to build positive relation with public to favor the growth and demand of product or features. This can be also done other way round by increasing negative attention in order to gain publicity.

18. Which are the most dominating companies in the field of mass communication? The mass communication sector is dominated by five major companies. These companies contribute to a total of 95% of the market in the mass communication sector. Time Warner VIACOM Vivendi Universal Walt Disney News Corp

19. How does social media affect youth? The youth is affected by social media. They buy, look and like what they see on television. Teenagers look forward to be dressed as what their favorite celebrity is dressed like. The social media thus has a very major effect on the dressing culture of the youth. On the negative side, drug abuse and adulteration at a young age can be counted as major ill effects. While on the positive side youth may be influenced to become an athlete or play a sport that is gaining popularity. Thus social media has positive as well as negative implication for the youth. 20. How does mass media act as a link between the government and the people? The mass media affects the view of politics in people s mind by its news, reports, analysis and presentations. On the other side it informs the government about the needs and the problems faced by the general public via different surveys conducted by the news channels or papers. Reports of injustice, abuse and exploitation sometimes catches the eye of the government via these channel of communication. Mass media

Important Practice Questions- Mass Com

A guide for aspirants of Entrance Tests of B.A. Mass Communications/Media Studies Written & Published by:- Miss Neelanjana T.
also informs the society and gives them an insight of the government, politics and the officials running them. Thus the media acts as a government watchdog and also keeps the public aware of the politics and maintains a link between both. 21. What is mass media law and how is it involved in mass communication? Mass media law is designed to set limits and guard mass media from wrong use. It encompasses a variety of communication industries which involve newspapers, magazines other forms of print media, films, Internet and other forms of electronic media. As mass media reaches out to a very large number of people it has the ability to affect these masses too in a variety of ways. The main laws involved in the mass media law are copyright laws which are designed to protect the creativity and the defamation law which is further divided into slander and libel and are related to inappropriate or offending statements or visuals which can create a negative impact on reputation of an individual or an entity. 22. What is sociology of media and what are its basic roles? Sociology of media is a study of the mass media communication ie. the study of mass communication and different trends followed by it. It is a sub field of sociology and concerns to how mass media relates to features like transmission of information and the accessibility of information to groups of people. It focuses on how digital or mass communication is different from face to face communication and how does it influence the people via various concepts involved such as advertising, entertainment, education and information. Sociology of media includes the study of different forms of mass communication and media and the different structures of mass communication. Measuring of impact, case studies and neutrality of media are also issues covered under this subject. 23. What is cultural globalization? How does mass communication promote it? Cultural globalization is the unifying of culture across the globe. It is about bringing cultures together and creating a unified culture across the globe. Mass media and communication are key promoters of cultural globalization and unification. As we see today many channels run globally such as CNN global news, which report which report news and events occurring across the world, even the most remote locations. This globalization of news interconnects people and helps bringing exposure to countries about foreign ideas, practices and lifestyle. 24. What is the concept of imperialism in media? It relates to loss of identity on account of dominating media from powerful countries. Developing nations with under-developed media may be overpowered by foreign media. This theory can be better understood by the example of small community shops being over taken by mall or shopping complexes which have a large scale production and influence. The imperialism of media causes the media of developing countries to be smothered by influential media of powerful nations. This causes the loss of identity for the suffering countrys media as well as identity. 25. How does democracy relates to mass communication and consolidation of mass media? Democracy in mass communication refers to the freedom of speech and the right to know. Both these rights enable people to evolve and share an independent view point on any socio-politico-economical issue and related interaction within a society. The right

Important Practice Questions- Mass Com

A guide for aspirants of Entrance Tests of B.A. Mass Communications/Media Studies Written & Published by:- Miss Neelanjana T.
to information allows the media to publish or inform the public about the viewpoints on current issues. These rights are practicable till they do not offend or go against the society. This requires the tool of media consolidation to combine peoples view point or there take on the societal affairs. 26. Give a brief on Shannon weaver model. Shannon weaver model is considered as an important model of communication via which had led to development of other models. It focuses on the key roles of different components of the communication process such as the sender, the receiver, the medium via which communication is established, the message and the noise channel. This model is not much useful in todays time as it does not focus on the issue and the right of accessibility to the issue and to the fact as to who shall be handling it. 27. What is Press council and how does it help the current scenario of media? The body that governs the conduct of the print media in the country is called press council. It is very important as it has the highest power with respect to ensuring the democracy of media covering the right to speech and the right to information. Another role of the council is to maintain a limit on the print media through media laws so as to ensure that cultural or religious sentiments of people are not hurt or infringed. The Press council regulates the current scenario of media as infinite freedom of speech often leads to cases of defamation charges.

28. What is the role of an editor of a newspaper? The role of a newspaper editor is related to the language and the grammar of the contents published in a newspaper. The editor has to make sure that there are no errors of punctuations or spellings in the content and he/she reviews the article so that it makes sense. At higher levels the newspaper editor also helps in smooth operation of newspaper publishing and provides editorial direction to it.

29. What is dependency theory in mass communication and how does it differ from modernization theory? The dependency theory was developed in response to the modernization theory on mass communication. The theory states how the rich countries grow richer and the poor countries turn poorer as the later are not integrated to the world and become a victim of the influence of wealthy nations. Dependency theory is against the view that all societies develop through same stages. It stresses upon the difference and backwardness of the underdeveloped countries with respect to world economy leading to their present state. 30. What is the bullet theory? Bullet theory is also known as magic bullet or hypodermic needle theory of mass communication. It talks about reception of message by the receiver or the intended audience as a whole. Under this theory the media is taken as a gun and the message sent out by media as a bullet which is supposed to be directed at the targeted audience. **********