Media

Media refers to a means of communication such as broadcasting, publishing, or anything or

communication involving the use of the internet or other sources that uses different branches
to facilitate global communication for individuals situated across the world. Media is the largest
source that acts as the primary source of information for many individuals.
Mass Media can be defined as a technology which is intended to communicate or reach a mass
audience. Mass media is actually the primary means of communication for the general public to
communicate with each other as well as on a grander level.
What is meant by Media?
Media is the plural version of the term medium that describes any course of communication.
Media includes everything from printed papers to virtually represented data, encompassing art,
education, news, and various other forms of information. Anything that can stretch into the
sphere of communication that influences people, including items like television, phones, and
the internet, can be regarded as media.

Merits of Mass-media:
There are numerous advantages of mass media in the contemporary world. From being the
watchdog of a democratic country to ensuring faster communication, different types of mass
media have various advantages and benefits such as:

1. Giving Voice to the Voiceless: There was a time when not everyone was allowed to
express their thoughts and opinions. Even if they were, they didn’t have the means to
do so. But, those days are gone now. Mass communication has made it possible for
everyone to express themselves freely, giving them a voice. Mass media plays an
essential role in shining the spotlight on the masses as the general public can express
their views and opinions freely. This way, it becomes the voice of the voiceless thus
giving the right platform for the people to use their right to express freely.

2. Effective and Wider Communication: It is through different types of mass media from
social media to the digital platforms that the world has transformed into a global village.
This way, mass communication has become useful for the people, businesses,
governments and the whole world to stay connected with each other. This is especially
good news when it comes to creating awareness about health and the environment. It
provides a medium people can use to educate themselves and follow actions that have
a positive impact, all the while making the world a better place. And, in times of crisis, it
allows others to send help.
3. Encyclopedia of Information: The internet is truly a massive open source of information
and different types of mass media from search engine platforms to social media
platforms and learning websites play a greater role in helping anyone learn anything
anywhere.

4. Easy access: Easy to reach and use. It is easily accessible, so people don’t have to go out
of their way to support what they believe in. They can use social and digital media
where their voices will be heard by millions and billions of people. Helpful to do good
work. The message that is difficult to reach people through printing media became easy
by electronic media.
5. Education: Media educates the mass. With the help of television or radio shows, the
mob discovers various facts about health affairs, environmental preservation, and many
more topics of relevance.
6. Updated: People receive the latest news in a short time. Distance does not make a
barrier in distributing information to people from any place on earth. People get daily
news updates from media outlets, which keeps them updated on the current trends and
happenings worldwide.
7. Exercise innate potentialities: People get to exercise their hidden talents through
media. Media helps to showcase their hidden skills such as comedy, performing, singing,
recitation, etc.
8. Gather knowledge: Media helps to increase knowledge about various subjects.
Children’s knowledge increases. Children can learn from quiz programs, animal
programs and so on.
9. Mass production: Media acts as a great tool in promoting mass consumer products,
increasing sales of the assets.
10. Entertainment: Serves as a good source of entertainment. People get entertained
through music and television programs.
11. Cost reduction: Electronic media promotes electronic duplication of information,
reducing the production cost and making mass education achievable.
12. Diffusion of Diverse Cultures: Mass media also plays a colossal part in spreading arts
and cultures to every nook and corner of the world. With the help of the internet,
anyone can learn a new language, know about a different culture or even travel the
whole world without physically going from one place to another. It helps people around
the world to be understanding of each other and welcome their differences.
13. Business communication: For businesses to prosper, they should be able to acquire
more customers and retain the existing ones. What’s a better way to achieve this goal
than using mass communication? If it were not for advertisements and marketing, the
customers wouldn’t know about the existence of various brands, making it difficult for
 them to do business. Using business communication, it has become easier to build a
good customer base.

Demerits of Mass-Media:
1. Unreliable news: It’s said you should believe half of what you see and none of what you
hear, and there is a reason behind it. But, most of the mass media is about what we see
and hear. It can be used by powerful people to show the public what they want and
make them believe it. Moreover, the unreliability of news can have consequences. Since
it is easy to spread misinformation through media, it can be used to manipulate people.
These spreads lie among the masses and create a hateful environment.
2. It Can Overtake Personal Connections: People spend an excessive amount of time on
the internet, watching or binging content. As a result, their relationship with friends or
family and neighbors may be affected. We’ve all seen it or been a part of it: a group out
to dinner where everyone spends much of the evening staring at their phones or gazing
at a TV in the corner. As much as mass media can connect us with people all over the
world, it can disconnect us from the people right in front of us.
3. Unsuitable content for children: Another disadvantage of mass media is that some of
the content that is spewed out for the viewing public is not suitable for the consumption
of children. Some measures have been taken to limit the access of the children to such
adult content but sometimes, the limitations can be broken as the children seem to
know a few tricks more than their parents.
4. Difficulty to Access: One other disadvantage of mass media is that it may not be
available to everyone. Newspapers, for example, depend on sales in addition to
advertisements to keep making a profit. For this reason, where sales are very low, the
media house may stop sending their papers there. In other words, newspapers are
geographically selective. In the case of television and radio houses, people can only tune
in where the signals are present. Therefore, though the mass media is supposed to be
available to all, it may not necessarily be available to everybody because of technical
shortcomings.
5. Compromised privacy: The relationship between mass media and the security of
personal information is quite complicated. There has been a lot of data breach incidents
which has forced people to think about their compromised privacy. The mass media
reaches out to a large audience, making millions of them vulnerable to data
exploitation. To deal with these privacy issues, tighter regulations are imposed, and
companies are held accountable. But this is not enough, and individuals should be
careful about what they share on social media.
6. Fraudulence and Cybercrime: The Internet opens up avenues for imposters, criminals,
and hackers, or such predators with the possibility to commit criminal acts without any
knowledge of the victims. The personal details of the users shared online are hacked by
cybercriminals, and used against them.
7. Addiction: Some television programs and internet media can be very addictive to most
children and adults, leading to a drop in productivity.
8. Health Concerns: Prolonged television watching or internet binging can lead to vision
problems, and exposure to loud noises by using headphones or earphones can lead to
hearing defects. It feels worse knowing that you have wasted your time, consuming
unwanted content because you were distracted.
9. Faulty advertisement tactics: One of the major drawbacks of mass media is that it may
promote the wrong virtues. It often makes the use of drugs and alcohol appear cool,
which can be harmful to the nations’ youth.
10. Personal Injury: Some people decide to try the stunts that have been showcased in the
media, which lead to severe injuries.
11. Malware and Fake Profiles: An individual can create an anonymous account and
pretend to be someone else. Anyone can use such profiles for malicious reasons, such as
spreading lies, which can ruin the reputation of any targeted individual or company.
12. Advertisement can be a nuisance to viewing and reading pleasure: Media houses
make their money mainly through advertisements. Sometimes these adverts become a
nuisance to the viewing public if it is a television and a nuisance to readers. In other
words, the way media houses have increased advertisement on their networks have
made their mediums less and less attractive.
13. It Can Homogenize Culture: Before mass media, art and culture were more localized, so
they reflected diversity in how people spoke, dressed, and entertained themselves.
Now, the entire world often sees and hears the same cultural influences. While diversity
still clearly exists, there is the risk that mass media might reduce cultural variety, leaving
us with less art and fewer inspirations.