Unit II Mass Communication

Topics
• Mass Communication: Concept and Definition,
• Characteristics of Mass Communication
• Elements of mass communication
• Functions of Mass Communication
The mass
• The concept “mass’’ in mass communication is defined as a large, heterogeneous,
assorted, anonymous audience.

• ‘Large’ means we can’t exactly count the number of the members of audience. It is
relatively large but it doesn’t mean that the audience includes all people.

• ‘Heterogeneous’ means the audience of mass media includes all types of people – the rich,
the poor, farmers, bureaucrats, politicians and so on.

• ‘Assorted’ means the audience of mass media is not necessarily limited to a particular
geographical sector. They may be scattered everywhere. For example, a newspaper may have a
reader in every nook and corner of the world.

• ‘Anonymous’ means the individuals in the mass do not know each other. Also the source or
the sender of the messages in mass communication does not know the individual members
of the mass.

Definition of Mass: Mass is an aggregation of individuals who are separate, detached and
anonymous.
Mass Communication
Mass communication can be defined as ‘a process whereby mass produced
messages are transmitted to large , anonymous and heterogeneous masses of
receivers.
By ‘mass produced’ we mean putting the content or message of mass communication in
a form suitable to be distributed to a large masses of people.
Heterogeneous means that the individual members of the mass are from a wide
variety of classes and categories in society
Anonymous means the individuals in the mass do not know each other. Also the source
or the sender of the messages in mass communication does not know the individual
members of the mass. Also the receivers in mass communication are physically
separated from each other and share no physical proximity. They are, in fact, spread
over different geographic locations.
 Characteristics of Mass Communication
Large number of audiences: The most important characteristic of mass communication is that
its audiences are relatively large. Audiences of mass communication may exceed millions after
millions.
Heterogeneous Audience: Audience of mass communication are not only large in numbers
but also are different in terms of age, sex, religion, race, culture etc.
Use of Common Message: Another unique characteristic of mass communication is that it
sends the same message simultaneously to a large number of audiences staying far away from
each other.
No Direct Feedback: Mass Communication does not produce any direct feedback. The
reaction of audience cannot be known quickly here.
Rapid and continuous dissemination: In mass communication, information rapidly reaches
and continuous disseminate to large and vast number of heterogeneous audiences.
Intermediary Channels: In mass communication, various intermediary channels are used to
transmit message to the receiver. such channels are radio, television, or newspapers etc.
 Functions of Mass Communication
1. Surveillance of environment
•It is one of the most important functions of mass communication conceptualized by
lasswell.
•In this function media took on watchman's role
•surveillance literally means 'watching over' the term is often used for all forms of
observation or monitoring., not just visual observation.
•media is to keep up a surveillance of all the happenings in the world and provide
information to the human society.
•Mass media observe the society and its activities and report them to make people
aware of their socio-cultural environment.
•In other words, we as social animals are always under the close observations of mass
media.
•Media are our watchdogs. It always watches who do good things and who do bad
things, and report them to encourage or correct our deeds.
•Reports about corruptions are good example.
2.Information
• The quality of our life would be poorer without the bit of information we
get from mass media.
• When we think of mass communication , the first thing that comes to our
mind is information.
• Information is an important part of all other functions.
• All media serve the information function to some extent or other.
• While all media inform, the print media inform the most.
• Both newspapers and magazines have a strong information thrust and
inform us through news.
• As far as tv and radio is concerned, its main area is entertainment. still, TV
provides us a lot of information through bulletins, current affair
programmes etc.
3.Entertainment
• We all need entertainment to break the monotony of our hectic stressful
life and divert our attention from the troubles and tensions.
• Irrespective of their type, mass media are wonderful entertainers.
• All media have entertainment content.
• Newspapers publish cartoons, comics, puzzles, special weekend
supplements for amusing people.
• Movies are another big stock for entertainment.
• Audio-Visual media such as television and radio are also primarily
concentrate on entertainment function through their programmes based
on sports, film, and fashion shows etc.
4.Persuasion
• Persuasion means influencing attitudes or opinions.
• Mass media have many ways to persuade people. Most people form their
opinion from information they get from mass media.
• Media have direct and indirect methods for persuasion.
• For public opinion formation, mass media use editorials, news analysis and
commentaries. In such cases, the purpose is clear and direct.
• The most obvious method of persuasion is advertising. Advertisements are
direct methods to influence purchasing behavior of the public.
• Some media report events hiding their vested interests in news. Such biased,
subjective reports are for persuading people to form favorable attitudes
towards them or their interests.
• Opinionated news is an undirected method of persuasion. It’s against the
ethics of responsible journalism. News and opinion should be given
separately.
5.Interpretation
• Mass media provide us with information from every nook and corner of
the world.
• They do not just report facts and figures of the events, rather they
interpret events to make us aware of what happens, and why, where,
when and how it happens.
• Media interpretation may be biased or not. But, it helps develop our views
towards an event or object or personality.
6. Correlation
● The correlation function of mass communication is otherwise known as the opinion
or editorial function of the press. This refers to the process of editorial selection,
interpretation and prescription through which the mass media help their
consumers to better understand the information brought to them.
● By the correlation function, the media provide the background social context
and critical analyses necessary for that understanding. The press also helps to
monitor public opinion, for example, through phone-in radio or television
programmes.
● The correlation function is best illustrated in columns and editorial pages of
news papers where the columnist may compare statements made by political office
holders with conflicting statements made by other politicians or personal views on
a matter.
● It may also be observed in broadcast commentaries and editorials in television
documentaries designed to make viewers aware of an issue or supportive of a
prescribed course of action.
7. Debate and discussion
• It is through debate and discussion in media that public can clarify
different viewpoints on issues of public interests and arrive at a general
agreement on matters that concern them.
• Also, the audience gets a chance to present their views through debate
and discussions in talk shows through different mass media.
8. Cultural Promotion
• Media educate the people toward better living and preserving the
traditions of the society.
• Mass media provide an opportunity for culture to be preserved and
promoted.
• It presents different cultures, beliefs and customs from different countries
and helps us promote ours to all part of the world.
• Mass communication plays an important role in the transmission of
culture from one place to another and from one generation to the next.
 Elements of Mass Communication
Source-
Source or sender of the message may become same or different. Source mostly represents
the institution or organization where the idea has been started. In case of source and the
sender being different, the sender belongs to media institution or is a professional in media
communication. Thus, a scientist or a technologist may use the mass communication media
himself for propagating his idea. Or else, they can send the script of the message to the
media for delivering the message by an announcer or a reporter.

Message-
A message needs reproduction for making it communicable through the media. The
message is processed and put to various forms like talk, discussion interview, documentary,
play, etc in case of radio and TV. In case of newspapers, the message is processed by means
of article, feature, news story, etc.
Channel-
The term channel and media are used interchangeably in mass communication. Modern
mass media like radio, television; newspapers spread the message with enormous
speed far and wide. The ability of mass communication to encompass vast boundaries
of space is expressed by Mc Luhan’s term ‘globalvillage’. The term expresses that the
world is smaller that before due to advances in mass communication. More information
is coming faster, at cheaper rates per unit, from farther away and from more sources
through more channels including multimedia channels with more varied subject matter.
Channels of mass communication can be classified into two broad categories:
1.Print-newspapers, books, magazines, pamphlets, etc.
2.Electronic-radio, television, cinema
There is also a third category which include all traditional media like folk dance, drama,
folk songs and so on. The mass media may also be categorized according to their ability
to provide sensory inputs. Thus, visual media are newspapers, magazines, books, still
photographs, paintings, etc. The audio medium is radio and audio-visual media are
television, motion pictures, drama, etc. Audio-visual media are more efficient than
either audio or visual
Receiver-
Mass communication means communication to the mass, so there remains mass of
individuals at the receiver end of the communication. This mass of receivers, are often
called as mass audience. Mass audience can be defined as ‘individuals united by a
common focus of interest (to be informed, educated or entertained) engaging in
identical behaviour towards common ends (listening, viewing or reading)’. Yet the
individuals involved are unknown to one other (anonymous).
The most outstanding characteristic of the mass communication is that it has a
widespread audience separated from the source by a considerable distance. Mass
communication has an enormous ability to multiply a message and make it available in
many places. The greatest advantage of this mode of communication is the rapid
spread of message to a sizeable audience remaining scattered far and wide and thus
cost of exposure per individual is lowest.

Feedback -
Mass communication will have indirect feedback. A source having communicated a
message regarding family planning through radio, television or print either has to
depend on indirect means like survey of audience reaction, letters and telephone calls
from audience members, review of the programme by columnists to know the reaction
of audience to the message. Direct feedback which is possible in interpersonal and to a
limited extent in group communication, is almost absent in the mass communication.
Gate keeping-
This is again a characteristic unique to mass communication. The enormous scope of
mass communication demands some control over the selection and editing of the
messages that are constantly transmitted to the mass audience. Both individuals and
organizations do gate keeping. Whether done by individuals or organizations, gate
keeping involves setting certain standards and limitations that serve as guidelines for
both content development and delivery of a mass communication message.

Noise-
Noise in mass communication is of two types-channel noise and semantic noise.
Channel noise is any disturbance within transmission aspects of media. In print media,
channel noise will be misspellings, scrambled words, omitted lines or misprinting. Any
type of mechanical failure stops the message from reaching the audience in its original
form.
Semantic noise will include language barriers, difference in education level,
socio-economic status, occupation, age, experience and interests between the source
and audience members. One way of solving the problem of semantic noise is to use
simplicity and commonality.
Thankyou