Mass communication
Encyclopedia
Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media
to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually understood to relate to newspaper
and magazine
publishing, radio
, television
and film
, as these are used both for disseminating news
and for advertising
.
departments were remodeled into schools or colleges of mass communication or "journalism and mass communication".
In addition to studying practical skills of journalism, public relations
or advertising
, they offer programs on "mass communication" or "mass communication research." The latter is often the title given to doctoral studies in such schools, whether the focus of the student's research is journalism practice, history, law or media effects. Departmental structures within such colleges may separate research and instruction in professional or technical aspects of mass communication.
With the increased role of the Internet in delivering news and information, mass communication studies and media organizations tend to focus on the convergence of publishing
, broadcasting
and digital communication. The academic mass communication discipline historically differs from media studies
and communication studies
programs with roots in departments of theatre, film or speech, and with more interest in "qualitative
," interpretive theory, critical or cultural approaches to communication study. In contrast, many mass communication programs historically lean toward empirical analysis and quantitative research—from statistical content analysis of media messages to survey research, public opinion polling, and experimental research. Interest in "New Media" and "Computer Mediated Communication" is growing much faster than educational institutions can assimilate it.
So far, traditional classes and degree programs have not been able to accommodate new shifts of the paradigm
in communication technologies. Although national standards for the study of interactive media have been present in the U.K. since the mid-nineties, course work in these areas tends to vary significantly from university to university. Graduates of Mass Communication programs work in a variety of fields in traditional news media
and publishing
, advertising
, public relations
and research institutes. Such programs are accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass CommunicationACEJMC.
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
AEJMC.is the major membership organization for academics in the field, offering regional and national conferences and refereed publications. The International Communication Association
ICA.and National Communication Association
(formerly the Speech Communication Association) include divisions and publications that overlap with those of AEJMC, but AEJMC historically has stronger ties to the mass communication professions in the United States.
The term 'mass' suggests that the recipients of media products constitute a vast sea of passive, undifferentiated individuals. This is an image associated with some earlier critiques of 'mass culture' and Mass society
which generally assumed that the development of mass communication has had a largely negative impact on modern social life, creating a kind of bland and homogeneous culture which entertains individuals without challenging them.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, However, with the advancement in Media Technology, people are no longer receiving gratification without questioning the grounds on which it is based.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, Instead, people are engaging themselves more with media products such as computers, cell phones and Internet.
These have gradually became vital tools for communications in society today. The aspect of 'communication' refers to the giving and taking of meaning, the transmission and reception of messages. The word 'communication' is really equated with 'transmission', as viewed by the sender, rather than in the fuller meaning, which includes the notions of response, sharing and interaction.McQuail: McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, Messages are produced by one set of individuals and transmitted to others who are typically situated in settings that are spatially and temporally remote from the original context of production. Therefore, the term 'communication' in this context masks the social and industrial nature of the media, promoting a tendency to think of them as interpersonal communication
.Hartley: "Mass communication". Furthermore, it is known that recipients today do have some capacity to intervene in and contribute to the course and content of the communicative process.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, They are being both active and creative towards the messages that they are conveyed of. With the complement of the cyberspace supported by the Internet, not only that recipients are participants in a structured process of symbolic transmissionThompson: The Media and Modernity, constraints such as time and space are reordered and eliminated. 'Mass communication' can be seen as institutionalized production and generalized diffusion of symbolic goods via the fixation and transmission of information or symbolic content.
It is known that the systems of information codification has shifted from analog to digital.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, This has indeed advanced the communication between individuals. With the existence of Infrared
, Bluetooth
and Wi-Fi
, cell phones are no longer solely a tool for audio transmission. We can transfer photos, music documents or even games and email at any time and anywhere. The development of media technology has indeed advanced the transmission rate and stability of information exchange.
Characteristics of Mass Communication:
Five characteristics of mass communication have been identified by Cambridge University's John Thompson
.
Firstly, it "comprises both technical and institutional methods of production and distribution"Thompson: The Media and Modernity, This is evident throughout the history of the media, from print to the Internet, each suitable for commercial utility.
Secondly, it involves the "commodification of symbolic forms",Thompson: The Media and Modernity, as the production of materials relies on its ability to manufacture and sell large quantities of the work. Just as radio stations rely on its time sold to advertisements, newspapers rely for the same reasons on its space.
Mass communication's third characteristic is the "separate contexts between the production and reception of information",Thompson: The Media and Modernity, while the fourth is in its "reach to those 'far removed' in time and space, in comparison to the producers".Thompson: The Media and Modernity
Mass communication, which involves "information distribution". This is a "one to many" form of communication, whereby products are mass produced and disseminated to a great quantity of audiences.Thompson: The Media and Modernity,
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually understood to relate to newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
and magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
publishing, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, as these are used both for disseminating news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
and for advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
.
Field of study
Mass communication research includes media institutions and processes such as diffusion of information, and media effects such as persuasion or manipulation of public opinion. In the United States, for instance, several universityUniversity
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
departments were remodeled into schools or colleges of mass communication or "journalism and mass communication".
In addition to studying practical skills of journalism, public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
or advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, they offer programs on "mass communication" or "mass communication research." The latter is often the title given to doctoral studies in such schools, whether the focus of the student's research is journalism practice, history, law or media effects. Departmental structures within such colleges may separate research and instruction in professional or technical aspects of mass communication.
With the increased role of the Internet in delivering news and information, mass communication studies and media organizations tend to focus on the convergence of publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
and digital communication. The academic mass communication discipline historically differs from media studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
and communication studies
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
programs with roots in departments of theatre, film or speech, and with more interest in "qualitative
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
," interpretive theory, critical or cultural approaches to communication study. In contrast, many mass communication programs historically lean toward empirical analysis and quantitative research—from statistical content analysis of media messages to survey research, public opinion polling, and experimental research. Interest in "New Media" and "Computer Mediated Communication" is growing much faster than educational institutions can assimilate it.
So far, traditional classes and degree programs have not been able to accommodate new shifts of the paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
in communication technologies. Although national standards for the study of interactive media have been present in the U.K. since the mid-nineties, course work in these areas tends to vary significantly from university to university. Graduates of Mass Communication programs work in a variety of fields in traditional news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
and publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
and research institutes. Such programs are accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass CommunicationACEJMC.
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, or AEJMC, is a major international membership organization for academics in the field, offering regional and national conferences and refereed publications. It has numerous membership divisions, interest groups, publications and...
AEJMC.is the major membership organization for academics in the field, offering regional and national conferences and refereed publications. The International Communication Association
International Communication Association
The International Communication Association is a non-profit academic association founded in 1950 as the National Society for the Study of Communication , whose members are interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human communication." The Association maintains an...
ICA.and National Communication Association
National Communication Association
The National Communication Association is the largest national organization to promote communication scholarship and education. A non-profit organization that has over 8,000 educators, practitioners, and students who work and reside in every state and more than 20 countries...
(formerly the Speech Communication Association) include divisions and publications that overlap with those of AEJMC, but AEJMC historically has stronger ties to the mass communication professions in the United States.
The terms 'Mass' and 'Communication'
The term 'mass' denotes great volume, range or extent (of people or production) and reception of messages.McQuail: McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, The important point about 'mass' is not that a given number of individuals receives the products, but rather that the products are available in principle to a plurality of recipients.Thompson: The Media and Modernity,The term 'mass' suggests that the recipients of media products constitute a vast sea of passive, undifferentiated individuals. This is an image associated with some earlier critiques of 'mass culture' and Mass society
Mass society
Mass society is a description associated with society in the modern, industrial era. "Guided by the structural-functional approach and drawing on the ideas of Tönnies, Durkheim, and Weber, understands modernity as the emergence of a mass society...
which generally assumed that the development of mass communication has had a largely negative impact on modern social life, creating a kind of bland and homogeneous culture which entertains individuals without challenging them.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, However, with the advancement in Media Technology, people are no longer receiving gratification without questioning the grounds on which it is based.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, Instead, people are engaging themselves more with media products such as computers, cell phones and Internet.
These have gradually became vital tools for communications in society today. The aspect of 'communication' refers to the giving and taking of meaning, the transmission and reception of messages. The word 'communication' is really equated with 'transmission', as viewed by the sender, rather than in the fuller meaning, which includes the notions of response, sharing and interaction.McQuail: McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, Messages are produced by one set of individuals and transmitted to others who are typically situated in settings that are spatially and temporally remote from the original context of production. Therefore, the term 'communication' in this context masks the social and industrial nature of the media, promoting a tendency to think of them as interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is usually defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, usually describing participants who are dependent upon one another. It...
.Hartley: "Mass communication". Furthermore, it is known that recipients today do have some capacity to intervene in and contribute to the course and content of the communicative process.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, They are being both active and creative towards the messages that they are conveyed of. With the complement of the cyberspace supported by the Internet, not only that recipients are participants in a structured process of symbolic transmissionThompson: The Media and Modernity, constraints such as time and space are reordered and eliminated. 'Mass communication' can be seen as institutionalized production and generalized diffusion of symbolic goods via the fixation and transmission of information or symbolic content.
It is known that the systems of information codification has shifted from analog to digital.Thompson: The Media and Modernity, This has indeed advanced the communication between individuals. With the existence of Infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
, Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
and Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
, cell phones are no longer solely a tool for audio transmission. We can transfer photos, music documents or even games and email at any time and anywhere. The development of media technology has indeed advanced the transmission rate and stability of information exchange.
Characteristics of Mass Communication:
Five characteristics of mass communication have been identified by Cambridge University's John Thompson
John Thompson (sociologist)
John Brookshire Thompson is a Sociology professor at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Jesus College. He has studied the influence of the media in the formation of modern societies, a subject on which he is one of the few social theorists to focus...
.
Firstly, it "comprises both technical and institutional methods of production and distribution"Thompson: The Media and Modernity, This is evident throughout the history of the media, from print to the Internet, each suitable for commercial utility.
Secondly, it involves the "commodification of symbolic forms",Thompson: The Media and Modernity, as the production of materials relies on its ability to manufacture and sell large quantities of the work. Just as radio stations rely on its time sold to advertisements, newspapers rely for the same reasons on its space.
Mass communication's third characteristic is the "separate contexts between the production and reception of information",Thompson: The Media and Modernity, while the fourth is in its "reach to those 'far removed' in time and space, in comparison to the producers".Thompson: The Media and Modernity
Mass communication, which involves "information distribution". This is a "one to many" form of communication, whereby products are mass produced and disseminated to a great quantity of audiences.Thompson: The Media and Modernity,
External Links
- Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi, India - School for Mass Communication and Media Management in India
- http://www.ftiindia.com/