Concept and meaning of Mass Communication

Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as these technologies are used for the dissemination of information, of which journalism and advertising are part. Mass communication differs from other forms of communication, such as interpersonal communication and organizational communication, because it focuses on particular resources transmitting information to numerous receivers.

The study of mass communication is chiefly concerned with how the content of mass communication persuades or otherwise affects the behavior, the attitude, opinion, or emotion of the people receiving the information. Normally, transmission of messages to many persons at a time is called mass communication. But in a complete sense, mass communication can be understood as the process of extensive circulation of information within regions and across the globe.

Through mass communication, information can be transmitted quickly to many people who generally stay far away from the sources of information. 

Mass communication is practiced multiple mediums, such as radio, television, social networking, billboards, newspapers, magazines, film, and the Internet. (Wikipedia) Mass communication is "the process by which a person, group of people or organization creates a message and transmits it through some type of medium to a large, anonymous, heterogeneous audience.“ This implies that the audience of mass communication is mostly made up of different cultures, behavior, and belief systems. Mass communication is commonly associated with media studies.

Littlejohn and Foss define mass communication as “the process whereby media organizations produce and transmit messages to large publics and the process by which those messages are sought, used, understood, and influenced by audience.” McQuail states that mass communication is, “only one of the processes of communication operating at the society-wide level, readily identified by its institutional characteristics.”  Simply put, mass communication is the public transfer of messages through media or technology-driven channels to a large number of recipients from an entity, usually involving some type of cost or fee (advertising) for the user. “The sender often is a person in some large media organization, the messages are public, and the audience tends to be large and varied” (Berger).

However, with the advent of outlets like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and text messaging, these definitions do not account for the increased opportunities individuals now have to send messages to large audiences through mediated channels. Definition of communication study: “who says what, through what channels (media) of communication, to whom, [and] what will be the results” (Smith, Lasswell & Casey)? When examining mass communication, we are interested in who has control over what content, for what audience, using what medium, and what are the results? Media critic Robert McChesney said we should be worried about the increasingly concentrated control of mass communication that results when just a handful of large organizations control most mass communication, “

Purposes of Mass communication

• Inform People.
• Build Public Opinion.
• Persuade.
• Circulate Government Policies.
• Disseminate Health and Education Programs.
• Provide Pleasure and Entertainment.
• Establish Social Contact and Linkage.
• Help in Facing Disaster And Calamity.
• Highlight the Diplomatic Role.

Inform People

The most fundamental objective of mass communication is to provide information to mass people. Information on mass communication may be related to education, weather, sports, products and services, public holidays, festivals, recreation, and entertainment.

Build Public Opinion

Another important objective of mass communication is to create public opinion on any national or international issue. Mass media attempts to create public opinion by providing their audiences with a realistic picture of the world, activities of the leaders, governmental policies, etc. Mass media also tries to build public opinion through special articles, editorials, and commentaries. Promote Political Ideologies

Persuade

Mass communication aims at persuading people to bring a change in their beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and thinking on several issues like smoking, voting, religious convictions, donation, dowry culture, etc. Moreover, business enterprises design various advertisements to persuade potential customers.

Circulate Government Policies

Another objective of mass communication is to announce and circulate government programs and policies. Mass media can bring such policies to the public notice very quickly.

Disseminate Health and Education Programs

The government takes various health and educational programmers like vaccination, sanitation, birth control, open education, mass education, etc. These health and education programs are disseminated and implemented through mass media like radio, television, films, newspapers, etc.

Provide Pleasure and Entertainment

The mass media are wonderful sources of pleasure and amusement. Almost all mass media have an entertainment component. Television and radio arrange various programs for pleasure and amusement of mass people.  Newspapers and magazines publish articles on literary and cultural events, sports, stories, etc. that also provide entertainment to the readers.

Establish Social Contact and Linkage

Mass communication also tries to establish and maintain social contact and linkage among various races, tribes, or communities. Mass media create social contact and linkage by giving messages of shared knowledge and experience. For example, a campaign to raise funds for the treatment of certain diseases or for performing certain social activities promotes social bondage and sympathy.

Help in Facing Disaster And Calamity

Mass communication also aims at creating public awareness to face natural and men made disasters like floods, earthquakes, war, riots, etc. with due courage and energy. Through mass media, necessary instructions, strategies, & programs are circulated so that people can take proactive preparation.

Highlight Diplomatic Role

In this uni-global world, every country wants to highlight its diplomatic role in global peacekeeping and development activities. Such a diplomatic role can conveniently be disseminated and highlighted through mass media.

Promote Political Ideologies

Political parties rely on mass media to promote their ideologies, plans, programs, and manifestos. With the help of mass media, they try to create public opinion in their favor. From the above discussion, we can conclude that mass communication has diversified objectives. Different messages have different aims.  However, mass communication is mainly dedicated to ensuring the well-being of all classes of people in society.

(Source: iedunote)

Characteristics of Mass Communication

Dutton et al (1998) suggests that Mass Communicaton has a number of characteristics that sets it apart from other types of communication:

• Impersonal: The sender of the message does not know the receivers
• Lacking in immediacy: the audience has no involvement in the production of a media message
• One way: from the producer/creator to the consumer/audience
• Physically and technologically distant: everyone receives the same intended message
• Organised: It requires a vehicle, such as a television receiver, printed page or internet connection, which allows a message to be sent or received (Livesey, 2014)

Other characteristics

 Mass communication can be identified through the following characteristics:

Wide and Vast Area

Mass communication covers wide and vast area to operate, for example, It covers a country and the whole world too. World is becoming smaller due to operation of mass communication.

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.

Distance between Source and Destination

Receivers of mass communication are detached and separated from the original source or sender by a long distance.

No Question of Discrimination

Although the receivers of mass communication are subject to heterogeneity but there is no discrimination regarding distribution and delivery of message. There is equal opportunity for all.

Professional Communication

The sender of mass communication are professional communicators. They use various mass communication channels to attain their purposes.

Absence of Feedback

It is not as like as two way communication system. Absence of features in mass communication which make it unique and give a shape from other shorts of communication. Feedback is essential to make effective communication. Here in mass communication feedback like other sorts of communication is absent. There may be sometimes poor response from the receiver.

Intermediary Channels

In mass communication, various intermediary channels are used to transmit message to the receiver.  such channels are radio, television, or newspapers etc.

Public Message

 Message of such communication are made available to public. The person who has the ability to bear the cost of respective medium such as news paper, radio, television, cinema etc. can receive the message.

Use of Machine

 Such communication has dependency to the use of technology or machinery. At least one or more than one machine is used in the purpose of mass communication to produce and transmit public message.

Self-defined Audience

The audiences of mass communication are independent in respect of receiving message. They have the freedom to choose what paper to read, what movie to see, what program to watch and which voice to listen.

Use of Specialists

To make mass communication effective various specialists are there to perform such as news team, film company, machine operators, cinematographer, an editor etc.

Rapid Means of Communication

Mass communication is defined to be rapid means of communication.  It spreads quickly to the mass audience through reproduction and distribution.

Gate Keeping of content

Gate-keeping is the filtering of messages before release of content by Media houses or individuals in some cases of New Media. So, whether in a newspaper, or a news channel, news arrives through various sources. This news is filtered or controlled at different levels by reporters, journalists, sub editors, news editors, editors and the channel owners. Only certain content is allowed to be published while other content is discarded or not given paramount importance. This process is called Gate-keeping.

Varied Content: 

Mass Audiences have a huge availability of varied content to choose from.  For instance, there are a huge number of Television channels or Radio FM channels for an individual to choose from.

Persuasive in Nature: 

Mass Mediated messages can Influence society and are in turn influenced by Society. A large amount of content is produced in a manner that facilitates advertisement revenue. Advertisement is persuasive in nature. State Governments too have often used Mass Media to encourage cleanliness drives, vaccination drives and other health-related habits on Television and Radio

Mass Media

Mass media means technology that is intended to reach a mass audience. It is the primary means of communication used to reach the vast majority of the general public. The most common platforms for mass media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the Internet.

The general public typically relies on the mass media to provide information regarding political issues, social issues, entertainment, and news in pop culture.  Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.

Types of Mass Communication Media

The following are the various forms of mass communication media used for the dissemination of information across the world.

• Print Media 
• Broadcast Media
• Transit Media
• Digital Media

Print Media

Print media is amongst the many forms of conventional types of mass communications. It includes magazines, newspapers, books, novels, comics, journals, and publications. Journalism is the essence of print media as it is the production and distribution of reports on events happening around the world, be it for information or entertainment purposes.

The print media hasn't lost its prominence even with the introduction of digital platforms. Still today, people enjoy reading the newspaper with a cup of tea and solving crosswords while travelling.

Broadcast Media

Broadcast media introduced a new era of mass communication. This is one among the various types of mass media. The invention of the radio and television transformed the world of journalism. This type of media includes radio, television, recorded music, and films.

Radio has also been one of the oldest forms of mass communication. However, with the digital age, online radio channels have emerged, which made it more accessible than FMs that worked on certain frequencies and network connections

Film and television are the major sources of entertainment for more than 90% of the world's total population. It is one of the most popular types of mass communication, which includes both audio-visual aspects of communication. Moving pictures and sounds along with interactive storytelling work in confluence with each other to provide content that is informative and entertaining.

Transit Media

One of the underrated yet potential types of mass communication, outdoor media, corresponds to the dissemination of information as well as advertising through our outer environments such as billboards, posters, boardings, banners, etc. The form of transit media is utilized for advertising products or services as well as spread social information and awareness to the general public.

Transit Media is more inclined towards advertising through posters, banners, signs, and notices in means of transportations such as buses and metro rail, amongst others. Advertising plays a pivotal role in promoting transit media. Advertisers have full control of the message being sent to their audience.

Digital Media

Digital media revolutionized the entire mass communication industry. It has become the new mode of transmission of information. It has been the most influential mass media tool for the past two decades. Being the most efficient and economical form of media, it has allowed companies to start advertising their content on online platforms.

Also referred to as new media, it combines all the attributes of interactive communication as the internet provides quick and easily accessible information in a variety of formats. It encompasses wide-ranging mediums such as emails, podcasts, blogs, websites, videos, amongst others. Social media is also a part of digital media. For many newer companies and businesses geared towards young people, social media is a tool for advertising purposes and growing the brand. Digital media can be put under types of communication media.

Social media provides additional ways to connect and reach out to one's targeted audience by forming groups online. E-books are also part of digital media that have changed how people read. People can download books on their devices. Digital mode allows consumers to track what they read, annotate, and search for definitions of words on the internet. The reviews and comments online have helped fellow readers and also have given an interactive platform for authors to communicate with their fans.