Preview

Understanding Mass Communication

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
659 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Understanding Mass Communication
Understanding Mass Media

Statistics show that there are few things which impact the human mind more than mass media. The advice of teachers, parents and relatives may fall on deaf ears, but the mass media holds us all spellbound! At this point, it becomes necessary to define this concept.

It may be defined as any form of communication which is meted out to the people at large, through the various forms of communication. What modes of communication are we talking about? Well there can be no static definition for the channels of mass communication as they are increasing all the time. But any form of communication which is seen and understood by a large mass of people can be taken to mean mass communication or media channels.

Mass media holds a kind of mystique in the minds of the people. It is because the communication is designed in such a way that it appeals to a larger demographic segment. The test of a good mass communication marketing drive is to see if it gets the people talking. If it does, then not only does it mean that the advertising drive has been successful, but the organization in charge of the mass communication is also getting publicity by the word-of-mouth channel!

Mass Media's Hold

It is hard to argue with the fact that mass media has a compelling effect on the human mind. Especially on minds which are more impressionable. For example, the influence on our children is understandably higher than it is in adults.

The Influence on Youth
There is a burgeoning need amongst the youth to be accepted as a part of a group, to be popular, to have friends and relationships with people of the opposite sex etc. Experts understand this need of the people and hence they come out with advertisements on TV, or in the newspapers, or on websites on how people can be more popular using a certain product. Most advertisements you see which are aimed at the youth generally talk about the 'cool quotient' of the product and how it is going to be the next

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    It would be impossible for most people to live even one day without mass communication, and yet, many people know little of how the media work and how it influence their lives positively and negatively. However, society has always needed effective and efficient means to transfer information in which mass communication media is the result of this need. Mass communication plays a significant role in modern society. For instance, broadcasting of news and other accurate information represents one of the functions of mass communication. People now days have an abundance of sources at their disposal for acquiring news, in particularly, television medium…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mass media is an important part in our daily lives because it provides us with information and entertainment. Many people may believe…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The impact of mass media on enculturation is so pervasive that our country is near information overload. According to Paul A. Herbig “The average American is exposed to 61,556 words from the mass media each day which works out to just under 4,000 words per waking hour, about 60 words per waking minute per person per day.” (Herbig & Kramer, 1994) With the frequency in which we are exposed to mass media it is no wonder mass media has a profound effect on popular culture.…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the age of information technology, we cannot underestimate the role of Mass Media as a great “agent of change” in the society. Nowadays we frequently encounter media campaigns on TV, Radio, Internet or newspapers or magazines. Media has become a very effective and powerful weapon through which “authorities manipulate social attitude and behavior. The rapid rise of mass media utility and their potential influence has led many to wonder about the actual role and behavior. Mass Communication are all powerful that they determine thought and action to a major degree…

    • 1915 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mass media has attributed to every part of our lives. From the morals we follow, to the political parties we choose to support, to the products we buy, and even to our daily routines. Every part of our lives is a direct repercussion of what we have been exposed to on the television set and the World Wide Web.…

    • 2099 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mass Media

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Mass media during the last century has come at us in different ways. The use television and radio to spread the news. Than more recently it is the internet that has played a big factor in spreading news at a faster rate. Many people are easily influenced by what they see on television, radio or internet. The media has a way of spreading stories true or not and can be damaging if not true. One example of the media influencing people would be 9/11. They have for years tried to keep several pieces of information from the public. Believe it or not the government does control our media and they decide what stories to release to the public and which stories to remain a mystery. Another way that mass media is playing a role in people’s lives is through video games. Video games which most are violent can train your main to accept violence is an acceptable no big deal type of matter. We are basically training our children to be killers and get accustom to killing. To me that is a brain washing method. A lot movies watch can influence your mind more than you think. For instance when I first watched Fast and Furious, that movie influenced me in a big way. I left the movies wanting to street race and drive at high speeds. Shortly after that movie came out I was street racing and fixing up Hondas in to street racers. On a different note, Music is a main mass media evolution in itself. Most musicians are tied into evil and you can see hear it in the modern music. If you look closely at the music videos and listen to the words, the symbolism is there and most people are blinded to the truth of what is really being portrayed in these songs. I use to listen to rap music and I discovered to evil truth behind it, one video that many people should pay attention to is Lil Wayne’s “she’s on fire” video. The video is basically is a satanic ritual in which he is excepting the devil in his life. The symbolism is all through the…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Persuading: Persuasion is another function of mass media. Because of its having persuasive potential, both electronic and print media are used for advertising products, services, business, charities, or for political campaign.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mass Media

    • 10499 Words
    • 42 Pages

    Mass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such as books and manuscripts had already been in use centuries. The term public media has a similar meaning: it is the sum of the public mass distributors of news and entertainment across media such as newspapers, television, radio, broadcasting, which may require union membership in some large markets such as Newspaper Guild, AFTRA, & text publishers.…

    • 10499 Words
    • 42 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Are Media Good or Bad?

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Depending in the circumstances, mass media can influence people's beliefs, opinions, and attitudes, and change their thinking about public issue and especially political issues and preferences. Media can have a positive effect on us. And it can also influence us negatively.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Types of Communication

    • 4303 Words
    • 18 Pages

    Mass communication is the term given when different types of medium that are capable of engaging a large portion of the public are utilised. These include but are not limited to television, radio, advertising, the internet, newspapers, and magazines. An early definition of mass communication by Janowitz (1968) describes this process as a fundamentally linear one, touching on the idea of the transmission theory of communication.…

    • 4303 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sending a message to a large number of audiences using technology is known as mass communication. Mass media helps in connecting people and brings the globe into our glance. Mass media includes print media like newspapers, magazines, brochures and pamphlets, electronic media like radio, television, documentaries and cinema and new age digital media like ads, internet, blogs and podcast.…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mass Communication

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages

    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.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The media shape our attitudes about everything from soap to politics. It's important for us to be aware of the impact the mass media has on our culture/society. We need to be vigilant and ask ourselves to look for opposing opinions and evaluate the facts for ourselves rather than blindly accepting the media's version of the "truth." Research has revealed that media is responsible for influencing a major part of our daily life. Media contribute to a transformation in the cultural and social values of the masses. “Media can bring about a change in the attitudes and beliefs of the common man. The persuasive nature of the content presented over media influences the thoughts and behavior of the general public. Media has brought about a major transformation in the way the masses think. Media has given them an excellent platform to present themselves before the world and contribute in their own way to the changing world scenario. Media has been responsible for making the world a smaller place to live”.…

    • 2069 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mass Media Influence

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages

    We have put our trust on the media as an authority to give us news, entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on our kids, teenagers and society is so big that we should know how it really works.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The mass media is the driving force of human interaction and social living. We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do. It is therefore, inevitable and in fact vital to embrace the influence of mass media. Again, it is what we like to think that the mass media directs us towards and what we want to get out of mass media to impact ourselves. Hence, it is true to a large extent that mass media encourages people…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays