GROWTH OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN PAKISTAN
1.1 What is electronic media?
“Electronic Media” are those communication mediums which are based on electronic or electromechanical means of production and most often distinguished from print media. The primary electronic media sources familiar to the general public worldwide include radio, sound recordings, television, video recording and streaming internet content” . It denotes, “the main means of communicating with large number of people, especially television, radio, internet and satellite”. The electronic media have four basic functions; to inform, entertain, educate and influence the public opinion.
The 20th century can be termed as the century of communication. The main mean of mass communication grew in succession as the century unfolded. Motion pictures arrived on scene in the first decade of this century. Regular radio broadcasts started in 1920s. Television entered the arena in 1940s, followed by cable television in 1950s, and satellite television in 1970s. Lastly the personal computer gave access to Internet in 1980s. It transformed the interconnected computer networks through World Wide Web by the 1990s.
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2 Influence of electronic media
In the last 50 years the media influence has grown significantly with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet. 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, travelling and anything else that we have to do. “What we need to be aware is that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do base on our experience and studies, however on our daily lives we rely on the media to get the current news and