MASS MEDIA - Electronic Media
1. Radio
Guglielmo Marconi, Italy invented a way to transmit sound without using wires.
1901, Marconi - wireless communication link between Europe and North America.
1906 - Lee Forest with John Fleming - vacuum tube.
1916, on Christmas Eve, in USA.- the first ever broadcast .
Radio broadcasting in India by amateur radio clubs in Calcutta, (in June 1927) Bombay,
Madras and Lahore.
First broadcasting, Radio Club of Bombay in June 1930.
Indian Broadcasting Company handed over the Bombay station to the Government and it was
renamed the Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS).
It was renamed All India Radio on June 8, 1936. - Now FM (frequency modulation) has
grown bigger.
Feature: Infotainment - music, drama, talk shows, etc. supplemented with news - by the
1930’s radio became prime mass medium.
Radio programmes - two broad groups:
1. Spoken word programmes - news bulletins, talks, discussions, interviews, educational
programmes - specific audience programmes - drama, radio features and documentaries.
2. Music programmes - disc jockey programmes, musical performances.
Strength of the Radio
1. Reaches messages to illiterates, neo-literates and highly educated simultaneously.
2. Fairly affordable to be owed by everyone.
3. Live effect is moderately high - sound effect enlivens the communication and often breaks
monotony.
5. Capacity to deliver instantaneous messages.
6. Does not require captivity. - no total physical involvement.
7. Does not require power line for operation
8. No cost is involved for reception of messages.
Weakness of the Radio
1.Lacks visual component
2. Spoken messages are subject to interpretation of listeners - possibility of misinterpretation
is very high - Listeners need a lot of imagination.
4. Communication is time limited - tiny fragments of topics
5. Receivers cannot put off listening parts of message for subsequent listening at their
convenience.
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2. Television:
A glamorous family medium - immediacy of radio with the mobility of cine camera - the best
use of other media like printed words, spoken words, motion picture, colour, animation and
sound.
1923, Vladimir Zworykin,(born in Russia, citizen of U.S.) patented the first iconoscope -
first workable television tube.
In Indian, in 1950’s. - T.V. service was inaugurated on the 15th September 1959 - 3 days a
week - Doordarshan was the only channel available through 1980’s - later arrival of private
T.V. channels.
Cable television originated in 1949 in the US - solution to problems in reception posed
mountainous terrains - In India - in Bombay in 1984. (1991 Guild war, BBC) - digital from
analogue tv.
Feature: Credible and prestigious medium, high impact medium
Strength of television:
1.Ability by combining sight, sound and motion.
2.Reach large national audiences instantaneously.
3.Considered highly persuasive Low cost per minute (CPM) in reaching the target audience
Limitations of television:
1.Expensive media costs
2.Expensive production costs
3.High costs of entry
4.Affected by season cycles and viewing patterns
5.Never capable of providing in-depth analysis and reporting.
6.Contents is high in entertainment and low in information.
7.Power line is needed
3. Film:
The most expensive and the most glamorous media - an audio-visual medium - rich in live
effect - Details are extensive through sound, music, visual effects, and skillful production,
editing and role-playing.
Motion picture originated - Edison invented the kinetoscope in 1893.
Auguste and Louis, ( Lumiere brothers) patented a camera on February 13, 1895 - could also
project films - made the first film titled ‘Leaving the Lumiere Factory’ - one and a half
minute - exhibited it at the Grand Café in Paris in1895.
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India on July 7, 1896 - Lumiere brother’s cinematograph unveiled six soundless short films at
Bombay’s Watson Hotel.
The first indigenous feature film Raja Harishchandra was made by D.G.Phalke in 1913. A
giant leap forward with the arrival of Alam Ara, - the first talkie feature film by Ardeshir
Irani in March 1931.
Strengths:
1.Replica of dramas in natural settings - influence the audience - depicted as real (even
myths - Bahubali).
2.Reaches messages to all (illiterates, neo literates, and moderately educated and highly
educated) people having basic visual literacy.
Weakness:
1.Selection of sets and props in films sometimes confuse the audience, makes the
communication abstract and creates misunderstanding.
2.Crime and obscene adversely affect the society - realistic censorship is required for the
welfare of the society.
3. Cost of exposure is moderately high - in the case of commercial cinema.
4. New Media
Until the 1980’s media relied primarily upon print and analog broadcast models, television
and radio. - last fourty years, rapid transformation into media - use of digital computers -
internet and computer games.
The term new-media: data communication between desktop and laptop computers and
handhelds - compact discs - a convergence and /or extension of graphic design, mass
communication, film, video, animation and multimedia.
Theme of new media is media convergence - Universal interconnected network of audio,
video, and electronic text communications - blurs the distinction between interpersonal &
mass communication and between public & private communication.
Today’s New Media
∙ Will diminish geographical distance
∙ Allow for huge increase in the volume of communication
∙ Provide opportunities for interactive communication
∙ Provide the possibility of increasing the speed of communication
∙ Allow forms of communication that were previously separate to overlap and interconnect.
New Media includes:
∙ Websites ∙ Streaming audio and video (podcast, Youtube) ∙ Chat rooms ∙ E-mail ∙ Online
communities ∙ Web advertising ∙ Virtual reality environments ∙ Integration of digital data with
the telephone such as internet telephony ∙ Digital cameras ∙ Mobile computing
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INTERNET
The most popular and widely used form of communication network operating at the world
level. - "A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication
facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication
protocol"(Concise Oxford English Dictionary)
A worldwide network of computer networks which can communicate with one another - first
developed in the US in 1960s - World Wide Web began in the early 1990s, introduced graphic
user interface and a protocol for hyper linking information stored in different computers -
provided access to millions and took the internet to the masses.
Internet in India: founded in 1987 - Commercial net access was introduced in 1995 -
Presently, there are more than 200 internet service providers in India.
The main functions of the internet as a mass media are the following;
1.Collection, distribution and interpretation of information.
2.Provision of a medium for different types of communication like text, voice, online etc.
3.Entertainment and socialisation.
4.Transmission of social heritage from one region to another and from one generation to the
next.
5.Enrichment of economy and culture.
6.Provision of a world wide single communication channel.
World Wide Web (W.W.W.) - There exist millions of web sites in World Wide Web.
A website is a collection of web pages. A web page is a screen of information.
- Internet replaces the “one-to-many” model of traditional mass communication with the
possibility of a “many-to-many” web of communication.
Notes - advantage & disadvantage
Global culture - accelerate long-standing
trends towards the world culture, insuring access to international markets.
-encouraging stronger global consciousness (disaster, charity)
- continuously erodes traditional national identities and cultural values.
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BLOG
A blog (a contraction of the term “weblog”) is a type of website, usually maintained by an
individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such
as graphics or video.
(The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger in 1997. The short form, “blog,” was coined
by Peter Merholz, in April 1999. In 2003 blog entered the Oxford English Dictionary.)
A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages and other related
sites.
(The possibility for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important feature
of many blogs. - Blogs can come up with a competing, contradictory or an alternative report
other than those published/broadcast in the conventional media.)
Types of blogs
Differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or
written.
a. Personal blogs
The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional and
the most common blog. Blogs often become more than a way to just communicate; they
become a way to reflect on life and issues. Few personal blogs rise to fame and get to the
mainstream and some personal blogs quickly generate an extensive following.
b. Corporate blogs
Blogs, either used internally to enhance the communication in a corporation or externally for
marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.
c. Media blogs
Blogs that focus on reporting and analysing events are called media blogs. Blogs also post
news breaks occasionally. In general, the strength of blogs mainly lies in opinions and
analyses.
d. Political blogs
Blogging can sometimes have unforeseen consequences in politically sensitive areas. Blogs
are much harder to control than broadcast or even print media. As a result, totalitarian and
authoritarian regimes often seek to suppress blogs and to punish those who maintain them.
e. Other blogs
Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as, travel blogs, house blogs, fashion blogs,
project blogs, education blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs or
dreamlogs.
