Mass Media

Intoduction

Mass media denotes a section of the media

specifically designed to reach a large audience.
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 for centuries.
Mass media includes Internet media (like blogs,
message boards, podcasts, and video sharing)
because individuals now have a means to
exposure that is comparable in scale to that
previously restricted to a select group of mass
media producers. The communications audience
has been viewed by some commentators as
forming a mass society with special
characteristics, notably atomization or lack of
social connections, which render it especially
susceptible to the influence of modern mass-media
techniques such as advertising and propaganda.
Purpose

Mass media can be used for various purposes:

• Advocacy, both for business and social
concerns. This can include advertising,
marketing, propaganda, public relations, and
political communication.
• Entertainment, traditionally through
performances of acting, music, and sports,
along with light reading; since the late 20th
century also through
video and computer games.
• Public service announcements.
Journalism

Journalism is the discipline of collecting, analyzing,

verifying and presenting information regarding
current events, trends, issues and people. Those who
practice journalism are known as journalists.
News-oriented journalism is sometimes described as
the "first rough draft of history" (attributed to
Phil Graham), because journalists often record
important events, producing news articles on short
deadlines. While under pressure to be first with their
stories, news media organizations usually edit and
proofread their reports prior to publication, adhering
to each organization's standards of accuracy, quality
and style. Many news organizations claim proud
traditions of holding government officials and
institutions accountable to the public, while media
critics have raised questions about holding the press
itself accountable.
Public relations

Public relations is the art and science of

managing communication between an
organization and its key publics to build,
manage and sustain its positive image
Forms

Electronic media and print media include:

• Broadcasting, in the narrow sense, for radio and television.
• Many instances of various types of recorded discs or tapes. In
the 20th century, these were mainly used for music. Video and
computer uses followed.
• Film, most often used for entertainment, but also for
documentaries.
• The Internet, which has many uses and presents both
opportunities and challenges. Examples can include Blogs and
podcasts (such as news, music, pre-recorded speech, and
video)
• Mobile phones, which can be used for rapid breaking news and
short clips of entertainment like jokes, horoscopes, alerts,
games, music, and advertising
• Publishing, including electronic publishing
• Video games, which have developed into a mass form of media
since cutting-edge devices such as the PlayStation 3,
XBox 360, and Wii broadened their use.
 Audio recording and
reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is the
electrical or mechanical re-creation and/or
amplification of sound, often as music. This
involves the use of audio equipment such as
microphones, recording devices and
loudspeakers. From early beginnings with the
invention of the phonograph using purely
mechanical techniques, the field has advanced
with the invention of electrical recording, the
mass production of the 78 record, the
magnetic wire recorder followed by the
tape recorder, the vinyl LP record. The
invention of the compact cassette in the 1960s,
followed by Sony's Walkman, gave a major
boost to the mass distribution of music
recordings, and the invention of
digital recording and the compact disc in 1983
brought massive improvements in ruggedness
and quality. The most recent developments
have been in digital audio players.
Broadcast

The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a

schedule. With all technological endeavours a
number of technical terms and slang are developed
please see the list of broadcasting terms for a
glossary of terms used.
Television and radio programs are distributed through
radio broadcasting over frequency bands that are
highly regulated by the
Federal Communications Commission. Such
regulation includes determination of the width of the
bands, range, licencing, types of receivers and
transmitters used, and acceptable content.
Cable programs are often broadcast simultaneously
with radio and television programs, but have a more
limited audience. By coding signals and having
decoding equipment in homes, cable also enables
subscription-based channels and pay-per-view
services.
Film

Film' encompasses motion pictures as

individual projects, as well as the field in
general. The name comes from the
photographic film (also called filmstock),
historically the primary medium for recording
and displaying motion pictures. Many other
terms exist — motion pictures (or just pictures
and "picture"), the silver screen, photoplays,
the cinema, picture shows, flicks — and
commonly movies.
Internet

The Internet (also known simply as "the Net" or

less precisely as "the Web") is a more
interactive medium of mass media, and can be
briefly described as "a network of networks".
Specifically, it is the worldwide, publicly
accessible network of interconnected
computer networks that transmit data by
packet switching using the standard
Internet Protocol (IP). It consists of millions of
smaller domestic, academic, business, and
governmental networks, which together carry
various information and services, such as
electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and
the interlinked Web pages and other
documents of the World Wide Web.
Blogs (Web Logs)

Blogging has become a huge form of media. A blog is

a website, usually maintained by an individual, with
regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events,
or other material such as graphics or video. Entries
are commonly displayed in reverse chronological
order. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a
particular subject; others function as more personal
online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images,
and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media
related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave
comments in an interactive format is an important
part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual,
although some focus on art (artlog), photographs
(photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3
blog), audio (podcasting) are part of a wider network
of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of
blogging which consists of blogs with very short
posts.
RSS feeds

RSS is a format for syndicating news and the

content of news-like sites, including major news
sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites
like Slashdot, and personal blogs. It is a family
of Web feed formats used to publish frequently
updated content such as blog entries, news
headlines, and podcasts. An RSS document
(which is called a "feed" or "web feed" or
"channel") contains either a summary of
content from an associated web site or the full
text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep
up with web sites in an automated manner that
can be piped into special programs or filtered
displays.
Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital-media files

which are distributed over the Internet using
syndication feeds for playback on portable
media players and computers. The term
podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to the
series of content itself or to the method by
which it is syndicated; the latter is also called
podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is
often called a podcaster.
Mobile

Mobile phones were introduced in Japan in

1979 but became a mass media only in 1998
when the first downloadable ringing tones were
introduced in Finland. Soon most forms of
media content were introduced on mobile
phones, and today the total value of media
consumed on mobile towers over that of
internet content, and was worth over 31 billion
dollars in 2007 (source Informa). The mobile
media content includes over 8 billion dollars
worth of mobile music (ringing tones, ringback
tones, truetones, MP3 files, karaoke, music
videos, music streaming services etc); over 5
billion dollars worth of mobile gaming; and
various news, entertainment and advertising
services. In Japan mobile phone books are so
popular that five of the ten best-selling printed
books were originally released as mobile phone
books.
Publising

Publishing is the industry concerned with the

production of literature or information – the
activity of making information available for
public view. In some cases, authors may be
their own publishers.
Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution
of printed works such as books and
newspapers. With the advent of digital
information systems and the Internet, the scope
of publishing has expanded to include websites
, blogs, and the like.
Book

A book is a collection of sheets of paper,

parchment or other material with a piece of text
written on them, bound together along one
edge within covers. A book is also a literary
work or a main division of such a work. A book
produced in electronic format is known as an
e-book.
Magazine

A magazine is a periodical publication containing a

variety of articles, generally financed by advertising
and/or purchase by readers.
Magazines are typically published weekly, biweekly,
monthly, bimonthly or quarterly, with a
date on the cover that is in advance of the date it is
actually published. They are often printed in color on
coated paper, and are bound with a soft cover.
Magazines fall into two broad categories: consumer
magazines and business magazines. In practice,
magazines are a subset of periodicals, distinct from
those periodicals produced by scientific, artistic,
academic or special interest publishers which are
subscription-only, more expensive, narrowly limited in
circulation, and often have little or no advertising.
Magazines can be classified as:
• General interest magazines (e.g. Frontline,
India Today, The Week, The Sunday Indian etc)
• Special interest magazines (women's, sports,
business, scuba diving, etc)
Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news and

information and advertising, usually printed on low-
cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or
special interest, most often published daily or weekly.
The first printed newspaper was published in 1605,
and the form has thrived even in the face of
competition from technologies such as radio and
television. Recent developments on the Internet are
posing major threats to its business model, however.
Paid circulation is declining in most countries, and
advertising revenue, which makes up the bulk of a
newspaper's income, is shifting from print to online;
some commentators, nevertheless, point out that
historically new media such as radio and television
did not entirely supplant existing.
Software publishing

A software publisher is a publishing company in the

software industry between the developer and the
distributor. In some companies, two or all three of
these roles may be combined (and indeed, may
reside in a single person, especially in the case of
shareware).
Software publishers often license software from
developers with specific limitations, such as a time
limit or geographical region. The terms of licensing
vary enormously, and are typically secret.
Developers may use publishers to reach larger or
foreign markets, or to avoid focussing on marketing.
Or publishers may use developers to create software
to meet a market need that the publisher has
identified.
 Video games
A video game is a computer-controlled game where a
video display such as a monitor or television is the
primary feedback device. The term "computer game"
also includes games which display only text (and which
can therefore theoretically be played on a teletypewriter)
or which use other methods, such as sound or vibration,
as their primary feedback device, but there are very few
new games in these categories. There always must also
be some sort of input device, usually in the form of
button/joystick combinations (on arcade games), a
keyboard & mouse/trackball combination (computer
games), or a controller (console games), or a
combination of any of the above. Also, more esoteric
devices have been used for input. Usually there are rules
and goals, but in more open-ended games the player
may be free to do whatever they like within the confines
of the virtual universe.
In common usage, a "computer game" or a "PC game"
refers to a game that is played on a personal computer.
"Console game" refers to one that is played on a device
specifically designed for the use of such, while
interfacing with a standard television set. "
Personal media

Non-mass or "personal" media (point-to-point

and person-to-person communication) can
include:
• Gestures
• Letter
• Telephony