3. 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”
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”
WHAT IS MASS COMMUNICATION?
4. 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.
PROCESS OF MASS COMMUNICATION
5. CHARACTERISTICS OF MASS
COMMUNICATION
HAS SPECIFIC
OBJECTIVE
COVERS WIDE AREA
RAPID AND CONTINUOUS
DISSEMINATION
PUBLIC TRANSMISSION OF
MESSAGES
USE OF COMMON
MESSAGE
LARGE, HETEROGENOUS,
SCATTERED AND ANONYMOUS
AUDIENCES
LACK OF SENSORY RICHNESS
ONE WAY DELAYED
FEEDBACK
USE OF MASS
MEDIUM
USE OF TECHNOLOGICAL
MEHODS
6. McLuhan predicted this would happen because of mass
communication’s ability to unify people around the globe.
Mass communication covers vast area to operate and is wider than any other
communication systems. In case of mass communication system, the message is
structured, formal and standardized. That’s why it has acceptance all over the
world.
We are turning into a “global village” through our interdependence with mass
communication. “Across the ocean” has become “around the corner”.
7. Every communication, has a specific objective. Without objectives no communication is held. Mass
communication also has a specific objective which is dependent upon the subject matter of
communication.
As the message is delivered to the general public, there is the public transmission of the message and so
there is no privacy. Further, any individual who has the ability to bear the cost of access to respective medium
such as newspaper, radio, TV, cinema etc. can receive the message and be a part of it, without any permission
or effort.
‘There’s an absence of private or personal communication.’
8. Mass communication involves speedily and continuous flow of messages from the source to recipient.
Mass communication is defined to be a rapid means of communication. It spreads quickly to the mass audience through
reproduction and distribution.
Various media of mass communication like radio and television transmit messages instantly. Numerous copies of films,
newspapers, books, and magazines can be distributed across the vast geographical area within a few days.
Moreover, modern mass communication occurs continuously where messages are sent on a schedule.
Another unique characteristic of mass communication is that it sends the same message simultaneously to a
large number of audiences staying far away from each other. If the audiences have the proper access to the
media used by the sender they can easily get message wherever they stay in the world.
9. “Mass Communication refers to the process by which a complex organization with the aid of one or more machines
produces and transmits public messages that are directed at large, heterogeneous and scattered audiences.”
-Joseph R. Dominick
LARGE HETEROGENOUS SCATTERED ANONYMOUS
10. The most obvious feature of the mass media is that they are designed to reach the many.
Potential audiences are viewed as large aggregates of more or less anonymous consumers of
the information.
Large’ here would mean a relatively big audience or people who are many in number.
However, it does not include everyone. People have their own choices in the consumption of
Mass mediated messages.
EXAMPLE: The inauguration of the 45th president of the United States of America was broadcasted to reach
millions of viewers. A boxing fight can also be beamed to reach millions of people all around the world.
Millions of people can tune into a radio pragramme.
Mass media, therefore, has a very large audience base.
11. Mass communication show the creation and sending of “homogenous”
message to a large “heterogenous” audience.
By heterogeneous, we mean mass communication messages cannot be
segregated. It cannot be directed towards certain people without others
hearing it. Every human being, irrespective of age, creed, sex, wealth and
affluence get the messages at the same time. Biblically, mass
communication message is not a respecter of any man. It does not have
regard for positions, and class. It is for all.
A Mass Media channel may have viewers from rich or poor backgrounds,
educated or uneducated based on the content, it could be youth or adults,
bureaucrats or ordinary middle- class family members.
According to Metha, “Mass communication is concerned with transmitting
information, thoughts and opinions, entertainments etc. at a time to a large
number of heterogeneous audiences.
12. Assorted means the audience of mass communication is not
necessarily limited to a particular geographical sector. They
are often assorted and spread out.
The audience for a particular Media channel can differ not just from place to place but even in
the precincts of a house.
EXAMPLE: A listener in Kaduna can tune into a programme that
is being broadcast from Lagos
13. Anonymous would mean that the audience is nameless and
unspecified. While analysis can predict the number of hits a channel
gets or the popularity a particular serial or book garners, one cannot
identify the specific characteristic of every individual audience
member. You may identify the place in which your audience exists but
you will not be able to identify the person by his or her name. The
‘Audience is Anonymous’
EXAMPLE:
KaranTapar or Pranoy Roy, the leading television personalities
in India know that their programmes are watched by millions of
Indians. People known them but they do not have detailed
information about their viewers.
14. MASS COMMUNICATION
Another key characteristic of mass communication in relation to other forms of communication is its
lack of sensory richness. In short, mass communication draws on fewer sensory channels than face-to-
face communication.
While smell, taste, and touch can add context to a conversation over a family dinner, our interaction
with mass media messages rely almost exclusively on sight and sound. Because of this lack of
immediacy, mass media messages are also typically more impersonal than face-to-face messages.
Actually being in the audience while a musician is performing is different from watching or listening at
home
INTER-PRSONAL COMMUNICATION
15. Marshall McLuhan was the first person to popularize the concept of a global village and to consider its social
effects. His insights were revolutionary at the time, and fundamentally changed how everyone has thought about
media, technology, and communications ever since. McLuhan chose the insightful phrase “global village” to
highlight his observation that an electronic nervous system (the media) was rapidly integrating the planet —
events in one part of the world could be experienced from other parts in real-time, which is what human
experience was like when we lived in small villages.
Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system
itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.
– Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964.
MARSHAL MCLUHAN CONCEPT OF “GLOBAL VILLAGE”
16. Mass communication continues to become more integrated
into our lives at an increasingly rapid pace. This
“metamorphosis” is representative by the convergence
occurring (Fidler) between ourselves and technology, where
we are not as distanced from mass communication as in the
past.
Modern mass communication requires the use of various
specialized modern technologies such as a computer,
computer network, fax, mobile phones, broadcasting media,
printing devices, etc. for effective preparation and
distribution of the message.
“Innovations in communication technologies have begun to make the barriers between mass and
interpersonal communication theory more permeable than ever”
(O’Sullivan)
17. Marshall McLuhan is a seminal figure in media studies. McLuhan’s most famous idea is that
“the medium is the message”.
By which he means that the important thing about media is not the messages they carry but the
way the medium itself affects human consciousness and society at large.
Hence, it could be said that mass medium is an important entity in the transmission of information in
the process mass communication.
Ex: Newspapers, TV, Radio etc.
NOTE:
Nature of the media involved in the process defines the mediation in mass communication. For example, television can
transmit a news instantly as it is a fast medium, newspaper takes a little time to bring the same news report to the public
because of its limitations. This is how nature of the media also defines the mediation process in mass communication.
18. 1 2
3 4
Mass media makes it possible for the
message to reach far beyond the
immediate proximity of the sender
In order to disseminate news and
information a medium is required to
transmit messages to the masses.
The media include radio, television, films,
newspaper, posters, leaflets, etc
In this contemporary era, digital media and
therefore social media platforms play a major role in
information dissemination. Example :Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, etc.
1
2
3
4
19. EXAMPLE:A newspaper reader could write a letter to the editor but it remains limited and delayed.
One major characteristic of mass media is that the traffic flows in only one direction that is, from the
material source to the consumers. The audience listens or reads but cannot give responses
instantaneously, and therefore it gives rise to another important characteristic of mass communication
i.e. Delayed and limited feedback. The delay is the consequence of the distance of audience from the
source of the news.
EXAMPLE:
We don’t have a way to influence an episode of The Walking Dead as we watch it. We could send
messages to the show’s producers and hope our feedback is received, or we could yell at the
television, but neither is likely to influence the people responsible for sending the message.
20. However, the Two-way Communication in New Media results in instant feedback in many cases.
EXAMPLE:
Today a small video posted on social networking forums or by huge media houses on their web forums
can garner immediate feedback and response on social networking forums such as YouTube, Facebook,
Twitter or Instagram. It may not be as instant as inter-personal communication, however, unlike yester
years, today feedback is not as delayed as in the case of Traditional Mass Media like printed newspapers,
television or radio. An article on a web newspaper can receive praise or flak as soon as its recipients
receive the message and choose to comments , share like or dislike the same.
Feedback in inter-personal communication is instant, whereas feedback in mass communication is often
limited and delayed as it undergoes various processes of encoding, decoding etc.
23. Mass media also influences the society in it operates or the people who listen to it. They can help to shape the opinion
of people on a particular issue.
EXAMPLE:
In the Rwandan genocide, the radio was used extensively to influence Hutus to kill the Tutsis and this was widely adhered to. On the other
hand, the audience can also influence the media houses. If the audience expresses an opinion on an issue published or broadcast by a
mass media house, it could influence the way the media house may have thought about the issue previously.
“Mass Mediated messages can Influence society and are in turn influenced by Society.”
INFLUENCES
INFLUENCED BY
SOCIETY
MASS MEDIA
24. With the opening of satellite communication, mass communication has
become inseparable part of the human life. It plays an important role in
the transmission of attitudes, perceptions and beliefs.
It is not only used for solitary purpose of passing on information but also
for carried purposes. The characteristics of Mass Communications are
many and the above mentioned plays an important role in setting them
apart from other types of communication.
