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Rethink Mass Media

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Rethinking Mass Communication and Mass Media
Bruce Mutsvairo:
Defining Mass Communication
• Mass communication refers to ways through which individuals and organizations use mass media to disseminate information to large segments of the population at the same time.
• Newspapers, magazine publishing, radio, television, film and lately the Internet help the media relay information to targeted audiences
• The study is mostly centred on evaluating media effects on society
• ‘Mass’ refers to the media’s ability to simultaneously reach out to a wider audience.

Characteristics of Mass Communication (John Thompson 1995)
• Has both technical and institutional methods of production and distribution
• Relies on commodification of symbolic forms
• There are separate contexts between the production and reception of information
• Reaches to those 'far removed' in time and space
• Maintains a ‘one to many’ information distribution responsibility

How mass media works
• Source: Every mass media message has a source. Production requires team effort.
• Message: Mass media has a message to disseminate. Mostly complex. Eg. News report
• Channel: Where there is no channel there is no mass media
• Audiences: Someone has to be there to watch, read and comment on what’s on the news
• Feedback: Has to be minimal

Media’s role in society
• Provides entertainment
• Acts as our trusted interpreter
• We can use media for surveillance purposes
• Provides information
• Acts as a watchdog
It’s important to note that the media has been, continue to be and will also be used world over to effect change be it on a political or social front
Mass Media categorization (McLuhan model)
• Hot media: Requires audience imagination
• Cool media: Audiences are passive.
What differentiates them is the intellectual involvement needed when engaging any of the two

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