INTRODUCTION

Mass Communication involves communication with the mass audiences and hence the name
Mass Communication. When we are thinking, it is intra-personal communication, when there is
face-to-face conversation between two people it is interpersonal communication, college lecture or
speech would be an example of group communication, but there is another level of communication
when we read newspapers, magazines, listen to Radio or watch TV. This would be called 'Mass
communication' as the message is reached to the masses through different media.

MEANING OF MASS COMMUNICATION

Mass Communication is defined as any mechanical device that multiples messages and takes it to
a large number of people simultaneously'.

Mass communication is unique and different from interpersonal communication as it is a special

kind of communication in which the nature of the audience and the feedback is different from that
of interpersonal communication.

Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of various means by which
individuals and entities relay information to large segments of the population all at once through
mass media.

Both mass communication and mass media are generally considered synonymous for the sake of
convenience. The media through which messages are being transmitted include radio, TV,
newspapers, magazines, films, records, tape recorders, video cassette recorders, internet, etc. and
require large organizations and electronic devices to put across the message.

Mass communication can also be defined as 'a process whereby mass produced messages are
transmitted to large, anonymous and heterogeneous masses of receivers'.

~By 'mass produced' we mean putting the content or message of mass communication in a form
suitable to be distributed to large masses of people.

~Heterogeneous' means that the individual members of the mass are from a wide variety of classes
of the society.

~ Anonymous means the individuals in the mass do not know each other. The source or sender of
message in mass communication does not know the individual members of the mass. Also the
receivers in mass communication are physically separated from each other and share no physical
proximity. ~Finally, the individual members forming a mass are not united. They have no social
organization and no customs and traditions, no established sets of rules, no structure or status role
and no established leadership.

ELEMENTS OF MASS COMMUNICATION

We require a sender, a message, a channel and a receiver for communication to occur. Further
there is feedback, which is the response or reaction of the receiver, which comes back to the sender
through the same or some other channel. Another element, which plays an important role in
communication, is noise or the disturbances. It is observed that the term mass communication must
have at least five aspects:

Source - Source mostly represents the institution or organization where the idea has been started
Source can be same or different person. Eg a scientist or a technologist may use the mass
communication media himself for propagating his idea. Or else, they can send the script of the
message to the media for delivering the message by an announcer or a reporter.

Message- A message needs reproduction for making it communicable through the media. The
message is processed and put to various forms like talk, discussion, TV interview, documentary, play,
etc. in case of radio and In case of newspapers, the message is processed by means of article,
feature, news story, etc.

Channel- The term channel and media are used interchangeably in mass communication. Modern
mass media like radio, television; newspapers spread the message with enormous speed far and
wide. Channels of mass communication can be classified into two broad categories:

1. Print-newspapers, books, magazines, pamphlets, etc.

2. Electronic-radio, television, cinema.

There is also a third category which include all traditional media like folk dance, drama, folk songs
and so on. The mass media may also be categorized according to their ability to provide sensory
inputs. Thus, visual media are newspapers, magazines, books, still photographs, paintings, ete. The
audio medium is radio and audio-visual media are television, motion pictures, drama, etc. Audio-
visual media are more efficient than either audio or visual.

Receiver -Mass communication means communication to the mass, so there remains mass of
individuals at the receiver end of the communication. This mass of receivers, are often called as mass
audience. Mass audience can be defined as 'individuals united by a common focus of interest (to
be informed, educated or entertained) engaging in identical behavior towards common ends
(listening, viewing or reading)'.

Feedback- Mass communication will have indirect feedback. A source having communicated a
message regarding family planning through radio, television or print either has to depend on indirect
means like survey of audience reaction, letters and telephone calls from audience members, review
of the programme by columnists to know the reaction of audience to the message. Direct feedback
which is possible in interpersonal and to a limited extent in group communication, is almost absent
in the mass communication.

Gate keeping-This is again a characteristic unique to mass communication. The enormous scope of
mass communication demands some control over the selection and editing of the messages that are
constantly transmitted to the mass audience. Both individuals and organizations do gate keeping.
Gate keeping involves setting certain standards and limitations that serve as guidelines for both
content development and delivery of a mass communication message.

Noise- Noise in mass communication is of two types-channel noise and semantic noise. Channel
noise is any disturbance within transmission aspects of media. In print media, channel noise will be
misspellings, scrambled words, omitted lines or misprinting. Any type of mechanical failure stops the
message from reaching the audience in its original form. Semantic noise will include language
barriers, difference in education level, socio-economic status, occupation, age, experience and
interests between the source and the audience members. One way of solving the problem of
semantic noise is to use simplicity and commonality.

Characteristics of Mass communication:

1. Directs messages toward relatively large, heterogeneous and anonymous audience.

2. Messages are transmitted publicly (no privacy).

3. Short duration message for immediate consumption

4.Feedback is indirect, non-existent or delayed

5. Cost per exposure per individual is minimum

6. Source belongs to organization or institutions

7. Mostly one way

8 Involves good deal of selection that is, medium chooses its audience (newspaper for literates) and
audience choose media (poor, illiterates select radio)

9. There is need for fewer media to reach vast and widespread audience because of wide reach of
each

10.Communication is done by social institutions which are responsive to the environment in which
they operate