Mass media


Mass media refers to the forms of media that reach large audiences via mass communication. It includes broadcast media, digital media, print media, social media, streaming media, advertising, and events.
Mass media encompasses news, advocacy, entertainment, and public service announcements, and intersects with the study of marketing, propaganda, public relations, political communication, journalism, art, drama, computing, and technology. The influence of mass media on individuals and groups has also been analysed from the standpoint of anthropology, economics, history, law, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.
Mass media is often controlled by media conglomerates, which may include mass media organisations, companies, and networks, and may be susceptible to media capture.

Definition

In the late 20th century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries: books, the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, recordings, and television. The explosion of digital communication technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries challenged this classification. By the early 2000s, a classification called the "seven mass media" came into use, comprising:
  1. Print – late 15th century
  2. Recordings – late 19th century
  3. Cinema – c. 1900
  4. Radio – c. 1910
  5. Television – c. 1950
  6. The Internet – c. 1990
  7. Mobile phones – c. 2000
The sixth and seventh media, Internet and mobile phones, are often referred to collectively as digital media, and the fourth and fifth, radio and TV, as broadcast media. Some argue that video games have developed into a distinct mass form of media.

Characteristics

Five characteristics of mass communication have been identified by sociologist John Thompson of Cambridge University:
  1. "Comprises both technical and institutional methods of production and distribution".
  2. Involves the "commodification of symbolic forms"
  3. "Separate contexts between the production and reception of information"
  4. Its "reach to those 'far removed' in time and space, in comparison to the producers"
  5. "Information distribution" – a "one-to-many" form of communication, whereby products are mass-produced and disseminated to large audiences

    Mainstream media

In common usage, the term "mass" denotes not that a given number of individuals receives the products, but rather that the products are available in principle to a plurality of recipients. The term "mass media" is sometimes used as a synonym for "mainstream media". However, mass media may include alternative media outlets that employ mass communication technology, even if their audience is smaller than mainstream media. In contrast, mainstream media are distinguished from alternative media by their content and point of view.

History

The first dated print book known as the Diamond Sutra was printed in China in 868 AD, although it is clear that books were printed earlier. Movable clay type was invented in 1041 in China. However, due to the slow spread of literacy in China, and the relatively high cost of paper there, the earliest printed mass medium was probably the European popular prints from about 1400. Although these were produced in huge numbers, very few early examples survived, and even most known to be printed before about 1600 have not survived. The term "mass media" was coined with the creation of print media, which is notable for being the first example of mass media, as we use the term today. This form of media started in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press allowed the mass production of books to sweep the nation. He printed the Latin Bible on a printing press with movable type in 1453. The invention of the printing press gave rise to some of the first forms of mass communication by enabling the publication of books and newspapers on a scale much larger than was previously possible. The invention also transformed the way the world received printed materials, although books remained too expensive to be called a mass medium for at least a century after that. Newspapers developed from c. 1612, with the first English example in 1620 although they took until the 19th century to reach a mass audience. The first high-circulation newspapers arose in London in the early 1800s, such as The Times, and were made possible by the invention of the high-speed rotary steam printing press and railroads which allowed large-scale distribution over wide geographical areas. The increase in circulation, however, led to a decline in feedback and interactivity from the readership, making newspapers a one-way medium.
The phrase "the media" began to be used in the 1920s. The notion of "mass media" was generally restricted to print media up until the post-Second World War, when radio, television and video were introduced. The audio-visual facilities became very popular, because they provided both information and entertainment, because the colour and sound engaged the viewers/listeners and because it was easier for the general public to passively watch TV or listen to the radio than to actively read.
During the 20th century, the growth of mass media was driven by technology, including that which allowed much duplication of material. Physical duplication technologies such as printing, record pressing and film duplication allowed the duplication of books, newspapers and movies at low prices to huge audiences. Radio and television allowed the electronic duplication of information for the first time. Mass media had the economics of linear replication: a single work could make money. Proportional to the number of copies sold, and as volumes went up, unit costs went down, increasing profit margins further. Vast fortunes were made in mass media. In a democratic society, the media can serve the electorate about issues regarding government and corporate entities. Some consider the concentration of media ownership to be a threat to democracy.
In recent times, the Internet has become the latest and most popular mass medium. Information has become readily available through websites, and easily accessible through search engines. Modern-day mass media includes the internet, mobile phones, blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds.

Mergers and acquisitions

Between 1985 and 2018, about 76,720 deals have been announced in the media industry. This sums up to an overall value of around US$5,634 billion. There have been three major waves of M&A in the mass media sector, while the most active year in terms of numbers was 2007 with around 3,808 deals. The United States is the most prominent country in media M&A with 41 of the top 50 deals having an acquirer from the United States.
The largest deal in history was the acquisition of Time Warner by AOL Inc. for US$164,746.86 million.

Influence and sociology

In 1997, J. R. Finnegan Jr. and K. Viswanath identified three main effects or functions of mass media.
First, The Knowledge Gap: the mass media influences knowledge gaps due to factors including "the extent to which the content is appealing, the degree to which information channels are accessible and desirable, and the amount of social conflict and diversity there is in a community".
Second, Agenda Setting: people are influenced in how they think about issues due to the selective nature of what media groups choose for public consumption. J. J. Davis states that "when risks are highlighted in the media, particularly in great detail, the extent of agenda setting is likely to be based on the degree to which a public sense of outrage and threat is provoked". When wanting to set an agenda, framing can be invaluably useful to a mass media organisation. Framing involves "taking a leadership role in the organisation of public discourse about an issue". The media is influenced by the desire for balance in coverage, and the resulting pressures can come from groups with particular political action and advocacy positions. Finnegan and Viswanath say, "groups, institutions and advocates compete to identify problems, to move them onto the public agenda, and to define the issues symbolically".
Third, Cultivation of Perceptions: the extent to which media exposure shapes audience perceptions over time is known as cultivation. Television is a common experience, especially in places like the United States, to the point where it can be described as a "homogenising agent". However, instead of being merely a result of the TV, the effect is often based on socioeconomic factors. Having a prolonged exposure to TV or movie violence might affect a viewer to the extent where they actively think community violence is a problem, or alternatively find it justifiable. The resulting belief is likely to be different depending on where people live, however.
Since the 1950s, when cinema, radio and TV began to be the primary or only source of information for most of the population, these media became the central instruments of mass control. When a country reaches a high level of industrialisation, the country itself "belongs to the person who controls communications".
Mass media play a significant role in shaping public perceptions on a variety of important issues, both through the information that is dispensed through them, and through the interpretations they place upon this information. They also play a large role in shaping modern culture, by selecting and portraying a particular set of beliefs, values and traditions, as reality. That is, by portraying a certain interpretation of reality, they shape reality to be more in line with that interpretation. Mass media also play a crucial role in the spread of civil unrest activities such as anti-government demonstrations, riots and general strikes. That is, the use of radio and television receivers has made the unrest influence among cities not only by the geographic location of cities, but also by proximity within the mass media distribution networks.
Media artist Joey Skaggs has demonstrated the ease with which mass media can be manipulated using fabricated press releases, staged events, and fictitious experts. His long-running series of media hoaxes reveal how news outlets can be drawn to sensational narratives, often publishing stories with minimal fact-checking. Skaggs' work has been cited as a critique of journalistic practices and a case study in the vulnerabilities of modern media systems.
Limited-effects theory theorizes that because people usually choose what media to interact with based on what they already believe, media exerts a negligible influence. Class-dominant theory argues that the media reflects and projects the view of a minority elite, which controls it. Culturalist theory combines the other two theories and claims people interact with media to create their own meanings out of the images and messages they receive. In 2012, an article asserted that 90 percent of US mass media—including radio, video news, sports entertainment, and other—were owned by six major companies.