Mass media
Mass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. 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 centuries. The term public media has a similar meaning: it is the sum of the public mass distributors of news and entertainment across media such as newspapers, television, radio, broadcasting, which may require union membership in some large markets such as Newspaper Guild, AFTRA, and text publishers.
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. The term "MSM" or "mainstream media" has been widely used in the blogosphere in discussion of the mass media.
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.
Another description of Mass Media is central media which implies:
An inability to transmit tacit knowledge (or perhaps it can only transfer bad tacit).
The manipulation of large groups of people through media outlets, for the benefit of a particular political party and/or group of people.
Marshall McLuhan, one of the biggest critics in media's history, brought up the idea that "the medium is the message."
Bias, political or otherwise, towards favoring a certain individual, outcome or resolution of an event.
"The corporate media is not a watchdog protecting us from the powerful, it is a lapdog begging for scraps."[1]
This view of central media can be contrasted with lateral media, such as email networks, where messages are all slightly different and spread by a process of lateral diffusion.
Electronic media and print media include:
Broadcasting, in the narrow sense, for radio and television.
Various types of 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.
Internet, which has many uses and presents both opportunities and challenges. Blogs and podcasts (such as news, music, pre-recorded speech, and video)
Mobile phones, often called the 7th Mass Media, used for rapid breaking news, 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.
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