UNIT 2. Forms of mass media

UNIT 1. Mass media

Mass media are diversified media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place varies.

Broadcast media such as radio, recorded music, film and television transmit their information electronically.

Print media use a physical object such as a newspaper, book, pamphlet or comics, to distribute their information.

Outdoor media are a form of mass media that comprises billboards, signs, or placards placed inside and outside of commercial buildings, sports stadiums, shops, and buses. Other outdoor media include flying billboards (signs in tow of airplanes), blimps, skywriting, and AR Advertising. Public speaking and event organising can also be considered forms of mass media.

Digital media comprise both Internet and mobile mass communication. Internet media provide many mass media services, such as email, websites, blogs, and Internet-based radio and television. Many other mass media outlets have a presence on the web, by such things as having TV ads that link to a website, or distributing a QR Code in print or outdoor media to direct a mobile user to a website. In this way, they can utilise the easy accessibility that the Internet has, and the outreach that Internet affords, as information can easily be broadcast to many different regions of the world simultaneously and cost-efficiently.

The organizations that control these technologies, such as television stations or publishing companies, are also known as the mass media.

In the late 20th Century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries: books, newspapers, magazines, recordings, radio, movies, television and the internet. With the explosion of digital communication technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the question of what forms of media should be classified as "mass media" has become more prominent. For example, it is controversial whether to include cell phones, video games, and computer games (such as MMORPGs) in the definition. In the 2000s, a classification called the "seven mass media" became popular. In order of introduction, they are:

Print (books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, etc.) from the late 15th century

Recordings (gramophone records, magnetic tapes, cassettes, cartridges, CDs, DVDs) from the late 19th century

Cinema from about 1900

Radio from about 1910

Television from about 1950

Internet from about 1990

Mobile phones from about 2000

Each mass media has its own content types, its own creative artists and technicians, and its own business models. For example, the Internet includes web sites, blogs, podcasts, and various other technologies built on top of the general distribution network. The sixth and seventh media, internet and mobile, are often called 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.

While a telephone is a two-way communication device, mass media refer to medium which can communicate a message to a large group, often simultaneously. However, modern cell phones are no longer a single-use device. Most cell phones are equipped with internet access and capable of connecting to the web which itself is a mass medium. A question arises whether this makes cell phones a mass medium or simply a device used to access a mass medium (the internet). There is currently a system by which marketers and advertisers are able to tap into satellites, and broadcast commercials and advertisements directly to cell phones, unsolicited by the phone's user. This transmission of mass advertising to millions of people is a form of mass communication.

Video games may also be evolving into a mass medium. Video games convey the same messages and ideologies to all their users. Users sometimes share the experience with one another by playing online. Excluding the internet however, it is questionable whether players of video games are sharing a common experience when they play the game separately. It is possible to discuss in great detail the events of a video game with a friend you have never played with because the experience was identical to you both. The question is whether this is then a form of mass communication.

UNIT 2. Forms of mass media

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 2397