Characteristics of Mass Communication (Features of Mass Communication)

Characteristics or Features of Mass Communication

Communication scholars have suggested various characteristics of Mass Communication. We look at some of them in this chapter.

Dutton et al (1998) suggests that Mass Communicaton has a number of characteristics that sets it apart from other types of communication:

• Impersonal: The sender of the message does not know the receivers
• Lacking in immediacy: the audience has no involvement in the production of a media message
• One way from the producer/creator to the consumer/audience
• Physically and technologically distant: everyone receives the same intended message
• Organised: It requires a vehicle, such as a television receiver, printed page or internet connection, which allows a message to be sent or received (Livesey, 2014)

·       Mass Audience: Large and scattered, Anonymous and Heterogenous Mass Audience.

·        It is Public. The communication reaches to a huge mass which is unknown and is available for

      public consumption.

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       Impersonal: The sender of the message does not know the receivers. Dutton et al (1998) However, what they do know is the area from which a particular programme gets more hits due to high definition technological advancement. This leads them to knowledge about their target audience, the place and the culture and the advertisements that can be slotted for the same.

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         Feedback in Mass Communication can be One Way or Two way depending on the choice of

      Media.

v  One-way Communication in most Traditional electronic media with an occasional delayed feedback.

v  Two-way Communication in New Media with instant feedback in many cases. Today a small video posted on social networking forums or by huge media houses on their web forums can garner immediate feedback and response on social networking forums such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

·    Mass Mediated: Use of Technological devices which may be mechanical, technical, electronic or Digital. (Printing Machines, Television, Radio, etc)

·     Speed/ Rapid Dissemination to a huge Mass Audience. Mass media permits the content delivery in the fraction of a second due to the massive technology employed. E.g. A football world cup final, A Grand Slam or a Cricket match final is watched by billions across the world at the same time.

·    Varied Content: Mass Audiences have a huge availability of varied content to choose from. For instance, there are a huge number of Television channels or Radio FM channels for an individual to choose from. The same goes for the large amount of content on forums like YouTube or OTT content like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotspot, AltBalaji, etc.

·     Gate Keeping of content: Gatekeeping is the filtering of messages before release of content by Media houses or individuals in some cases of New Media. So, whether in a newspaper, or a news channel, news arrives through various sources. This news is filtered or controlled at different levels by reporters, journalists, sub editors, news editors, editors and the channel owners. Only certain content is allowed to be published while other content is discarded or not given paramount importance. This process is called Gatekeeping.

·     Persuasive in Nature: Mass Mediated messages can Influence society and are in turn influenced by Society. A large amount of content is produced in a manner that facilitates advertisement revenue. Advertisement is persuasive in nature. State Governments too have often used Mass Media to encourage cleanliness drives, vaccination drives and other health-related habits on Television and Radio.

·    Target Audience: Concept of a Target Audience influences Mass Communication due to the growing demand of study on Audience Research and its impact. For instance: If a particular channel is showing a popular serial than this is placed in a prime- time slot which targets the required audience and garners huge Ad Revenue due to multiple TRP ratings.

·      Complex: The traditional form of Media and New media to a certain extent is Complex in nature. It involves a largely industrialised and complex technology involving satellites, digital networks, management structures, marketing chains, advertisement revenues, etc.