Name:  Ankita Vadher.

Paper: Mass Communication and Media Studies.

Sem-4,

M.A. -2

Roll No: 1,

Year: 2012-13.

Submitted To,

Dr. Dillip Barad,

Dept.of. English,

M.K. Bhavnagar University,

                                    Bhavnagar.

Role and Impact of Mass Media

Ø What are The Mass Media?

     In Communication Studies today however the term ‘Mass Media” has come to be a useful collective phrase through the distinction among the various media ‘Mass’ suggests that modern media are ‘Experienced’ not by individual and groups but as part of the ‘Mass’ and as ‘Mass’ culture: as generally interpreted the ‘Mass’ Media are the press, cinema, radio, T.V., books, Magazines and Pamphlets also. They are so termed because their reach extends to vast masses of the population living in wide and extensive area of a country. The organ of mass media is technological means of transmitting messages to large numbers of people. They are very expensive media. They must need be run by institutions like the government or well financed private commercial bodies. They require a group of people to organize and administer to produce, distribute and constantly maintain in working order, yet another feature of the mass media is that they are founded on the ideas of mass production and Mass distribution the marks of an industrialized society.

Ø Development of Mass Media:

  Western mass communication scholars have identified a development progression cycle called as the EPS means Elite, Popular, Specialization. This cycle holds that all Media Develop in three stages:

·       Elite:

Media appeals to the affluent. Affluent considered as the leasers of cultural and social trends.

·       Popular:

 When the notion breaks through the barriers of literacy and poverty, it enters the popular stage and reaches the Mass culture.

·       Specialization:

 Here there is ‘De-Massification’ of the Mass Media due to information explosion and advancement in the communication technology. Media is consumed by highly fragmented segments of population each with his own interest and cultural activities e.g. Cartoon channels, sports channels, news. Films.

Ø Role and Impact of Mass Media:

              Let’s see how the Mass Media like radio, news papers, and T.V. play the role of acting as a bridge between the Government and the people. Media played a vital role in our life. There are media for people to choose and access the information such as T.V., Radio, and Internet. Media have a full capacity to set a social subject for mass audience to think and talk about. India is considered a role model for a large number of developing and as the largest democracy countries. We have state and central government and the people.

For Example:    The government decides the price of petrol and diesel will either be increased or decreased that decision needs to be conveyed to the people this is done by the media not only inform the people about it but also explain the effect of that decision taken by the government for the people.

                    The Mass Media play an important role in communicating this change by giving the necessary information, and sometimes skills, the media can help bring about this change. You may ask how media can impart skills. A mass media like T.V. can demonstrate and show how thing work. We would have seen on T.V. how a certain dish is cooked using modern kitchen equipment. Mass media have the world smaller and closer speed of media has resulted in bringing people across the world closer.

For Example:  When you watch a cricket match between India and another country in England, Australia or New Zeeland, live on T.V. we feel we are part of the crowd in that stadium. Events, happy or sad, happening any where can be seen live. Sometimes we feel that the whole world is shrinking and becoming a village. Wherever we go to any part of the world, we see the same products such as soft drinks, T.V, Washing Machine, Refrigerator etc. and the same type of advertisement, similarly, the World Wide Web and internet have brought people and countries much closer.

                     Mass Media is a tremendous source of information for individual as well as society mass media can help in change using mass media, people attitudes and habits can be changed. Example like: all of us have mistaken or wrong notion about various diseases. Like Leprosy or HIV/ AIDS. Many of us think that by touching people suffering from these diseases we would be infected. You might have watched T.V. programmed or read messages which tell us that by touching HIV patient we don’t get infected. That sense media make people aware about.

         Mass Media promotes distribution of goods mass media are used by the consumers industries to inform people about various products and services through advertising. Without ads, the public will not know about various products and services which are available in the market as well as their prices. Thus Mass Media help the industries and consumers. We make our buying decisions based on what we saw on T.V., Newspaper, or Magazines. These are the effect of mass media on teenagers they buy. What they see on T.V. the media has imposed them. There are some positive and negative influences in young people a negative influence Example like:  A Negative influence on teenagers is the use of cigars by celebrity movie stars, the excessive images of violence and exposure to thousand of junk food ads the problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially in our Children as we see it more and more our kids that are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs can become aggressive or they can lose a sense of reality and fiction of what they are seeing. The internet and T.V. channels have violence in the media influenced the youth of this generation to kill? The Media may give idea and the internet may provide instruction on how to kill? And the positive effects like media provide news and information required by the people media can educate the public. Media helps a democracy function effective. They inform the public about government policies and programmed and how these programmed can be useful to them. This helps the people voice their feelings and helps the government to make necessary changes in their policies or programmes.

   Thus the Media make one side it is useful for society like media function to inform, to educate, to entertain and other side it is mar (destroyed) the society through wrong programmes and Information.