What is Mass Media? - Importance, Functions, Types of Mass Media, Mass Media Theories and More!

What is Mass Media? - Functions, Types of Mass Media, Mass Media Theories and More! 

Mass Media is basically communicating to the large masses of people using various ways like Newspapers, Social Media, TV, Radio etc. There are various definitions of Mass Media but it is just communicating your message to a large number of people or groups of people. If you are studying about Journalism & Mass Communication then knowing what is Mass Media is very important. There are various types of Media through which the message is communicated between the masses like Electronic Media, Print Media, Digital Media etc. Print Media has newspapers, magazines, holdings, banners, billboards, posters etc. Digital Media has social networking sites, blogs, vlogs, websites, mobile apps etc. Electronic Media has TV, Radio, CD/DVD etc. Advertising is also a part of Mass Media. There are various organizations that control them like publishing companies, film studios, TV stations and studios, radio stations etc. It can also be done through individuals by blogging, vlogging, social media networking, websites, blogs, and other various ways. But the main thing is that it should reach to a large number of people.



Currently Digital Media is the current trend of Mass Media and is growing at a very fast rate, other forms of Mass Media are becoming obsolete slowly as Digital Media is taking over the world.

The basic functions of Mass Media are:
1.. To provide Information about various things
2. Entertainment
3. Regular updates about News + Events happening around the world.

Mass Media tells us what is important and what is not and gives us a viewpoint about the world. Media has the power to influence large number of people. There are various theories on Mass Media like the Magic Bullet Theory or Cultivation theory which tells us about the working of Media. Like Magic Bullet Theory says that media's message is a bullet fired from the media gun to the people's head. It means that media fires or injects message or different messages into the audience like a bullet and the audience believes in what they are seeing or hearing from the media. Cultivation theory says that the more people spend time watching Television, the more they are likely to believe what they are seeing in the real world's society. Or in other words the more people are exposed to media (TV), the more they are influenced by the beliefs about the real world shown there.

The role of Mass Media is very important for the society as it tells us what is happening all over the world, it provides us Entertainment, tells us about various products and services, and much more. It helps us to connect with the world and to the large masses of people, special thanks to the rise of Internet and it's social media platforms. Mass Media is the reason why the Celebrities and famous people's CONCEPT exist. If there was no Mass Media we wouldn't even know about these popular people and what are their achievements. Media is also known as the fourth pillar of Democracy as it tells us about the various politicians, politics, about elections, parties and other things. Media tells us who we should vote to form a government. Media has the power to make the guilty innocent and the innocent guilty. If there is no media then the government officials can do whatever they want and we wouldn't even know, it is very important because democracy is the government of the people.


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