Mass Media and Society

Mass communication is the process of sending messages through technological media to large, heterogeneous, anonymous and widely scattered audiences.

• Source: organised institution or professional communicator.

• Message: public, standardised, produced in large quantities.

• Audience: large, diverse, anonymous.

• Feedback: indirect and delayed (letters to the editor, TRP ratings, social media reactions).

• Gatekeeping determines what reaches the audience.

• It is impersonal, one-to-many, and uses mechanical or electronic means.

• Print: newspapers, magazines, books, journals, pamphlets.

• Electronic/broadcast: radio, television, film.

• Digital / new media: the internet, social media, blogs, podcasts, OTT streaming, mobile apps. They are interactive and enable user-generated content, personalisation and instant global reach.

• Traditional / folk media: street plays, puppetry, folk songs, nautanki, kathputli, harikatha. Valuable for development communication in rural India.

• Outdoor / mixed media: hoardings, posters, signage.

• Lasswell's functions (1948): surveillance of the environment, correlation of the parts of society, and transmission of the social heritage.

• Charles Wright added entertainment.

• Broadly: to inform, educate, entertain, persuade/influence, set the agenda, mobilise, and act as a watchdog. Media also supports development communication.

• Hypodermic needle / magic bullet theory: media directly and uniformly inject messages into passive audiences with powerful effects. It was influenced by propaganda concerns of the 1920s to 1930s and the panic after the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. It is now considered simplistic.

• Two-step flow theory (Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet, 1944; developed by Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955): media messages reach opinion leaders first, who then influence others. It emphasises personal influence over direct media effect.

• Uses and gratifications theory (Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch, 1974): audiences are active and use media to satisfy needs (information, entertainment, social interaction, identity, escape). The question moves from "what does media do to people?" to "what do people do with media?"

• Agenda-setting theory (McCombs and Shaw, 1972): media may not tell people what to think but tell them what to think about (issue salience).

• Cultivation theory (George Gerbner): long-term heavy exposure to television shapes viewers' perception of reality; related to the "mean world syndrome".

• Spiral of silence (Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, 1974): people hesitate to express opinions they believe are in the minority for fear of isolation, and the dominant opinion appears stronger.

• Gatekeeping theory (Kurt Lewin; David Manning White's "Mr. Gates" study, 1950): editors and others decide which news passes through.

• Media dependency theory (Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur, 1976): the more a person depends on media to meet needs, the more influence media has on them.

• Knowledge gap hypothesis (Tichenor, Donohue and Olien, 1970): groups with higher socio-economic status gain information from mass media faster, widening the gap.

• Diffusion of innovations (Everett Rogers): adopters categorised as innovators (2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%) and laggards (16%).

• Framing theory (Goffman; Entman): how an issue is presented influences how audiences interpret it.

• Marshall McLuhan: "The medium is the message"; the concept of the global village; Understanding Media (1964). Hot media (high definition, low participation, e.g., radio, film, print) vs cool media (low definition, high participation, e.g., television, telephone).

• Propaganda model (Herman and Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, 1988): news is filtered by ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak and a common ideology.

• Frankfurt School (Adorno and Horkheimer): the culture industry critique.

• Habermas: the public sphere.

Four Theories of the Press (Siebert, Peterson and Schramm, 1956):

• Authoritarian: the press serves the ruler or state; control by licensing and censorship.

• Libertarian: a free marketplace of ideas; minimal state control.

• Social responsibility: freedom with responsibility to society; ethics and professional codes (Hutchins Commission, 1947).

• Soviet communist: the press is an instrument of the party and state.

Denis McQuail later added development media theory (media supports national development) and democratic-participant theory (access for citizens and community groups).

• Positive: awareness, education, democratic participation, public opinion, social reform, cultural exchange, development communication, rapid information in disasters, and economic benefits through advertising and employment.

• Negative: misinformation and fake news, sensationalism, paid news, commercialisation, cultural homogenisation, violence and consumerism, privacy invasion, addiction, trial by media, cyberbullying, echo chambers and polarisation.

• Media literacy: the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and create media; a key remedy.

• Digital divide: unequal access to digital technology.

• Media ethics: accuracy, objectivity, fairness, accountability, privacy, and avoiding hate speech.

• First Indian newspaper: Hicky's Bengal Gazette (1780, James Augustus Hicky, also called Bengal Gazette).

• Samachar Darpan (1818, Serampore) is an early Bengali weekly. Raja Ram Mohan Roy published Sambad Kaumudi (1821) and Mirat-ul-Akhbar (1822).

• All India Radio: the Indian Broadcasting Service was renamed All India Radio in 1936; the name Akashvani was adopted in 1956. Its motto: Bahujan Hitaya, Bahujan Sukhaya.

• Doordarshan: began as an experimental telecast in Delhi on 15 September 1959; regular service from 1965; colour broadcasts in 1982, around the Asian Games.

• Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India): created by the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990 and operational from 1997; it governs AIR and Doordarshan.

• Press Council of India: first set up in 1966; functioning currently under the Press Council Act, 1978; a statutory, quasi-judicial body that preserves the freedom of the press and maintains and improves press standards. National Press Day: 16 November.

• Freedom of the press in India is derived from Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression), subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2).

• Cinematograph Act, 1952: film certification through the CBFC.

• Information Technology Act, 2000: governs cyber law and electronic communication; Right to Information Act, 2005: transparency.

• Community radio and educational channels (e.g., Gyan Darshan, Gyan Vani, SWAYAM Prabha) support educational communication and the National Education Policy goals.

• International days: World Press Freedom Day, 3 May; World Radio Day, 13 February; World Television Day, 21 November.

• Interpersonal: few people, face to face, immediate feedback, personal.

• Mass: large, anonymous audience, through technology, delayed feedback, impersonal and organised by institutions.

• Hypodermic needle / magic bullet: the media "inject" ideas straight into a passive audience. Example: believing every viral video instantly. Now seen as too simple because audiences think and choose.

• Two-step flow: media message reaches opinion leaders (people others trust), who pass it on with their own interpretation. Example: your aunt reads the newspaper and tells the family what to think about a new law.

• Uses and gratifications: audiences are active and choose media for specific needs. Example: you watch cricket for excitement, news for information, reels to relax. The focus is on what people do with media.

• Agenda setting: media decide what issues seem important. Example: if every channel talks about inflation all week, viewers say inflation is the main problem. Media tell us what to think about, not necessarily what to think.

• Cultivation: years of heavy TV watching make the world seem more like TV shows it. Example: heavy viewers of crime shows believe the world is more dangerous than it really is ("mean world syndrome").

• Spiral of silence: people who think their opinion is in the minority stay quiet, making the majority view look even stronger. Example: in a class WhatsApp group, one student with a different view says nothing.

• Gatekeeping: an editor chooses 10 stories out of 1,000 available. The gatekeeper's judgement shapes what the public knows.

• Framing: the same fact, different packaging. "Tax relief for businesses" versus "tax cut for the rich" creates different reactions.

• Media dependency: in a crisis (floods, election night) people depend more on media, and so media influence increases.

• Knowledge gap: educated, wealthy groups learn from media faster than poorer groups, so the gap widens.

• Diffusion of innovations: how a new idea or product spreads: innovators (2.5%) first, then early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%) and laggards (16%).

• McLuhan: the form of the medium shapes society more than the content. Global village: electronic media shrink the world into one village. Hot media give a lot of detail and need little effort from you (radio, film, print); cool media give less detail and need you to participate (TV, telephone, in McLuhan's classification).

1. Strong effects era (1920s to 1940s): hypodermic needle idea after propaganda in the World Wars and the 1938 radio drama panic.

2. Limited effects era (1940s to 1960s): research like the two-step flow showed personal influence matters and media effects are limited.

3. Return of powerful (long-term) effects (1970s onward): agenda setting, cultivation, spiral of silence.

4. Active audience (1970s onward): uses and gratifications.

5. Digital era: interactive, user-generated, algorithm-driven media, filter bubbles and echo chambers.

• Authoritarian: the ruler controls the press (licences, censorship). Example idea: kings and early colonial regimes.

• Libertarian: the press is free; truth wins in a "marketplace of ideas". Example idea: liberal democracies with minimal regulation.

• Social responsibility: freedom comes with duties to society; professional ethics and codes. Example idea: press councils.

• Soviet communist: the press serves the party and state.

• McQuail's additions: development media theory (media should support national development) and democratic-participant theory (citizens and communities should have access to media).

• Features: interactivity, hypertext, user-generated content, 24x7 availability, global reach, convergence (text, audio and video together), and personalisation by algorithms.

• Filter bubble (Eli Pariser): algorithms show you only what you already like.

• Echo chamber: you hear only people who agree with you, so your beliefs get reinforced.

• Types of false information: misinformation (false, shared without intent to harm), disinformation (false, shared deliberately to deceive) and malinformation (true information used to cause harm, e.g., leaking private details).

• Digital divide: the gap between those who have access to technology and skills and those who do not. Media literacy: the skill of accessing, analysing and creating media responsibly.

• Development communication uses communication to support social and economic development (health, farming, education, literacy).

• India examples frequently cited: the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), 1975-76, which used satellite TV for rural education; the Kheda Communication Project; and Doordarshan's farm programme Krishi Darshan (1967).

• Folk and traditional media like puppetry, street theatre, folk songs and storytelling are low-cost, local-language and trusted, so they remain useful for health and social campaigns in rural areas.

• Press Council of India: print media and journalistic ethics.

• CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification): films, under the Cinematograph Act, 1952.

• Prasar Bharati: public broadcaster (AIR and Doordarshan).

• TRAI (1997): telecom and broadcasting tariff regulation.

• Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995: regulates cable TV.

• ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India): self-regulation of advertising.

• NBDSA: self-regulation for news broadcasters.

• Information Technology Act, 2000, and the IT Rules, 2021: digital and social media intermediaries.

• Article 19(1)(a): the constitutional basis of press freedom; Article 19(2): reasonable restrictions (security of the state, public order, decency, defamation, etc.).