Encyclopedia
Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience . It was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks and of mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. The mass-media audience has been viewed by some commentators as forming a mass society with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of modern mass-media techniques such as
advertising and
propaganda. It is also gaining popularity in the blogosphere when referring to the mainstream media .
Etymology and usage
Media is a truncation of the term
media of communication, referring to those organized means of dissemination of fact, opinion, entertainment, and other information, such as
newspapers,
magazines,
cinema films,
radio,
television, the
World Wide Web, billboards,
books,
CDs,
DVDs,
videocassettes,
computer games and other forms of
publishing. Although writers currently differ in their preference for using
media in the singular or the plural , the former will still incur criticism in some situations. Academic programs for the study of mass media are usually referred to as mass communication programs.
An individual corporation within the mass media is referred to as a Media Institution.
The term "mass media" is mainly used by academics and media-professionals. When members of the general public refer to "the media" they are usually referring to the mass media, or to the
news media, which is a section of the mass media.
Sometimes mass media are referred to as the "corporate media". Other references include the "mainstream media" . Technically, "
mainstream media" includes outlets that are in harmony with the prevailing direction of influence in the
culture at large. In the United States, usage of these terms often depends on the connotations the speaker wants to invoke. The term "corporate media" is often used by leftist media critics to imply that the mainstream media are themselves composed of large multinational corporations, and promote those interests . This is countered by the right-wing media critics with the term "MSM", the acronym implying that the majority of mass media sources are dominated by leftist powers which are furthering their own agenda.
The more recent term 'Drive-by Media', which appears to have been coined by Brent Bozell in 1998 , has been popularized by conservative talk-show host
Rush Limbaugh in response to the proposed transfer of operations of several U.S. ports to Dubai Ports World.
History
During the 20th century, the growth of mass media was driven by
technology that allowed the massive duplication of material. Physical duplication technologies such as
printing, record pressing and film duplication allowed the duplication of books, newspapers and movies at low prices to huge audiences.
Radio and
television allowed the electronic duplication of information for the first time.
Mass media had the economics of linear replication: a single work could make money proportional to the number of copies sold, and as volumes went up, units costs went down, increasing profit margins further. Vast fortunes were to be made in mass media.
In a democratic society, independent media serve to educate the public/electorate about issues regarding government and corporate entities . Some consider the concentration of media ownership to be a grave threat to democracy.
Timeline
...
takes the first permanent photograph
...
in 1924.
- 1898: Loudspeaker is invented.
- 1906: The Story of the Kelly Gang from Australia is world's first feature length film.
- 1912: Air mail begins
- 1913: Edison transfers from cylinder recordings to more easily reproducible discs
- 1913: The portable phonograph is manufactured.
- 1915: Radiotelephone carries voice from Virginia to the Eiffel Tower
- 1916: Tunable radios invented.
- 1919: Short-wave radio is invented.
- 1920: KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh, United States, becoming the world's first commercial radio station.
- 1922: BBC is formed and broadcasting to London.
- 1924: KDKA created a short-wave radio transmitter.
- 1925: BBC broadcasting to the majority of the UK.
- 1926: NBC is formed
- 1927: The Jazz Singer: The first motion picture with sounds debuts
- 1927: Philo Taylor Farnsworth debuts the first electronic television
...
system
- 1928: The Teletype was introduced.
- 1933: Edwin Armstrong invents FM Radio
- 1934: Half of the homes in the U.S. have radios.
- 1935: First telephone call made around the world.
- 1936: BBC opened world's first regular high definition television service.
- 1938: The War of the Worlds is a science fiction [i] novel [i] written by H. G. Wells [i] and published in ...
is broadcast on October 30, causing mass hysteria. - 1939: Western Union introduces coast-to-coast fax service.
- 1939: Regular electronic television broadcasts begin in the U.S.
- 1939: The wire recorder is invented in the U.S.
- 1940: The first commercial television station, WNBT /New York signs on the air
- 1951: The first color televisions go on sale
- 1957: Sputnik is launched and sends back signals from near earth orbit
- 1959: Xerox makes the first copier
- 1960: Echo I, a U.S. balloon in orbit, reflects radio signals to Earth.
- 1962: Telstar satellite transmits an image across the Atlantic.
- 1963: Audio cassette is invented in the Netherlands.
- 1963: Martin Luther King gives "I have a dream" speech.
- 1965: Vietnam War becomes first war to be televised.
- 1967: Newspapers, magazines start to digitize production.
- 1969: Man's first landing on the moon is broadcast to 600 million people around the globe.
- 1970s: ARPANET, progenitor to the internet developed
- 1972: Pong becomes the first video game to win widespread popularity.
- 1976: JVC introduces VHS videotape - becomes the standard consumer format in the 1980s & 1990s.
- 1971: Intel debuts the microprocessor
- 1980: CNN launches
- 1980: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones put news database online.
- 1981: The laptop computer is introduced by Tandy.
- 1983: Cellular phones begin to appear
- 1984: Apple Macintosh is introduced.
- 1985: Pay-per-view channels open for business.
- 1995: The internet grows exponentially
- 1996: First DVD players and discs are available in Japan. Twister is the first film on DVD.
Purposes
Mass media can be used for various purposes:
- Advocacy, both for business and social concerns. This can include advertising, marketing, propaganda, public relations, and political communication.
- Enrichment and education, such as literature.
- Entertainment, traditionally through performances of acting, music, and sports, along with light reading; since the late 20th century also through video and computer games.
- Journalism.
- Public service announcements.
Journalism
Journalism is a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting information regarding
current events, trends, issues and
people. Those who practice journalism are known as
journalists.
News-oriented journalism is sometimes described as the "first rough draft of history" , because journalists often record important events, producing news articles on short deadlines. While under pressure to be first with their stories,
news media organizations usually edit and proofread their reports prior to publication, adhering to each organization's standards of accuracy, quality and style. Many news organizations claim proud traditions of holding government officials and institutions accountable to the public, while media critics have raised questions about holding the press itself accountable.
Public relations
Public relations is the art and science of managing communication between an organization and its key publics to build, manage and sustain its positive image. Examples include:
- Corporations use marketing public relations to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short and long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation's branding for a strong, ongoing market.
- Corporations also use public-relations as a vehicle to reach legislators and other politicians, seeking favorable tax, regulatory, and other treatment, and they may use public relations to portray themselves as enlightened employers, in support of human-resources recruiting programs.
- Non-profit organizations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies, use public relations in support of awareness programs, fund-raising programs, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services.
- Politicians use public relations to attract votes and raise money, and, when successful at the ballot box, to promote and defend their service in office, with an eye to the next election or, at career’s end, to their legacy.
Forms
Electronic media and print media include:
...
.
- Various types of discs or tape. In the 20th century, these were mainly used for music. Video and computer uses followed.
- Film, most often used for entertainment, but also for documentaries.
- Internet, which has many uses and presents both opportunities and challenges. Blogs and podcasts, such as news, music, pre-recorded speech and video)
- Publishing, in the narrow sense, meaning on paper, mainly via books, magazines, and newspapers.
- Computer games, which have developed into a mass form of media since devices such as the PlayStation 2 , Xbox, and the GameCube broadened their use.
Audio recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is the
electrical or mechanical re-creation and/or amplification of
sound, often as
music. This involves the use of audio equipment such as microphones, recording devices and loudspeakers. From early beginnings with the invention of the
phonograph using purely mechanical techniques, the field has advanced with the invention of electrical recording, the mass production of the
78 record, the magnetic wire recorder followed by the
tape recorder, the vinyl LP record. The invention of the
compact cassette in the 1960's, followed by Sony's
Walkman, gave a major boost to the mass distribution of music recordings, and the invention of digital recording and the
compact disc in 1983 brought massive improvements in ruggedness and quality. The most recent developments have been in
digital audio players like the
Apple iPod.
An album is a collection of related audio tracks, released together to the public, usually commercially.
The term
record album originated from the fact that 78 RPM
Phonograph disc records were kept together in a book resembling a photo album. The first collection of records to be called an "album" was
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, release in April 1909 as a four-disc set by Odeon records. It retailed for 16
shillings — about
£15 in modern currency.
A music video is a short film or
video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. Modern music videos were primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the
1980s, when Music Television's format was based around them. In the 1980s, the term "rock video" was often used to describe this form of entertainment, although the term has fallen into disuse.
Music videos can accommodate all styles of filmmaking, including
animation, live action films,
documentaries, and non-narrative, abstract film.
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of
audio and/or
video signals to a number of recipients that belong to a large group. This group may be the public in general, or a relatively large audience within the public. Thus, an
Internet channel may distribute text or music world-wide, while a public address system in a workplace may broadcast very limited
ad hoc soundbites to a small population within its range.
The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule. With all technological endeavours a number of technical terms and slang are developed please see the list of broadcasting terms for a glossary of terms used.
Television and
radio programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or
cable, often both simultaneously. By coding signals and having decoding equipment in
homes, the latter also enables subscription-based channels and pay-per-view services.
A broadcasting organisation may broadcast several programs at the same time, through several channels , for example
BBC One and
Two. On the other hand, two or more organisations may share a channel and each use it during a fixed part of the day. Digital radio and digital television may also transmit
multiplexed programming, with several channels compressed into one ensemble.
When broadcasting is done via the Internet the term webcasting is often used. In 2004 a new phenomenon occurred when a number of technologies combined to produce
podcasting. Podcasting is an asynchronous broadcast/narrowcast medium, with one of the main proponents being
Adam Curry and his associates the Podshow.
Broadcasting forms a very large segment of the mass media. Broadcasting to a very narrow range of audience is called narrowcasting. The term "broadcast" was coined by early radio engineers from the midwestern United States.
Film
Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. The origin of the name comes from the fact that
photographic film has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist —
motion pictures ,
the silver screen,
photoplays,
the cinema,
picture shows,
flicks — and commonly
movies.
Films are produced by recording people and objects with
cameras, or by creating them using
animation techniques and/or
special effects. They comprise a series of individual frames, but when these images are shown rapidly in succession, the illusion of motion is given to the viewer. Flickering between frames is not seen due to an effect known as
persistence of vision — whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Also of relevance is what causes the perception of motion; a psychological effect identified as beta movement.
Film is considered by many to be an important
art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audiences. The visual elements of cinema need no translation, giving the motion picture a universal power of communication. Any film can become a worldwide attraction, especially with the addition of dubbing or
subtitles that translate the dialogue. Films are also artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them.
Internet
The
Internet can be briefly understood as "a network of networks". Specifically, it is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected
computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol . It consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and governmental networks, which together carry various information and services, such as
electronic mail, online chat,
file transfer, and the interlinked
Web pages and other documents of the
World Wide Web.
Contrary to some common usage, the Internet and the
World Wide Web are not synonymous: the Internet is a collection of interconnected
computer networks, linked by
copper wires,
fiber-optic cables, wireless connections etc.; the Web is a collection of interconnected
documents, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. The World Wide Web is accessible via the Internet, along with many other services including
e-mail,
file sharing and others described below.
Toward the end of the 20th century, the advent of the
World Wide Web marked the first era in which any individual could have a means of exposure on a scale comparable to that of mass media. For the first time, anyone with a
web site can address a global audience, although serving to high levels of
web traffic is still relatively expensive. It is possible that the rise of peer-to-peer technologies may have begun the process of making the cost of bandwidth manageable. Although a vast amount of information, imagery, and commentary has been made available, it is often difficult to determine the authenticity and reliability of information contained in web pages. The invention of the Internet has also allowed breaking news stories to reach around the globe within minutes. This rapid growth of instantaneous, decentralized communication is often deemed likely to change mass media and its relationship to society.
"Cross-media" means the idea of distributing the same message through different media channels. A similar idea is expressed in the news industry as "convergence". Many authors understand cross-media publishing to be the ability to publish in both print and on the
web without manual conversion effort. An increasing number of wireless devices with mutually incompatible data and screen formats make it even more difficult to achieve the objective “create once, publish many”.
Publishing
Publishing is the industry concerned with the production of
literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers.
Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as
books and
newspapers. With the advent of digital information systems and the
Internet, the scope of publishing has expanded to include
websites,
blogs, and the like.
As a
business, publishing includes the development, marketing, production, and distribution of newspapers, magazines, books,
literary works, musical works,
software, other works dealing with information.
Publication is also important as a
legal concept; as the process of giving formal notice to the world of a significant intention, for example, to marry or enter bankruptcy, and; as the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation; that is, the alleged libel must have been published.
Book
A
book is a collection of sheets of
paper,
parchment or other material with a piece of text written on them, bound together along one edge within covers. A book is also a literary work or a main division of such a work. A book produced in electronic format is known as an e-book.
In library and information science, a book is called a monograph to distinguish it from serial publications such as
magazines, journals or
newspapers.
Publishers may produce low-cost, pre-proof editions known as galleys or 'bound proofs' for promotional purposes, such as generating reviews in advance of publication. Galleys are usually made as cheaply as possible, since they are not intended for sale.
A lover of books is usually referred to as a bibliophile, a bibliophilist, or a philobiblist, or, more informally, a bookworm.
A book may be studied by students in the form of a book report. It may also be covered by a professional writer as a book review to introduce a new book. Some belong to a book club.
Magazine
A
magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by
advertising and/or purchase by readers.
Magazines are typically published
weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly or quarterly, with a date on the cover that is in advance of the date it is actually published. They are often printed in color on coated paper, and are bound with a
soft cover.
Magazines fall into two broad categories: consumer magazines and business magazines. In practice, magazines are a subset of , distinct from those periodicals produced by scientific, artistic, academic or special interest publishers which are subscription-only, more expensive, narrowly limited in circulation, and often have little or no advertising.
Newspaper
A
newspaper is a publication containing news and information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly. The first printed newspaper was published in 1605, and the form has thrived even in the face of competition from technologies such as radio and television. Recent developments on the Internet are posing major threats to its business model, however. Paid circulation is declining in most countries, and advertising revenue, which makes up the bulk of a newspaper's income, is shifting from print to online; some commentators, nevertheless, point out that historically new media such as radio and television did not entirely supplant existing media.
Software publishing
A software publisher is a
publishing company in the software industry between the developer and the distributor. In some companies, two or all three of these roles may be combined .
Software publishers often license software from developers with specific limitations, such as a time limit or geographical region. The terms of licensing vary enormously, and are typically secret.
Developers may use publishers to reach larger or foreign markets, or to avoid focussing on marketing. Or publishers may use developers to create software to meet a market need that the publisher has identified.
Video and computer games
A computer game is a
computer-controlled game. A video game is a computer game where a video display such as a
monitor or
television is the primary feedback device. The term "computer game" also includes games which display only text or which use other methods, such as sound or vibration, as their primary feedback device, but there are very few new games in these categories. There always must also be some sort of input device, usually in the form of
button/joystick combinations , a
keyboard &
mouse/
trackball combination , or a
controller , or a combination of any of the above. Also, more esoteric devices have been used for input. Usually there are rules and goals, but in more open-ended games the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of the virtual universe.
The phrase interactive entertainment is the formal reference to computer and video games. To avoid ambiguity, this game software is referred to as "
computer and video games" throughout this article, which explores properties common to both types of game.
In common usage, a "computer game" or a "
PC game" refers to a game that is played on a
personal computer. "Console game" refers to one that is played on a device specifically designed for the use of such, while interfacing with a standard
television set. "Video game" has evolved into a catchall phrase that encompasses the aforementioned along with any game made for any other device, including, but not limited to,
mobile phones,
PDAs, advanced
calculator 
