What is the Media? Flashcards
What is the mass media?…
Medium, is a ‘channel of communication’ - a means through which people send and receive information. The printed word, for example, is a medium; when we read a newspaper or magazine, something is communicated to us in some way. Similarly, electronic forms of communication – television, telephones, film and such like – are media (the plural of medium).
How do we define mass media?…
Mass means ‘many’ and what we are interested in here is how and why different forms of media are used to transmit to – and be received by – large numbers of people (the audience). Mass media, therefore, refers to channels involving communication with large numbers of people.
Dutton (1998)…
Dutton 1998 - the mass media has been differentiated from other types of communication (such as interpersonal communication that occurs on a one-to-one basis) in terms of four essential characteristics.
> Distance
Technology
Scale
Commodity
Distance…
Traditional mass media - is impersonal, lacks immediacy and is one way (from the producer/creator of the information to the consumer/audience). When I watch a film, for example, no matter how emotionally involved I become in the action, I can’t directly affect what’s unfolding on the screen.
Technology…
Mass communication requires a vehicle, such as a television receiver, a method of printing and so forth, that allows messages to be sent and received.
Scale…
One feature of a mass medium, as we’ve noted, is it involves simultaneous communication with many people; for example, when I sit in my living room watching the walking dead on TV, the same behaviour is being reproduced in thousands of other living rooms across the country.
Commodity…
An interesting feature of mass communication – in our society at least – is that it comes at a price. I can watch football on TV, for example, if I can afford a television, a license fee (to watch BBC or ITV) or a subscription to something like Sky Sports if it’s on satellite or cable.
Crosbie’s new media…
Crosbie (2002) - Crosbie argues that new (mass) media have characteristics that, when combined, make them very different to other forms of mass media. These include:
> Technology: They cannot exist without the appropriate (computer)
> Personalisation: Individualised messages (either tailored to the particular needs of those receiving them or having the appearance of being so constructed) can be simultaneously delivered to vast numbers of people
> Collective control: Each person in a network has, potentially, the ability to share, shape and change the content of the information being exchanged.
Crosbie uses visiting a newspaper website as his example- seeing not just the bulletins and major stories you wouldn’t have known about, but also the rest of that edition customized to your unique needs and interests. Rather than every reader seeing the same edition, each reader sees an edition simultaneously individualized to their interests and generalized to their needs.
