MASS MEDIA

Mass Media

Mass Media

Introduction

The word media derives from the word medium which means the way that one adopts in order to perform the process of communication with others or with a large number of people or in other words with masses. This communication process can be done with the aid of tools like letters, public meetings, telephonic conversation, private meetings, and casual chit chat with pals, letters, news, posters, messages etcetera.

Media facilitates the process of communication in more than one ways. The one aspect of communication through media is that, it allows individuals freedom of expression and freedom of speech, but the other aspect implies that level of biasness that media shows it actually goes beyond the phenomenon of being conservative or liberal.

Mass communication can certainly be described as a message sent to a broad audience. This means the audience has a varied mix of people within it. Therefore, the message can be considered to be completely unbiased as many different types of people will be exposed to it.

Discussion

Communication

The term 'Communication' has been derived from the Latin word 'communis' that means 'common'. Thus, 'to communicate' means 'to make common' or 'to make known'. This act of making common and known is carried out through exchange of thoughts, ideas or the like (Downing, 2004). Reporters communicate with individuals through interviews and report their finding in a story. Individuals communicate with each other by mouth, cell phone, Internet, etc. and further spread the news they read in magazines or watch on television. Different news sources communicate with each other to either discover more about a particular topic, or simply to share the information they found. Essentially mass communication media is seen and heard all around us at all times; the news never sleeps is a phrase that is proven too by the fast and ever-changing world that we live in today.

Information

According to Downing (2004) information is, "knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance." Many reporters specialize in locating specific types of information; for example forensics, science, mathematics, health, or government information. It takes a keen eye to discover new information and those that pursue it must be dedicated and willing to check the credibility of their "facts." Information in the media should be factual, researched, and delivered to the public. When reporters are attempting to inform their audience, they should be sure to do research on the facts to be sure they are not pumping out inaccurate information. This can cause the news source itself to have a damaged reputation and it could lose business. Furthermore, the individual that gave out the inaccurate information could no longer get hired because of their past mistakes.

Today, we can find information through a variety of newspapers, radio shows, and television programs. Today media monopolies threaten to take over local news sources in attempts to force everyone to watch the same news programs. In my opinion, this is unfair because we should have the right to receive information from a variety of ...