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INTRODUCTION ADVERTISING

Unit Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definitions of Advertising
1.3 Features of Advertising
1.4 Objectives of Advertising
1.5 Importance of Advertising
1.6 Active Participant in advertising
1.7 Role of advertising Marketing Mix
1.8 Role of advertising in Society
1.9 Summery
1.10 Questions

1.0 OBJECTIVES

After completion of this lesson the student will be able to

understand:
Meaning, Nature and Features of Advertising
Objectives of Advertising
Importance of Advertising
Active Participant in Advertising
Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix
Role of Advertising in Society
Advertising and Brand building

1.1 INTRODUCTION:

The word advertising comes form the latin word "advertere

meaning” to turn the minds of towards". Some of the definitions
given by various authors are:

According to William J. Stanton, "Advertising consists of all the

activities involved in presenting to an audience a non-personal,
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sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product or

organization."

According to American Marketing Association "advertising is

any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of
ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor".

Advertising is used for communicating business information to

the present and prospective customers. It usually provides
information about the advertising firm, its product qualities, place of
availability of its products, etc. Advertisement is indispensable for
both the sellers and the buyers. However, it is more important for
the sellers. In the modern age of large scale production, producers
cannot think of pushing sale of their products without advertising
them. Advertisement supplements personal selling to a great
extent. Advertising has acquired great importance in the modern
world where tough competition in the market and fast changes in
technology, we find fashion and taste in the customers.

1.2 DEFINITIONS OF ADVERTISING

1. American Marketing Association has defined advertising as “any
paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods and
services by an indentified sponsor”.

2. According to Webstar, “Advertising is to give public notice or to

announce publicity”.

3. According to Gardner, “Advertising is the means of mass selling

that has grown up parallel with and has been made necessary to
mass production”.

1.3 FEATURES OF ADVERTISING

1. Communication : Advertising is means of mass communication

reaching the masses. It is a non-personal communication because
it is addressed to masses.

2. Information : Advertising informs the buyers about the benefits

they would get when they purchase a particular product. However,
the information given should be complete and true.

3. Persuasion : The advertiser expects to create a favourable

attitude which will lead to favourable actions. Any advertising
process attempts at converting the prospects into customers. It is
thus an indirect salesmanship and essentially a persuasion
technique.
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4. Profit Maximisation : True advertising does not attempt at

maximising profits by increasing the cost but by promoting the
sales. This way It won‟t lead to increase the price of the product.
Thus, it has a higher sales approach rather than the higher-cost
approach.

5. Non-Personal Presentation : Salesmanship is personal selling

whereas advertising is non-personal in character. Advertising is not
meant for anyone individual but for all. There is absence of
personal appeal in advertising.

6. Identified Sponsor : A sponsor may be an individual or a firm

who pays for the advertisement. The name of reputed company
may increase sale or products. The product gets good market
because of its identity with the reputed corporate body.

7. Consumer Choice : Advertising facilitates consumer choice. It

enables consumers to purchase goods as per their budget
requirement and choice. Right choice makes consumer happy and
satisfied.

8. Art, Science and Profession : Advertising is an art because it

represents a field of creativity. Advertising is a science because it
has a body of organised knowledge. Advertising is profession is
now treated as a profession with its professional bodies and code
of conduct for members.

9. Element of Marking Mix : Advertising is an important element of

promotion mix. Advertising has proved to be of great utility to sell
goods and services. Large manufactures spend crores of rupees on
advertising.

10. Element of Creativity : A good advertising campaign involves

lot of creativity and imagination. When the message of the
advertiser matches the expectations of consumers, such creativity
makes way for successful campaign.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF ADVERTISING

The fundamental purpose of advertising is to sell something - a

product, a service or an idea. In addition to this general objective,
advertising is also used by the modern business enterprises for
certain specific objectives which are listed below :

1. To introduce a new product by creating interest for it among the

prospective customers.
2. To support personal selling programme. Advertising maybe
used to open customers' doors for salesman.
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3. To reach people inaccessible to salesman.

4. To enter a new market or attract a new group of customers.
5. To light competition in the market and to increase the sales as
seen in the fierce competition between Coke and Pepsi.
6. To enhance the goodwill of the enterprise by promising better
quality products and services.
7. To improve dealer relations. Advertising supports the dealers in
selling he product. Dealers are attracted towards a product
which is advertised effectively.
8. To warn the public against imitation of an enterprise's products.

1.5 IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING

Advertising has become an essential marketing activity in the

modern era of large scale production and serve competition in the
market. It performs the following functions:

1. Promotion of Sales : It promotes the sale of goods and services

by informing and persuading the people to buy them. A good
advertising campaign helps in winning new customers both in the
national as wet as in the international markets.

2. Introduction of New Product : It helps the introduction of new

products in the market. A business enterprise can introduce itself
and its product to the public through advertising. A new enterprise
can't make an impact on the prospective customers without the
help of advertising. Advertising enables quick publicity in the
market.

3. Creation of Good Public Image : It builds up the reputation of

the advertiser. Advertising enables a business firm to communicate
its achievements in an effort to satisfy the customers' needs. This
increases the goodwill and reputation of the firm which is necessary
to fight against competition in the market.

4. Mass Production : Advertising facilitates large-scale production.

Advertising encourages production of goods in large-scale because
the business firm knows that it will be able to sell on large-scale
with the help of advertising. Mass production reduces the cost of
production per unit by the economical use of various factors of
production.

5. Research : Advertising stimulates research and development

activities. Advertising has become a competitive marketing activity.
Every firm tries to differentiate its product from the substitutes
available in the market through advertising. This compels every
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business firm to do more and more research to find new products

and their new uses. If a firm does not engage in research and
development activities, it will be out of the market in the near future.

6. Education of People : Advertising educate the people about

new products and their uses. Advertising message about the utility
of a product enables the people to widen their knowledge. It is
advertising which has helped people in adopting new ways of life
and giving-up old habits. It has contributed a lot towards the
betterment of the standard of living of the society.

7. Support to Press : Advertising provides an important source of

revenue to the publishers and magazines. It enables to increase
the circulation of their publication by selling them at lower rates.
People are also benefited because they get publications at cheaper
rates. Advertising is also a source of revenue for TV network. For
instance, Doordarshan and ZeeTV insert ads before, in between
and after various programmes and earn millions of rupees through
ads. Such income could be used for increasing the quality of
programmes and extending coverage.

1.6 ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN ADVERTISING

Following are the group of people who are actively involved in

advertising.

1. Advertiser : Seller who manufacture and market consumer

products are the prominent group of advertisers. Hindustan unilever
, proctor and gamble, Seimen and Larson and toubro are the
examples of advertisers. Also the retailers are the second
prominent segment among advertisers. They stock the products .
and sell them to the ultimate consumers. Government and social
organization are also the active participant in this category.

2. Target audience : It refers to the recipient of the advertising

message. Every message is either directed to a mass audience
and class audience. Advertising desire to cover this target audience
for promoting sales. Advertising message intends to cover the
potential user and non user who may purchase the product in
future. The messages are also directed to the user of the
competitor's product so that they switch over the advertiser's
products.

3. Advertising Agencies : An advertiser has two options viz. (i) to

design, develop and produce and advertising message and get it
placed in desired media directly through his own sales or
advertising department, or (ii) to entrust the entire job of advertising
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to a team of highly professionalised, specialised, independent,

advertising agency. An advertising agency is composed of creative
people, who conceive design, develop and produce, advertising
message with creative ideas and place it in the desired advertising
media, for and on behalf of its client (the advertiser). The
advertising agencies usually charge a commission of 15% on the
media bills from the media owners. In addition, they charge out-of
pocket expenses to their clients, i.e. the advertisers. They employ
copywriters, artists, photographers. Typographers, layout
designers, editors and such other creative people.

4. Advertising Production People (Artists) : The production of

impressive and persuasive advertisements is possible only with the
active help and creative spirit of the artists like copywriters, artists,
photographers, typographers, layout designers, editors and such
other creative people. Such people are usually employed by the ad
agencies or, their services may be hired by the ad agencies on job
basis.

5. Target Audience (Readers, Listeners, Viewers and Present

and Future Buyers) : Advertising messages are given about
products services and ideas to readers, listeners, viewers and
actual and potential buyers, who are known as the audience. The
target audience may be classified into the following three
categories, viz.,
(i) existing or, current consumers, who are reminded and
influenced to continue their patronage and to increase the volume
of their buying,
(ii) consumers, who buy and use, a competitor‟s brand; hence
they are persuaded to buy the advertised brand, instead of the
competitor‟s brand; and

(iii) those consumers, who do not use any such product; and
even then, are persuaded to buy the advertised product.

6. Mass Media : Advertising messages are communicated to the

target audience through different mass media, such as,

(i) Print Media : They consist of newspapers, magazines,

journals, handbills, etc.

(ii) Electronic Media : They consist of radio, television motion

pictures, video, multi-media and the internet.

(iii) Outdoor Media : They consist off posters, hoarding,

handbills, stickers air balloons, neon sing bill boards, local cinema
houses, and transit media.
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(iv) Direct Mail : It consist of brouchers, leaflets, pamphlets,

letters and return cards addressed to consumers.

The advertising agencies guide their clients (advertisers) in

selection of the most appropriate advertising media, which is known
as „media planning‟. Each medium has sits own merits and
demerits.

7. Government Authorities : The business of advertising is

regulated by the government department. The government adopts
law and regulation which have a direct or an indirect bearing on the
advertising. Apart from this ASCI (Advertising standards council of
India) and ABC (Audit Bureau of circulation) are also some of
authorities regulating advertising.

8. Advertising Production Firms: Advertising production firms

are the support agencies which help in the production of
advertisement. This includes copywriter, artist, photographers,
typographers, producer, editors. These are the people who
transform ideas into a finished forms Thus the success and failure
of the advertisement depend on these people.

Check your progress

1. “Advertising has become an essential marketing activity in the

modern era of globalization”. Explain.
2. Explain how the following group of people are involved in
advertising.
a) Mass Media
b) Target Audience
c) Advertising Agencies
d) Government Authorities
3. “To sell something is not the only objective of Advertisement”.
Discuss.

1.7 ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN MARKETING MIX

Marketing mix consist of four important variables of marketing,

i.e. 4Ps-Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Apart from the
traditional 4 Ps, there are also other variables, i.e. Packaging,
Postion, and Pace.

Advertising is an element of promotion. However, it not only

assists in promoting the product, but also affects the other variables
of marketing mix. This can be explained as follows:
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1. Advertising and Product : A product is normally a set of

physical elements, such as quality, shape, size, colour and other
features. The product may be of very high quality .At times, the
product is so designed that it requires careful handling and
operations. Buyers must be informed and educated on the various
aspects of the product. This can be effectively done through
advertising. Thus, advertising plays the role of information and
education.

2. Advertising and Price : The price is the exchange value of the

product. A marketer may bring out a very high quality product with
additional features as compared to competitors. In such a case,
price would be definitely high. But buyers may not be willing to pay
a high price would be definitely high. Here comes advertising.
Advertising can convince buyers regarding the superiority of the
brand and thus its value for money. This can be done by
associating the product with prestigious people, situations, or
events. Alternatively when a firm offers a low price products the job
of advertising needs to stress the price advantage by using hard
hitting copy. It is not just enough to convince, but it is desirable to
persuade the buyer. Thus advertising plays the role of conviction
and persuasion.

3. Advertising and Place : Place refers to physical distribution and

the stores where the goods are available Marketer should see to it
that the goods are available at the convenient place and that too at
the right time when the buyers need it. To facilitate effective
distribution and expansion of market, advertising is of great
significance. Thus advertising do help in effective distribution and
market expansion.

4. Advertising and Promotion : Promotion consists of advertising,

publicity, personal selling and sales promotion technique.
Businessmen today have to face a lot of competition. Every seller
needs effective promotion to survive and succeed in this
competitive business world. Advertising can play a significant role
to put forward the claim of seller, and to counter the claims of
competitor. Through effective advertising, sellers can face
competition and also help to develop brand image and brand
loyalty.

5. Advertising and Pace : Pace refers to the speed in marketing

decisions and actions. It involves among other things the launch of
new products or brand variations at greater speed than before. As
and when new brands are launched, advertising plays an important
role of informing, educating and persuading the customers to buy
the product.
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6. Advertising and Packaging : The main purpose of packaging is

protection of the product during transit, and preservation of quality
and quantity. Nowadays, marketers take lot of efforts to develop
and design attractive packages as they carry advertising value. A
creatively design package attract the attention of the customers. It
also carries an assurance of quality and creates confidence in the
minds of customers to buy the product.

7. Advertising and Positioning : Product positioning aims at

creating and maintaining a distinct image of the brands in the minds
of the customers. Through advertising the marketer can convey the
positioning of the brand and accordingly can influence the buying
decision of the target audience.

1.8 ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN SOCIETY :

Advertising is the integral part of every day's life. It is a

pervasive method of marketing in society. Though the methods by
which marketers advertise have changed over the decades, the
role and purpose of advertising has changed over the period of
time. Without advertising modern society cannot survive
.Advertising is useful to society in following ways.

Encourage Purchasing
Encouraging people to purchase goods and services is the
main role of advertising. Some industries rely on advertising more
than others: A cereal company, for instance, must advertise more
aggressively, due to the wide arrange of competing products, than
a power company that faces little to no competition. Advertisers
often influence members of society to purchase products based on
instilling a feeling of scarcity or lack. .

Reflect cultural trends

Advertising bridges the gap among people by communicating
varied culture through advertising message. It bring variation in the
social life

Promotes Economic growth

Advertising contributes to bring about all round development of
the economy by increasing demand and by encouraging economic
activities it fuels the desire to shop and, in turn, shopping stimulates
the economy.

Improves standard of living :

Advertising is an economic activity. It provides opportunities to
people to improve their income. It motivates people to consume
more material and thereby improves their standard of living.
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Provides employment: Effective advertising generates demand

for goods and services. high demand calls for more production
which requires more of physical and human resources thus creating
employment opportunities.

Advertising and Brand building

Brands are the identification that differentiates one business
from another (through name, symbol etc.). However, today brands
can also be defined as the personality they reflect to people in
relation to status, emotional characteristics and subjective quality.
They give the consumers a perceived knowledge of the product, its
quality and uniqueness before they buy it.

Brands Ensure delivery of service as promised by them. For

example, Pizza Company A claims to deliver pizza within a certain
time and Pizza company B claims to deliver most delicious Pizzas.
It makes easy for the consumers to identify what they want and
which brand to choose for it. It is important for a brand to
accomplish the claim advertised to retain Brand Image.

Advertising is one of the key elements in building a brand,

which is equally important to the marketer and consumers. Brand
personality acts as a potent brand differentiator and offers
sustainable competitive advantage.

Advertising by creating or reinforcing brand's personality

enhances brand value or equity which in turn can be leveraged
through brand extension. Brand personality also helps brands to
gain market share, command price premium and insulates from
discounting Brands.

Building a strong brand name is key factor for business

success. In the competitive business environment of today,
consumer sophistication has altered business practices.
Organizations are forced to anticipate customers' needs and
convey clear messages to consumers by establishing strong brand
names and focusing on brand building.

A brand's practical attributes and symbolic values are inherent

elements that help the brand appeal on consumers' minds and
emotion. When consumers relate brands with symbols, it becomes
easier for an organization to raise consumer interest. For instance,
Lexus is known for luxury, or Apple is known for innovation.
Therefore, in consumers' minds, a brand is more than just a
recognizable name: it is a promise that needs to be met on a
regular basis.
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Advertising is important for building brand awareness. By

raising consumer interest and making consumers awareness of
their products and services, firms not only expand their customer
base, but they also keep their loyal customers and increase their
market share. In other words, the more aware consumers are of a
brand, the more likely they are to buy from a particular business.

Approaches in Brand building :

To make brand distinctive: brand building can be done through
repetitive advertising. Also by highlighting unique selling proposition
one can distinguish brand from one another.

1. Constant innovation: Consumers need continuous innovation

and new products. It is not always a new product even an
improvement on the existing product is acceptable to the
consumers. Through intensive advertising such brands are build
which is time consuming.

2. Domination of brand: brand building largely depends on the

domination is creates on the competitors. Domination can take
place either in national market or in niche market.

3. Prompt availability: Prompt delivery of the product is one of the

factors that ensure brand building. This is possible if there is proper
coordination between the finance, production, and marketing
department.

4. Integration of new and old media: Consumers have ever

changing demand. Due to availability of various media option the
seller can push the product in the market by blend multiple media
option .Thus advertising message are flashed to consumers
through media mix.

1.9 SUMMERY

Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to

an audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message
about a product or organization.

Advertising has become essential to promote sales, to

introduce new product, to create good public, for large scale of
production, for educating people etc.

Advertising is the integral part of every day's life. Without

advertising modern society cannot survive .Advertising is useful to
society as it encouraging people to purchase goods and services,
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it bridges the gap among people by communicating varied culture

through advertising message, it contributes to bring about all round
development of the economy by increasing demand, it provides
opportunities to people to improve their income.

1.10 QUESTIONS :

1. Define Advertising and explain its nature and features.

2. Define Advertising and explain the main objectives of Advertising
3. What is Advertising? Explain the importance of Advertising
4. Who are the Active Participants in Advertising?
5. What is the Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix?
6. Explain the Role of Advertising in the Society
7. What is the interface between Advertising and Brand building?
Explain the main approaches in Brand building.

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CLASSIFICATION OF ADVERTISING

Unit Structure :

3.0 Objectives of the lesson

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Classification of Advertising
3.3 Types of Advertising
3.4 Difference between National Advertising and Retail
Advertising
3.5 Summary
3.6 Questions

3.0 OBJECTIVES OF THE LESSON

After completion of this lesson the student will be able to

understand :
Broad classification of advertising
Various categories of advertising : Social Advertising, Political
Advertising, Advocacy Advertising, Retail Advertising
Financial Advertising, Essentials for the success of Financial
advertising, Advantages of Financial advertising
Corporate Image Advertising, Public Relations Advertising,
Institutional Advertising
Internet Advertising, Types, Advantage and disadvantages of
Internet Advertising
Product Advertising, Service Advertising, National Advertising,
Retail Advertising

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Different authors have classified advertising in different ways.

Philip Kotler has classified advertising on the following basis :
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(a) Geographical Area : National, Regional or Local.

(b) Content : Product Advertising, Brand Advertising,
Institutional Advertising.
(c) Type of Appeal : Factual and Emotional.
(d) Audience : Consumer, Industrial, Trade.
(e) Sponsor : Manufacturer, Middlemen, Manufacturer -
middlemen, private.
(f) Intended Effort : Direct Action and Delayed Action.
(g) Level of Demand Influence : Primary Product Level,
Selective Brand Level.

3.2 CLASSIFICATION OF ADVERTISING

Management scientists have classified advertising on

different such criteria as follows :

Chart :
Classification of Advertising on the various basis

Area Audience Media Function Stage

Coverage
1) Local 1) Consumer 1) Print Media 1) Direct Action and 1) Pioneering
Indirect Action. stage
2) Religional 2) Industrial 2) Electronic 2) Primary & 2) Competitive
Selective Stage
3) National 3) Trade 3) Outdoor 3) Product &
Institutional
4) 4) 4) Other
International Professional
Stages

Area Coverage Audience Media Functions Ad. Stages

- Local- Consumer- Press- Direct & Indirect - Pioneering
- Regional - Industrial - Broadcasting -Action- Competitive
- National - Trade - Outdoor -Primary & Selective
- Retentive
- International - Professional- Others - Product & PRA

I) Classification on The Basis of Area Coverage :

On this basis advertising may be classified into the following

four categories, viz., (1) local, (2) regional, (3) national,
(4) international advertising.
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1. Local Advertising : It is also known as „retail advertising‟. It is

undertaken by local retail stores, departmental stores, co-operative
stores, selling cloth, saris and other consumer goods and consumer
durables. It is directed at local customers. Media, used for local
advertising, are shop decorations, local newspapers, magazines,
posters, pamphlets, hoarding, new signs, local cinema houses, etc.

2. Regional Advertising : It has wider coverage, as compared to

local advertising. It covers a particular region, which may be one
state, or, more than one state, the people of which may be having a
common tongue, or, using one common product. It is undertaken by
manufacture, or, regional distributor of a product. Media, used for
regional advertising, include regional newspapers, magazines,
radio, regional T.V., outdoor media, etc. It is considered to be an
ideal form of advertising for launching and marketing a new product
in a specific region.

3. National Advertising: It is generally undertaken by

manufactures of branded goods, for which, advertising messages is
communicated to consumers allover the country. Almost all
possible mass media, including national newspapers, radio and
television network, are employed for national advertising. Product
services, and ideas, which have demand all over the country, are
suitable for national advertising. In India, Indian Airline Hindustan
Lever Ltd., Vicco, Godrej, Bajaj and Kirloskar are a few leading
advertisers at national level. Likewise, detergents, soaps,
toothpastes, cosmetics, scooters, cars, and bicycles, are some of
the products, which are advertised all over the country.

4. International Advertising : This type of advertising is

undertaken by those companies, which operate in more than one
country, known as „multi-national‟ companies. Exporters, generally
advertise their products and services in foreign countries, where
ready markets are available. Air India and other airlines, and multi-
national companies advertise their products and services allover
the world. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are advertised globally, as the
sales are almost all over the world. International advertising is
extremely expensive, involving the services of professional
advertising agencies in different countries.

II. Classification on The Basis of Audience

On this basis, advertising may be classified into the following
four categories, viz., (1) consumer advertising, (2) industrial
advertising, (3) trade advertising, and (4) professional advertising.

1. Consumer Advertising : This type of advertising is directed to

the ultimate consumers of the consumer products, i.e., the
individuals, who buy, or, use the consumer products, or services,
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say, for example, toilet soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, tea, textiles,

etc., for themselves and for their families. All types of consumer
products need continuous and extensive advertising on T.V., radio,
and press.

2. Industrial Advertising : This type of advertising is used by

manufacturers and distributors of industrial goods. Such as,
machinery, plants, equipments, spare parts and components, and
are directed at industrial users or customers. Such advertisements
usually appear in trade journals, trade dictionaries, business
magazines and so on. The appeal made is tactual and rational.

3. Trade Advertising : This kind of advertising is employed by

manufactures and/or distributors to influence and persuade
wholesalers and dealers (retailers) to stock and sell the goods of
the advertiser by offering incentive schemes to them, or, by inviting
dealership for their particular products(s).

4. Professional Advertising : It is directed at professional like

doctors, professors, engineers and others, who are expected to
recommend, prescribe, or, specify the advertised products to
ultimate consumers. This is done through professional journals and
representative of the advertisers.

III. Classification on The Basis of Media

On the basis, advertising may be-classified into the following

four categories viz., (1) Print media advertising; (2) electronic, or,
broadcast media advertising; (3) outdoor media advertising.

1. Print Media Advertising : The print media consists of

newspapers, magazines, journals, handbills, etc. No newspaper or,
journal, today, can survive without advertising revenue. Print media
advertising, even today, is the most popular form; and revenue
derived by mass media from advertising has, therefore, been
progressively increasing year after year. Print media appeals only
to the sense of sight, i.e. eyes.

2. Electronic or Broadcast Media Advertising : Electronic, or,

broadcast media consists of (i) radio, (ii) television, (iii) motion
pictures, (iv) video, and (v) the internet. The radio is audio in
nature, appealing only to the sense of sound (ears). Radio
advertising is more effective in rural areas, as compared to urban
regions. Television, as an advertising medium, is more attractive
and effective because it is an audio-visual medium appealing to
both the senses of sight sound (eyes and ears). Different methods,
such as, spot announcements, sponsored programmes, etc., are
used for broadcasting advertising messages. However,
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broadcasting media are very expensive form of advertising.

Advertising is also undertaken through movies, video, and the
internet.

3) Outdoor Media :
This include posters, neon signs, transit, point of purchase
(POP), etc. Outdoor advertising can be a good supporting media to
other forms of advertising. It is a good form of reminder advertising,
especially, the POP advertising.

4) Other Media :
This includes direct mail, handbills, calendars, diaries, cinema
advertising, internet and so on. These miscellaneous media can
play an important supporting role to the major media such as
television, and newspapers.

IV. Classification on The Basis of Function :

1. Direct Action and Indirect Action Advertising : Direct action

advertising is undertaken to obtain immediate response or action
on the part of target audience. Examples include discount sales
advertising, sale along with free gift offers, and mail-order coupon
sales, etc. The media used is mostly newspapers, and television.
Indirect action advertising is undertaken to influence the audience
in respect of advertiser‟s brand. The advertiser expects the target
audience to prefer his brand as compared to competitors whenever
a buying decision arises in future.

2. Primary and Selective Advertising : Primary Advertising is

undertaken by trade association or by cooperative groups. It is
undertaken to create generic den1 and for products and services.
For example, the Coffee Board may advertise to consume more
coffee. Selective Advertising is undertaken by marketers of branded
products. The advertiser intends to create selective demand for his
brand. Examples include Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola.

3. Product and Institutional Advertising : Product or Service

advertising is undertaken to promote the sale of products and
services-branded or unbranded. Institutional advertising is
undertaken to build name and goodwill of the organisation. It is
also, know as corporate advertising or image advertising. It is
mostly undertaken by large firms.

V. Classification on The Basis of Advertising Stages

On this basis, advertising may be classified into the following
three different categories, viz., (1) advertising at pioneering stage,
(2) advertising at competitive stage, and (3) advertising at retentive
stage.
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1. Advertising at Pioneering Stage : Advertising at „pioneering

stage‟ is undertaken to make the audience fully aware of the new
brand of product and to inform, influence, and persuade them to
buy, or, use it by highlighting its unique features.

2. Advertising at Competitive Stages : Once the brand survives

the introductory stage, it has, soon to face a stiff competition with
other well established brands in the market. At this stage,
competitive advertising is undertaken to promote sales effectively.

3. Advertising at Retentive Stage or Reminder Advertising :

When the product has captured a large share of the market,
„retentive advertising‟ is undertaken to maintain, or retain the stable
position in the market as long as possible. Moreover, if the same
product is passing through the declining stage in the market, this
type of advertising is used to remind the buyers about the product
hence, it is also known as „reminder advertising‟.

Check your progress:

1) Draw the chart showing classification of Advertisement.

2) Explain the following terms.
a) Local Advertising
b) Professional Advertising
c) Primary & Selective Advertising
d) Advertising at pioneering stage
e) Print Media Advertising
3) Show the classification of advertising as per Philip Kotlar.

3.3 TYPES OF ADVERTISING

Advertising is also classified according to their functions and

role. Some of the important classifications of advertising are as
follows :

1. Social Advertising : Social Advertising is undertaken by non-

commercial organisations such as Trust, Societies, Associations
etc. The main objective of Social Advertising is to work for social
cause. Advertisements for collecting donations for war victims or for
victims of natural calamities, sales of tickets for a show etc. are
examples of Social Advertising.

2. Political Advertising : Political advertising is undertaken by

political parties to motivate the general public in favour of the
ideology of the party in question. Political advertising are intensively
made during election times to gain favour of the voters. Such
20

advertising promote plans and policies of the concerned party. It

also try to expose weaknesses of the opposition with a view to
convince the voters to vote for their party candidates. Some political
advertisement are also made to assist the Government to
implement its schemes for rehabilitation and national re-
construction. Mumbai Regional Congress Committee children
affected by communal riots in Mumbai under the scheme of
National Foundation for Communal Harmony. Advertisements
issued by a political party is essentially a political advertising.

3. Advocacy Advertising : We often come acrossed advocacy

advertised relating to the use of family planning methods.
Conservation of scarce resources, maintaining green environment.
An extreme example occurred in the 1960s, when a private citizen
bought a two-page advertisement in the New York Times at a cost
of $12,000 to offer his peace plan for ending the war in Vietnam. In
1974, Mobil Oil Company began advocacy advertising concerning
the need for offshore oil drilling to alleviate the energy crisis that
existed at the time. NBC accepted the television commercial, but
ABC and CBS did not, because of the controversial nature of the
topic. As a result, Mobil Oil Company took out full-page newspaper
ads, which reproduced in print the visuals and text for the
commercial.

This is designed to alert people to the fact that such ads are
not editorials or informational pieces, but are specifically
advertisements. Companies can place advocacy advertising on
billboards, in print magazines and newspapers, online, and on
television.

In fact, many advertising firms consider candidates who have

completed advertising internships far more attractive than those
who have not. If you are planning to begin your career in
advertising in the creative department of an advertising firm, a
bachelor's degree may not be as essential.

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21

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5. Retail Advertising : Retail advertising is the advertising by

retailers who usually sell goods direct to the customers. Retail
advertising has such objectives as : (i) to sell the stock; (ii) to
establish the identify of business; (iii) to attract personal, telephone
or mail order shoppers. Retail advertising is done through window
display, neon signs, posters, leaflets etc. It is usually local in
character. The various advertising approaches of Akbarallys,
Amarsons, Asiatic Departmental Stores are the examples of retail
advertising.

6. Financial Advertising : When an advertising message is

directed to attract for raising capital, it is called financial advertising.
The banks, insurance companies and commercial undertakings
collect required funds from the savings of the people by motivating
them to post-pone present expenditure to future-period.

An investor considers two things before investing his hard

earned savings.
(1) Safety of investment (2) Return on investment
The safety of investment depends upon the reputation and
goodwill of the company and the properties possessed by it. The
institutional advertising helps in creating confidence in the minds of
the investors. The financial advertisement inform the investors
about the past performance in declaring dividends and the trend in
declaring of dividend. The dividend depends upon the profitability of
the company. The company with the help of charts, diagrams etc.
communicate the rate of growth and rate at which profit is
increasing.

The financial advertising aims at establishing financial,

solvency of the company in the minds of the prospective investors.
It is because of financial advertising the company have succeeded
in floating of mega issue of shares arc in cores.

The financial advertising aims at establishing financial solvency

of the company in the minds of the prospective investors. It is
because of financial exports.

Essentials for the Success of Financial Ads :

No financial ad campaign; howsoever creative and persuasive
it may be, can produce the desired result, unless the following
conditions are satisfied.
22

(a) The performance and image of the company and its future
prospects must be good.
(b) The premium, charged on the share price, must be fair and
reasonable.
(c) The brokers and underwriters must extend unqualified support
to the company.
(d) The company should get wide publicity from the press through
press conferences.
(e) True statement of facts, made in the ads.
(f) Finally, financial climate of the country plays an important role.

Advantages of Financial Advertising :

Following are main advantages of financial advertising :

(a) Financial advertising transmits to target consumers all the

material information about new investment opportunities for
investment of savings, or, surplus funds.

(b) It provides education and guidance to consumers in respect

of their investments in shares, debentures, and public funds, off
companies.

(c) It serves as a reminder to consumers to take suitable follow-

up action on their part.

(d) It helps to tap yet untapped rich areas in mini-metros, small

towns, and even in villages for financial institutions.

(e) As financial ads are required to give the required in

formation about the aims, objective business operation, for which
additional funds are required by the advertiser, the company gets
wide publicity through such ads.

(f) Financial advertising serves as a : backbone to brokers as

well as underwriters, who as „intermediaries‟ between the advertiser
and the clients.

(g) Finally, financial advertising indirectly aids and supports the

economic an industrial growth of country by mobiling public funds
for expansion and diversification of business.

7. Corporate Image Advertising : Corporate Image advertising

designed or aimed to create a proper attitude towards the seller
and to build goodwill or image for the advertiser (manufacturing
concern or the selling concern) rather than to sell a specific product
or service. Institutional advertising is done to build good public
23

relations‟ image in the market for the marketer and a patronage for
its product or products. Institutional advertising can therefore be
patronage advertising and public relations service advertising.
Public relations institutional advertising is aimed to create a
favourable image of the company (advertiser) among employees,
investors or general public. Public service institutional advertising
aims at changing the attitudes or behaviour of the people to the
good of the community or public at large. Patronage advertising is
aimed to attract customers by appealing to their patronage buying
motives rather than product buying motives. Most of the companies
are successful in making their image in the minds of the people by
using their names, such as „Bata‟, „Tata‟, „Dunlop‟, „J.K.‟, „Bombay
Dyeing‟ etc.

8. Public Relations Advertising : It is a part of institutional

advertising. The basic objective of public relations advertising is to
establish co-ordial and healthy relations with the customers,
bankers, suppliers, Government. Patrons and the general public.

Through public relations advertising company announces the

changes in its policies, its developmental activities its position and
stand when the employees are on strike. It helps the company to
remove misconcepts about the company created by interested
groups.

During the periods of short supply of goods the public relations

advertising helps to hold the interest of the customers. The
company assures about the normalcy of supply and request its
customers to bear with the company.

Institutional advertising and public relations advertising are

complimentary to each other. Both are directed in building up
corporate image.

There are several reasons as to why a corporate firm may

resort to public relations advertising. The reasons are :
(a) To create a favourable image of the organisation.
(b) To secure and keep good suppliers.
(c) To build goodwill of the dealers.
(d) To arouse and serve customers in a better way.
(e) To arouse interest of the present and potential
shareholders.
(f) To correct misconceptions about the firm during strikes.
(g) To win confidence of its employees.
(h) To render community service.
(i) To make people aware of social evils, health hazards, etc.
(j) To obtain public support for certain cause.
24

9. Institutional Advertising : The object of institutional advertising

is to build manufacturers reputation in the minds of the public in
general.

The advertising message is directed to tell about the Company,

its people, its contribution in promoting social welfare activities, in
promoting consumer satisfaction its achievements in technology its
broad philosophies, its share in economic progress of the Company
etc.

Such advertisement do not bring benefits in the form of higher

sales immediately. But they create good footing for the company in
the long run. The competitive strength of the company goes up with
the enhancement of corporate image. It is much easier for a highly
reputed company to launch a new product in the market. Basically
the institutional advertising aims at getting public support for raising
the capital through public subscription.

The following points are normally referred in institutional ads :

(a) Research & Development of the firm.
(b) Number of factories or branches of the firm.
(c) The number of employees and facilities provided to them.
(d) Foreign collaborations, if any.
(e) Distribution network of the firm.
(f) Market position of the firm.
(g) Products or services offered by the firm.
(h) Social welfare programmes undertaken by the firm, etc.

10. Internet Advertising : The Internet facility has been around for
some 30 years. It actually began in the early 19608 in USA, where
the U. S. Department of Defense saw it as a means of
supercomputer communication for researchers and military facilities
across the country. Until its commercial explosion in 1990s, the
Internet remained a relatively obscure network of linked computers
- mostly by academics, military researchers, and scientists around
the world to send and receive electronic mail, transfer files, and find
or retrieve information from databases –

At present, Internet the fastest growing medium in history,

offers incredible opportunities for a wide range of people in both
business and advertising. For advertisers, there is a whole new
world of potential customers.

11. Primary Demand Advertising : The main objective of Primary

demand advertising is to create demand for a new product or
product category. This is necessary in the case of a newly
developed products or the products which are costly in nature. For
25

example, cars, refrigerators, washing machines, watches, etc. Such

advertising is directed towards a class of customers, it is also
described as selective demand advertising. It is heavily utilised
during the introduction stage of product life cycle.

Primary demand is when a potential buyer, or prospect, is

showing interest in a product or service for the first time. Often
times it is because the prospect was never exposed to the
“concept” of the product or service or never really understood it. But
now due to new circumstances she has an apparent need all of a
sudden.

12. Selective Demand Advertising : Selective demand advertising

is done to meet the growing competition mainly in growth stage of
the life cycle of the product. Here, the goal of advertising is to push
the demand of specific product or service. Often, promotion
becomes less informative and more emotional during this phase.
Advertising may begin to stress subtle differences in brands with
emphasis on brand name recall. At this stage, pricing may also be
used as a weapon because products of all the competitors are
almost similar in quality.

Selective demand is when a prospect has a need, has

identified the need, and is ACTIVELY seeking out a solution. In
these cases the prospect will come to you if he feels comfortable in
your company's ability to solve his needs.

When someone has selective demand they are more proactive

in their search for information. They usually give themselves
enough time to compare the quality, value, and offers of different
companies. So while they are calling you they are also likely calling
others as well.

13. Product Advertising : Product Advertising refer to the

advertising of tangible product. It is for the marketing of the product
advertising as a powerful instrument has emerged. A product may
be anything in which a trader deals or trade. A product may be
tangible of intangible. Products like radio, soap, pen cloth etc. are
tangible products and services of professional people like doctors,
lawyers, engineers etc. are intangible products.

The fundamental of any advertising campaign is to establish

the fact that among the substitutes the product advertised is the
best. Thus product is the heart of any advertising programme.
Advertising makes possible for the smooth entry of the new product
in to the market.
26

14. Service Advertising : Service advertising is designed to

operate in the public interest. It is undertaken to seek public welfare
and social development. It is in the nature of non-commercial
institutional advertising. In this type of advertising, the objective is
to put across a message intended to change attitudes or behaviour
and, as a result, benefit the public at large. It is generally used by
government and other organisations to promote public welfare.

We often come across advertisements focusing on the need of

small family norms, functional literacy and environmental sanitation
and so on. The Government of India and many industrial houses
have been sponsoring adverting campaigns pertaining to family
planning programmes, national integration, employment assistance
schemes, cleanliness campaigns, need for vaccinations, anti-dowry
cause, drug addiction, AIDS, wildlife preservation, road safety
measures, adult literacy programmes, etc. Today, most of the
manufactures and businessmen have also started issuing
advertisements in the interest of the public. Advertisements
released by the Indian Railway appealing to the public to take care
of public properties and ads released by Cancer Society of India for
free Cancer check-up, are for socially relevant causes. Many
companies have also taken up public causes such as supporting a
leprosy eradication programme, avoiding pollution, safe driving,
blood donation drive etc., by resorting to public service advertising.
To create awareness of AIDS and its preventions Lintas has
designed TV/film/video campaign.

15. National Advertising: It is generally undertaken by

manufactures of branded goods, for which, advertising messages is
communicated to consumers allover the country. Almost all
possible mass media, including national newspapers, radio and
television network, are employed for national advertising. Product
services, and ideas, which have demand all over the country, are
suitable for national advertising. In India, Indian Airline Hindustan
Lever Ltd., Vicco, Godrej, Bajaj and Kirloskar are a few leading
advertisers at national level. Likewise, detergents, soaps,
toothpastes, cosmetics, scooters, cars, and bicycles, are some of
the products, which are advertised all over the country.

16. Retail Advertising: Retail advertising is the advertising by

retailers who usually sell goods direct to the customers. Retail
advertising has such objectives as : (i) to sell the stock; (ii) to
establish the identify of business; (iii) to attract personal, telephone
or mail order shoppers. Retail advertising is done through window
display, neon signs, posters, leaflets etc. It is usually local in
character. The various advertising approaches of Akbarallys,
Amarsons, and Asiatic Departmental Stores are the examples of
retail advertising.
27

3.4 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATIONAL

ADVERTISING AND RETAIL ADVERTISING

National Advertising Retail Advertising

1. It is used in wider market, 1. It is used in wider market.
national advertising follows National advertising follows
uniform message for all the uniform message for all the
consumer. consumers.
2. It is more interested in 2. It is more interested in
establishing long-range establishing long range
favourable attitudes. favourable attitudes.
3. It generally ignores price 3. It generally ignores price
factor. Moreover, prices may factor. Moreover, price may vary
vary from region to region. from region to region.
4. It mainly uses magazines 4. It mainly uses magazines
radio and T.V. radio and T.V.
5. It requires big budget. 5. It requires big budget.
6. It advertises less frequently 6. It advertises less frequently
exception cases of consumer except in cases of consumer
goods which are put to daily use goods which are put to daily use
like soap, tooth paste, etc. like soap, tooth paste, etc.
7. It is more spectacular and 7. It is more spectacular and
more attractive. more attractive.
8. It advertises with emphasis 8. It advertises with emphasis
for every aspect of the product, for every aspect of the product,
company and consumers. company and consumers.
9. It concentrates advertise 9. It concentrates on the entire
keeping in view business country.
objective.
10. The prospective retail 10. There is no such expectation
customers seek advertisements on the part of consumers. As a
of their favourite store. policy of business,
manufacturers advertising
keeping in view business
objective.

3.5 SUMMERY
Different authors have classified advertising in different ways.
Generally the advertising is classified on the following basics 1.
Area Covered, 2. Audience, 3. Media, 4. Functions, 5. Advertising
Stages etc.
28

3.6 QUESTIONS

1. Give broad classification of advertising according to Area

Coverage, Audience, Media and Functions
2. How would you classify different categories of advertising.
3. Write a brief note on (a) Social Advertising (b) Political
Advertising (c) Advocacy Advertising (d) Retail Advertising
4. What is Financial Advertising? What are the essentials for the
success of Financial advertising? Explain the advantages of
Financial advertising,
5. Write short note on (a) Corporate Image Advertising (b) Public
Relations Advertising, (c) Institutional Advertising,
6. What is Internet Advertising? What are the types of Internet
Advertising?
7. What are the advantage and disadvantages of Internet
Advertising.
8. Write short note on (a) Product Advertising (b) Service
Advertising.
9. What is National Advertising and Retail Advertising? How does
National Advertising differ from Retail Advertising.

❖❖❖❖
REPORTING
1
1.0.1 What makes for a good story?
1.0.2 Elements of a good news story
1.0.3 Types of news
1.0.4 How do you decide which story to cover?
1.0.5 Inverted Pyramid Style of Writing in News:
1.1 News values
1.1.1 Newsworthiness
1.2 News gathering
1.2.1 Methods Of Gathering News
1.3.3 E-news gathering
1.3.4 Sources of News
1.3.5 Types of sources of news
1.3 Reader interest
1.3.1 Beats in journalism
1.4 Qualifications of a reporter
1.4.1 Qualities of a good reporter
1.4.2 Special qualities of a reporter
1.5 Types of reports
1.6 Structure of a news report
1.7 Questions

1.0 OBJECTIVES
1. To help the students understand the concepts of news and
newsgathering and its methods.
2. To train the students to recognise and classify the different types of
beats, sources, and reporting in journalism.

1
3. To equip the students to identify, categorise, and write journalistic
pieces by themselves.

1.1 DEFINITION OF NEWS

"News" typically connotes the presentation of new information. News is
information about current events. This may be provided through many
different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting,
electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and
witnesses to events.

1.1.1 What makes for a good story?

Any new, unusual, and interesting information expressed in the simplest
language is clearly understood and hence appeals to audiences. That said,
there are a few factors that help determine the newsworthiness of a story.
News values seem to be common across cultures. People seem to be
interested in news to the extent that it has a big impact, describes conflicts,
happens nearby, involves well-known people, and deviates from the norms
of everyday happenings.

1.1.2 Elements of a good news story:

1. Facts first
While writing a news story, a reporter should keep in mind the 5W1H –
What, Why, Where, Who, When, and How.
2. Significance
Your story pitch may be of utmost importance to you, but what about the
outlet’s readers, listeners or viewers? If you are not thinking of the
audience, it is likely you will strike out. Keep in mind, however, that even
if your pitch isn’t particularly news-worthy (i.e. what a newspaper would,
for example, want to run on their first page), editors still want ideas for
feature stories that they think their readers will care about. What you
considered a hard news item may be directed to be a soft news item by the
Editor.
3. Focus
A good story is limited and focused. For example, in public relations, we
often want a reporter to get all the details, but if you give them too much
to work with, you will be disappointed in the result. Remember what your
core story idea is and stay focused in your pitch. A PR executive
ultimately can’t control how you, a reporter, decides to report, but they
can help you to determine the story angle or elaborate on the crux of the
subject matter. When you find a story that presents multiple facets of
information, figure out your angle and focus before you write your drafts.

2
4. Context
Good news stories offer readers perspective. Your story idea might be of
great interest to your own community or interest, but does it fit into a
greater picture; or is it relevant to a larger audience? A reporter has to
provide not only the current aspect of the story in their article, but also
provide the background information relevant to the story, and connect the
dots to present a coherent piece.
5. Voice
Every reporter has their own style of writing that they develop after
producing many, many stories. They are able to structure the research
methodology, form a trustworthy network, find a niche, and give words to
things that matter to them professionally and personally, that makes for a
distinct style in their stories. This style is now their voice in the
journalistic world.
6. Clarity
The news story should always be written in clear, simple, and easily
comprehensible language. A reporter should always use simple English
and avoid ambiguous words in his news story. Also, the use of punctuation
and good grammar will make the reader understand the story. Unless
writing for a niche magazine or journal, reporters should avoid jargon that
might be useless to the layman.
7. Brevity
A news story must always be brief, clear, and simple, and its aim must be
to attract the attention of both the editors and the reader. Most readers are
in such a hurry to read an entire story in a newspaper. Therefore, it is
advisable to always present news concisely to maintain the reader’s
interest. This method requires the Inverted Pyramid style of writing.
8. Complete
A good reporter anticipates and answers the questions that their
readers/viewers/listeners will ask. This requires preparation and practice,
and is learnt as on-the-go when you tackle more and more news stories.
9. Balance/fairness
This is the ability to write a news story without showing any form of
evidence of bias and partiality. These criteria need to be considered as a
new writer; whenever you write a news story, do not judge anybody or
oppose them.
10. Objectivity
The reporter should be able to approach the story objectively, that is,
without emotional involvement that can lead them to present opinions
instead of facts. However close to your heart your story may be, you as a
reporter should only present facts and figures that are credible.

3
11. Attribution
This is all about making references to the source through which you get
the information of the news story. Attribution helps place a quote in a
proper frame of reference and also validate the claims of the reporter.

12. 1.1.3 Types of news:

There are 2 types of news – hard news and soft news. Hard news generally
concerns issues, politics, economics, international relations, welfare, and
scientific developments, whereas soft news focuses on human-interest
stories and celebrity.

Hard news:
Hard news refers to the news stories that have a big impact on the society
as a whole and need to be reported urgently. They are factual stories with
data, concerning events that are potentially available to analysis. Examples
include news on politics, crime, economics, international affairs, natural
calamities, riots etc.

Hard news stories are supposed to be strictly objective- the journalist need
not give his or her opinion on the story, but should provide facts as they
are. A reporter covering a hard news story is given a much tighter
deadline, owing to the urgency of the coverage.

Soft news:
Soft news on the other hand refers to the stories that provide other
background information about world events, human interest stories or
entertainment news. Since these do not deal with serious subjects, they are
labelled as “soft”. Examples include sports news, celebrity news, or
human-interest stories that deal with emotions. The purpose of this type of
news is not to provide information at first hand, its main objective is to
entertain the masses.
Soft stories can be, and are editorialised. They can be subjective, and can
include opinions of the reporter/journalist. Soft news does not have
timelines like that of hard news, and can even be timeless feature articles –
e.g., ‘Tips for healthy skin’, ‘Benefits of Yoga’, and so on.

1.1.4 How do you decide which story to cover?:

A good news story needs to be new, interesting and important to people.
To report the most up-to-date information about an event you will need to
know how to identify the story, then how to use words and maybe pictures
to report on it.

To determine if you should continue with a lead that you think might be a
good story, you may ask yourself –

4
Is the news story about a current local issue?
» Where did it happen?
» When did it happen?
» What new information have you found about it?
• Is the news story about an issue from the past?
» Where did it happen?
» When did it happen?
» What new information have you found about it?
• Who is affected by the issue?
• How are they affected by the issue?
• Why is it important for people to know about the issue?
• Why will people be interested in the news story?
You may have noticed that this checklist covers the 5Ws1H rule.

1.1.5 Inverted Pyramid Style of Writing in News:

In journalism, the inverted pyramid refers to a story structure where the
most important information (or what might even be considered the
conclusion) is presented first. The who, what, when, where and why
appear at the start of a story, followed by supporting details and
background information.

5
How to Write in the Inverted Pyramid Style: When you write a news
article in the inverted pyramid style, the news should be presented in the
descending order of its importance. It is specifically differentiated into 3
levels.
1) The Lead - The top part is called the lead and as the name suggests
contains the most critical information. The lead of a news article should
contain every single bit of important information about the incident or
event that took place. It should mention when it happened, where it
happened, why it happened, what exactly happened and how it all
happened. This part should basically contain the content which makes it
newsworthy. By reading just the lead part the reader should be able to
gauge what the article is about and its context. The reader can quit reading
the article anytime because he/she would have already grasped vital
information from the article.
2) Body - The middle part is addressed as the body. They contain
subsequent paragraphs giving additional facts related to the incident. It
generally gives the information on the background of people involved in
the incident, any arguments or disputes that have occurred, any shreds of
evidence etc. They may also contain some important quotes made by some
officials or people related to the incident. This part generally builds
anticipation among readers and helps readers understand the facts that lead
to the incident. In other words, it gives the causes for the incident. It drives
the audience deep into the whole scenario. Many articles also provide the
source of the information in order to prove its credibility. Photos and
videos of the incident are also added in this part.
3) Tail / Conclusion - The third and final part is known as the
tail/conclusion. This section contains information regarding events that are
occurring related to the incident. They might also contain references
regarding similar incidents that had occurred.

1.2 NEWS VALUES

News values are "criteria that influence the selection and presentation of
events as published news." These values help explain what makes
something "newsworthy." News values may vary between different
cultures. Methodologically and conceptually, news values can be
approached from four different perspectives: material (focusing on the
material reality of events), cognitive (focusing on people's beliefs and
value systems), social (focusing on journalistic practice), and discursive
(focusing on the discourse).

1.2.1 Newsworthiness:
Newsworthiness is defined as a subject having sufficient relevance to the
public or a special audience to warrant press attention or coverage.

6
Factors determining newsworthiness:
a. Impact - People want to know how a story is going to affect them.
What consequences will be suffered if they don’t take action on your
issue? What is the extent of the said consequences?
b. Timeliness - The more recent your information, the more likely people
will find it of interest. In today’s age of internet immediacy, this is
even truer than it used to be.
c. Proximity - The reader wants to know how close they are to the news,
e.g., if it is the Iran-Iraq War, will a reader in India think of it as close
enough to affect them severely? On the other hand, if the news is about
an issue in Pune, will a reader in Mumbai be concerned due to the
proximity? Although the internet is breaking this one down, to some
degree, we are still more likely to care about something down the
street than across the world.
d. Human interest - This is one of the most broad categories; these are
stories that show something about the human condition. From rags to
riches stories, experiential pieces and the like are things that make us
feel very strong emotions, they make us smile or laugh, derive purpose
and meaning or want to help others.
e. Conflict - It’s in human nature to gravitate toward conflict. Just think
of how much “news” comes out of every single election—A versus B
is a simple conflict to report, and we always want to know who’s
going to come out on top. On a larger scale, wars garner a lot more
attention than most topics thus making it highly newsworthy.
f. Celebrity - Whenever something happens to someone important or
semi-famous, we tend to care more about it because these people seem
special to us, and we feel like—to some extent—we know them. Think
of the Kardashians, Sushant Singh Rajput, or more recently, the
Johnny Depp-Amber Heard case and their media coverage.
g. The Bizarre - More prominent and accessible in the Internet Age, this
factor is anything with shock value. Such topics seem like click bait,
but sure enough, we will keep on clicking.
h. Controversy - Controversy means a conflicting news story that adds
newsworthiness. It is also known as disagreement of the news event:
the more controversial the news, the more critical the report to the
readers. Controversy attracts the audiences to read the information,
which adds sensation to the news story. People are always eager to
identify the truth behind the conflict. So, controversy is another crucial
news value in journalism or element of newsworthiness. For example,
the BJP minister says that the Taj Mahal was a Shiva temple long ago.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: explaining media controversy.

7
i. Genuineness - Genuine news means an authentic story collected from
a trustable source. People always want to know the fact of the news.
The audience determines the authenticity of the news through the
genuine witness and trustworthy source of the news. For example,
according to the WHO, 192 million people have been affected by the
coronavirus, and 4.13 people have died. Most people will believe this
news as the World Health Organization (WHO) disseminates the
information via press conference.
j. Negativeness - Negative news spreads faster than positive. People
discuss and share negative events more than ordinary news. Negative
news occurs for a shorter period than positive news. Netizens share
this type of news on social media excessively. Therefore, negative
news goes viral quickly. For example, news of Lady Diana’s car crash
or Bollywood actress Jiah Khan’s demise.

1.3 NEWS GATHERING:

The work of collecting news for publication or broadcast is known as
news gathering. The newsgathering process involves sourcing ideas,
planning coverage, assigning teams, structuring packages, monitoring the
web, and working in the field.

1.3.1 Methods Of Gathering News:

The four most commonly used methods in news gathering used by
journalists are observation, telephone conversations, research and
interviews.
a. Observation: Observation consists of your actually seeing an event
take place and then reporting what you have seen in the form of a news
story. Skilled observers use their eyes, ears, mind, notebooks and tape
recorders. They make sure they get the concrete facts, specific figures and
accurate information. They look for the colourful, the dramatic or the
unusual in any situation. Skilled observers always try to get more
information than they actually need. The key to becoming a good observer
is to look for more than you see on the surface and this takes a lot of
experience.
b. Telephone Conversations: A timesaver for a journalist, a telephone
helps the reporter do their legwork easily and it often enables them to
reach people who are ordinarily too busy to be seen in person. The
following points have to be kept in mind for phone conversations –
1. Keep writing material / note-taking material ready before you call. Do
not make the receiver wait for you to find a pen and paper.
2. Speak politely and cheerfully, but business-like, with well-modulated
tones.

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3. Reconfirm facts before you hang up, do not call repeatedly with minor
queries.
4. Speak to the concerned person directly and not through a middle man, it
can hinder clarity in conversation.
5. Repeat back the information they gave in short to recheck your data.
6. Do not discuss classified information or record the call without
permission.

Telephone conversations may range from full-scale interviews to brief

queries to verify or amplify information.
c. Research: The process of digging out information from files and
reference works, research is used to verify or amplify facts in news
stories and to give depth to feature stories and magazine articles.
d. Interviews: About 90 percent of everything in a news story is based on
some form of interviewing - either in person, by telephone, or
occasionally, by correspondence. For example, a journalist cannot be
present at every newsworthy incident or occurrence, say, an accident.
In such cases, interviews are the only way to gather first-hand
information for the news article.

1.3.3 E-news gathering:

In journalism, electronic news-gathering (ENG) is when reporters and
editors make use of electronic video and audio technologies in order to
gather and present news. This term was coined during the rise of videotape
technology in the 1970s. This term was commonly used in the television
news in the 1980s and '90s, but is used less frequently now, as the
technology has become commonplace. Reporters use light handheld
equipment, sometimes just a single camera, to an entire OB van on
location.
ENG greatly reduces the delay between when the footage is captured and
when it can be broadcast, thus enabling news gathering and reporting to
become a steady cycle with little time in between when story breaks and
when a story can air. We are now familiar with live microwave and/or
satellite trucks, reporters were able to show live what was happening,
bringing the audience into news events as they happened.
Outside broadcasts (also known as "remote broadcasts" and "field
operations") are when the editing and transmission of the news story are
done outside the station's headquarters. Use of ENG has made possible the
greater use of outside broadcasts. The vehicle on which the electronic
equipment is fitted is called DSNG (digital satellite news gathering).

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1.3.4 Sources of News:
Now that you know how to determine newsworthiness and the process of
news gathering, let us discuss where you can find stories.
a. Someone may give you a tip—information that leads you to a potential
story.
b. Often, you can get a story idea directly from a source. A source
provides reliable, truthful information on a topic.
c. Once you have found a story, you need to locate sources to give you
enough useful facts to complete your story. News can only be made of
verified facts.
Some credible sources may be:
a. Schools and colleges
b. Hospitals
c. Police stations
d. Railway station offices
e. Post offices
f. Fire department offices
g. Local community: local media (newspapers, magazines, TV and radio)
libraries, business and community organisations
h. Global community: national and international media, the Internet
1.3.5 Types of sources of news:
Primary: A primary source offers the best and most reliable information
on a topic. Example - an expert on a particular topic, someone with
firsthand information on a topic, an original document, or an official
report. Always find at least one primary source for your story.
Secondary: A secondary source offers reliable second-hand information
on a topic. Reference books, credible websites, people with informed
opinions on a topic are all secondary sources. Anonymous sources are
generally frowned upon in journalism. Always ensure that you verify your
sources and be especially cautious with the internet because the publisher
can not always be verified. If you gather source material on the Internet,
use web sites of well-known newspapers and magazines, government
agencies, and high-profile public service organisations.

1.4 READER INTEREST:

Reader-interest refers to the different areas and factors that capture a
reader’s interest and keep them hooked to a story or article. It is obvious
that relevance is the main factor that captures reader-interest, that is, if the
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reader feels that the news story is relevant to them in any way (refer to the
section above pertaining to what makes a good story), then they are more
inclined to read the news story and refer to the same publication again and
again. This increases readership and consequently the circulation of the
publication. Hence, it is imperative for any news house to identify and
deliver on their readers’ interests.
But, readers derive their own meaning from stories. A given story may be
categorised by one reader as ‘international’, by another as ‘technology’,
and another as ‘financial’. News today is a cross-media phenomenon, and
people are often sufficiently informed about major ongoing stories without
clicking on every headline. Stories which appear trivial are often valued
by readers for their civic implications. There is a natural interest in local
news regardless of the topic. The research finds readers can be grouped
into four distinct clusters based on patterns of news preferences which all
include a diverse diet of news across multiple subjects:
- People with political and civic interest in news

- People with a social-humanitarian interest in news

- People with a cultural interest in news
- People who seek (political) depth stories

1.4.1 Beats in journalism:

Beats can be called subsets of different types of journalism. Types in
journalism mean different fields of journalism that are independent of each
other generally, they use different pedagogy and research methods, for e.g.
Investigative Journalism, Feature Writing Column Writing, etc. while a
beat in journalism means going in-depth in any type of journalism, for e.g.
Business Magazines, Politics, Finance, Weather, Entertainment, TV
Network Schedules, Sports News, Local News Resources, Government
Directories, Horoscopes, Money, Personal Health Site, PR Newswires,
Social Media and much more. The term ‘beat’ is referred to as the way or
road taken by an individual on a regular basis. In journalism, the word
‘Beat’ is also referred to as the niche which is appointed to the reporter.

The main beats in journalism:

1. Political reporting - Political Journalism is a very prolific and very
broad branch of journalism. This beat includes coverage of all aspects of
politics and its political science. Although the term usually refers
specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power. Many
people opt for this kind of journalism, and it requires a lot of courage and
diplomatic smartness.

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2. Sports - This beat is the niche for sports and sports-related events
coverage. Reporters can cover information about hockey, football as well
as cricket tournaments held all around the globe.
3. Entertainment - This beat is where the journalist tries to reveal the
juicy gossip of the glamorous people in the world. Entertainment reporting
takes interviews, reviews of music and films and much more. Think Page3
news, and you will understand the content type and structure of the news
stories.
4. Crime - Most audiences consume crime news in one or another way,
which means the audience is widespread. That is why this segment of
reporting requires all details before getting published. All crimes are
included in this reporting, from petty crimes to robberies and so on.
5. Lifestyle - Audiences will always be interested in what is going on in
the latest trend and what is in fashion. This reporting includes news/stories
about the latest fashion/fitness trends and other trending stuff. Fashion,
shopping, retail, and food beats are branches of this lifestyle beat. This
beat is generally of the soft news type.
6. Civic - It is a type of reporting which covers citizen's wellness. This
type of reporting is not just normal news but that makes the audience
think. The purpose of this type of reporting is to make a difference by
public awareness.
7. Health - In today’s generation, many individuals have started to focus
on their health. The reporter covers topics like malnutrition, disease,
healthcare, paediatric care, nutrition, fitness, growing epidemics and much
more. Reports mainly try to focus on prevention of the serious ailment or
disease and for that, he must have great knowledge about that field and
provide us with the insights.
8. Business - All news related to trade/business falls under this category.
Import/Export, Goods, Trade, Market, Stock Exchange and other news
that are related to business attracts a large set of people and that is why
this type of reporting is one of the most famous reporting in current time.
There are many more niches/beats like finance, law, education,
infrastructure, environmental, food, and so on. Different beats fall under
different types of hard and soft news. It is upto the reporter to find the
niche they are good at and develop their craft. This includes forming a
source network, developing a distinct writing style, and ensuring that they
are up-to-date with the ongoings of their beat. A seasoned reporter
generally has a beat that they excel in and are considered to be experts and
consultants within the field.

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1.5 QUALIFICATIONS OF A REPORTER
A reporter is a person who gathers information on a subject and then
writes about or broadcasts it. This profession is present in a wide array of
media outlets. He/she may work for a newspaper, magazine, radio show,
TV show, or website. The possibilities within each of those mediums are
endless. Many of those media outlets are needing more and more online
coverage. A reporter must be qualified because drafting a report is a
complex and specialised task. A reporter is a person who gathers
information and writes about it. A reporter is a type of journalist who
researches and presents information in the mass media. Reporters gather
their information in a variety of ways including tips, press releases and
witness events. They perform research through interviews, public records,
and other sources. The information gathering part of the job is sometimes
called “ reporting” as distinct from the production part of the job.
Reporters are always in the midst of the real action. They face the finest as
well as the worst situation. They usually meet with the most powerful
leaders or the most famous celebrities. They face danger and death with
courage and dedication. They are always curious and adventurous. The
news report eventually lands on the news desk. The process of editing
comes into operation, through a series of steps produces a package of
information ready for mass communication.

1.5.1 Qualities of a good reporter:

A reporter has to be -

• Smart

• Quick

• Curious

• Honest

• Courageous

• Adventurous

• Pleasant

• Punctual

• Able to effectively manage stress

• Communicate effectively

• Disciplined

• Sincere
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• Credible

• Experienced

• Efficient

• Patient
…in order to perform his journalistic duties properly.
It is preferred that a journalist has quality education, that is a degree or
course training in journalism, in order to be a good reporter. Their flexible
schedules also need them to be in good health, and good at writing down
facts and figures.

1.5.2 Special qualities of a reporter -

1. Nose for news - ‘Nose for news’ is one of the most important qualities
for professional reporters. Good reporters have good news-hunting
capacity. They must be especially aware to find out what is strange
and unique to many people. Even a small matter can be a huge
scandalous news story if a good reporter really tries to dig out the
facts. Good reporters should have the ability to disseminate the good
news.
2. Alertness and impartiality - Good reporters must be curious. They
enjoy reading and appreciate details. They are always alert to all
probable news, news sources and news sense. They are quick to reach
the destinations where important news can be available. They are
equally critical to inspect, and evaluate all related sides of the news
story.
3. Intelligence and courage - Good reporters must be intelligent and
courageous. Courage helps them to develop a thick skin to deflect the
inevitable criticism. They must write something that may hurt
someone’s prestige but not harm the ethics of journalism. Intelligence
is also the most important attribute a reporter could have. Similarly,
courage is necessary to stand corrected, courage to take criticism,
courage to grow with the experiences, courage to accept what you
don’t understand.
4. Expertise in language - Good reporters learn to communicate ideas in
correct and effective language. They should write in simple, direct
prose without using complicated sentences. A good reporter should
report in such a way that the targeted audience can understand.
Otherwise, their news will not make sense or feel reader-friendly. A
good student is half a journalist. They already have a sense of
journalistic presentation. So, a reporter must be a language expert.

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5. Handling media equipment - Professional reporters must know how to
operate Dictaphones (mostly outdated instrument but necessary in a
networkless setting), digital movie camera, mobile and satellite
phones, essential computer programming like MS-Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, Pagemaker (publication-editing software), Photoshop,
Dreamweaver, and so on. They must have knowledge of
English/regional language typing skills, and knowledge to operate
email and the Internet.
6. Neutrality and faithfulness - Any and all reports must be free from
biased information. The information provided in the report must be
reliable and valid. False, invalid and biased information hamper the
decision-making power of the readers.
7. Knowledge of structure and presentation - A basic understanding of
how to write down all relevant and necessary information and maintain
proper structure should be known to a good reporter. They must know
how to present facts and information in a simple but effective way.

1.6 TYPES OF REPORTS

There are three types of reporting: objective, interpretative, and
investigative. Aside from that, there's a concept known as beat reporting as
seen above.
a. Objective - The term "objective reporting" refers to the
straightforward presentation of facts as they occurred. Contextualizing,
backgrounding, analysing, and opining are not part of objective
reporting. Without any subjective inputs, the reporter simply
reports what he has seen or observed.
The concept of objective reporting can be summarised as follows:

• Accuracy and realism in reporting

• Presentation of all main relevant points

• Balance and evenhandedness in presenting different sides of an issue

• Minimising the influence of the writer's own opinions,

attitudes, or involvement by separating facts from opinions but
treating opinions as relevant.

• Staying away from slant, malicious, or devious motives.

b. Interpretative - Facts and interpretation are combined in
interpretative reporting. Many times, the reporter must interpret certain
events for the benefit of the audience. It entails providing background
information on a specific incident or event. Aside from the facts
gathered on the ground, the reporter may need to provide

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background information so that the readers can better perceive and
comprehend the news. As a result, the reporter investigates the causes and
implications of a particular event and provides information as well as
an interpretation of its significance.
It's possible that the entire event will not take place in a single day. To
comprehend the occurrence of an event, we must first understand the
preceding one, or the sequence of events that led to the most recent one.
And it is the reporter who interprets the event by informing the readers
about the event's past history or the actions that led to its occurrence. This
provides more context for events, and the reporter must keep track of
all past, present, and future events, as well as forecast the future
at times. As a result, interpretative reporting elucidates anevent's hidden
significance and distinguishes fact from fiction.
c. Investigative - Investigative reporting is when a news reporter has
to dig deeper than what's stated in the hard news to find out the exact facts
of an event, or, in other words, investigates beyond what is visible to the
naked eye. Investigative reporting entails looking into any event.
Investigative journalism is in-depth and involves extensive research and
reporting over a long period of time. It reveals information that
isn't widely known and that others want to keep hidden.
Investigations are usually conducted in the event of a major event, when a
larger public concern is involved, or when public figures or celebrities are
involved.

1.7 STRUCTURE OF A NEWS REPORT

A news report follows a particular pattern in reporting as well as editing.
Every newspaper might have its own style of writing but a general format
followed by all the newspapers at base levels is systematically divided into
several parts, namely -
a. Headline - tells what the story is about
b. Byline - shows who wrote the story
c. Lead - tells the most important facts (5 W’s)
d. Body - contains more information and details
e. Ending - gives something to think about

The 4-part report writing structure is as follows -

1. The Lead - The first paragraph of the news story is the lead. It covers
the 5W1H of the story. What is the most important news? How can you
write it in the clearest way and make it interesting too?

2. Elaboration of lead - Two, three, four or five paragraphs that explain

support and amplify lead.
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3. Key background - this places a context of the event which is
information that helps readers understand more about the news they are
reading. It includes quotes from witnesses or higher authorities, a
glimpse into a past similar event or cause, and references to previous
events.
4. Further elaboration and conclusion - More elaboration of the news, in
descending order of importance.

1.8 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS: (ANSWERS ARE

MARKED IN BOLD)
1. News is information about (current events/outdated
events/uninteresting topics/instigating topics).
2. While writing a news story, a reporter should keep in mind the
(5W1H/6H4W/Backwards Triangle/comma)
3. The 2 types of news are (hard and soft/white and
black/RGB and CMYK/primary and secondary)
4. refers to the news stories that have a big impact on the
society as a whole and need to be reported urgently. (Hard news/soft
news/old news/advertisements)
5. refers to the stories that provide other background
information about world events, human interest stories or
entertainment news. (Soft news/hard news/old news/advertising)
6. are criteria that influence the selection and
presentation of events as published news which help explain what
makes something newsworthy. (News values/news
updates/newsworthiness/reporting)
7. is defined as a subject having sufficient relevance
to the public or a special audience to warrant press attention or
coverage. (Newsworthiness/newshouse/newsroom/newspad)
8. , a factor of newsworthiness, is what attracts the
audiences to read the information, which adds sensation to the news
story. (Controversy/interest/punctuality/instigating)
9. The work of collecting news for publication or broadcast is known as
(news gathering/news collect/discovery/source)
10. The 4 methods of newsgathering are Observation, Telephone
Conversations, Research and
(Interviews/electronic/imagination/assumptions)
11. In journalism, is when reporters and editors
make use of electronic video and audio technologies in order to gather
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and present news. (electronic news-gathering/exotic
newsgathering/asking/shooters)
12. (also known as "remote broadcasts" and "field
operations") are when the editing and transmission of the news story
are done outside the station's headquarters. (Outside
broadcasts/shooters/out-of-home/OTT)
13. Which of these qualifies as a credible source of news -
(hospital/neighbour aunty/children/gossip)
14. The 2 types of news source are (primary and
secondary/first and last/hard and soft/white and grey)
15. An expert on a particular topic is an example of source of
news. (primary/secondary/tertiary/peripheral)
16. A offers reliable second-hand information on a topic, eg.
Reference books. (secondary source of news/primary source of
news/gossip girl/paan wala)
17. refers to the different areas and factors that
capture a reader’s interest and keep them hooked to a story or article.
(Reader-interest/reader-eyes/reading/circulation)
18. When a publishing keeps track of its and caters
relevant information, it increases readership and consequently the
circulation of the publication. (reader-interest/downfalls/boring
topics/selfies)
19. In journalism, the word ‘ ’ is also referred to as the niche
which is appointed to the reporter. (Beat/hit/road/short)
20. is a type of reporting which covers citizen's
wellness. (civic/entertainment/finance/fashion)
21. A generally has a beat that they excel in and are
considered to be experts and consultants within the field. (seasoned
reporter/newbie/doctor/intern)
22. Reporters gather their information in a variety of ways including tips,
and witness events. (press releases/anonymous
notes/byline/reader-interest)
23. This is not a recommended quality for a reporter - Courageous /
Biased /Adventurous /Pleasant
24. There are three types of reporting: objective, interpretative, and
(investigative/destructive/burrowing/unobjective)
25. Facts and interpretation are combined in (interpretative
reporting/investigative reporting/objective reporting/lead paragraph)
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26. The of a news article shows who wrote the story.
(Byline/headline/lead/conclusion)
27. The 3rd step of the report-writing process is (The
Lead/Elaboration of lead/Key background/Further elaboration and
conclusion)
28. Writing a news article follows the style of writing.
(Inverted Pyramid/Upright Pyramid/sideways pyramid/inverted
square)
29. Most audiences consume news in one or another way,
which means the audience is widespread. (crime/tax/civic/educational)
30. Electronic news-gathering the delay between when the
footage is captured and when it can be broadcast. (greatly
reduces/greatly increases/insists on/ignores)

❖❖❖❖

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1

Fundamentals of Cyber Media

On-line or Cyber Journalism to get ‘online’, meaning to connect to the Internet, you need to have: A
Computer: Computer equipment is a sizeable investment and thus you should select a computer
carefully.

Before buying a computer, understand your needs and then choose one accordingly. See that it
comes with a warranty and that after sales service is available in case you need it.

Internet Service Provider: This is the software that you will require to get online. You can now
choose from a dial-up service or 24-hour broadband services. This is the service that will help you to
connect to the Internet and start your surfing experiences.

The World Wide Web has spawned the newest medium for journalism, on-line or Cyber journalism.
The speed at which news can be disseminated on the web, and the profound penetration to anyone
with a computer and web browser, have greatly increased the quantity and variety of news reports
available to the average web user. The bulk of on-line journalism has been the extension of existing
print and broadcast media into the web via web versions of their primary products. News reports
that were set to be released at expected times can now be published as soon as they are written and
edited, increasing the deadline pressure and fear of being scooped which many journalists must deal
with. The digitalization of news production and the diffusion capabilities of the internet are
challenging the traditional journalistic professional culture. The concept of participatory or citizen
journalism proposes that amateur reporters can actually produce their own stories either inside or
outside professional media outlets. Most news websites are free to their users, except some
websites, for which a subscription is required to view its contents. But some outlets, such as the
New York Times website, offer current news free, but archived reports and access to opinion
columnists and other non-news sections for a periodic fee.

Many newspapers are branching into new mediums because of the Internet. Their websites may
now include video, podcasts, blogs and slideshows. Story chat, where readers may post comments
on an article, has changed the dialogue newspapers foster. Traditionally kept to the confines of the
opinion section as letters to the editor, story chat has allowed readers to express opinions without
the time delay of a letter or the approval of an editor. The growth of blogs as a source of news and
especially opinion on the news has changed journalism forever. Blogs now can create news as well
as report it, and blur the dividing line between news and opinion. The debate about whether
blogging is really journalism rages on. Cyber journalism is a term coined after the merging of various
traditional media brought about by the proliferation of media industries due to current influx of new
technology and globalization. Cyber journalism made possible by the Internet technology has gained
importance and is functioning as a pervasive medium along with the traditional media such as print
and electronic. However, cyber journalism has created a big vacuum in journalism education and
training since it is a recent development in journalism and journalism educators are caught
unprepared.
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Characteristics of new media

Significant attributes of the new media are interactivity, demassification and synchronization. So it
allows for more individualized communication. ‘First rule of journalism is show. Do not tell’. Online
medium provides it. Faceless community all over the world consume eagerly the service of this
media. New media provide multifaceted facilities, along with certain characteristics. Immediacy
Speed and immediacy are two greatest virtues of new media. With the help of a mouse click whole
world comes before the person. 3G and 4G technologies now turn the entire scenario. Information
superhighway is revolutionizing the world. The challenge facing online journalists is to balance the
legitimate desires of the online audience for breaking news reports with the professional’s tradition
of fairness, completeness, balance and accuracy. Interactivity -New media is known for its ability to
involve the audience. This is known as interactivity. Hence, we can say that compared to other
media forms, new media has the most evolved feedback system in place. Digital media offer us a
significant increase in our opportunity to manipulate and intervene in media. These multiple
opportunities are often referred to as the interactive potential of new media. Interactivity is
understood as one of the key ‘value added’ characteristics of new media as it offers opportunities
for making connections between individuals, within organisations and individuals and organisations.
Much of this connectivity will be of the registration interactivity mode defined above where
individuals add to, change, or synthesise the texts received from others. However, when email and
chat sites are considered from the point of view of human communication, ideas about the degree
of reciprocity between participants in an exchange are brought into play. So, from Communication
studies point of view, degrees of interactivity are further broken- down on the basis of the kinds of
communication that occur within computer- mediated communication (CMC).

Universality- Web Journalism is a global media. It is not limited by time and space. New media is a
platform which connects the whole world. New media provide multifaceted facilities. News about
every incident happen anywhere is reachable to any other extent within a few minutes. Internet and
World Wide Web point out another era of journalism. The wire services were primary link into the
outside world. They provide a world view solidly within the social constructs of journalism. Online
communication is an opportunity to communicate, learn, share, buy and sell. It is user controlled
highly user controlled and essentially egalitarian.

Hypertext- The prefix ‘hyper’ is derived from a Greek word which has the meaning of ‘Above,
beyond, or outside’. Hence hypertext has come to describe a text which provides a network of links
to other texts that are ‘outside, above, and beyond’ itself. It can be defined as a work which is made
up from discrete units of material in which each one carries a number of pathways to other units.
The work is a web of connection which the user explores using the navigational aids of the interface
design. Each discrete ‘node’ in the web has a number of entrances and exits or links. Common,
hypertext media are called non-linear media.

Implications are that

(a) one need not read documents in a prescribed order;

(b) authors, styles and permissible rules of content may vary as one reads linked documents;

(c) responsibility and control is diffused - as is ownership of the resulting content;

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(d) form and structure is easily changed, composed on demand for individuals Multimedia Online
platforms have a greater advantage over other media and that is Multimedia facilities. Whenever
stories are supported by cartoons, moving pictures, sound and music, it is called multimedia. The
word Convergence means “come towards each other and meet at a point”. So media convergence is,
computer and telecommunication technologies used in the multimedia systems for the transfer and
exchange of information, data, graphics and sound. E.g. watch video and films on the computer,
Read a news paper on the net.

CYBER MEDIA AESTHETICS

Content

News in the web is displayed in a particular way. They will be short. Quality online content is timely,
informative, entertaining, clear, concise, accurate, balanced and fair. Above all, online content must
be conversational. The content should be simple and informative. Creating, compelling, engaging,
interesting and entertaining copy is critical when writing news online. Audio, video, photos, graphics
and the text itself must attract and hold readers. All of the bells and whistles of interactivity,
movement sound and colour that can be found on many web sites go for naught if the copy falls flat.
The intent and type of the content varies and they should be catchy.

Design

The design of online media became simple and interactive nowadays. The design allows connection,
discussion and impact on readers. Basically it is the design of web pages through which, audience
has the option; what to view, hear and read. Visual logic should be incorporated with design. New
media commonly exist in smart (computing) devices and networks. As such, these systems can be
instructed to customize, individualize information for each user. The idea of mass media is
challenged in an environment where different messages are crafted for each member of an
audience.

Colours and Fonts

Web pages have sound movements and interactivity. Reading on a computer screen is difficult so it
is necessary to make news presentation scan able, and by highlighting the key words or sentences by
different colour or underline or by text font/variations. The three layers; spoken, written and image
language together form single text in online platforms. Using light colours and simple and easily
readable fonts still continues as a trend.

Template

This is a busy world and the facility in online platforms help to save time for the users and it is
known as template. A template is a file that serves as a starting point for a new document.
Templates can either come with a program or be created by the user. Most major programs support
templates, so if anyone is creating similar documents over and over again, it might be a good idea to
save one of them as a template. Then they won't have to format their documents each time they
want to make a new one. Just open the template and start from there.

Navigation Bars
4

Navigation Bars are a set of buttons or images in a row or column that serves as a control point to
link the user to sections on a Web site. The navigation bar may also be a single graphic image with
multiple selections. A navigation bar (or navigation system) is a section of a graphical user interface
intended to aid visitors in accessing information. Navigation bars are implemented in file browsers,
web browsers and as a design element of some web sites.

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are primarily used to initiate inter activity. Links are provided in between texts in blue
colour or with underline. For example, if the text says about the people who had miraculous escape
from the collapsed WTC building, there will be link to the list of escaped people. A click on it will
reach the web pages listing the names. From there anyone can click to the list of Indians or Keralites.
Users can find out if somebody known to them is there or not. Sometimes the link can be given to
other sites as well.

CONSTITUTENTS OF CYBER MEDIA

A blog (short for weblog) is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for
general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format: a series of entries posted to a single
page in reverse-chronological order. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or
reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical
musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favours,
especially those that support a point being made on a post. Blogs represent a significant shift in
information flow, where information flows from many to many seamlessly. It is a serious challenge
to traditional journalism. Blogs do not have gatekeepers, so they are raw, honest, immediate
passionate, opinionated and strike an emotional chord. At times they may not be credible as there
are no gatekeepers. It is professional journalism versus amateur journalism. Media has realised the
growing power of blogs. So news websites nowadays encourage blogging by their employees on
their site.Many celebrities too have their own blogs. Blogs are on varied topics. They are easy to
start but difficult to sustain. Those who wish to start a blog will have higher cyber space without
payments and start to use the space. Add text, colours, paintings, photos, audio, visual, animation,
graphics and more. Publish advertisements, persuasive pieces, and campaign materials; make
money by business promotion, public relation activity, reviews etc. The ówner’of the blog decides
the content and design. Seamless freedom is the major attraction of blogs. This is a global space. Any
person around the world with internet accessibility can open the page and read. Blogs offer such an
international opportunity to interact with the real faceless community. Though there is an
international accepted code of ethics in journalism, all laws and regulations regarding publications in
one country are applicable for a blog. The advantages of blogs are creative freedom, instantaneity,
interactivity, lack of marketing constraints. The key features of a blog includes content area,
archives, comments, feeds, plug ins, widgets, themes, templates, trackbacks, pingbacks.

A vlog (or video blog) is a blog that contains video content. The small, but growing, segment of the
blogosphere devoted to vlogs is sometimes referred to as the vlogosphere. is a form of web
television. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text,
images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts. The vlog
5

category is popular on YouTube. Some bloggers have included video content for years. However,
vlogging is becoming more common as equipment becomes cheaper and supporting software and
hosting and aggregation sites become more prevalent. Both Yahoo and Google feature video
sections and most MP3 players, such as iPod , support video. Anyone with access to a video-capable
camera and a relatively recent computer with a high-speed connection can create a vlog and publish
and distribute it online.

A podcast is an audio file that is automatically received from the internet and then synced to an MP3
player. The files are received by subscribing to what's called a podcast feed. A podcast is a digital
medium that consists of an episodic series of audio or digital radio, subscribed to and downloaded
through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. A list of all the audio or
video files associated with a given series is maintained centrally on the distributor's server as a web
feed, and the listener or viewer employs special client application software, known as a pod catcher,
that can access this web feed, check it for updates, and download any new files in the series. This
process can be automated so that new files are downloaded. Files are stored locally on the user's
computer or other device ready for offline use. Podcasting contrasts with webcasting (Internet
streaming), which generally isn't designed for offline listening to user-selected content. There are
now thousands of podcasts and the number is growing rapidly. Podcasters (as they are called) are
not restricted by traditional broadcast formats and regulations. This allows for numerous subjects
and formats.

Search Engines The better way to locate specific information is to use a search engine. It is a web
tool that helps to find specific sites on the internet. These are searchable indexes running on
powerful computers that look up information, using key words. When enter a word or phrase to look
up, the search engine locates any document containing the key words. The listed documents are
called hits. The search results are generally presented in a line of results often referred to as search
engine results pages (SERPs).

Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share or exchange
information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual and networks. Social media depend on mobile and
web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and
communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce
substantial and pervasive changes to communication between businesses, organizations,
communities, and individuals. These changes are the focus of the emerging field of techno self
studies. Social media differ from traditional or industrial media in many ways, including quality,
reach, frequency, usability, immediacy and permanence Social media is the collective of online
communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and
collaboration. Websites and applications dedicated to forums, micro blogging, social networking ,
social bookmarking, and wikis are among the different types of social media.

CYBER MEDIA ETHICS

A media revolution is transforming the nature of journalism and its ethics. The means to publish is
now in the hands of citizens, while the internet encourages new forms of journalism that are
interactive and immediate. Theorists often define ethics in terms of a set of principles of right or
moral conduct. Digital technologies raise a host of thorny and troubling ethical challenges for
journalists and media practitioners, whether professional or citizen journalists. Following is a
6

sampling of some of the issues digital technologies raise for students, scholars and practitioners of
media. Plagiarism has become an often-accepted practice and international cultural norm due at
least in part to the ease and temptation of copying online sources. Digitally altering images or video
is common in advertising and sometimes in news. Using anonymous sources is frequently an
accepted practice in online journalism. Omni directional imaging is more than science fiction. . Ethics
in new media concern various issues such as portrayal of violence, pornography, cyber crime,
addiction, copyright, digital divide and so on.
Lesson – II
INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION
This lesson discusses the mass communication
process, features, classification and functions. Mass
communication is “the process by which a person, group
of people, or large organization creates a message and
transmits it through some type of medium to a large,
anonymous, heterogeneous audience. This implies that
the audience of mass communication are mostly made up
of different cultures, behavior and belief systems.
OBJECTIVE
 To learn about the mass communication process.
 To discuss features of mass communication
 To learn about the mass communication –
classification
 The functions of mass communication and mass
media
STRUCTURE
 Mass Communication
 Featrue of Mass Communication
 Process of Mass Communication
 Characteristics of Mass Communication
 Mass Communication as a Source of Information
 Functions of Mass Communication
 Functions of Mass Media

37
 Summary
 Questions for Discussion

MASS COMMUNICATION
Mass communcation
involves
communication with
the mass audience
and hence the name
Courtesy Google Images
mass
communication. Group communication has now been
extended by the tools of mass communication: books, the
press, the cinema, radio, television, video and the internet.
Mass communication generally identified with these
modern mass media, but it must be noted that these media
are proceses and must not be mistaken for the
phenomenon of communication itself. Daniel Lerner
termed them ‘mobility multipliers’ and Wilbur Schramm
considered them to be ‘magic mulitipliers’. Indeed, both
the terms ‘mass communication’ and ‘mass media’ are
inappropriate in the context of developing societies. Mass
communication is defined as ‘any mechanical device

38
that multiplies messages and takes it to a large number
of people simultaneously ‘.

DeFleur & Dennis – "Mass Communication is a process

in which professional communicators use media to
disseminate messages widely, rapidly and continuously
to arouse intended meanings in Large and diverse
audiences in attempts to influence them in a variety of
ways."

Orlik – "Mass Communication is the process of rapidly

conveying identical information, assertions and attitudes
to potentially large, dispersed and diversified audiences
via mechanisms capable of achieving that task."

Berge – "Mass Communication involves the use of print

and electronic media such as newspapers, magazines,
film, radio or TV to communicate the large number of
people who are located in various places often scattered
all over the country or the world."

39
FEATURES OF MASS COMMUNICATION

We require a sender, a message, a channel and a

receiver for communication to occur. Further there is
feedback, which is the response or reaction of the receiver,
which comes back to the sender through the same or some
other channel. Another element, which plays and
important role in communication, is noise or the
disturbances. It is observed that the term mass
communication must have at least five aspects.

 Large audience

 Fairly undifferentiated audience composition

 Some form of message reproduction

 Rapid distribution and delivery

 Low cost to the consumers

40
Courtesy : Google images

PROCESS OF MASS COMMUNICATION

Source: Source mostly represents the institution or

organization where the idea has been started. In case of
source and the sender being different, the sender belongs
to media institution or is a professional in media
communication. Thus, a scientist or a technologist may
use the mass communication media himself for
propagating his idea. Or else, they can send the script of
the message to the media for delivering the message by an
announcer or a reporter.
Message: A message needs reproduction for making it
communicable through the media. the message is
processed and put to various forms like talk, discussion
interview, documentary, play, etc., in case of radio and
41
TV. In case of newspaper the message is processed by
means of article, feature news story, etc.
Channel: The term channel and media are used
interchangeably in mass communication. Modern mass
media like radio, television, newspapers spread the
message with enormous speed far and wide. The ability of
mass communication to encompass by Mc Luhan’s term
global village. The term expresses that the world is
smaller than before due to advances in mass
communication. More information is coming faster, at
cheaper rates per unit, from farther away and from more
sources through more channels including multimedia
channels with more varied subject matter. Channels of
mass communication can be classified into two broad
categories:
1. Print Media – Newspapers, books, magazine,
pamphlets etc.,
2. Electronic Media – Radio, Television, Cinema,
Internet (New Media)
Receiver: Mass communication means communication to
the mass, so there remains mass of individuals at the
receiver end of the communication. This mass of

42
receivers, are often called as mass audience. Mass
audience can be defined as ‘individuals united by a
common focus of interest (to be informed, educated or
entertained) engaging in identical behavior towards
common ends (listening, viewing or reading)’. Mass
communication has an enormous ability to multiply a
message and make it available in many places. The
greatest advantage of this mode of communication is the
rapid spread of message to a sizeable audience remaining
scattered far and wide and thus cost of exposure per
individual is lowest.
Feedback: Mass communication will have indirect
feedback. A source having communicated a message
regarding family planning through radio, television or
print either has to depend on indirect means like survey of
audience reaction, letters and telephone calls from
audience members, review of the programme by
columnists to know the reaction of audience to the
message. Direct feedback which is possible in
interpersonal and to a limited extent in group
communication, is almost absent in the mass
communication.

43
Gate Keeping: This is again a characteristic unique to
mass communication. The enormous scope of mass
communication demands some control over the selection
and editing of the messages that are constantly transmitted
to the mass audience. Both individuals and organization
do gate keeping. Whether done by individuals or
organizations, gate keeping involves setting certain
standards and limitations that serve as guidelines for both
content development and delivery of a , mass
communication message.
Noise: It is in mass communication is of two types-
channel noises and semantic noise. Channel Noise is any
disturbance within transmission aspects of media. In print
media, it may be misspellings, scrambled words or
misprinting. Any type of mechanical failure stops the
message from reaching the audience in its original form.
Semantic Noise will include language barriers, difference
in education level, socio-economic status, occupation,
age, experience and interests between the source and the
audience members. One way of solving the problem of
semantic noise is to use simplicity and commonality.

44
CHARACTERISTICS OF MASS
COMMUNICATION

1. Directs messages toward relatively large,

heterogeneous and anonymous audience.
2. Messages are transmitted publicly
3. Short duration message for immediate
consumption
4. Feedback is indirect, non-existent or delayed
5. Cost per exposure per individual is minimum
6. Source belongs to organization or institutions
7. Mostly one way
8. Involves good deal of selection that is, medium
chooses its audience (newspaper for literates) and
audience choose media (poor, illiterates select
radio)
9. There is need for fewer media to reach vast and
widespread audience because of wide reach of
each
10. Communication is done by social institutions
which are responsive to the environment in which
they operate

45
MASS COMMUNICATION AS A SOURCE OF
INFORMATION
Mass communication
is a process in which
a person, group of
people, or an
organization sends a
message through a
channel of
communication to a
large group of
Courtesy Google Images

anonymous and heterogeneous people and organizations.

You can think of a large group of anonymous and
heterogeneous people as either the general public.
Channels of communication include broadcast television,
radio, social media, and print. The sender of the message
is usually a professional communicator that often
represents an organization. Mass communication is an

46
expensive process. Unlike interpersonal communication
feedback for mass communication is usually slow and
indirect.

Mass communication is the study of how people

and entities relay information through mass media to large
segments of the population at the same time. It is usually
understand to relate newspaper, magazine, book
publishing, as well as radio, television and film, even via
internet as these mediums are used for disseminating
information, news and advertising.

Mass communication differs from the studies of

other forms of communication, such as interpersonal
communication or organizational communication, in that
it focuses on a single source transmitting information to a
large number of receivers. The study of mass
communication is chiefly concerned with how the content
of mass communication persuades or otherwise affects the
behavior, attitude, opinion or emotion of the person or
people receiving the information.

47
The following are some types of mass communication:
 Advertising, which consists of communications
attempting to induce purchasing behavior.
 Journalism such as news
 Public relations, which is communication intended to
influence behavior, public opinion on a product or
organization
 Broadcasting, which the channels offer informative
and entertaining content of general and specific
interest audience.

FUNCTIONS OF MASS COMMUNICATION

The content of mass communication seem diverse in

nature to audience as they expose themselves to thousands
of media stimuli throughout the day and round the clock.
News, reviews, commentaries, advertisements, etc can
saturate the audience. Thus, the audience members select
the messages according to their needs. The major
functions of mass communication are that it informs,
enriches, educates and entertains.

48
Mass communication has the following basic functions:

Courtesy Google Images

 To inform
 To educate
 To entertain and
 To persuade
Additionally it also helps in transmission of culture.

To inform: Dissemination of information is the primary

function of the news media. Newspapers, radio and TV
provide us news from around the world and keep us
informed. Describing the events, news media have come
to include human interest, analysis and factorized

49
treatment to news. Journalists are not just ‘reporters’ now.
They have become news analysis analysts who discuss the
implications of important news stories. Also more ‘soft
stories’ are filed these days. In addition to dissemination
of information news media provided us information and
also helps understand the news events, ideas, policy
changes, etc.,

To entertain: The most common function of mass

communication is entertainment. Radio, television and
films are basically entertainment media. Even newspapers
provide entertainment through comics, cartoons, features,
cross word puzzles etc., Entertainment through radio
consists of mainly music and also drama, talk shows,
comedy etc.
Television has become primarily an entertainment
medium. Even highly specialized channels like news,
nature and wildlife channels also have a lot of humorous
and comic content. Among all media, films are perhaps
the only medium concentrating or entertainment.
To Persuade: Most of the mass media are used as
vehicles of promotion and persuasion. Goods, services,

50
ideas, persons, places, events – the range of things that are
advertised through mass media is endless. Different media
have different features and reach. Advertisers and
advertising agencies analyze these features and depending
upon the nature of the message and the target audience,
choose where and how the message should be placed.
Transmission of culture: Any communication leaves a
direct or indirect impact on an individual. It becomes
part of one’s experience, knowledge and accumulated
learning. Through individuals, communication becomes
part of the collective experience of groups, audiences of
all kinds and finally the masses. Mass communication
plays an important role in the transmission of culture
from one generation to another.
FUNCTIONS OF MASS MEDIA
Mass media is the term applied to the technical devise that
is used to transmit the message. Print and the electronic
are the two major classifications of the mass media.
Primarily are four major activities or functions of mass
media: surveillance, correlation- interpretation,
socialization and entertainment.

51
Courtesy Google Images

Surveillance of environment: It is one of the most

important major functions of mass communication
conceptualized by Lasswell. This refers to the collection
and distribution of information on events both outside and
within the society. Generally this refers to the news
function of the press.
Correlation – Interpretation: This involve
interpretation of information to improve the quantity of
the usefulness of the information for the citizen.
Interpretative journalism is a major manifestation of the
effort to fulfill this function. Editorial and other
propaganda activities of the print media is often referred
to as helping the society respond to the environment.
Transmitting the social heritage: Often identifies as
socialization, this educational activity is the

52
communication of information, values and social norms
from one generation to another. This helps the individual
know the current common base of norms, values and
collective experience to help unify the society.
Entertainment: Communication acts primarily intended
for amusement is distinguished from information and fills
the readers/audiences time, by providing a release form
tension, stress and difficulties. Entertainment is a major
factor in Stephenson’s play theory of mass
communication. The most obvious of all media functions
is that of entertainment. Even though most of the
newspaper is devoted to covering the events of the day,
comic, puzzles, horoscopes, games, advice gossip, humor,
and general entertainment features usually account for
20% of a typical content in a daily paper. The
entertainment content of radio varies widely according to
station format. Television is primarily devoted to
entertainment, with about three quarters of a typical
broadcast day falling into this category.
Marketing: Mass media are currently an irreplaceable
element in the marketing process. A consumer society we
are, a smoothly marketing system is important to all of us.

53
Media carry advertising messages which influence
consumers and also inform them. Some feel that mass
media exist primarily for delivering commercial
messages.
Watchdogging: Media are on the constant look out for
any malfunctions of importance to be brought to the notice
of the society. Watchdog reporting covers an array of
malfeasance: from sex and personal scandals to financial
wrongdoing, political corruption, enrichment in public
office and other types of wrongdoing.
Status conferral: Persons and issues when given
coverage in the media are conferred status to get the
attention of the society.
Message Reinforcement: Mass communication often
reinforces and stabilizes/beliefs which might otherwise
change. By stabilizing beliefs it stabilizes social action.
Mass communication plays significant role in affecting
and substituting personal aspects of human behavior. As
mass communication affect the values and attitudes of the
users, in turn these have an influence on mass
communication. Since communication functions in
relation to society. It must be viewed as one among the

54
many factors that come to play on the individual and
social behaviour. Education, creating social changes,
changing social style and safeguarding our liberties are
some related functions of mass media.
SUMMARY

Mass communcation involves communication

with the mass audience and hence the name mass
communication. DeFleur & Dennis – "Mass
Communication is a process in which professional
communicators use media to disseminate messages
widely, rapidly and continuously to arouse intended
meanings in Large and diverse audiences in attempts to
influence them in a variety of ways." We require a sender,
a message, a channel and a receiver for communication to
occur. Further there is feedback, which is the response or
reaction of the receiver, which comes back to the sender
through the same or some other channel. Another element,
which plays and important role in communication, is
noise or the disturbances. It is observed that the term mass
communication must have at least five aspects: Large
audience, fairly undifferentiated audience composition,

55
some form of message reproduction, Rapid distribution
and delivery, Low cost to the consumers.

Mass communication is a process in which a

person, group of people, or an organization sends a
message through a channel of communication to a large
group of anonymous and heterogeneous people and
organizations. Mass communication has the following
basic functions: To inform, To educate, To entertain and
To persuade. Mass media is the term applied to the
technical devise that is used to transmit the message. Print
and the electronic are the two major classifications of the
mass media. Primarily are four major activities or
functions of mass media: surveillance, correlation-
interpretation, socialization and entertainment.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Discuss the elements of mass communication.

2. Define and explain the process of mass
communication
3. Elaborately discuss the functions of mass media.

56
Mass Media

UNIT 16 MASS MEDIA

Structure
16.0 Objectives
16.1 Introduction
16.2 What is Mass Media ?
16.3 Modes of Mass India
16.3.1 Print Media
16.3.2 Radio Broadcasting
16.3.3 Television and Audio-Visuals
16.3.4 Public Relations
16.3.5 Advertising and Advertisements (ADS)
16.4 Scope and Functions of Mass Media
16.5 Mass Media as a Source of Information
16.6 Summary
16.7 Answers to Self Check Exercises
16.8 Key Words
16.9 References and Further Reading

16.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to:
• describe the idea what mass media is and its expanding dimensions;
• list the reference potential of mass media;
• identify the different types of experts and expertise available in mass media for
providing reference and information services;
• design and develop appropriate tools and techniques to provide access to mass
media in-formation; and
• pick up skills to exploit mass media for reference service.

16.1 INTRODUCTION
We have learnt in Units 14 and 15, that human experts and information institutions
are information sources of high reference value and hence are useful as information
sources. In this Unit, we shall study yet another institution complex, viz., Mass
Media which disseminates information through both print and non-print media.
The importance of Mass Media arises out of the fact that every significant human
event and activity of contemporary life is daily recorded and disseminated by mass
media. Every subject from army to zebra comes under the purview of mass media so
much so, it becomes a vital diary of contemporary human life which has not only of
current but also of great historical value of global dimensions. Today, mass media is
not a mere physical transmission of information, but a complex, integrated,
intermixed and interactive system that has resulted in the seamless integration of
data, text, images and sound within a single digital information environment, known
as Multimedia. Mass media is also widening its scope to include not only
conventional paper-print media but also a variety of audio-visual and electronic
media. Public relations and advertisements also form parts of this field.
In this Unit, we shall study Mass Media in all its dimensions: multimedia which
transmits mass communication in an integrated digital form; the experts who are
involved in these systems as potential sources of contemporary information; and the 27
skills to utilise these sources of information for reference and information services by
libraries and information institutions.
Non-Documentary Sources
16.2 WHAT IS MASS MEDIA?
Mass media here means communication through a number of physical transmission
modes such as print, audio, visual, audio-visual and electronic forms to a general
mass of common persons, irrespective of their position, intellectual attainments, or
social status, etc. It is a means by which almost all current human affairs are
collected, recorded and disseminated for the consumption of any common person. It
is an instrument by which the general common public are kept informed of political
activities of a state, international relations between countries, economic and business
affairs, industrial relations, games and sports, cultural events and entertainments, and
a host of other subjects.

There are two vital components of mass communication. First, the physical media
and the second, the contents carried by the media for communication. Both these
aspects have developed to a great extent; contents in terms of their scope and
coverage and media on account of the fast and spectacular advances in its
technology. The media has influenced contents to such an extent to say that the
medium is the message. This means that the media of communication - whether it is
human voice or printed text, neon signs or electronic impulses - influences the
message, the sender, the audience and the effects of mass communication, far more
significantly than ever before.

Mass media is typically represented by printed daily newspapers, weekly, fortnightly

monthly magazines; broadcasting over radio, telecasting over television, and a
number of other combinations of audio and visual communications such as Audio
Cassettes, Video Tapes, Compact Discs of recorded music. This field has expanded
very rapidly with the advances of information and communication technology. These
have become very powerful tools in political, economic, business, cultural and in
every other human activities. Let us examine the well established institutions of the
mass media.

Self Check Exercise

1) What do you understand by Mass Media? What are its components?

Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.

ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.

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16.3 MODES OF MASS MEDIA

28 Some of the more important representatives of mass media are:

• Print media - primarily newspapers and popular magazines;

Mass Media
• Radio broadcasting;
• Television, and audio-visuals;
• Public relations;
• Advertising and Advertisements.
We shall examine these with reference to their functions, products, experts and
specialists involved, and media technology used. The sole purpose of this exercise is
to identify the reference value of mass media for reference services.
16.3.1 Print Media
Among the print media that carry contents of mass communication, the daily
newspapers occupy the centre. Today's newspapers bring out supplements almost
every day relating to education, science and technology, business and industry,
management, sports and games, cultural events, entertainment, and so on. Besides
these daily supplements, they also bring out Saturday and Sunday magazines. They
also bring out special supplements on occasions that are nationally significant, for
example, Independence Day, Republic Day Teachers Day, Martyrs Day, or important
religious festivals.
There are also daily newspapers exclusively devoted to economic and business affairs
e.g., Economic Times they also cover matters relating to films and such other
subjects of public interest and potential demand.
The fortnightly, weekly and monthly popular magazines are predominantly light
reading material, having more entertainment and amusement features rather than
informative or educative matter. They have, however, wide circulation both in
English and Indian languages.
Newspapers carry news, commentaries, analysis and reviews on current significant
events and activities, personalities, feature articles on subjects of current interest,
sports and games, general information on weather, local programmes and activities,
radio and television programmes, stock market news, business information and many
others. Advertisements occupy a major share of space in almost every newspaper.
Except wealthy newspapers of industrial and business houses which have their own
mechanisms for news supply, the others get' their news supply through Reuters,
Associated Press, Press Trust of India, Indian News Agency and such others.
Newspaper industries are well structured, in terms of administration and management
and are staffed with persons who are academically qualified with professional
training/experience, good technicians and technologists to use modern technologies
effectively for production.
The editorial staff of newspapers include reporters, editors at various levels, analysts,
and feature writers. The production staff comprises technologists, technicians with
various professional experience and training and professional managers.
Many newspaper agencies, particularly the well established ones, bring out their
products not only in print media but in microforms and electronic media as well.
Some newspapers have good documentation and information service units also e.g.,
The Times of India, The Hindu and others are bringing out Internet editions.
Research libraries build up newspaper collections, because of their archival and
historical research value and offer newspaper clipping service. Microfilms of
newspapers are brought out for long time preservation.
Self Check Exercise
2) What are the distinct features of the Print Media?
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
29
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Non-Documentary Sources
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16.3.2 Radio Broadcasting
Radio broadcasting has been a major mode of mass communication. Akash Vani (All
India Radio) has been offering this service from the beginning of this century in India
without any competitor until the last quarter of a century. Radio stations located at
various regions in the country, broadcast news in English and other Indian languages,
news analysis, entertainment programmes of various kinds, music programmes - both
light and classical, suitable programmes for women, children, farmers, industrialists,
educational programmes for schools and colleges and professional institutions. Sports
and games get a good share of broadcasts.
The use of satellites for programme distribution, the rise of automated broadcast
technology and the widespread use of computers have added programming options
and have improved radio stations' ability to improve operations with economy.
The personnel in radio broadcasting comprise directors, programme specialists,
managers of different categories, besides artists, musicians, script writers, journalists
and field workers, engineers and technologists, news readers and commentators, etc.
Self Check Exercise
3) Who are the specialists who work for broadcasting agencies?
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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16.3.3 Television and Audio-Visuals
Television place in our daily lives today. It is a young mass medium, growing rapidly
with the fast developing media technology to reach a very high level of sophistication
in transmission. Satellite communication systems and multimedia have provided
unlimited opportunities for telecasting a variety of programmes.
Television programmes range from entertainment to highly organised
teleconferencing to project global news on a number of issues concerning political,
social, economic and cultural affairs.
A great number of persons with different qualifications and expertise are involved in
30 television programmes. News, views, reviews, discussions, etc. on current events and
activities, instructional programmes for students at various levels, e.g., UGC
programmes, IGNOU
Mass Media
programmes, live telecasting of national and international tournaments in sports and
games, attract almost every human being irrespective or age, sex and occupation.
Programme designers, directors, script writers, technicians and technologists, artists,
musicians, photographic experts, camera persons and many others constitute the staff
of a television centre.
The television industry has grown enormously. There are more than a hundred
television networks and stations operating in the world today. In India, besides
Doordarshan, a number of private television networks are in operation, giving the
viewers a variety of programmes to choose from.
Among the many audio-visual media used in mass communication, the video
cassettes and CD-ROM are most influential. These are highly user friendly and
closely linked with individual and group use. CD-ROM discs are extremely valuable
for archival purposes. They occupy very little storage space. An encyclopaedia set
can be encoded on a single CD with room to spare. Information or programmes that
take up about 1000 floppy discs can be re-corded on one CD and transferred to the
computer when needed. IGNOU has produced a number of Audio Cassettes and
Video Cassettes on varieties of courses offered by IGNOU.
The production of audio-visual media is also a complex and intricate affair. Many
types of specialists are necessary to produce a good video either for entertainment, or
news commentaries, learning kits and others. Content creators, screen script writers,
design and development experts, marketing specialists, production professionals
aided by camera persons, editors and other technicians are involved in the production
of a audio-visual programme.
Self Check Exercise
4) List some of the categories of programmes that are telecast by the television
medium.
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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16.3.4 Public Relations
Public Relations(PR) is an activity, unrolling the building up of relationships through
communication to inform, resolve conflicts and/or to improve understanding between
persons. As demographic pressures have become more and more complex,
communication among groups and individuals has become characterised by a very
complicated and involved process which has led to the development of public
relations as a new discipline e.g., various companies, factories have set up Public
Relation Division headed by Public Relation Officers.
Communication experts and specialists in organisations help individuals and groups
to foster mutually good relationships among themselves. They try to establish a two-
way relationship between the sender of messages and receiver, between the employer
and the employee, between the customer and the sales centres.
Although PR activity is often associated mostly with business and corporate interests. 31
most societal problems, today., need PR as a way of maintaining and adjusting
relationships with various types of people involved in different public activities.
Non-Documentary Sources
The different mechanisms through which PR experts build up their contact with the
public are paper-print brochures, pamphlets, graphic materials, audio and video
materials, radio and television broadcasts, photographs, slides, filmstrips, motion
pictures, floppies and such others. This has become a feature of mass communication,
as it largely deals with various types of public in different contexts. These contexts
may be in relation to building up the image of an organisation, to resolve conflicts
between persons involved in sales and production, to establish goodwill in customers
and keeping the public informed of policies and implementation by governments and
in many similar aspects.
In PR activity, every means of communication is adopted and applied. All the
expertise, techniques and technologies needed in mass communication are employed
to bring out the varieties of PR products.
Self Check Exercise
5) What are the features of Public Relations that justify its inclusion under mass
media?
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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16.3.5 Advertising and Advertisements(ADS)
Advertising is considered part of mass communication for three reasons viz.

• It provides financial support to mass communication;

• Advertisements are usually mass based and hence all expertise required for
mass communication are applicable here; and

• Advertising is a pervasive part of modern culture, a medium to build up images

of a society.
Advertisements are forms of communication that involve creativity, persuasion and
impact of the messages carried by them. Most advertisements that we are familiar
with, are consumer ads used to sell products and/or promote a brand of a product
among individuals or organisations who are likely to be consumers.
Advertisements specially product advertisements describe the features at the products
or services, usefulness and also compare with other products or services. These
contain useful information and latest developments.
Advertising is becoming a major industry with numerous avenues for development.
Advertising agencies choose their medium for their advertisements. Newspapers,
popular journals that are paper-print based, television and broadcasting, video and
audio cassettes, and in every medium of mass communication carry advertisements.
32
Generally advertisements are persuasive, influencing and undering habits and
shaping behaviour and fashions.
Mass Media
As the advertisement field is expanding fast, specialists and experts in mass
communication find enough opportunities to apply their expertise, methods and
techniques in advertisements. All the different categories of personnel who are
involved in other areas of mass communication are operating in advertisement
agencies. Multimedia technology is fully utilised to produce advertisements.
Self Check Exercise
6) Why are advertisements forming part of mass media?
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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16.4 SCOPE AND FUNCTIONS OF MASS MEDIA

The functions of mass communication are to entertain, inform, instruct, persuade
influence, shape and sell all types of messages and information to large mass
audiences. This audience includes children, students, young persons, adults of either
sex, housewives, laypersons, experts, specialists, professionals; in fact every
conceivable group in a society. It is never aimed at individuals but always at groups.
All programmes of broadcasting and television, public relations products,
advertisements are oriented to be relevant to the appropriate group ad-dressed.
The scope of mass communication could comprise almost every subject in which a
society is interested. Although radio and television programmes devote most of their
listening and viewing time to political events and activities, and entertainments, other
programmes include aids to students in their learning process, information to industry
and industrialists, general programmes of historical and geographical interests for
non-specialists, travel and tourist information, and many others to inform the public
on different matters.
The nature of the contents have to be simple and in the language of ordinary persons
who would not, generally, have acquaintance with the jargon of a subject.
All elements of mass communication require high intellectual and imaginative inputs.
Expertise in multimedia technology gives unlimited scope to obtain the best results in
mass communication.

16.5 MASS MEDIA AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION

As mass communication is a diary of contemporary events and activities of human
beings, its impact on people is decisive. Public opinion is shaped through mass media
and every political party is interested in promoting its own views on the public to
capture political power. Business and trade interests are also promoted through mass
media to be competitive in the business world. A great deal of attention, is therefore,
given to mass communication, being one of the most powerful weapon. It is said that 33
the industrially advanced countries are aiming to monopolise global business affairs
through a powerful information and communication system.
Non-Documentary Sources
It is, therefore, natural that librarians and information specialists show great concern
towards providing access to the plethora of information, communicated through mass
media
A variety of secondary sources have been designed to provide access to newspapers
of every kind and region, to clippings in video cassettes and to other types of audio
and video recordings. Many libraries and information centres have these sources in
their stocks of reference materials. More importantly, an understanding of the
available expertise in mass media is essential to supplement these reference sources.
The foregoing short account of mass media would help you to grasp the essentials of
mass communication to explore the possibilities of using them when needed. Not
only the products of mass media are sources of importance, but also the expertise
available in institutions of mass media, which includes information generated by
them that do not get published and the expertise of specialists. These are of great
value for answering questions that can be answered only through these sources.
An idea of the specialised persons involved in mass media can be got from the list
given below:
• Artists (Art, Music, Commercial artists, etc.)
• Ads specialists (Sales promoters, designers, script writers, translators, etc.)
• Camera persons
• Computer specialists
• Correspondents
• Directors
• DTP specialists
• Editors
• Illuminations/light experts
• Musicians
• Managers of various types
• Network specialists
• PROs
• Producers
• Reporters
• Researchers
• Photographers
• Programmers for different types of productions
• Software documentalists
• Sound and acoustics specialists
• Subject specialists
• Writers (Scripts, descriptions, dialogues, etc
Information about these types of persons and their expertise is never easily available.
They have to be personally contacted, if we wish to use them as resource persons.
As mass communication is a very active and live area of human life, various types of
information that could not be available anywhere, would be got in mass media
institutions, for example, a life sketch of an eminent person with all his background;
a track event of an Olympic games with all the rankings of prize winners; the
background of a political event,
34 Any resourceful and imaginative reference librarian or an information officer can use
his judicious search capability to tap mass media for types of enquiries of the nature
mentioned above.
Mass Media
Self Check Exercise
7) Justify mass media as an important information resource.
Note: i) Write your answers in the space given below.
ii) Check your answers with the answers given at the end of this Unit.
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16.6 SUMMARY
In this Unit, the value and importance of mass media are explained to include them in
the categories of information sources. Mass media is the communication of messages
through a number of physical transmission systems. It has two components. First the
contents and second the mode of transmission. There are several components of mass
media. They are: Paper-print, Radio Broadcasting, Television and Audio-Visual
media, Public Relations and Advertising and Advertisements. Each one of these
carries programme to record contemporary events and activities, which represent the
diary of current human life. These have great historical and archival value. Each of
these media use modern multimedia technology to transmit their programmes and
activities. A group of specialists with expertise in different aspects of mass
communication are involved in designing and developing programmes. Most of it is a
team work and meant for large audiences. Their information contents are dissemi-
nated quite well and most of these are available in secondary sources like newspaper
indexes and summaries of current events and activities.
There are many other types of information generated by mass media that do not get
noticed in secondary sources. Besides, the expertise available in terms of specialists
who function in mass media. The media itself constitutes an important and very
valuable information source. Their reference value cannot be exaggerated. Libraries
and information centres should get familiarity with mass media institutions and
experts operating them so that these can be exploited when necessary for reference
service.

16.7 ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK EXERCISES

1) Mass media means communication through a number of physical transmission
modes such as print, audio, audio-visual and electronic forms to a general mass
of common persons, irrespective of their position, intellectual attainments, or
social status, etc. It is a means by which almost all current human affairs are
collected, recorded and disseminated for the consumption of any person. It is
an instrument by which the general common public are kept informed of
political activities of a State, international relations between countries,
economic and business affairs, industrial relations, games and sports, cultural
events and entertainments, etc.
There are two vital components of mass communication. First, the physical
media and the second the contents carried by the media for communication.
Both these aspects have developed to a great extent - contents in terms of their
scope and coverage and sophisticated media of communication using advances
in its technology. 35
2) Some of the advantages of print media that distinguishes it from other ma s
media are:
Non-Documentary Sources
a) Print media representing daily newspapers and other popular magazines are
cheaper than any other to use;
b) Any of these print media can be used anywhere and can be preserved for
future use;
c) Contents can be read many times to understand their full impact.
d) Clippings can be made of items of importance and serviced by libraries
without any serious problems;
e) It is one of the oldest methods of mess communication and hence, backfiles
would be available for historical studies.
3) The personnel in radio broadcasting comprise directors, programme specialists,
managers of different categories, besides artists, musicians, script writers,
journalists and field workers, engineers and technologists, news readers, news
editors and commentators, etc.
4) Television programmes range from entertainment to highly organised
teleconferencing to project global news on a number of issues concerning
political, social, economic and cultural affairs.
News, views, reviews, discussions, etc. on current events and activities,
instructional programmes for students at various levels, live telecasting of
national and international events in sports and games are some of the
programmes televised by TV stations.
5) PR experts build up their contacts with the public through paper-print
brochures, house journals, pamphlets, graphic materials, audio and video
Materials, radio and television broadcasts, photographs, slides, filmstrips,
motion pictures, floppies and such others. These aspects are features of mass
communication, as it largely deals with various types of public in different
contexts. These contexts may be in relation to building up the image of an
organisation, to resolve conflicts between persons involved in sales and
production, to establish goodwill in customers and keeping the public informed
of policies and implementation by governments and in many similar aspects.
PR specialise in activities that have a mass base in certain contexts.
6) Advertising is considered part of mass communication for three reasons viz.,
1) It provides financial support to mass communication;
2) Ads are usually mass based and hence, all expertise required for mass
communication are applicable here;
3) Advertising is a pervasive part of modern culture, a medium to build up
images of a society.
7) Mass media carries the contents of contemporary events and activities which
are of vital interest to every citizen. While much of the information produced
by mass communication gets organised and are available in the form of indexes
and summaries, some of the other, generated do not get noticed anywhere.
Besides, the experts involved in generating various programmes have special
expertise which may not be available from any other source. Hence, institutions
of mass media as well as those who operate them are vital information
resources to libraries and information centres.
16.8 KEY WORDS
Advertisement : Messages to consumers to influence their choice
for a particular brand of a product or service or
for any other options.
Audio-Visuals : A medium that uses both audio and visuals to
communicate contents.
Mass Media : Communication through a number of physical
transmission modes such as print, audio, visual,
audio-visual and electronic forms to a general
36 mass of common persons, irrespective of their
position, intellectual attainments, or social
status, etc.
Mass Media
Multimedia : A complex, integrated, intermixed and
interactive system that has resulted in the
seamless integration of data, text, images and
sound within a single digital information
environment.
Mass
Communication : Communications of contents to large mass
audiences, irrespective of intellectual
attainments, social status or any other aspect,
through all mass media.
Print Media : Mass communication through paper-print, such
as daily newspapers, weeklies, fortnightlies,
monthlies, leaflets, posters and others.

Radio Broadcasting : Mass communication through radio.

Software
Documentation : Documentation of various software features, as a
user facility

16.9 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Hishert, Ray Elden (et al). (1981). Mass Media VI: An Introduction to Modern
Communication. New York: Longman.

Hunt, Todd and Ruben, Brent D.(1993). Mass Communication: Producers and
Consumers. New York: Harper Collin -College Publishers.

IGNOU, (1995). MLIS- 02. Block 4, Unit 16. Media Persons as Sources of
Information. pp. 57-72.

37
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Definition and Classes of Social Media

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Encyclopedia of social media and politics (pp. 1158-1162). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

p. 1158

Social Media, Definition and Classes of

Social media is the term often used to refer to new forms of media that involve interactive
participation. Often the development of media is divided into two different ages, the broadcast
age and the interactive age. In the broadcast age, media were almost exclusively centralized
where one entity—such as a radio or television station, newspaper company, or a movie
production studio—distributed messages to many people. Feedback to media outlets was often
indirect, delayed, and impersonal. Mediated communication between individuals typically
happened on a much smaller level, usually via personal letters, telephone calls, or sometimes on
a slightly larger scale through means such as photocopied family newsletters.
With the rise of digital and mobile technologies, interaction on a large scale became
easier for individuals than ever before; and as such, a new media age was born where
interactivity was placed at the center of new media functions. One individual could now speak to
many, and instant feedback was a possibility. Where citizens and consumers used to have limited
and somewhat muted voices, now they could share their opinions with many. The low cost and
accessibility of new technology also allowed more options for media consumption than ever
before – and so instead of only a few news outlets, individuals now have the ability to seek
information from several sources and to dialogue with others via message forums about the
information posted. At the core of this ongoing revolution is social media. The characteristics,
common forms, and common functions of social media are explored here.

Core Characteristics
All social media involve some sort of digital platform, whether that be mobile or stationary. Not
everything that is digital, however, is necessarily social media. Two common characteristics help
to define social media. First, social media allow some form of participation. Social media are
never completely passive, even if sometimes social networking sites such as Facebook may
allow passive viewing of what others are posting. Usually, at bare minimum, a profile must be
created that allows for the beginning of the potential for interaction. That quality in and of itself
sets social media apart from traditional media where personal profiles are not the norm. Second,
and in line with their participatory nature, social media involve interaction. This interaction can
be with established friends, family, or acquaintances or with new people who share common
interests or even a common acquaintance circle. Although many social media were or are
initially treated or referred to as novel, as they continue to be integrated into personal and
professional lives they become less noticed and more expected.

Common Forms
As this overview of common forms of social media demonstrates, some are used primarily for
recreation or personal connections, others for work or professional reasons, but most allow
leeway for both.
Email. Probably the most common form of social media used in everyday life, email
(short for electronic mail) involves users logging into an account in order to send and receive
messages to other users. Anyone who sends or receives an email must have an account. Many
options for free email accounts are available via the World Wide Web, but many times internet
service providers will also offer free email accounts with service packages or employers will
offer email addresses to their employees. Most workplaces have strict rules about how email
accounts can be used, although many organizations report that they have no specific email
training. Those who work for public organizations (including politicians, professors at state
universities, and administrators and assistants for government offices) are often subject to open
records laws that will allow interested people or organizations to request any emails sent or
received to a government funded email account or an email account used to conduct government
business.

p. 1159

Use of email actually pre-dates the internet, with some organizations having the ability to
send messages electronically within a local computing network. As the Internet rose to
prominence, sending messages across different servers also became a possibility. Email acts as a
quick and highly reliable way to send documents or images, updates or important details at a
moment’s notice, or to share one piece of information with a large number of people. Many
people face issues with spam, or unsolicited email that is usually from commercial sources.
Many times spam is exacerbated by computer viruses that use email programs to capture all of
the email addresses in a user’s address book. An address book is the list of email addresses that
an individual saves to quickly send an email to an individual or a group of people. People often
divide an address book into different kinds of friends, colleagues, or family members to send
correspondence to those who it is most relevant.
Texters. Similar to email, a texter is a two-way communication channel that allows
individuals to quickly send a message to another person or a group of people. Although media
portrayals often make it look as if texting is a particularly youthful behavior, people of all ages
have adapted to texting. Still, younger individuals tend to text more often and usually do so at a
faster speed. As texting technology has improved, it is easier to text photos or to copy and paste
links into texters in order to share them with others. Texters often make use of emoticons, the use
of keyboard characters to make pictures such as a smiley face (e.g., :-P), a practice that is also
common with email. Texters are derived from chatters, or computer programs that make use of
the internet to allow people to quickly talk back and forth via text characters. Although the use of
texting is often highly convenient and allows many benefits, particular attention has been paid to
two texting behaviors that has led to problems: texting while driving and sexting. It is estimated
that texting while driving makes a car crash almost 23% more likely. Sexting is mostly harmful
when adolescent children share pictures that are later redistributed to others by the receiver. In
some cases, those forwarding pictures of people under the age of 18 have been charged with
child pornography. Politicians have faced scrutiny for sharing sexual messages with others,
including interns. Despite these problematic potentials, many adults report that sexting is a
satisfying alternative to sexual interaction when they are away from their partners.
Blogs. The word blog is derived from the word weblog. A blog is a webpage where an
individual or group can share information or ideas with a large group of people via the internet. It
is not uncommon for a person to start a blog and then never update it again. Some of the most
successful blogs are updated on a regular basis so the followers of the blog can know when to
expect new entries. Blogs cover a wide range of topics, including political issues of all kinds. A
common feature to blogs is a feedback forum where, after reading an entry, people can interact
with both the blog author and others who have commented. Many traditional media outlets have
adopted blog-like features online in order to entice readers to continue sticking with their news
or entertainment offerings. For example, many newspaper stories end with the opportunity for
readers to share their thoughts or comments about a current issue. These news stories—
especially when about hot or particularly partisan political issues—can lead to serious debates.
Because of the contentious nature many blogs and news outlets find, it is not uncommon for a
user to be required to register in order to participate.

p. 1160

Message boards. It is not uncommon for fans of television programs or other popular
entertainment to frequent message boards that allow users to post messages that talk about a
clearly defined subject. Message boards also prove popular with people seeking social support or
advice, whether that is wounded warriors trying to make sense of life after war or someone
facing breast cancer who wants to talk to someone else who has been through the experience.
Advice is also offered through review sites such as Yelp that allow users to rate businesses such
as restaurants.
Connection sites. Online dating is another form of social media. Users approach online
dating sites—some that require paid membership and others that are free of charge—and create a
profile that tells who they are and what they seek in a relationship. Some may be skeptical about
how honest some are about the information displayed in an online profile, but research shows
that people are generally honest. The stigma placed upon online dating sites has continued to
diminish as more people continue to use them in order to meet dating partners. In addition to
dating, others may use connection sites to find friends or activity partners. For example, the
connection site Meet Up allows users to find activist groups, book clubs, or hobby circles. Users
enter a profile, and then they can even send messages to meet up group leaders in order to learn
more about the activity or see if they would make a good fit for the group.
Social networking sites. Facebook and other social networking sites are almost ubiquitous
features in contemporary culture. Even those who choose not to create an online profile and
participate will often hear from others information gained from such social platforms. A key
distinguishing feature that makes a social networking site is the fellow list of users that one
connects with, usually based upon friendship, family, work relationships, or even weak tie
relationships. Initially social networking sites were great ways to meet new people, and although
that is still a possibility many social networking sites now discourage people from adding
connections they do not know. The public nature of information posted to social networking sites
often allow a space for social or political viewpoints to be displayed, although research suggests
much of this political activity reinforces pre-existing beliefs – especially because people tend to
be online friends with those that are most like them.
Games and entertainment. Online games and entertainment often carry a social
dimension. Puzzle games like Bejeweled or Words with Friends allow friends to challenge each
other for higher scores, send gifts that will allow for advanced game play, or even collaborate to
beat a game together. Other games such as Farmville carry social dimensions where people can
build a virtual farm, town, or business and fellow players can patronize or lend a helping hand to
each other. Many times these games will automatically send requests to others to join in, much to
the chagrin of those receiving such requests. It is becoming more common that these games will
allow for some kind of chat or interaction to accompany each move.
Apps. Short for mobile applications, apps are not necessarily social media oriented; but
many times people can connect through apps via another form of social media (typically
Facebook) and many times apps in and of themselves have some kind of social dimension. One
example is Grindr, an app that allows gay men to find other gay men who are within close
proximity. Like many apps, Grindr uses a smartphone location tracker to determine where the
user is and to determine the distance between other users.

p. 1161

Common Functions
As the classes of social media make clear, social media have many different functions. First, they
allow people to do identity work. When an individual puts who he or she is into a profile, it
requires some kind of reflection. As individuals see reaction to their online social presence, they
will consider themselves in new light and notice that online interaction allows them to feel more
open about thoughts, opinions, and inquiries – both for better and for worse. Second, social
media allows people to tend to their relationships in different ways. Even if popular discourse
often demonizes outlets such as Facebook or Twitter as narcissistic and shallow, research shows
they allow people who may not otherwise be able to connect an outlet to interact. People also
report meeting some of their best friends and even spouses through computer-mediated
communication platforms. Third, social media allow people to perform work functions.
Sometimes the social media is their work, such as a popular blog or someone with a large social
network circle being hired to promote events. Other times people interact with work colleagues
via social media sites or, especially with email, take care of most of their work communication
using the social media outlet.
Fourth, social media allow for people to seek information or share ideas. This
information can range from political campaigns to local issues to disaster relief to where is a
good place to buy plus size clothing. Fifth, and often in line with information sharing, people can
also offer opinions or consider the opinions of others through social media. Finally, individuals
can find entertainment through such sites.

Jimmie Manning
Northern Illinois University

See Also: Blogs; Facebook; Second Life; Social media, adoption of

Further Readings
boyd, danah m., & Ellison, Nicole B. (2007). “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and
Scholarship.” Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 13, article 11.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
p. 1162

Snowden, Collette (2006). "Casting a Powerful Spell: The Evolution of SMS". In Anandam P.
Kavoori and Noah Arceneaux, The Cell Phone Reader: Essays in Social Transformation. New
York: Peter Lang. pp. 107–08.

Wright, Kevin B., & Webb, Lynne M. Computer-Mediated Communication in Personal

Relationships. New York: Peter Lang, 2011.

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INTRODUCTION TO
MASS COMMUNICATION
M
MASS COMMUNICATIONN
COMPLEMEN
ENTARY COURSE FOR BA
A ENGLISH

(2011 Admn. Onwards)

SEMESTER II

UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
CALICUT UNIVERSITY.P.O., MALAPPURAM, KERALA,INDIA 673 635

391
School of Distance Education

UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

STUDY MATERIAL

II Semester

MASS COMMUNICATION
COMPLEMENTARY COURSE FOR BA ENGLISH

INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION

Prepared and Scrutinised by

Dr. Muhammadali. N,
Reader and Head,
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication,
University of Calicut.

Layout & Settings

Computer Section, SDE

©
Reserved

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CONTENTS

MODULE I FUNDAMENTALS OF COMMUNICATION 05-16

MODULE II DEFINING MASS COMMUNICATION 17-23

MODULE III PRINT MEDIA 24-40

MODULE IV ELECTRONIC MEDIA 41-55

MODULE V NEW MEDIA 56-61

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MODULE I
FUNDAMENTALS OF COMMUNICATION

Objectives
After completing this unit, you should be familiar with
• The meaning and importance of the concept of communication
• Various definitions of communication
• The elements of communication
• The nature and purpose of communication
• The functions of communication
• Various types of communication
• Various models of communication
Introduction
It is impossible not to communicate. Everybody communicates, everything
communicates. Communication is not a process limited to human beings only. All creatures on
the earth, from worms to humans, are communicating each other for their better existence. It is a
universal phenomenon.
Communication is a process which includes transmission of information, ideas, emotions,
skills, knowledge by using symbols, words, gestures, and visuals and so on. Thus, the act of
communication is referred to as transmission .
As communication being a universal phenomenon that defines all human behavior, it is
important to have a clear understanding of the concepts of communication. What is
communication? Why is it important to human beings? How does it work? What are the
elements involved in the process of communication? How do they relate each other? What are
the different types of communication? We should answer these questions to have a better
understanding of the subject. Let us look into each of them.
Meaning of Communication
The word communication was originated from the Latin word communis which means
common . Communion, community, communism, commonality, communalism etc. are some related
words having the same linguistic roots. Similarly, newer and newer terms are being coined as the
concept of communication assumes importance day by day. Communication technology,
communication media, communication age, communication management are just a few.
As the very term indicates, the ultimate aim of the communication process is to create
commonness between communicator and receiver of the message. Through communication, both
communicator and receiver enter into a mental agreement. Thus, they achieve their goal, which may be
expression of an emotion or transmission of an idea.

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Transaction, interchange, interaction, dialogue, discussion, sharing, contact are some of

the concepts that come up in our minds when we refer to communication .
According to Oxford English Dictionary, communication is the transfer or conveying of
meaning (Oxford Dictionary).

Definitions

1. Communication is the exchange of meanings between individuals through a common

system of symbols. (I.A.Richards).
2. The transmission of information, ideas attitudes, or emotion from one person or group to
another or others primarily through symbols.
(Theodorson and Theordorson)
3. Communication is the transmission and interchange of facts, ideas, feeling or course of
action. (Leland Brown)
4. Communication is a social interaction through messages ( Grabner, 1967)
5. The interchange of thoughts or information to bring about mutual understanding and
confidence or good human relation. (American society of Training Directors).
6. One mind affecting another (Claude Shannon)
7. The mechanism through which human relations exist and develop (Wilbur Schramm)
8. Transmission of stimuli (Colin Cherry)
9. Communication is the sum of all the things one person does when he wants to create
understanding in the mind of another. It is a bridge of meaning. It involves a systematic
and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding. (Louis Allen)
10. Communication refers to the act by one or more persons, of sending and receiving
messages distorted by noise, within a context, with some effect and with some
opportunity for feedback (Joseph A.Devito)
The definitions given here indicate the following facts:
• A world without communication is unthinkable
• Communication is a complex process
• Communication is essential for human relationships and progress
• Human mind, body and physical conditions are vital components of communication
• A common symbol system is essential for communication
Importance of Communication
Communication is important for all beings that lead community life and form
relationship. For human beings communication is as essential as food, shelter and dignity. While
animal kingdom uses low level symbols for communication, human beings have unique capacity
to use language.

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The basic foundation of human society is communication and it takes place at different
levels within oneself, between individuals, between individual and a group, between groups,
between countries and so on. Similarly, we use verbal and non-verbal forms of messages for
communication.
Communication is essential for development of the society. We attain cultural, social and
economic prosperity by sharing out experiences. How can we share experience without better
communication?
Personal enjoyment is communication based. Just think of a person kept in isolation
without any chance for communication with his friends and relatives. It is really a punishment, a
prison life. Communication helps us interact with our surroundings, thus create positive
relationships, share love, build up friendship and depend each other to enjoy life.
Can you imagine a world without media? Not at all. The basic mission of mass media is
to create ties in human society sharing news. In modern world, media have some more roles to
play. Media defines our political system, form public opinion, support public demands and set
agenda of our social life. In short, no social activity, be it marketing, business, education, politics,
media profession , is possible without communication.

Functions of Communication

Considering the essentiality of communication, scholars enumerated the following functions of

it.

a) Education: To transfer knowledge for the progress of the society

(Example: class room communication)
b) Information: To find and explain some thing new (Example: News media)
c) Cultural promotion : To help foster social values and pass them from generation to
generation (Example: Festivals, parties, celebrations)
d) Social contact: To help make enjoyable companionship (Example: Friendship, clubs,
organizations etc.)
e) Integration: To create harmonious relationships among various social groups (Example:
Political parties, conferences, meetings etc.)
f) Stimulation: To create interest and develop positive thinking /behavior(Example:
Advertisements)
g) Counseling: To alleviate anxiety and lead to better ways (Example: guidance, consolation
etc.)
h) Expression of emotions (Example: crying, smiling etc)
i) Entertainment: To help pass time and enjoy life (Example: drama, song etc.)
j) Control function: To get someone to behave in an appropriate way (Example: management,
censorship etc)

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Elements of Communication

Let us analyse Joseph A Devito s definition that communication refers to the act by one
or more persons, of sending and receiving messages distorted by noise, within a context, with
some effect and with some opportunity for feedback to find out the essential elements of
communication.
According to his definition, communication has the following elements:
a) Sender
b) Message
c) Channel
d) Receiver
e) Noise
f) Feedback
g) Context
h) Effect
Discussion on each of these elements with examples will give us more insight into the
entire process of communication.
Sender
Sender is the idea generating component in communication process. In human
communication, sender may be a person or persons who create or formulate the message to be
sent to the receiver. Being the primary source of the message, sender is also termed as source.
In mass media, for example, news reporter is the sender or source as he/she constructs
the message (news story). In a musical performance, the singer is the sender as his message is
enjoyed by the audience.
Sender is a critical component in communication as his/her social background,
personality status, education etc influence the quality of the message he/she creates. The
message is created from the idea generated in the mind of the sender. The idea generation
process is called encoding.
The source/sender has three functions:
a) To decide what is to be communicated
b) Encoding (Put the idea in such a way that the receiver understands it)
c) Transmitting the message to the receiver

Message

The message is any verbal or non-verbal method that produces meaning in the mind of
the receiver. Simply, it is the meaning transferred from sender s mind to receiver s mind. This
happens mainly in two ways: verbal and non-verbal methods.
Verbal message means written or oral messages. They are composed of words. Example:
A newspaper report or a lecture by a teacher.
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Non-verbal messages are those communicated through our behaviour,

movements, actions, clothes, style of conversation, pitch of the sound etc.
What is fundamental in message construction is the agreement between sender and
receiver in the code used for it. If the receiver cannot identify the language or meaning of the
message, the communication will be defective.
Channel
The channel means medium by which sender transmits the message to the receiver. Our
five senses such hearing, touching, smelling , tasting , seeing are basic natural channels of human
communication. Communication can be classified on the basis of five basic natural channels.
They are:
Tactile communication: Communication by touch or taste
Olfactory communication: communication by smell
Audio communication: Communication through sound waves
Visual communication: Communication through visual elements or properties.
We use any technically developed medium (like television, newspaper, books etc) with the
help of one or more of these five senses. Similarly, sender uses one or more channels to maximize
the communication effect. For example multi-media class room where teacher uses projector,
blackboard, lecture, gestures etc. simultaneously.
Receiver
Idea receiving end in communication process is called receiver. A person or thing may be
at the receiving end. The receiver s role is as important as a sender s role. As in the case of a
sender, receiver has also three roles to play:
a) To receive the message
b) To decode the message
Decoding is the process of extracting a message from a code and interprets it. For this, sender
and receiver should have knowledge about the code (for example: language) used in
communication.
c) To respond to the message through feedback
Receivers may be audience watching movies, persons listening to music, students hearing
a lecture or a computer getting e-mail from a remote server.
Communication fails or remains faulty when message is rejected or misinterpreted by the
receiver.
Feedback
Information or message that is fed back to the source is called feedback. If you get
clapping for your singing, clapping is the feedback. Questions raised by students in a class room
for more information is another example for feedback.
Feedback originated either from the sources own message is called self feedback.
Example: When you talk to somebody, you hear yourself and evaluate your tone, pitch etc.

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Sometimes you may think that you could have sharpened or softened your tone or pitch or text,
because of your own feedback.
Another type of feedback is that originated from the receiver. It may be in the form of
questions, applauses, puzzled look etc.
Feedback may be negative or positive, immediate or delayed.
Receiver s indication to the sender that the message was not received well is called
negative feedback. Eg. Looks of indifference, rejection or boredom may be considered as
negative feedback.
Receiver s favourable responses like acceptance, applauses etc. are positive feedback.
Feedback at the time of the communication itself or just after it is immediate feedback.
Eg. Applauses a singer gets during the performance.
Receiver s response relatively much after the communication is delayed feedback. Eg.
Letters to the Editor.
Noise
Noise or communication barrier is any thing that distorts message. Noise may originate
in any of the components of communication like source, message, channel, context, receiver etc.
Noise is present when there is difference between the message sent and received.
Communication is not possible without noise, but its effects may be reduced through various
methods such as using good grammar, clear voice, simple language, quality signal etc.
Noise is of different types depending on the nature and reasons of the distortion.
They are:
Psychological noise: Any communication error due to the psychological reasons. Eg. A
fearful audience can t enjoy the musical programme.
Semantic noise : Language related problems in communication. Eg. Poor grammar, complex
sentence structure, rare vocabulary etc.
Contextual noise: If communication takes place in inappropriate time or place, message is
not conveyed well. Eg. Wishing compliments during a funeral function. Or An outdoor
meeting at noon in a hot summer.
Channel noise : Medium related communication barrier. Eg. Poor signal affecting picture
clarity of television.
Context
Communication takes place in a context. At times it is noticeable and at other times not.
In other words, time, place, culture, physical and social condition and psychology of the
participants are important in determining communication effect. If we try to interpret a message
out of its context, we may get an entirely different meaning which may result in communication
error.
Rules and roles are two important factors related to communication context.

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Rules are the norms we have to follow while communicating in different situations. For
example, our communication behaviour is different when we are in class room, market or prayer
hall, depending on the rules the situation demands.
Roles are the character or part each participant in communication has to play. For example,
in family communication situation, father plays a leader s role. In class room, students play the
receiver s role.

Effect
Why do we communicate? It is a fundamental question. To make some effect on the receiver is
the answer. Effect is consequence or result of communication. Every communication act makes
some effect on the person/s. Effect may be positive or negative. Communication is said to be
success when we achieve the indented effect.
Communication effects are of three types:
Cognitive effects: The consequences take place in the receiver s intelligence due to
communication. Example : Knowledge acquisition
Affective effects: The consequences occurred in the emotions of the person/s due to
communication.
Eg. Compassion, love etc.
Behavioral effects: The change in the receiver s bahaviour or actions due to communication.
Eg. Political campaign and change in people s voting behaviour or purchasing new
products inspired by the advertisements.
Using these elements, let us have a graphical representation of communication process. graphical
representation of communication process is also called communication models.

A basic model of human communication

While analysing this model, we should keep in mind that

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• Communication is a dynamic process involving different elements. No element is static.

• Some or all of these elements make communication possible. It is not must for a
communication act to have all these elements.
• Elements of communication are interrelated.
Scope and Purpose of Communication Models
A model is a miniature, a highly selective visual representation of any reality. In that
sense, communication model means graphical/visual representation of communication process
using various elements involved. The best example is the above described graphic that
visulanalizes various elements and processes in the communication as envisaged by Joseph A
Devito.
Purpose of Communication Models
A graphic representation of any reality helps us visualize the relationships among various
elements of a structure, system or process; an object, event or act. Mc Quil and Windhal say that
a model is a consciously simplified description in graphic form of a piece of reality. No single
model can be expected to present a holistic picture of reality. Communication models help us to
visualise, analyse and discuss various complex processes and issues that would be otherwise
difficult to explain

Functions of models

Organizing function: Models help us by ordering and relating systems to each other by
providing with images of whole that might not otherwise perceived
Explaining function : Models help us study communication by providing simplified version
which would otherwise be complex
Yet another function of communication is heuristic in nature. It means that in the study of
communication, models guide researchers to the key points of the process or system
Thus communication models help
a. to assign probabilities to formulate hypothesis in research
b. to predict outcomes
c. to describe the structure of a phenomenon

Aristotle s Concept of Communication

The first known scholar who wrote about communication, though not directly, is
Aristotle (384-322 BC). In his famous books, Rhetoric , Aristotle called the study of
communication as rhetoric and elaborated three elements within the process. According to him,
communication process composed of a speaker, a message and a listener. Person at the end of the
communication process holds the key to whether or not communication takes place.

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In Aristotle s point of view,

Communication is purposive;
It is based on the intention of affecting others;
Its effects can be evaluated and measured in terms of effect, and also in terms of the truth;
Rhetoric considers not only what is or was, but also what might be.
To his communicators need to develop five skills:
Invention - ability to generate ideas;
Disposition - ability to organize ideas;
Style - use of appropriate language;
Memory - ability to recall facts & ideas;
Delivery - use of voice and gestures.
From his observations, later scholars developed a model of communication using the elements he
mentioned.

Aristole s Model of Communication

The model consists of four visible elements: Speaker or receiver, speech or message,
audience or receiver(s) and effect of communication. And, context or occasion of the
communication covers all the elements indicating that it has influence on other four elements.

Lasswell Model of Communication

Harold Dwight Lasswell (1902-1978) is the proponent of famous question formula, which
is otherwise called Lasswell formula of communication. We can t call his definition of
communication which is presented in an array of question as a communication model in its strict
sense.

This American political scientist stated that the most convenient and comprehensive way
to describe an act of communication was to answer the following questions: Who (says) What
(to) Whom (in) What Channel (with) What Effect?

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Lasswell Model of Communication

This model is self speaking of the process of communication which consists of five
elements namely communicator (who), message (says what), medium (in which
channel), receiver (to whom) effect (with what effect).

Lasswell conceived communication as a linear process which starts from

communicator and ends at receiver with some effect. The major missing elements of this
basic model are feedback and context of communication. However, this model is said to
be highly helpful for organizing communication research as audience analysis, content
analysis, control analysis, reception analysis and effect studies which are respectively
represented by communicator, message, medium, receiver and effect.

Osgood and Shramm Model

Osgood and Schramm Model

Osgood and Schramm envisioned communication as a circular process which has

beginning and or end. Hence their model is called Circular Model. In their view, sender and
receiver are interchangeable positions and though not specifically mentioned, feedback is an
essential component of this model. There are three functions on each part of the communication
circle. They are : encoding, decoding and interpreting. Both sender and receiver are encoders,
decoders and interpreters at the same time.

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Encoder Who does encoding or sends the message

Decoder Who receives the message
Interpreter Person trying to understand (analyses, perceive) or interpret.
Merits of this model are:

1. Dynamic model- Shows how a situation can change

2. It shows why redundancy is an essential part
3. There is no separate sender and receiver, sender and receiver is the same person
4. Assume communication to be circular in nature
5. Feedback central feature.

David Berlo s Model of Communication

David Berlo s model of communication has four major parts : source (S), message (M),
channel (C) and receiver (R). It is conceived as a linear model. This model is otherwise called
SMCR model denoting each element

Berlo s Communication Model

Unlike other models SMCR model elaborates the sub sects of major components
indicating the influence of external factors like culture, language, text and social system and
sensory organs on communication process.
Berlo s model has the following demerits:
a. No feedback / don t know about the effect
b. Does not mention barriers to communication
c. No room for noise
d. Complex model
e. It is a linear model of communication
f. Needs people to be on same level for communication to occur but not true in real life
g. Main drawback of the model is that the model omits the usage of sixth sense as a channel
which is actually a gift to the human beings (thinking, understanding, analyzing etc).

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Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication

Claude Shannon, an engineer at the Bell Telephone Company, along with Weaver
developed the most influential of all early communication models. Their goal was to formulate a
theory to guide the efforts of engineers to find out the most efficient way of transmitting
electrical signals from one location to another.

Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication

As the prime concern of the developers of this model was to quantitatively maximize the signals
transmitted, this model is also called Mathematical Model of Communication. The model is based on
technical communication settings where information source transmits the messages after converting it
to signals. These signals are captured using receivers and decoded. Communication through
mechanical devices like telephone or television is a best example for this model.
Dance s Helical Model of Communication

Dance Model of Communication

The Helical Model of communication was proposed by Frank Dance in 1967. A helix is
nothing but a smooth curve just like a spring which if goes upwards also comes downwards.
Dance thought of communication process similar to helix. Dance's model emphasized the
complexity of communication. He was interested in the evolutionary nature of the process of
communication. According to him, once communication started, it develops gradually according
to time. This model disagrees with the traditional concepts of linearity and circularity in
communication and stresses the helical spiral nature of the process. According to Dance, earlier
communication helps widen the nature and context of further communication. To him,
communication has a very simple beginning and it widens as time and context permit.
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MODULE II
DEFINING MASS COMMUNICATION
Objectives
This unit will introduce
• Components of mass communication
• Channels of mass communication
• The process of mass communication
• Nature of mass communication
• Functions and dysfunctions of mass communication
• Types of mass media
Introduction
We learnt to define communication, identify its elements and categorize the process
based on the number of persons involved in it. Of the above mentioned types of communication,
our focus is on mass communication. In this unit, we will learn the various aspects of mass
communication, which is the thrust area of this programme.
Components of Mass Communication
For better understanding of the nature of mass communication, we should analyze its
two basic components : the mass and the communication media.
The Mass
The concept mass in mass communication is defined as a large, heterogeneous,
assorted, anonymous audience.
Large means we can t exactly count the number of the members of audience. It is
relatively large but it doesn t mean that the audience includes all people.
Heterogeneous means the audience of mass media includes all types of people the rich,
the poor, farmers, bureaucrats, politicians and so on.
Assorted means the audience of mass media is not necessarily limited to a particular
geographical sector. They may be scattered everywhere. For example, a newspaper may have a
reader in every nook and corner of the world.
Anonymous means we can t specifically identify a reader of a newspaper of newspaper
with his certain characteristics. Today he may be reader of a particular newspaper. Tomorrow, he
may change his media habit. Anybody at any time may be a member of mass media audience.
The channels of communication that produce and distribute news, entertainment content,
visuals and other cultural products to a large number of people. Mass media can be classified in
to three major groups on the basis of their physical nature.

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They are:
• Print Media like newspaper, magazines and periodicals, books etc.
• Electronic like radio, cinema, television, video and audio records
• Digital Media like CD RoMs, DVDs and the Internet facilities.
Mass Communication Process
How does mass communication work can be well explained in linear model of mass
communication?. According to this traditional concept, mass communication is a component
system made up of senders ( the authors, reporters, producers or agencies) who transmit
messages ( the book content, the news reports, texts, visuals, images, sounds or advertisements)
through mass media channels ( books, newspapers, films, magazines, radio, television or the
Internet) to a large group of receivers ( readers, viewers, citizens or consumers) after the filtering
of gatekeepers ( editors, producers or media managers) with some chance for feedback ( letters to
editors, phone calls to news reporters, web-site postings or as audience members of talk shows or
television discussions). The effect of this process may formation of public opinion, acceptance of
a particular cultural value, setting the agenda for the society and the like.
A simple linear model of mass communication situation can be represented with the
diagram given below.

Reporter Report Media Audience

Feedback

Nature of Mass Communication

From the above model of mass communication, it is easy to identify the following
features of mass communication.
1. Mass communication experience is public one. It means that anybody can be a part of
this communication process at any time without much effort or permission.
2. It is a mediated communication act. Nature of the media involved in the process
defines the mediation in mass communication. For example, television can transmit a
news instantly as it is a fast medium, newspaper takes to bring the same news report
to the public because of its limitations. This is how nature of the media defines the
mediation process in mass communication.

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3. Mass communication is filtered communication. This filtering processing is called

gatekeeping. For example, a news report in a newspaper or on a television channel
filtered or controlled at different level by reporter, sub editor, news editor, editor.
4. It is the most complicated form of communication as it involves complex technology
like satellites digital networks, management structure, marketing chain etc.
5. Mass communication can alter the way the society thinks about events and attitudes.
6. Mass communication experience is transient. It means that once you used a message (
for example, a news report or a film) you may not use it again. The message is meant
to be used once and it is gone. Who will read yesterday s newspaper?
7. Mass communication is most often remains as one-way communication. As receivers,
how many of us write letters to editor (sender)? A very few. But, in interpersonal
communication, senders and receivers are in active conversation sending feedback to
each other.
8. Unlike other communicators, mass communicators can t see their audience. Karan
Tapar or Pranoy Roy, the leading television personalities in India know that their
programmes are watched by millions of Indians. But, they can t see how people
respond or react while watching their presentations. That s why they can t change the
style of presentation or mode of communication instantly as we do in interpersonal or
group communication.
Mass Media
Mass media influence our daily life more than any other cultural institution. They are our
main sources of news and entertainment. They define our purchase decision, voting behavior,
academic achievement and so on. Because of this all-encompassing impact of mass media,
politicians, businessmen and government agencies depend on media to influence people. During
election time, we witness politicians spending millions of rupess for political campign through
mass media. Business firms across the world spend billions of dollars to market their products
with the help of mass media advertisements. We are informed of the policies of our governments
through newspapers and electronic media. Likewise, we people need mass media to express our
needs, complaints and wishes to the authorities. In short, role of mass media in our society is
omnipresent.
Defining Mass Media
According to Wilbur Schramm a mass medium is essentially a working group organized
around some device for circulating the same message, at about same time, to a large number of people .
From this definition, let us know that there is a well organized system behind each mass
medium. For example, a newspaper is produced everyday with the collective efforts of a lot of
people using various information sources ranging from local reporters to international news
agencies. Same is the case of distribution of the newspaper also. Everybody from circulation
manager to local newspaper boy is actively engaged in smooth circulation of each copy of a
newspaper. Moreover, every county has its own policy, laws, and telecommunication systems to
facilitate mass media. In this sense, the production of a mass medium is the result of a well
organized system.

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And, the messages are disseminated to a large number of people ie. mass. They are called
the audience. No media can sustain without a sufficient audience. We learned the characteristics
of mass audience in the earlier unit.
The definition again talks about devices of circulating messages. These devices are
technological means through which messages are communicated to the audience. Devices
include printed documents, television, radio, DVD, cassettes, the internet etc.
Types of Mass Communication
Mass media can be categorized according to physical form, technology involved, nature
of the communication process etc. Given below are the major categories of mass media.
Print Media
Johannes Gutenberg s invention of the moveable metallic type in the fifteenth century
paved the way for proliferation of the print media. The printing press using moveable types
introduced the method for mass production of texts. Before the invention of the printing press,
books were expensive materials affordable only for the aristocrats and royal families. Printing
reduced the cost of books and made them available to the common men also. Rapid duplication
of multiple copies of handy texts led to the innovation of modern newspapers.
Print Media include
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• books
• other textual documents
Electronic Media
The history of electronic mass media starts with the invention of radio by Marconi. The
first radio station was set up in Pittsburg, New York and Chicago in the 1920s. Following the
USA, European countries also started radio stations for broadcasting news and entertainment
content. The colonial powers like Briton and France set radio stations in Asian and African
countries in the early years of 20th century. The next step in electronic communication media
history was the invention of cinema. Following cinema, television broadcasting was initiated in
the US on experimental basis during 1920s. But, the dramatic impact of television as a mass
medium began in 1950s. Parallel to these, recording industry was also boomed in the western
countries. In short, the term electronic media mainly include:
• Radio
• Movies
• Television
• Audio and Video records

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New Media
Online and digital means of producing, transmitting and receiving messages are called
new media. The term encompasses computer mediated communication technology. It implies the
use of desktop and portable computers as well as wireless and handheld devices. Every company
in the computer industry is involved with new media in some manner. The forms of
communicating in the digital world include
• CD-RoMs
• DVDs
• Internet facilities like World Wide Web, bulleting boarding, email etc.
Functions of Mass Media
As mentioned earlier, mass media have pervasive effects on our personal and social life.
The role and scope of mass media in our society are in the following areas:
• Information
• Education
• Entertainment
• Persuasion
Information function
Mass media carry a lot of information which are essential for our day to day life. We
know exam results, weather forecasts, current affairs, traffic regulations, last dates, precautions,
government policies etc. from mass media. The core of media s information function is
performed by the media content called news. The place or time dedicated for news in a mass
media is called news hole. News is the most consumed item of any media. News can be defined
as reports on things that people want or need to know. Information should be accurate, objective
and complete. Biased or incomplete reports will keep the audience away from the media.
Advertising is also mass media s information function. We get much useful information
from classified advertisements.
Education function
Information is different from education. Education is systematically organized information
with predefined objectives. The primary source of education in our society is schools or colleges. Media
also perform the functions that educational institutions do. Media are life-long educators for the society.
They give us comprehensive knowledge of selected topics. Non-news content or news-based content
like editorials, articles, columns in newspapers provide us with complete idea of a subject. Health
Magazines, IT magazines are also examples for education through media. Recently, mass media in
Kerala directly participate in our educational system by publishing educational supplements for
school-goers . Padippura of Malayala Manorams, Kutty.com of Mathrubhumi, Velicham of
Madhyamam, Kilivatil of Deshabhimani are examples. Moreover, we have a number television
channels dedicated for mass education. Victors of IT @ School Project of Kerala Government, Vyas
Channelr of Consortium of Educational Communication under University Grants Commission,
Gyandarsan of Doordarshan are some of such efforts.

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Entertainment function
Irrespective of their type, mass media are wonderful entertainers. All media have
entertainment content. Newspapers publish cartoons, comics, puzzles, special weekend
supplements for amusing people. Lion share of magazine content such as short stories, novels,
satires and cartoons are for entertainment. Movies are another big stock for entertainment.
Audio-Visual media such as television and radio are also primarily concentrate on entertainment
function through their programmes based on sports, film, and fashion shows etc.
Persuasion
Persuasion means influencing attitudes or opinions. Mass media have many ways to
persuade people. Most people form their opinion from information they get from mass media.
Media have direct and indirect methods for persuasion. For public opinion formation, mass
media use editorials, news analysis and commentaries. In such cases, the purpose is clear and
direct. The most obvious method of persuasion is advertising. Advertisements are direct
methods to influence purchasing behaviour of the public. Some media report events hiding their
vested interests in news. Such biased, subjective reports are for persuading people to form
favourable attitudes towards them or their interests. Opinionated news is an undirected method
of persuasion. It s against the ethics of responsible journalism. News and opinion should be
given separately.
According to western media scholars like Harold Laswell, mass media, be print or
electronic, have the following functions:
Surveillance of the environment
Mass media observe the society and its activities and report them to make people aware
of their socio-cultural environment. In other words, we as social animals are always under the
close observations of mass media. Media are our watchdogs. It always watches who do good
things and who do bad things, and report them to encourage or correct our deeds. Reports about
corruptions are good example. Considering this watchdog function of mass media, we call the
media as the Fourth Estate of our democratic political system. The other estates are Legislative,
Judiciary and Executive.
Transmission of heritage
Mass media are the bridge between our past and present. They report day to day affairs
which will become history of tomorrow. The best records of modern history are newspapers of
yesteryears. We get our cultural tradition from history and we follow the best of them. In
keeping our culture flowing, media play a vital role. It advises us which part of our culture is
good and to be followed and which is bad and not to be followed.
Interpretation of information
Mass media provide us with information from every nook and corner of the world. They
do not just report facts and figures of the events, rather they interpret events to make us aware of
what happens, and why, where, when and how it happens. Media interpretation may be biased
or not. But, it helps develop our views towards an event or object or personality. Every media
report is an analysis and one version of the fact. There may be another versions and analysis.

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Prescription for conduct

How should we behave in a society? What should be our approach towards something
important to the society? What is good for social life? As a member of a larger social system, we
face these questions every now and then. In most cases, mass media provide us answers. During
the election time, we are confused of electing a candidate. But, news coverage of political policies
and leaders of various parties give us an insight that helps us take decisions. This is how media
prescribe our political conduct. So do the advertising. Which product or service is better? Which
is suitable to our budget? We depend on advertisements before taking purchase decisions.
Catalyst for Development
In a country like India, media s role in national development is highly important. Media s
contributions to national development are mainly in two ways : As advocates for development
and as carriers of development messages. Mass media find out problems faced by people in
different walks of their life and make the administrators aware of them. Most often, media report
such events and further campaign to get the grievances redressed. On the other hand, media
make people aware of their rights, government subsidies, development policies and the merits
and demerits of adopting or practicing them for better life. Government controlled media
perform these duties better than the private media do. This development orient function of
media is termed as Development Communication. Development Communication has been
recognized as a special area in communication study and research.
Nature of Mass Communication
From the above model of mass communication, it is easy to identify the following
features of mass communication.
1. Mass communication experience is public one. It means that anybody can be a part of this
communication process at any time without much effort or permission.
2. It is a mediated communication act. Nature of the media involved in the process defines the
mediation in mass communication. For example, television can transmit a news instantly as it is a
fast medium, newspaper takes to bring the same news report to the public because of its
limitations. This is how nature of the media defines the mediation process in mass
communication.
3. Mass communication is filtered communication. This filtering processing is called gatekeeping.
For example, a news report in a newspaper or on a television channel filtered or controlled at
different level by reporter, sub editor, news editor, editor.
4. It is the most complicated form of communication as it involves complex technology like satellites
digital networks, management structure, marketing chain etc.
5. Mass communication can alter the way the society thinks about events and attitudes.
6. Mass communication experience is transient. It means that once you used a message
( for example, a news report or a film) you may not use it again. The message is meant to be used
once and it is gone. Who will read yesterday s newspaper?
7. Mass communication is most often remains as one-way communication. As receivers, how many
of us write letters to editor (sender)? A very few. But, in interpersonal communication, senders
and receivers are in active conversation sending feedback to each other.
8. Unlike other communicators, mass communicators can t see their audience. Karan Tapar or
Pranoy Roy, the leading television personalities in India know that their programmes are
watched by millions of Indians. But, they can t see how people respond or react while watching
their presentations. That s why they can t change the style of presentation or mode of
communication instantly as we do in interpersonal or group communication.

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MODULE III
PRINT MEDIA
Objectives
This Unit will help you
• Identify the features of the print media
• Learn different types of print media in detail
• Learn about various print media: newspaper, magazines and periodicals and books.
Introduction
In 1457, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable metal types. This paved the way for mass
production of printed materials. Resultantly, presses and publications spread rapidly first across
Europe, then in other continents. Mass production of printed documents led to democratization
of knowledge. In other words, it made knowledge and education accessible to common people. It
was exactly a revolution because till then knowledge was considered the property of the elite.
As we learned in the last unit, the primary print media are three: books, magazines and
newspapers.
The print media are different in their binding, regularity, content and timeliness, though
the means and methods for production are similar to certain extent.

Types of Print Media

Features Books Magazines Newspapers
Binding Stitched /Glued Stapled Unbound
Regularity Single Issue At least quarterly At least weekly
Content Single Topic Diverse Topic Diverse Topic
Timeliness Generally, not May be timely or Timeliness is
timely untimely important

These are not rigid distinctions. However, they are helpful to understand the features of
each type.
Newspapers
Newspapers are periodically published documents that carry current information about
the society. Earlier newspapers were not daily publications as we see now. They were published
weekly or bi-weekly. This was due o the absence of adequate technology and newsgathering
system. By the early 19th century, power press was invented. This led to fast printing. Invention
of telegraph and teleprinter also helped us gather news from remote places. This all facilitated
the introduction of daily newspapers.

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The first newspaper was Publick Occurrences published by Ben Harris in 1690. The first
newspaper published in India was the Bengal Gazzet by James Augustus Hicky in 1780. It is also
called Hicky s Gazette.
Newspapers are primary mass medium from which people receive news. The research
results show that newspapers reach more people than any other medium do. And, by every
measure, newspaper industry overpower all other media, be it in advertising revenue and in the
size of audience.
Unlike other mass media, newspapers influence people in a many significant ways. A
newspaper article or news is valued more than television or radio programmes. And, newspaper
content is considered more credible and accurate. Capability to be used for future reference make
newspapers people s favorable medium, especially for the middle and working class for they can
use it after their working hours.. Diversity of content is another feature this medium. It can carry
a rich mix of news, features, articles, columns, cartoons, graphics, editorial etc. And, readers can
select what they want from the entire content. Some people prefer sports page and they read it
first while others look for political news and some other for stock market. Selectivity and content
diversity make newspapers a real mass medium. This is not possible in the case of radio and
television.
In any society, the traditional newspapers are part of their culture and social system. They
talk about their newspapers affectionately because they give them information, education,
entertainment, more over ways for socialization and legitimization of new values. In democratic
society, the Press is the Fourth Estate. At primary level, the Press means newspapers.
Of the print media, newspapers are the most read one. It is assumed that 3 out of every 4
literates read newspapers. In United States of America, daily newspapers reach 185 million
people a day. For advertisers, newspaper is a medium of choice since it attract active readers
(active audience) compared to any other media.
Even then newspapers are facing many challenges from electronic media and new media.
Newspapers are printed products created on a regular (weekly or daily) basis and
published in multiple copies, containing mainly updated information about happenings in the
society. Regular newspapers were not in circulation till 17th century because of the absence of
adequate printing or duplication technology.
Role of Newspapers
In their early years, newspapers were centre of debate and they were run by scholars,
political leaders, reformers and revolutionaries. The main mission of the Press in its infant stage
was to argue with government for better life conditions and freedom of the people. Because of
their capability to raise public opinion and alternative thinking, the Press at that time is called by
media historians as adversarial press. During this period, governments imposed stringent
licensing systems and taxes on newspapers. In spite of these measures, English newspapers
continued their battle against colonial policies of the Britain. The public anger created by the
Press culminated in the American Revolutionary War. The newspapers in other countries may
also have same kind of stories to tell. The early newspapers, both in English and in local

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languages in India also formed public opinion against the British policies and at last resulted in
the withdrawal of English forces from Indian soil.
Advances in printing technology encouraged newspapers to adopt new modes of
production and distribution which led to mass circulation of the medium. Circulation means the
number of newspapers people paid for or received free in one publishing cycle. The steam
powered cylinder press invented by Hoe and Company and development of low-cost newsprint
were the innovations in printing sector. These made it possible to print thousands of copies in a
short time and sell them at a price low enough that even working people could afford. It was
then newspapers became the real mass medium. During 1800s, with their popularity newspapers
were sold on the street at a low price. So they are called penny papers. Newspaper circulation
increased into tens of thousands due to the popularity they gained over decades and more and
more innovations were introduced in printing sector. Rotary press with revolving types and
offset press are some of them.

Characteristics of Newspapers

Primarily newspapers are print media even though digital age offers online newspapers
and e-newspapers. That is why it has all the features that any print medium has. Major features
of mass media are given below:
Predominance of news-oriented content: There are thee types of content in newspapers: news,
views and advertisements. Of these news overshadows the others because newspapers are
primarily meant for the dissemination of news.
Regular periodicity: Newspapers may be published daily or weekly. Periodicity may vary but,
regularity should be kept. Every newspaper keeps a particular regularity in publication.
Future reference facility: Being a print medium, newspapers can be kept for future use. This
archiving ability makes newspapers one of the main sources of historical research.
Choice of the time of use: Unlike television and radio, we can read newspapers at any time.
Some read in the morning while others in the evening after work. This facility increases the
popularity of newspapers.
The Literates medium: Unlike television and radio, newspaper demands literacy from the part
of the audience.
Low cost: Compared to other media, newspaper is a cost effective medium. Anybody can afford
a newspaper as it needs no hidden charges or other accessories. Electronic media requires power
supply and the new media need digital technology.
Multiple Users: Many readers can read a copy of the newspaper simultaneously or separately.
Textual Medium: Text is the soul of newspapers, though they carry images and graphics.

Types of Newspapers

Newspapers can be categorized into various types based on their page size/format,
content type, periodicity, time of publication, area of circulation and type of the users.
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By Page Size/Page Format

By size, newspapers can be divided into three: Calendar, Tabloid and Berliner
• Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by
long vertical pages (typically 22 inches / 559 millimetres or more). The term derives
from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and
containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first
broadsheet newspaper was published in 1618. Most of the Malayalam newspapers
are in broadsheet format.

Broadsheet newspaper
• Tabloid is a smaller newspaper format per spread mostly used for a weekly or semi-
weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and
entertainment. The tabloid newspaper format is particularly popular in the United
Kingdom where its page dimensions are roughly 430 × 280 mm (16.9 in × 11.0 in).
Tehelka, well known Indian news weekly is in tabloid format.

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Tabloid newspaper
• Berliner is a newspaper format with pages normally measuring about 470 × 315 mm
(18.5 × 12.4 in). The Berliner format is slightly taller and marginally wider than the
tabloid format; and is both narrower and shorter than the broadsheet format. The
Berliner format is used by many European newspapers, including dailies such as Le
Monde in France, and The Guardian in the United Kingdom.

Berliner format

By time of publication
• Morning Dailies
• Evening Dailies
By Content
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By content type, newspapers are mainly classified as general newspapers, political

newspapers, and financial/business newspapers. Some other categories are also possible, but not
in currency.
By Periodicity
Dailies and weeklies are two type of newspapers based on the periodicity. Dailies are
newspapers that are published at least five times a week and weeklies are those published once a
week.
In the West, Sunday newspapers are a common scene. But in India, newspapers publish
literary / entertainment/ cultural supplements for leisure reading.

By Circulation Area

• National Dailies: Their primary area of circulation is across the nation. Wall Street
Journal, USA Today are national dailies of the USA. Guardian, Sun and Independent are
British dailies. The Hindu, Times of India and Hindustan Times are national dailies in
India.
• Hometown newspapers: Town-centric newspapers focusing issues on that particular city
is called hometown newspapers. Midday of Mumbai is an example.
• Metropolitan dailies: Dailies concentrate on the affairs of a metro city. Examples: Metro
Vartha of Malayala Manorama.
By Audience

• Community Newspapers: Newspapers published on and by a community. Eg. Newsday

based in New York. Deepika in Malayalam.
• Religious Newspapers: Newspapers published by religious organizations, focusing on
religious news with a mission of propagation. Eg. Punybhoomi
• Immigrant and Ethnic Newspaper: Newspapers published by ethnic groups living in
alien lands as expatriates like Indians in the Gulf countries. Benjamin Franklin s
Philadelphische Zeitung in 1732 is the first of its kind. Gulf Madhyamam published from
the Middle East is first full-fledged ethnic media in Malayalam.
By Language

• English
• Vernacular
• Braille: Newspapers published for the blind.
Structure of a Newspaper Organization
In general newspapers have six main departments under the direct supervision of the
publisher, who manages the company s entire operations. The departments are:

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• Business Section which includes Purchase Section, Accounting Section, Payroll Section,
Human Resources Section, Planning and Development Section.
• Editorial Section: Editorial Desk, Field, Library and Resources Section and IT Section.
• Production Section : Design Section, Composing Section, Plate Making Section and
Printing and Packing Section
• Marketing Section: Market Research Section, Promotion Section and Public Relations
Section.
• Advertising Section: Accounts Section, Sales Section and Customer Service Section.
• Circulation Section: It manages the prompt delivery of the newspaper and circulation
promotion methods.

Newspaper Production
In discussing the production of newspaper, we shall focus on two areas: content creation
and printing.
Content Creation
The process of content creation of a newspaper depends on its periodicity (dailies or
weeklies) and nature of circulation.
In general, publisher of the newspaper is in charge of all of a newspaper s operations,
including financial matters such as getting advertisements, circulation, legal matters, human
resource management, accounts etc.), production issues (procurement of production materials
like newsprints, machinery etc.) and editorial issues (general policy regarding the perspectives
and style of presentation of the non-advertising matters).
The publisher sets the advertising-editorial ratio subject to the rules and regulations
framed by the governments and controlling agencies. Ad-editorial radio helps us define the
balance between the amount of space separately available for advertisements and editorial
matters. Typical ratio between editorial/news and advertisements is 60:40 in most countries. The
space allotted for news/editorial content is called news hole and the space available for
advertisements is called pay hole.
Editor is the person responsible to manage all operations to fill the news hole while
advertising manager under the guidance of the publisher will take care of the pay hole. There
will be an array of professionals like Managing Editor, Assistant Editor, Resident Editor, News
Editor, Chief Sub Editor, Sub Editor and reporters in the field to assist the Editor in his
operations.
The editorial department has two distinct teams working in tandem:
• News gatherers (reporters)
• News processors (editors)
News gatherers are field staff while news processors as the desk staff.

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Reporters gather news independently or under the guidance of the desk. They report
news according to the content types required for the newspapers. In a typical urban newspaper,
the sections based on content types might be entertainment, finance, sports, fashion
television/radio, politics, culture and foreign news.
Production Process
Once the news is identified, it is reported by the field staff and edited by those in the
desk. Next starts the production stage. The first step in this phase is newspaper design. In some
newspaper firms, sub editors themselves design pages; in others layout artists do the job. With
the Desk Top Publishing (DTP), it has been easy for any computer literate to design newspaper
pages. QuarkExpress and Adobe InDesign are the commonly used software for page design in
Indian newspapers. Pages are set according to the dummy, a skeleton of the newspaper page,
given by the advertising department after marking the space for advertisements of the day.
Designer/Sub Editor arranges news stories and news photos on the pages according to their
importance. To make the pages visually attractive, pages are arranged keeping
• Symmetry : Visual balance of the text and graphics
• Colour balance : Visual balance of the various color used.
• Judicious use of white space : To provide enough white space to avoid messy design
• Readability criteria : To make the page functionally readable
• Legibility : Clarity and visibility of the text and graphics
• Consistency : Standardization of the design for newspaper branding
• House style: Standards devised by each newspaper organization should be followed in
design.
Now, the page is ready. It is handed over to senior editors like chief sub editor, news
editor, assistant editor or any such supervising staff for scrutiny and approval. After the
approval, the pages will go to plate making section. Earlier the plates were made after filming the
pages. But, advances in technology help skip this step. Now, pages can be directly transferred to
plates (Plates are aluminum sheets on which images of the pages are printed using special
chemicals). These plates are mounted on to printing machines for printing. Printed newspapers
are packed for transportation to the newspaper agents.
In a newspaper organization, every task has a time limit. Otherwise, we will not get
newspapers early morning everyday. The time limit for completing an assignment is called deadline.
Very good internal communication is essential for better function of a newspaper
organization. Reporters should inform what is up there in the field. Editors should inform each
other about the stories allotted to each page. Designer should consult with the sub editor about
arranging news on a page and with the printer about the technicalities of printing. Advertising
department should give advertisement details on time and marketing section should inform the
editorial section about the market needs. In short, everybody should go hand in hand for
successful functioning of a newspaper organization.

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Recent Trends
Newspaper industry adopted technological advances over the years, ranging from
moveable metallic types to the latest version PoD machines- (Print on Demand machine prints
only the required number of copies and can print earlier copies in memory as and when
required). The adoption of innovation doesn t confine to printing technology only; it reflects in
newsgathering, editing, designing, printing, distribution and audience research.
Online newspapers
Online newspapers are newspaper exist on World Wide Web. It is electronic version of the
newspaper with all the characteristics of new media. Online newspapers are interactive and have
multimedia content. They are accessible worldwide and very cost effective to publish and circulate.
Typically, online newspapers have two versions: web newspaper and e-papers. E-papers are electronic
version of a day s real newspaper mostly in Portable Document Format (PDF) available on the Web,
while online newspaper or web newspapers are websites fully dedicated to news and other newspaper
contents.

e-paper

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Online newspaper

Magazines and Periodicals

Unlike newspapers, magazines are periodical publications carrying non-news items.
Andrew Bradford s American Magazine and Benjamin Fralkin s General Magazine are considered
as the first magazines. They were published in 1740s. Earlier magazines were as expensive as
books. So they were affordable only to the wealthy people. Those days purchasing magazines
was a status symbol. Invention of power press led to the exponential growth of magazines across
the world. Most of the early magazines were started by newspaper organizations. Magazines are
considered as mass medium that spread culture and nationalism.
Magazine is originally a French word which means storehouse. In journalistic terms,
magazine is a collection of materials like stories, ads, poems, and other items that editors believe
will interest audiences. The Spectator published Joseph Addison of England in 1711 is considered
to be the first full-fledged magazine in English.
Regular publication of magazines started in the United Kingdom in the eighteenth century as a
result of enhanced freedom permitted by Parliament, for public discussion and arguments about

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government. The earlier magazines focused on political and literary affairs. Famous writers of
the day contributed to the magazines.
Because most people illiterates and magazines were costlier, magazine reading remained
an elitist affair during the initial period. After England, the culture of magazine publishing and
reading spread to British colonies world over. America and India were colonies where magazines
were published even in the second half of 18th century. Benjamin Franklin started magazine
publication in America. In India, Christian missionaries concentrated in Culcutta and Madras
launched magazines aiming at religious propagation. Earlier magazines can not be considered as
mass media since they served only a small section of the society.
Development of Magazines
Rise in education, innovation of cost effective production, advances printing technology,
new techniques in photography, transportation facilities, emergence of new writers, growth of
reading culture, political freedom to discuss social issues and inclusion of diverse content and
huge population growth, rise in advertisement revenue prompted mass production and
distribution of magazines, first in Europe and America, then in eastern countries like India in the
middle of 19th century.
After their incarnation as a mass medium, magazines started to attract special segments
of the audience like women, children, professionals etc. The first trend was the rise of women
magazines. The most important milestone was the publication of Godey s Lady s Book launched by
Louis A Godey in 1830 in the USA. It had more 150,000 readers in 1850.
Industrial growth after industrial revolution and market boom led to an influx of
advertisements to mass media. Magazines benefited from this opportunity. Frank Munsey, an
American magazine owner showed advertising could pay most of production costs of a
magazine. His low pricing attracted millions. He used hose large numbers to attract more
advertisers. This is how magazine industry expanded as lucrative business in media sector.
Sensational news, celebrity lives, muckraking, fictions like novels, short stories etc were the
trends in magazines in the early 20th century.
In the later part of the 20th century, wide reach of television posed challenges to
magazines as television programming imitated magazines in their content and presentation
targeting magazine audiences.
Characteristics of Magazines
• What makes magazines different from books and newspapers? Magazines are not
published daily like newspapers. Periodicity f magazines are longer than that of normal
newspapers. In general, they are published weekly, biweekly or monthly.
• Unlike loose sheets of newspapers, magazines are produced as bound volumes.
• Most of the magazines are meant for light reading and mainly for entertainment, rather
than serious reading for information gathering as in the case of books and newspapers.
• Magazines contain diverse content ranging from poems to comics and cartoons to photo
feature.

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• Magazines most often than not target special, segmented audience while newspapers are
for general readers.
• Magazines generally focus on special areas like culture, politics, current affairs, health,
wealth, women s and children s life.
• Magazines printed in high quality papers as they are to be used for a longer period.
Newspapers are printed using cheap newsprints as they are meant for one-day use.
• Normally, magazines do not have different editions as in the case of newspapers. They
have only one print cycle, except for some international news and financial magazines
like NewsWeek, Time, Forbes, and Fortune which publish various regional editions for
Asia, Africa.
• Magazines provide room for in-depth analysis and criticism as the publishers get more
time for preparation.
• Magazines are easier to preserve than newspapers
Role and Scope of Magazines
Like newspapers, magazines also play vital role in defining modern society. Role and
scope of magazines are to judged in terms of their content and focus, not in a generalized way.
General interest magazines and cultural and literary magazines form a social mindset that
shapes our cultural identity and consciousness. In a democratic society political and cultural
magazines trigger heated discussions on vital issues that touch the lives of the marginalized and
the downtrodden.
On the other hand, consumer magazines prompt the society to purchase more, consume
more and perish. Same is the case fashion magazines also. They create media hype about
ballooned celebrity lives and misguide the audience. They only help the big business of fashion
world and related cultural and entertainment industry.
Women magazines general objective is women empowerment. But, this basic task is not
performed in most cases as magazines are succumbed to advertising pressure. For example,
women magazines publish advertisements depicting ideal body images of women considering
them as visual treat for the male audience.
Types of Magazines
Magazines are of different types. Five major categories are: .
• General Interest Magazines: Magazines covering wide variety of topics aimed at a broad
audience. They occasionally offer investigative stories and burning social issues.
Eamples:. The Week, Outlook, India Today, Readers Digest, National Geographic.
• Business Magazines: Also called trade magazines. They focus on topics related to a
particular occupation, profession, or industry.
• Consumer Magazines: Consumer magazines also aim at genera public in their private
and non-business lives. They are called consumer magazines as their readers prompted to
consume products and services advertised in them. In modern age, most of the women s
magazines are ended up as consumer magazines. Health ,tourism and IT magazines are
not exceptions.
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• Literary Reviews: Those magazines which publish literary-oriented content including

fiction and non-fiction like literary and cultural studies. Time Literary Survey
andBhashaposhini are examples.
• Academic Reviews: These are publications of serious nature focusing on academic
research articles and available mainly through subscription or mail order. Eg. Economic
and Political Weekly, Communication Research, Journal of Communication etc.
• News Magazines: News magazines stress the news based content and analysis. Time,
News Week, Tehelka etc.
• Comic Books: Periodicals that tell stories through pictures as well as words and meant
for purely entertainment and contain comic pictures and picture stories, puzzles and the
like. Their focused audience is children. Examples: Amar Chitra Katha, Fantom, Green
Lantern.
Books
Books are bound pages of written or printed messages of considerable length, mostly on
one topic. Being meant for circulation, they are produced using durable materials and in a
portable form. The Papyrus (from which the word paper derived) rolls of the Chinese are
considered as ancestors of modern books.
The concept of books existed in China and in Babylonian way back in 3000 B.C. While the
Chinese used papyrus rolls made of bamboo strips, the Babylonians used clay tablets. In Rome,
animal skins were used to prepare books. Introduction of paper production advanced the book
production. But, absence of easy printing method blocked its mass production. So, earlier books
were handwritten and they were called manuscripts.
The Chinese invented a method for printing using wooden blocks in 400 A.D. But, it was
not developed enough to print books. Invention of movable metallic types by Johannes
Guttenberg revolutionized printing, thereby book production.
Before the invention of movable metallic types, books were expensive and large in size.
They were affordable only to the wealthy, aristocratic people like political and religious leaders
and business men. Guttenberg s invention changed the situation. printers could reduce price
when books were made available to more people. The first book published using the metallic
moveable types was the Bible.
Characteristics of Books
• Books are portable and compact, and thus have an advantage over other media forms.
• Unlike other print media, books most often deal with a single subject. Thus, we can read
books piece by piece for days or weeks with convenient intervals, without losing
concentration.
• While newspapers and magazines get old soon due to their time limitations, books
remain afresh since they deal with subjects significant for a longer period.
• Unlike magazines and newspapers, books are stored for longer period in public or private
libraries.
• Content in the books is in an organized manner so that readers can access to the
interested parts easily.

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• Books have index which helps reader some sort of navigation from one subject to the
other.
• Books are stored for future reference.
• Books are published after adequate verification and research. So, the content of the books
is more authentic than that of newspapers and magazines.
• The language level of the books is audience specific or subject specific while newspaper
or magazine language is general in nature.
Scope of Book Publishing
The mass production of books certainly revolutionized cultural and thinking pattern by
accelerating the exchange of ideas and information among more people. As books are of
permanent nature they are considered as repository of knowledge. In the past, contribution of a
nation or a person was taken into account based on the number of books produced. Books are
creators of culture. Reading is considered one s cultural index.
Books created a special culture in 15th and 16th century Europe. With the production of
books, education through public institution was developed and started to include more people.
The book culture paved the way for new cultural elite called writers/authors. Gradually they
became recognized public opinion leaders. In any country books were major contributors to
national culture and identity. Moreover, books enrich the media sector also by being adapted to
movies and documentaries or encouraging the production of various genres in literature like
short stories, novels and poetry.
Despite technological advancement, book reading remains the most enduring media
using habit. Research results show that books are strongly returning stimulating reading culture
even during this age of visuals. In modern time, book production has been a lucrative industry of
billions plus dollars.
Publishing as an Industry
Publishing was considered to be an emerging industry after the Industrial revolution.
Industrial Revolution spurred the emergence of a new middle class who tend to use books for
information and entertainment. To cater to their needs, more publishing houses were started in
Europe, America and Asia. Emergence of new knowledge areas like economics, management etc.
also urged the rise of publishing houses which produce academic books. Eg. McGraw Hill,
Penguin, MacMillan, Harper and Row, Rutledge, Harper Collins. In addition to this, Universities
and other higher learning centres also started their publication wings. Eg. Oxford University
Press. Book industry is a $25 billion business in the United States. In India also, it is lucrative
business with well organized national and international networks.
Publishing in India
Establishment of printing presses by Christian missionaries in Madras, Culcutta and Goa
inspired book publishing in India in 16th century. The early books were in English and meant for
religious propagation. Considering the public demand, publishers started to launch books of
general nature and in vernacular languages.

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Emergence of social consciousness after the World War II encouraged reading culture and
thus publishing industry. After Independence, education system in the country was rejuvenated
and several publishers moved into textbook publishing for academic community. However, since
our educational system was molded on western models, major British and American publishers
imported academic books to India or started their branches in the country.

Government Initiatives

Indian Government also took initiatives to promote book reading culture starting
National Book Development Council (1967), National Book Trust, The Children s Book Trust,
The Sahitya Akademi, National Libraries etc.
Kerala Sahitya Academy, Sahitya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sangham, National Book Stall,
Kerala Language Institute, BookMark, Kerala Library Council some of the efforts of Kerala
Government to promote book reading culture.
Kerala is a good market for book publishers because of a blooming bilingual readership
in the State. Malayalees read both Malayalam and English books. There is an explosion of
academic and non-academic publishers in the State in the last decade. DC Books, Paico, Poorna,
IPH, Current, NBS are some of the oldest publishing houses in Kerala. Recently leading
newspaper firms like Mathrubhumi and Manorama also entered the book industry. Presence of
multinational publishers is another trend. Penguin with a tie-up with big media firms launched
their operations in the State.

Who read books?

Book reading is a general habit. But, its readers are diverse. Children are avid readers of
books and recently publishing industry focuses on children s literature. J.K Rowling s Haripotter
series created a new momentum in children s book sector. Government and private agencies
publish children s books with an aim of inculcating reading culture in young minds. Central
Government s Children s Book Trust of India and Balasahitya Institute of Kerala Government are
examples.
Academic community including students, teachers, scholars and researchers are another
important segment of book audience. They read both academic texts and fictions.
The third category is general readers ranging from house wives to labors and politicians
to businessmen.

Types of Books

Books are categorized according to their content type and target audience. Based on
nature of the content books can be categorized generally as fiction and non-fiction. Fictions
include stories, novels, poems etc. while non-fictions comprise of academic and reference books.
But, as commercial commodity books are categorized according to their uses and users.
Following are the major types of books in modern book industry:

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• Trade Books
• Professional Books
• Textbooks
• Paperbacks
• Religious books
• Reference Books
• University-Press Books
Trade books include hardbound and paperback books targeting general readers. They
are sold at retail outlets. Trade books are categorized as adult books and children s books. Adult
trade books include fiction, current non-fiction, biographies, literary classics, hobby books, and
books on self-help , popular science, travel, technology etc.
Children s book categories range from preschool picture books to young reader books.
Drawing and coloring books, cartoon books, comic books, children s fiction are sub categories of
children s books.
Professional Books target occupational groups such as engineers, doctors, managers,
lawyers, technicians etc. These books are not for general readers and are mainly sold through
direct mail order to the publishing houses or distributors. Emergence of specialized jobs made
the professional book publishing a profitable business.
Textbooks are for academic community. They are segmented as elementary-high school
books (el-hi), vocational education, college texts, study aids (guides), pocket editions, student
editions etc. Because of their mass production, textbooks are low priced books.
Paperbacks are low-priced books having cheaper, flexible covers and pages. They lack
durability as meant for use and throw . Traditionally, books were produced with hardbound
decorated covers. After 1870s paperbacks began to attract middle and working class readers
sparking a new reading wave all over the world. Paperbacks became more popular in the second
half of 20th century.
In America, a new type of paperbacks called mass-market paperback is available. They
target mass market and sold through drugstores, supermarkets, malls etc unlike traditional
paperbacks sold through bookstores. Mass-market paperbacks content includes fictions and
other uncomplicated subjects.
Religious books find new life recently with the rise of a spiritual wave across the world.
The very purpose of religious books, as name indicates, is propagation. The best-selling book of
all time is the Bible, in all its diverse versions. Religious books include holy texts, hymnals and
inspirational books.
Reference books include encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, handbooks, almanacs etc.
University-Press Books are non-commercial books aim at academic world. Oxford
University Press, Chicago University Press, Harvard University Press are leading University
publishers. They focus on both reference books like dictionaries (Eg. Oxford Dictionary) and
encyclopedias and academic texts. Universities in Kerala also have publication divisions which
publish quality academic texts covering university syllabi.
Structure of Publishing Organization
Publishing is the production of texts and documents. The production process involves
three stages:

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• Pre-Production: All activities including finding topic, author, market study, negotiation,
entry into agreement etc.
• Production: Procurement manuscript, editing, proofreading, designing and organization
are the processes at production stage.
• Post Production: Promotion and marketing are the major post production activities.
Organization of Publishing Industry
A professional publishing organization is structured to cater to these production stages.
Thus it includes divisions like
• Management Division: This section deals with the overall management of the human
resources and infrastructure, fund mobilization and internal and external organization of
the publishing firm.
• Editorial Division: Editorial division frame the editorial policy of the firm along with
other activities such identification of topics, editing, proofreading, style manual
preparation, research etc. Creative design of the book is also a part of the editorial team.
• Production Division : Printing, binding, packing etc come under the purview of
production division.
• Marketing Division : This division is to sell the product. Promotional campaigns,
publicity, advertisements etc are organized by marketing division.
• Accounts Division: They are the money managers. They keep accounts, audit financial
transactions, conduct cost analysis and prepare budgets.
Technological Development
Tremendous developments in information technology during the last two decades have
had high influence on book production. Introduction of Desk Top Publishing changed the mode
of composing book pages and helped to skip steps like type setting, block making etc in
traditional book publishing. Desk Top Publishing is the digital page design technique using
software like PageMaker, In Design, and Microsoft Word etc.
Digital publishing is another revolutionary shift occurred in book business. E-book or
electronic book or digital books are paperless books produced electronically and displayed on
computer/Ipod/mobile phone screens. Electronic books overcome the disadvantages of paper
books. Thy are cost effective, interactive with multimedia content, easy to duplicate, need less
space for preservation and send online across the world within seconds. Being paperless, they
are eco-friendly too.
Careers in Publishing
Job opportunities in book publishing are immense. You can be a book editor if you have
command over language and general knowledge. Freelance or in-house authors are positions
available in the field. Freelance author is free of organizational conditions and doing his job as a
hobby or as par time. In-house authors on the payrolls of the publishing firms. They are just like
any other salaried staff and conduct research and write books under the direction of the firm.
Graphic designer is an inevitable part of any publishing firm of today as book is
considered as a visual product too. But, good artistic sense and command over appropriate
graphic design tools are the qualifications. Publication manages and proofreaders are other
careers available in the field.

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MODULE IV
ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Objectives
This Unit will give an understanding of
• The nature of electronic media and their types
• The origin and growth of radio as a mass medium
• The origin and growth of television as a mass medium
• Latest development in broadcast media sector

Introduction
Mass media that use electronic or electromechanical energy for transmission of messages
are called electronic media. Major electronic media are radio, television, video and audio records,
CDs and DVDs etc. Of these, radio and television messages are transmitted via air waves or
radio signals. The process of transmitting messages via radio waves or signals is called
broadcasting. The literary meaning of broadcasting is to scatter seed over a broad area rather
than in particular place. Possibly because of the ability to spread messages to diverse audiences
through radio waves, the technique is called broadcasting.
Major broadcasting media are:
• Telephone broadcasting, existed between 1881 and 1932 is considered the earliest form of
electronic broadcasting..
• Radio broadcasting was started experimentally in 1906 and commercially in1920. It is
the mechanism of transmitting audio through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to
an antenna and, thus, to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to
broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both.
• Television broadcasting (telecast), started experimentally in 1925, commercially in the
1930s. This technology of airing video revolutionized the modern communication system.
• Cable Media: Cable radio started in 1928) and cable television (began in 1932): are the
components of cable media. In both, messages are transmitted via coaxial cable, serving
principally as transmission mediums for programming produced at either radio or
television stations, with limited production of cable-dedicated programming.
• Satellite television (from 1974) and satellite radio (from circa 1990): meant for direct-to-
home broadcast programming (as opposed to studio network uplinks and downlinks),
provides a mix of traditional radio or television broadcast programming, or both, with
satellite-dedicated programming.
• Webcasting of video/television (from circa 1993) and audio/radio (from circa 1994)
streams: offers a mix of traditional radio and television station broadcast programming
with internet-dedicated webcast programming.

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The original method of transmitting television or radio signals using radio waves, is
increasingly being replaced by higher quality digital broadcasting (television and radio),
transmitted in a digital data stream.
By definition, digital broadcasting is an advanced system of broadcasting radio (DAB or
DRB) or television (DTV) in digital pulses rather than waves and which gives improved quality
and/or more channels of content. There are currently two quality levels in television, standard
definition (SDTV) and high definition (HDTV). Transmitted in binary format, digital television
produces good picture quality and digital radio offers high sound quality. Let us have a glance
on the technology behind major electronic media: radio and television,
Origin and growth of Radio
Samuel Morse s invention of telegraph in 1842 prompted scientists to find out ways to
transmit messages over air. In 1895, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in the effort.
For further development of the mechanism, he started the Marconi Company in England and
started commercial production of radio transmitters for military purpose. Marconi s device was
sophisticated by Reginald Fessenden and started transmission of sound over radio transmitters,
instead of textual signals.
It was US inventor Lee De Forest who made radio transmission much clearer with his
Audion vacuum tube. He also envisaged stations sending continuous music, news and other
programmes over radio waves. The idea came to be known as Broadcasting. The first radio
stations were set up in Pittsburg, New York and Chicago in the 1920s. Following the USA,
European countries also started radio stations for broadcasting news and entertainment content.
The colonial powers like Briton and France set radio stations in Asian and African countries in
the early years of 20th century.
Radio Broadcasting
Radio is everywhere as the signals reach every nook and cranny. It is wonder to hear that
there are 6.6 radio receivers on average in American homes. Indian officer radio broadcaster All
India Radio reaches 98.25 percent of the population of India. Remember that India is the second
largest populated country in the world. According to an estimate, there 111 million radio sets in
Indian households.
John Vivian, describing the ubiquity of radio, says: People wake up with clock radios,
jog with headset radios, party with boom boxes and commute with car radios. People listen to
sports events on the radio even if they are in the stadium. According to Arbitron, a company
that surveys radio listenership, more people receive their morning news from radio than from
any other medium.
Characteristics of Radio as a Mass Medium
The radio is a powerful mass medium. Unlike other mass media, radio has a lot of
advantages, both technical and message wise, to reach maximum number of people.

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Radio is a cost effective medium.

Radio sets are not at all a luxury now unlike olden days when radio sets were not affordable
for common people. Advancement of technology made radio production and transmission
less expensive. Unlike other media, production format is sound which can be produced at a
minimum rate.
Radio is a Public Medium
Radio can be accessed by any number of people simultaneously without much technical
paraphernalia. Any body can listen to radio as it functions as a background medium.
Radio is accessible for the Illiterates
Literacy is not a prerequisite for listening radio. In developing and under developing
countries it becomes a popular medium because of these characteristics. Majority of the
population in those countries is illiterate. They shows a special affinity towards radio as they can
overcome the deficiency of illiteracy through radio programmes.
Radio is a mobile medium
We can listen to radio while we are moving. As Vivian explained earlier, we can listen to
radio while driving car, jogging, walking or doing any job.
Radio is a background medium
Specialty of a background medium is that it can be used while doing other jobs.
Housewives listen to radio while preparing food in the kitchen. Given this feature, radio has
been now available with home appliances like refrigerator, washing machine etc. as an inbuilt
gadget.
Radio is an Audio Medium
Being an audio medium, radio is accessible to the visually challenged also.
Radio needs less energy
Radio consumes very less energy. In that sense it is an environment friendly medium.
Since there is not need for power supply for operation radio sets, it gains popularity in remote
villages without electricity.
Radio is a speedy Medium
Radio is the fastest medium as it requires no much time for preparation and transmission
of news. Instant live broadcasting with less equipment is possible in radio section.
These characteristics extend the scope of radio as a mass medium.
Types of Radio Stations
Commercial Stations: Stations under this category support themselves financially by selling time
on their airwaves to advertisers. In America, vast majority of stations come under this category
whereas in India, most of the stations are government funded ones under the umbrella of
Akashvani.

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Non-Commercial Stations: Non-Commercial Stations do not receive financial support from

advertisers in the sense of airing commercials. They are normally funded by the governments. In
some countries like America, donations from private foundations and organization are the major
sources of income of non-commercial stations.
AM and FM Stations: This categorization is purely based on the type of waves used for
transmitting radio messages. Both AM and FM radio stations transmit a carrier wave that is some
changed or modulated to carry audio signal such as music or voice. With AM (Amplitude
Modulation) radio, the amplitude or strength of the carrier wave s vibration fluctuates with the
sound. With FM (Frequency Modulation) radio, the strength of the carrier wave remains
constant, and instead it is the frequency or number of vibration within the wave that changes
based on sound.
Structure of a Radio Station
A radio station has four distinct divisions under a general manager. The sections are:
Management Department: takes care of the overall administration of the station. It has internal
and external administration responsibilities. The department is further divided under Business
manager, Accounting Manager, Human Resource Manager, Public Relations Manager,
Promotion Manager etc.
Programming Department : This is an important component that specially deals with the media
related responsibilities of the station. This can be again segmented as News Programmes and
Non-news programmes or as news and operations
Programme Director: He/she is the in charge of all works related to programme planning,
research, production and permitting for transmission. There are two types of staff under
Programme Director : The first category include On air talent, DJs, Reporters who are normally
not on the regular payroll of the station. They are invited for specific purpose. Some radio
stations which focus on news programmes appoint reporters on permanent basis. The other
category includes Production Director, Music Director, Sports Director, Programme Executives
who are directly responsibility for the production and supervision of the segment allotted to
them.
Engineering Department: The technical aspects of the station are handled by this department
under the supervision of Chief Engineer and Asst Engineers
Sales Department: It is another important section which monitor and ensure financial flow to
the station. The Sales Department is organized on the basis of the business model followed by the
station. Normally, commercial broadcasting stations may have Account Executive,
Advertisement Managers, and Retail Sales Representatives in the Sales Department.

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Radio practices
For the better understanding of the practical aspects of radio production one should
know about the programme types, their characteristics, qualities of programme producer, and
those who work behind the production process.
Radio Programmes
Radio programmes can be categorized into two: News and Non-News (Entertainment)
Programmes.
Policy of the country or the individual organizations determines the nature of their
programme mix. In the United States of America, radio is more an entertainment medium than a
news channel. In India, it has a perfect mix since the mission of the AIR requires such a policy
given the socio-cultural settings in India.
News
News is important because it keeps us informed as to what is happening in our own
community and what is happening in other communities which impinge upon our own. It
satisfies our curiosity and concern and it provides us with basic facts which enable us to make up
our minds and so join in the general discussion which leads to community action.
News bulletin
News bulletins have assumed increasing importance in radio broadcasting in recent
years. In the early days of radio there was seldom more than one bulletin a day and it was
broadcast after the evening newspapers reached the streets and had been sold. As radio stations
built up their own news staffs the number of bulletins increased. Many stations today have
several long bulletins interspersed with hourly or even half-hourly news summaries.

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Newsreel
It is more usual to separate comment from the news by including it in news talks and
newsreels. The daily newsreel of fifteen or more minute s duration is a popular form of news
broadcasting. It contains eye-witness accounts, extracts of speeches and reports of other events,
commentaries, short talks and interviews in much the same way as a newspaper includes
pictures and feature articles.
Documentaries
The documentary programme is a story of something. It is generally between 15 and 60
minutes in length-the actual length is usually related to the size of the subject and the way in
which it is treated. An industrial or agricultural development may warrant up to 30 minutes,
while a historical re-enactment or archive programme (that is one using previously recorded
historical material) may require 45 or 60 minutes.
Magazine Programme
The regular radio magazine programme, derived from the newsreel, is a useful outlet for
a great deal of informational and soft news material which cannot be programmed elsewhere.
Magazine programmes vary in length; usually either 15 or 30 minutes. They consist of short
talks, interviews, on-the-spot reports and eye-witness accounts of events, commentaries, music
and sometimes poetry and short stories.
Talk Programmes
Talks were the earliest form of spoken word broadcasting. They are the simplest form and
can still be the most effective. A good radio talk, well constructed and well delivered, can sparkle
like a gem against the back ground of other programmes which make up the broadcast day. It
can have all the authority of the printed word coupled with the warmth which comes from
person to person contact.
Talk
The radio talk is neither a lecture nor a public address. The audience does not have to stay
and listen nor can it see the speaker and be attracted by the way he uses his hands and his eyes.
Everything in a radio talk has to be carried in the words: the familiar words we all use.
The best of radio talks is a friendly chat built around one subject. It is a spoken
composition and like any composition it needs a unified structure: it has a clearly defined
beginning, middle and an end. The words it uses are the action-words of everyday speech. It
introduces the subject in an ear-catching way, explains it simply, develops its argument and then
summarizes what it has said
Interview
The radio interview is a lively variation of the talk. It considerably expands the potential
pool of talks contributors by bringing to the microphone people who have something to say but
who cannot write talks or are too busy to do so. It is a popular form of talks broadcasting as most
of us like to hear-or overhear-other people talking, and it is a very useful form particularly in
countries where there are many language There are several kinds of radio interview but
essentially they can all be classified under two headings:

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• The personality interview which seeks to bring out the personality of the interviewee and
tells us something about his life and ideas.
• The information interview which seeks out facts.
Discussion
The discussion programme provides a platform for the exchange of ideas. The ideas may
be important ones which concern us as individuals, as members of a community or as nationals
of a country; or they may be ideas intended simply to entertain us. The discussion may be serious
or light-hearted, but its purpose is always to set us thinking.
Entertainments
Light entertainment is a rather loose term used by many stations to cover a wide field of
programming: book and short story readings; serialized drama, particularly light and humorous
drama; variety programmes featuring light musical entertainment, comics, community singing;
some types of listeners letter programmes; quizzes and panel games
Music
Music fills by far the greater part of the broadcast day. The general tone and character of a
station's music does more to establish the image of a station than any of its other activities.
It is in the nature of all of us to enjoy music. We enjoy it for its rhythms, its melodies and
its harmonies. Some music is predominantly melodic-it has memorable tunes-while other music
is dominated by its harmonic structure-the way in which notes and groups of notes make
pleasant sounds when heard together. European music gives a great deal of emphasis to melody
while Indian and Arabic music regards harmony as being more important.
Classification of Music
Some authorities classify music under four headings:
• Primitive music-music with no written score, no known composers and of ancient origin.
• Folk music-also with no written score but sometimes with known composers; generally of
more recent origin.
• Popular music-sometimes with a written score, composers frequently known, marked
melodies.
• Art music-a written score, composers invariably known, a classical structure.
Radio Drama
There are three methods of presenting radio plays: (a) as completely self-contained plays
of 30, 45 or 60 minutes in length; (b) as serial dramas of 15 or 30 minutes in length in which the
action goes forward from one episode to another; (c) as series drama, each broadcast generally
lasting for 30 minutes and completing one whole episode of a continued story; the principal
characters reappear in new situations in each new drama in the series.

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Radio Advertising
A station which carries advertising obtains it either directly from an advertiser or
indirectly through an agency representing an advertiser. Where an account is obtained through
an agency the agency prepares the advertisements- called copy or commercials-and listens to the
station to make sure they are properly broadcast and at the times contracted for. Where a station
obtains an account direct from the advertiser the station generally writes the copy.
Writing Radio Scripts
Radio writing differs from writing for publication imprint because the medium is
different. Broadcasting is a form of living publication; it is not static but something which moves
forward in present time. This calls for a different approach-a difference in style.
The reader of a newspaper or a magazine can select or reject paragraphs or whole stories
as the fancy takes him. When he is not clear in his understanding of the author s meaning he can
always re-read. This is not so of radio. The listener has to take everything as it comes or not listen
at all. When he is unclear he has no means of referring back to clarify a point. A radio-script
writer must therefore seek to hold the listener s rapt attention and go to considerable pains to
ensure that the meaning is clear and understandable at every stage of a talk or story as it
progresses. Another distinctive characteristic of radio writing is that things heard on the radio
appear to the listener to be happening now. A broadcast is not a report of something past and
gone-even the act of news reading is something taking place at the same time as it is heard.
Above all radio writing is writing for the spoken word and everyday speech should be the guide
to the words we use and the manner in which we use them. In talking with one another we use
familiar words. W e assemble what we have to say in short phrases and seldom put our ideas
together in the kind of lengthy paragraphs which we may write. W e put forward our ideas
directly, not cluttered with small details nor involved in rambling parenthesis. From these
characteristics of radio writing we may deduce a series of rules.
Tips to write good radio scripts
Unesco Document on radio production advanced the following suggestions to ensure the
quality of radio scripts.
• Use words which are in everyday use and are readily understood by the majority of
people. This does not mean to say that we should use only simple words to the exclusion
of all others. Where it is necessary to use an unfamiliar word it should be explained or
enlarged upon in a short explanatory sentence or a short parenthesis.
• Sentences should be kept short. But we must avoid a series of short staccato sentences
which would make a speech sound jerky. Variety in sentence length makes a speech
sound interesting. In general, however, the length should tend to be short rather than
long. A sentence should never be longer than the number of words we can easily carry on
a breath.
• Avoid dependent clauses and clumsy inversions. Dependent clauses and inverted clauses
are quite common in written matter but we seldom use them in normal speech. For
example we may write: Longing for a cold drink, as he had walked many miles that day
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under a hot sun, Festus walked into the first bar he came to in the village. In radio style
the idea may be better expressed this way: Festus was thirsty. He had walked many
miles that day and the sun had been agonizingly hot. He entered the first bar he came to
in the village.
• Use descriptive words where possible but use them with care. The radio listener has only
words to guide him and to sketch pictures which he would otherwise see with his eyes.
The use of a descriptive word helps him to see the picture. In the example above
agonizingly hot says more than simply Under a hot sun . But descriptive words can be
over-used if a script is filled with them. Descriptive words are better than figures where it
is possible to use them- (twenty minutes walk away says more to the listener than ca mile
away .
• Speech has rhythm and speech rhythms should be kept in mind when writing radio
script. A radio script should flow with the fluency of poetry. It helps to carry the listener
along and it holds his attention. Some of the best of radio dramas and radio
documentaries have been written by poets who have a flair for the rhythms of language.
• A radio script should display an element of nowness . Whatever the broadcast, as far as the
listener is concerned, it is happening now. It is an immediate and a personal experience.
This should always be kept in mind when writing for radio. The choice of viewpoint from
which a script is written, the choice of words, the author s approach and the enthusiasm
with which he writes all have a bearing on the sense of immediacy.
Producing Radio Programme
As per the guidelines of the Unesco document which details how to produce profession
radio programmes, a radio producer should have: a good grasp of the language in which he
works so that he can edit scripts and advise speakers on correct pronunciation, a manner which
wins the co-operation of artists, a skill in instructing and directing other people at the
microphone, a good general knowledge and an interest in community affairs, a sense of
responsibility, the ability to take the initiative and the enthusiasm to experiment, a creative turn
of mind and a flair for showmanship, an ear for sound and the ability to conceive ideas in terms
of sound, a thorough knowledge of the technical facilities and of the techniques of radio, a
specialist interest. The outline makes no reference to educational qualifications although some
are implied. On this matter it is worth noting a Unesco recommendation regarding the
recruitment of broadcasting personnel: Present standards are suitable but possession of
certificates should not be mandatory. The emphases should be on talent, creative ability and an
aptitude for broadcasting.
Origin and growth of Television
By definition, television broadcasting is the transmission of visual images, generally with
accompanying sound, in the form of electromagnetic waves that when received can be
reconverted into visual images. On January 23, 1926, John Logie Baird of Scotland gave the
world's first public demonstration of a mechanical television apparatus to the members of the
Royal Institution at his laboratory. These were images of living human faces, not outlines with
complete tonal gradations of light and shade. On April 7, 1927 Bell Telephone Labs and AT&T
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give a USA public mechanical television demonstration over both wire and radio
circuits. Pictures and sound were sent by wire from Washington D.C., to New York
City. However it took further eight year for the beginning of practically feasible television
broadcasting.
Between 1935 and 1938, the Nazi government under Adolph Hitler in Germany operated
the world s first regular television service, with propaganda broadcasts to specially equipped
theatres. It was after the end of World War II in 1946 that commercial television came into being
in the United States. In the same year, Peter Goldmark introduced color television system. His
system produced color pictures by having a red-blue-green wheel spin in front of a cathode ray
tube. In 1948, Cable television is introduced in Pennsylvania as a means of bringing television to
rural areas. Cable television is the process of sending TV signals to subscribers through wires or
fiber optic cables. In 1950s, television gained widespread acceptance in the United States and in
some European countries.
The development of satellite television in the 1970s allowed for more channels and
encouraged businessmen to target programming toward specific audiences. It also enabled the
rise of subscription television channels, such as Home Box Office (HBO) and Showtime in the
U.S., and Sky Television in the U.K. Satellite transmission means sending television signal using
satellites in the orbit. Satellite transmission paved the way for Conditional Access System, a
digital mode of transmitting TV channels through a set-top box (STB). The transmission signals
are encrypted and viewers need to buy a set-top box to receive and decrypt the signal. Direct To
Home (DTH) service was also made possible with the help of satellite transmission technology.
As of 2010, over 500 TV Satellite television channels are broadcast in India. This includes
channels from the state-owned Doordarshan, News Corporation owned STAR TV, Sony owned
Sony Entertainment Television, Sun Network and Zee TV. Now, Direct To Home service is
provided by Airtel Digital TV, BIG TV owned by Reliance, DD Direct Plus, DishTV, Sun Direct
DTH etc.
The latest incarnation in television technology is Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) in
which audio and video are transmitted using internet file transmission protocols and viewers
watch programmes on computer screens instead of television sets.
Television Broadcasting
Television is one of the most popular inventions of the last century. Every day we spend
hours with television. It is a reality that we cannot imagine a day without television
consumption. Our imagination of the world is formed with television.
According to the A.C. Nielsen Company, a well known research organization, the
average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of
nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the
tube. Percentage of households that possess at least one television: 99 Number of TV sets in the
average U.S. household: 2.24. Percentage of U.S. homes with three or more TV sets: 66 .Number
of hours per day that TV is on in an average U.S. home: 6 hours, 47 minutes . From this statistics
we get how television influences man. This is the case of the United States of America. The
situations in other countries are also no different.

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Characteristics of Television as a Mass Medium

• Audio Visual Medium
Radio is audio medium while television is audio visual, means it carries moving pictures
and sound.
• Live Medium
With these magical features of television, it enables us to view the events any where in the
world live while sitting in our drawing rooms.
• Domestic Medium
Film is also an audio visual medium. It is not live. And, for watching films, we have to
theatre. Most of us watch television in home environment because this medium is conceived
to be so. So, it is called a domestic medium.
• Popular Medium
Literacy is not a barrier in watching television while newspaper reading requires literacy.
Any illiterate can get information and entertainment from television. In that sense, it is really
a popular medium any type of people can use.
• Transitory Medium
You can read today s newspaper in the evening or in the morning. But, television
programmes are to be watched while they are telecast. Television has not archival facility. So,
it is called as a transitory medium. Radio has also the same characteristics.
• Expensive Medium
In every term, television is expensive. Television set is costlier than a radio set or newspaper.
Setting up a television station involves millions of rupees. Transmission facilities and
programme production also require a lot of money.
• Air wave delivery
Unlike newspapers which delivered door to door, television messages are transmitted
through air waves. So, it does not have complicated distribution system.
• Good for documentary information
Like any other medium, television can also be used for information dissemination. With its
audio-visual capacity, television is more apt for providing documentary information as we
can detail functions, process and other details in a live mode.
Types of Television Transmission Systems
Technological advancements define and redefine the mode of delivery of television
messages. The prominent ways of television transmission are given below.

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TV Broadcasting
It is over-the air transmission of audio visual signals from towers owned by television
stations on frequencies allotted to them by Ministry of Communication. People can receive the
signals without charge by simply turning on a television on a set. Sometimes, we need an
antenna for receiving signals.
Cable TV
By definition, Cable TV is the process of sending TV signals to subscribers through a wire.
Transmission of messages via cable was invented in 1929 and commercially utilized in 1940s.
Cable television system was popularized in 1970s in America. The earliest cable systems were, in
effect, strategically placed antennas with very long cables connecting them to subscribers' home
sets. Because the signal from the antenna became weaker as it traveled through the length of
cable, cable providers had to insert amplifiers at regular intervals to boost the strength of the
signal and make it acceptable for viewing. With invention of optical fibers, it has been easy to
transmit signal in a speedy way without loosing picture quality.
Today, cable systems deliver hundreds of channels to some millions of homes, while also
providing a growing number of people with high-speed Internet access. Some cable systems
even let you make telephone calls and receive new programming technologies!
Satellite Transmission
It is transmission of television signals through satellites put in the orbit for
communication purpose. It enables the households to receive signals directly from the satellites
using dish antennas. This is also called Direct to Home (DTH) Satellite Services. It is digital
technology that delivers up to 150 channels to a plate-sized receiver on subscriber s house. For
this, we have to use a set box to convert digital signals received by the antennas into audio visual
format.
Home Video
It is not related with television transmission process. It refers to the pre-recoded video
either sold or hired for home use. Most of the content are of entertainment nature. Educational
documentaries are also available as part of this method. Earlier VHS/Betamax video cassettes
played in Videocassette Recorders (VCR) were available. Now, these are now replaced with
VCDs, DVDs( Digital Versatile Discs), USB Drives and Blue Ray Discs.
Structure of a Television Station
A television station has five major sections under the General Manager. News Section,
Sales Section, Programming Section, Engineering Section and Business Section. Who comes
under each section is detailed in the graph given below.

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The General Manager: At a television station, the general manager oversees departments. The
GM is in charge of guiding the people who run the individual departments. Those departments
normally include: news, production, sales, promotions and engineering. All departments impact
how a news product is presented on the air.
The news department gathers, writes and edits the stories for a daily newscast. News
departments consist of several job titles, including news director, assignment editor, executive
producer, producers, reporters, anchors and photographers. Each position is important to
providing quality programming. ( job titles may vary according to the size and policy of the
station)
The sales department generates revenue for the station by getting companies to buy commercial
spots.
The programme production department puts on air what the news department creates.
Production departments often include a director, technical director, audio operator, master
control operator and camera operators.
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The engineering department takes care of the technical aspect of a newscast and the station
itself. When something breaks, they are the people employees in other departments call on.
The Business department works with companies that buy commercials, creating a concept for
the commercial and editing it to create an on-air product. Employees in the promotions
department also create commercials to advertise the station.
Careers
News Director, Assistant News Director, Managing Editor, Executive Producer
Assignment Editor ,News Producer, News Anchor ,Weathercaster (Meteorologists), Sports
Anchor, News, Reporter News Writer, News Assistant, Sports Reporter Photographer, Video
Editor ,Graphics Specialist, Internet Specialist are some of the careers available in the television
journalism sector.
Film
Like television, film is also an audio visual medium. It is the most popular medium of the
last century. The technology behind the cinema was invented by Lois Lumiere and his borther
Auguste Lumiere who are famously known as Lumiere brothers. But, their invention of moving
picture technique was just an extension of photography. Their equipment called
cinematographe was a compact, portable machine with an inbuilt camera and projector. They
exhibited actualities in life like arrival of a train, workers leaving a factory and such real events
with their equipment.
Georges Melies of France utilized the motion picture technology to tell stories and to
show magical events, fantasies and dream like events using elaborated sets and editing
techniques. It was with the efforts of Melies that cinema became a mass medium. His film Voyage
to the Moon produced in 1902 was famous for its novelty in treatment.
Growth of Cinema
After exploration of this potential of the medium, film started to grow as an independent
cultural/entertainment industry, attracting millions of people world over. Realistic treatment of
the stories was the narrative styles of earliest feature films. Pioneers like Eisenstein, Pudovkin,
both are Russians, revolutionized cinema with their attractive realistic style of narration and
editing techniques. Gradually, as an active medium with mass support, film began to develop its
own language using the potential of the mixing of verbal and non-verbal communication
methods.
Innovations like sound recording, sophisticated cameras, editing techniques, exhibition
pattern, production styles and narrative methods made cinema more impressive and attractive.
Earlier history of cinema can be divided into Silent Era and the Era of Talkies. Silent Era refers
to the period during which films were produced without sound due to the absence of adequate
technology. The power of the cinema during the silent era was the power of their stories. Talkies
mean the films with sound.
Another categorization of the history of cinema was on the basis of the colour of visuals.
Earlier films were produced in Black and White films. Colour films revolutionized the medium
as the audiences were hugely attracted to colour film as it provided them with a colorful real life
visual experience.

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Cinema as a mass medium

Film influences society more than any other medium. The impact of film is easily visible
in the popular culture. The fashion and life styles of the masses are defined by the films. While
news media provide people with information, films entertain them. Because of this nature of the
medium, film is called as a cultural medium.
More than a mass medium, film is an industry also. It deals with billions of dollars
everyday. Film industry involves a lot of expensive technology and huge financial transactions.
Moreover, films were and still are used as political tools, especially for propaganda. Adolph
Hitler s propaganda films during the world war were the best case in point. Now, cinema is
more business than a political tool. During this time of globalization, films cross borders and
function as transmitters culture and method of financial flow.
Cinema as an Industry
The film industry is an umbrella term to denote the technology, economics and human
resources in film business. It includes production houses/companies, studios, production
techniques like cinematography, acting, editing, and screenwriting, directing and marketing
methods like distribution, promotion and festival organizations.
In terms of technical quality and financial quantity, film industry of the United States of
America is the biggest one in the world. Hollywood is the dedicated centre of film production in
the USA. With its multi-lingual character and tremendous mass support, Indian film industry is
also reckoned with one in the world. Other major countries which excel in film production are
China, Egypt, Italy, Japan, France, UK and Iran. Iran is very famous for the artistic value of
Iranian cinemas.
Types of Films
Films can be mainly categorized in to two: Documentaries and Feature Films.
Documentaries are realistic films based on a specific topic and its shed light into various aspects
of the subject matter. It is informative/educative in nature. It is a non-fiction narrative without
actors. Typically a documentary is a journalistic record of an event, person, or place. On the other
hand, feature films are movies of at least 40-45 minutes (2 reels) long intended for theatrical
release.
Film Genres: Apart from this division in general nature, films can be segmented according to the
treatment of the content. Following are the major genres of films. Comedy, Drama, Romance,
Action/Adventure, Mystery/Suspense, Westerns, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Musicals,
Film noir are of some the types of films.
Major Players in Movie Industry: Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Columbia Picutres, Twentieth
Century Fox, Paramount and Universal are the major tycoons who rule the movie industry in the
world.
Careers in Film
Producer, director, screenplay writer, lyricist, music composer, actors, make-up artist, sound
recordist, film editors, director Art Director, Cinematographer, Director of Photography,
Property Master, Camera Operator, Camera Loader, Focus Puller, Electrician, Equipment
operator, , Dolly Grip, Best Boy (Chief Assistant), Foley Artist, etc.

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MODULE V
NEW MEDIA
Objectives
After completing this module, you will get a basic understanding of
• The Internet and its evolution
• New media and the characteristics
• Social media and other web based communication formats
• How to write for the web
• Technical writing
History of the Internet
The Internet has revolutionized the computer and communications world like nothing
before. The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this
unprecedented integration of capabilities. The Net (both the World Wide Web and the Internet-
Note the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web: The Internet is a computer network
consisting of a worldwide network of computer networks and cables that use the TCP/IP network protocols
to facilitate data transmission and exchange. The World Wide Web is a computer network consisting of a
collection of internet sites that offer text, graphics, sound and animation resources through the hypertext
transfer protocol.) is fundamentally a tool to allow people around the globe to communicate with
each other. Until the early 1990s, the Internet was simply a network of computers used to
transmit government data and enable academic research and conversations. With the advent of
the World Wide Web by Tim Berners Lee in early 1990s and online subscription service providers
such as America OnLine (AOL), CompuServe and Prodigy, the Internet traffic began its
exponential upswing.
According to Silicon Valley Historical Association, following the brief time line of the
growth and evolution of the Internat
1957 : The USSR launches the first satellite, Sputnik. To compete against the USSR's success at
launching the first satellite, the United States Department of Defense creates the Advanced
Research Projects Agency (ARPA). ARPA is responsible for the development of new technology
for use by the military.
1969 : The first host-to-host Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)
connection is made on October 25, 1969, between the University of California at Los Angeles, and
the Stanford Research Institute, Inc. (SRI) in Menlo Park, California. ARPANET is the world's
first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose
the global Internet.
1972 : ARPANET begins to be used for communicating email.
1973 : The term Internet begins to be used.
1976 : Comet, the first commercial email software, is offered by the Computer Corporation of
America for $40,000.
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1981 : Al Gore coins the term for the Internet The Information Superhighway.
1990 : The phrase World Wide Web is coined by Tim Berners-Lee.
1992 : Internet registration begins for .com, .net. .org, .edu, and .gov.
1993 :The Internet takes off as part of the world s fastest growing information network and the
MOSAIC Web Browser is born on the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign campus.
The World Wide Web is developed in CERN, the Institute for Particle Physics in Switzerland.
1995 : The independent programming language, JAVA, is created by Jim Gosling at Sun
Microsystems. And, Yahoo! is founded in Santa Clara, California, and provides a web search
engine, email service, mapping and more.
2001 : Wikipedia is launched.
2004 : Facebook is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
2005 : YouTube launches.
2006 : Twitter is founded in San Francisco, California.
2011 : Twitter and Facebook are the primary means of communication for the Arab Spring
Defining New Media
New media can be defined as interactive forms of communication that use the Internet,
including podcasts, blogs, vlogs, social networks, text messaging, wikis, virtual worlds and all
other computer aided communication formats available online. New media makes it possible for
anyone to create, modify, and share content and share it with others, using relatively simple tools
that are often free or inexpensive. New media requires a computer or mobile device with Internet
access.
New media tools can:
• Connect people with information and services.
• Collaborate with other people including those within their organization or community.
• Create new content, services, communities, and channels of communication that help
people deliver information and services.
Characteristics of New Media
Over the traditional media like newspapers, television and radio, new media have the
following advantages:
• Capacity to overcomes the lack of time and space though it is limited with screen size,
downloading time, server capacity etc.
• Flexibility: New media can handle variety of forms for the information it presents
words, pictures, audio, video, and graphics.
• Immediacy: New media can deliver information immediately, often as events are
unfolding.
• Immediacy is variety : New media can cover different aspects of news at a time

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• Hypertextuality : New media can connect one format of information with other formats
and sources of information through hyperlinks.
• Interactivity: New media have human-machine communication system.
• Multimediality: Unlike traditional media, new media can contain various types of media
format on a single platform. We can watch television and listen to radio, and read
newspapers on a webpage.
• Cost effective. Compared to other media, webpage production is cost effective and
environment friendly.
• Extended Access: We can get access to the web or new media sources wherever we are.
Social Media Networks
Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that
allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Kietzmann says that social media
employ mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms via which
individuals and communities share, cocreate, discuss, and modify user-generated content. It
introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations,
communities and individuals.
Different types of social media include collaborative projects such as Wikipedia, blogs
such as Blogger, social networking sites like Facebook, content communities like Youtube, and
virtual worlds like Second Life . As of 2012, social media has become one of the most powerful
sources for news updates through platforms such as Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, WordPress,
LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+. Tumblr, MySpace and Wikia.
Social media differentiates from traditional/industrial media in many aspects such as
quality reach, frequency, usability, immediacy and permanence The internet usage effects of
social media as of 2012 are, according to Nielsen, that internet users continue to spend more time
in social media than any other site. At the same time, the total time spent on social media in the
U.S. across PC and mobile devices increased by 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012
compared to 88 billion minutes in July 2011.
Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet
forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or
pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking. Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification
scheme with six different types of social media: collaborative projects (for example, Wikipedia),
blogs and microblogs (for example, Twitter), content communities (for example, YouTube), social
networking sites (for example, Facebook), virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft), and
virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-
postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing and voice over IP, to name a
few. Many of these services can be integrated via social network aggregation platforms. Social
media network websites include sites like Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and MySpace.
(Kaplan Andreas M., Haenlein Michael, (2010), Users of the world, unite! The challenges and
opportunities of social media, Business Horizons, Vol. 53, Issue 1).

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Blogs
A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. It is derived from the term Web
Log . The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger."
Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical
background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in
chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently. It is common for
blogs to be available as RSS (Really Simplified Syndication) feeds. www.blogspot.com,
www.wordpress.org are some of the free blog hosting sites.
Vlogs
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog is a form of blog for which the
medium is video, and is a form of web television. The word derived from the term Video Web
Log. On January 2, 2000, Adam Kontras posted a video alongside a blog entry aimed at
informing his friends and family of his cross-country move to Los Angeles in pursuit of show
business, marking the first post on what would later become the longest-running video blog in
history. (Kaminsky, Michael Sean (2010. Naked Lens: Video Blogging & Video Journaling to Reclaim the
YOU in YouTube. Organik Media, Inc)
Podcast
A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio radio, video,
PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to
a computer or mobile device. The word is derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success
of the iPod, as podcasts are often listened to on portable media players.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast)
News portals
A web portal is a web site that brings information together from diverse sources in a
uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displaying
information (a portlet); often, the user can configure which ones to display. Apart from the
standard search engines feature, web portals offer other services such as e-mail, stock prices,
information, databases and entertainment.
Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel with access
control and procedures for multiple applications and databases, which otherwise would have
been different entities altogether. Hence, news portal is a web portal dedicated to disseminate
news and related information. Normally, news portals are managed by media organizations and
media professionals.
Basics of Web Writing
Before getting down to writing for the web, we should have an understanding of how audience
use the web content. Users do not read on the Web; instead they scan the pages, trying to pick
out a few sentences or even parts of sentences to get the information they want and u sers do not
like long, scrolling pages: they prefer the text to be short and to the point . Similarly, users detest
anything that seems like marketing fluff or overly hyped language and prefer factual
information, because they can easily search for the alternative just with a mouse click.

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Taking these factors into account, the following principles are to be kept in mind while writing
for the Web.
• Text Should be concise: If websites are too wordy, it's hard to read a lot of text on the
screen. It is better to have condensed information that's no bigger than one screen.
• Text Should be scannable : We ensure the elements that enhance scanning include
headings, large type, bold text, highlighted text, bulleted lists, graphics, captions, topic
sentences, and tables of contents.
• Bulleted items : Using bulleted items will help readers to easily locate the facts they
search for.
• Users Like Summaries and the Inverted Pyramid Style Every reader tend to read a
summary and then go to the article if s/he is interested.
• Hypertext is well-liked: Hyper texts and links help users to navigate from one page to
other and one site to the other. Creative use of hyperlinks the crux of the success of the
web. While writing for the web, writer should keep the hypertextual nature of the
content.
• Graphics and text should complement one another : Graphics that add nothing to the text
are a distraction and waste of time . A graphic is good when it relates to the content, but
many are just trying to be flashy.
• Users want to get their Information quickly. So, the content should be clear and well
organized with a logical transition.
• Credible content creation : Credibility is an important issue on the web . Accurate and fair
good content with no grammatical errors increase believability of the content. External
links, fresh materials rather than the older ones, can increase credibility. People tend to
trust web sites that are more usable. Trust is especially critical for web sites that sell
products and services
• Humor should be used with caution
Technical Writing and Documentation
The Society for Technical Communication (STC), a professional society for the
advancement of the theory and practice of technical communication defines technical writing as
a broad field including any form of communication that exhibits one or more of the following
characteristics: (1) communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer
applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations; (2) communicating through
technology, such as web pages, help files, or social media sites; or (3) providing instructions
about how to do something, regardless of the task's technical nature.
Every day we read a lot of content written by technical writers. Help menu on our
computer screen, user manual we get along with the mobile phone we purchase, installation
guide of our printer are written by technical writers.. In addition to these, technical writers write
product release notes, product troubleshooting guides, tutorials, installation guides, marketing
documentation, e-learning modules, web content, legal disclaimers, business proposals, and
white papers. In the present day corporate world, technical writing is a high profile handsomely
paid job

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Good technical writing clarifies technical terms, adding useful information that is clear
and easy to understand for the intended audience. Technical writers usually begin their work by
learning the purpose of the document that they will create, gathering information from existing
documentation and from subject-matter experts and write documents and publish them after
required editing and vetting. A good technical writer needs strong language and teaching skills
and must understand how to communicate with technology.
References
• Alred, Gerald J. Handbook of Technical Writing, Sage, New Delhi
• Arlington, VA, The First Amendment Handbook.: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of
the Press, 2003.
• Campell, Richard : Media and Culture, An Introduction to Mass Communication, 2 nd Edition,
Bedford/St.martine s, Boston.
• Dominick, Joseph R: The Dynamics of Mass Communication, Harper and Row, New York
• Lister, Martine: New Media: A Critical Introduction, MIT Press
• Mamer, Bruce : Film Production Techniques, Thomson Warsworth, Singapore.
• McQuil, Denis: McQuil s Mass Communication Theory, Vistaar Publications, New Delhi.
• Turow, Joseph: Media Today: An Introduction to Mass Communication, 3 rd Edition,
Routledge, London, 2010
• Vivian, John: The Media of Mass Communication, 5 th Edition, Allyn and Bacon, Singapore,
2008
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki

*****

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Social Media
JENNY L. DAVIS
James Madison University, USA

Social media can be broadly defined as the set of interactive Internet applications that
facilitate (collaborative or individual) creation, curation, and sharing of user-generated
content. Examples of social media platforms are numerous and varied. They include
Facebook, Friendster, Wikipedia, dating sites, Craigslist, recipe sharing sites (e.g. all-
recipes.com), YouTube, and Instagram. Social media platforms all share the above-
mentioned characteristics, but are unique from one another in many respects. In par-
ticular, platforms often vary in their architectures, structures, norms, and user bases.
In working to differentiate between different kinds of social media platforms, schol-
ars distinguish and label several subsets of social media, with a particular emphasis on
social network sites. boyd and Ellison (2007) explicitly differentiate social network sites
from social networking sites. They argue that social networking implies meeting new
people and making new connections, which contrasts with actual user practices. Specif-
ically, social network site users tend to interact with existing—rather than new—social
contacts. Examples of social network sites include Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and
LiveJournal.
A second subcategory of social media consists of microblogging sites. These allow
users to distribute short messages to a broad audience, often through links and images.
Such sites have explicit limits on the number of characters or amount of content allowed
per message. Twitter, the predominant microblogging site in the United States, and
Weibo, China’s suite of microblogging sites, limit each message to 140 characters. Vine,
Twitter’s video application, limits clips to 6 seconds.
In addition to the label of social media, the contemporary Internet—characterized by
interactivity and user-generated content—is also known as “Web 2.0.” Some argue that
the newest era of digital technologies, characterized by user collaboration and cooper-
ation, can be labeled “Web 3.0.” Others, however, contend that Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0
are better understood as variations in user practice rather than technological capabil-
ity. Of particular relevance, social media users, who can engage in participatory and
collaborative activities online, also utilize social media platforms to send e-mail type
messages, or engage in asynchronous discussions, both of which the characterize the
Web 1.0 era (Barassi & Treré, 2012).
Researchers at the Pew Internet and American Life Project show that 69% of all US
Internet users participate in some form of social media (Brenner, 2012), with Facebook,
the most popular brand, utilized by 66% of Internet users. Women are significantly
more likely than men to participate in social media, with 75% versus 63% participa-
tion, respectively. Those who are younger (under 30) are significantly more likely to
use social media than those who are older (50 and above), and those with either very

The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication, First Edition. Edited by Gianpietro Mazzoleni.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118541555.wbiepc004
2 SO C I A L ME D I A

high or very low incomes have significantly higher social media participation rates than
those with middle-range incomes. There are no significant racial differences in social
media usage (Brenner, 2012). Internationally, social media use among adults is above
50% in Britain, Spain, and the Czech Republic. Usage rates approach these levels in
Brazil, France, and Italy. In contrast, Pakistan and India have very low social media use,
with less than 10% of the adult population engaging social media platforms. As in the
United States, there are strong global variations in social media use by age, with the
young (18–29) far more likely to use social media than their older counterparts (50+).
For instance, 71% of 18–29-year-olds in Japan use social media, as compared with 8%
of those 50 and older (Pew Research Center, 2012).
Because of their pervasiveness and availability through numerous devices—including
home computers, work computers, tablets, and mobile phones— social media have
important implications for private and public practices and processes in everyday life.
In particular, social media pervade processes of identity, interpersonal relationships,
and the political economy.

Identity

Social media platforms are often nonymous, meaning that they are non-anonymously
attached to bodied beings. As such, much research focuses on the identity implica-
tions of social media. Early Internet research, based primarily on multi-user domains
(MUDs) and MUDs object oriented, emphasized the dual nature of identity in a digital
era. Interactive digital technologies were a reprieve from bodily and social constraints.
More recent work, however, recognizes the integration of the digital and physical, and
understands that social and physical reality are part and parcel of identity processes
within social media.
In particular, identity within social media, though enacted and negotiated in new
ways, is subject to the race, class, and gender relations of the larger society (Nakamura
2007). Nathan Jurgenson (2012) refers to the earlier view of a separateness between
online and offline—or the assumption that social media are a less “real” form of
sociality—as “digital dualism.” Many contemporary social media scholars heavily
critique the digital dualist perspective on identity, and argue instead for an augmented
perspective, through which users and technologies mutually constitute one another
(see Cyborgology.org for an ongoing exposition of the augmented perspective).
In line with the augmented perspective, social media can be seen as a medium
through which identities are “prosumed”—or simultaneously produced and consumed.
Social actors come to know themselves by seeing what they do, and how others respond
to them. By producing and consuming profiled content, social actors produce and
consume selves and identities into being (Davis, 2012). This has significant implications
for social movements, as social media become places to learn about, teach about, and
come to identify with, contested identities. Similarly, social media can be a means
by which people come to associate with political parties and causes, developing
politicized identities through production and consumption of partisan content. Far
from a separate or less “real” venue, the social media environment is one in which
SO C I A L ME D I A 3

users actively negotiate and constitute their very being, affecting self-perceptions, lines
of action, and the evolution of identity meanings.
A key debate among scholars is the extent to which social media afford or constrain
user control over identity meanings. Hogan (2010), for example, notes that social media
platforms are such that actors submit artifacts to share with one another, focusing on
ideal self-presentation with less need to strive for authenticity. Others, however, argue
that authenticity is strongly policed within social media platforms, and that phoniness
is highly reprimanded (Marwick & boyd, 2011).
This debate rests on the complex architectures and normative structures of social
media platforms, which enable explicit curation of identity meanings, while making
the labor of doing so highly visible and therefore always suspect. Moreover, social
media platforms enable other generated content (OGC), in which an actor’s network
contributes—in sometimes unexpected ways—to the actor’s profiled performance(s).
The presence of OGC is further complicated by the collapsed nature of network walls
within social media, such that previously segmented networks (e.g. parents, friends,
colleagues, bosses, and drinking buddies) all come together within a shared interaction
space, bringing with them different expectations about who the actor is and how s/he
is supposed to be.
In this vein the affordances of social media create a tension between ideal and authen-
tic self-presentation, with the added complexity of collapsed contexts. Social actors
must manage these tensions as they prosume selves and identities into being. They do
so in several ways, including complex use of privacy settings, intricate navigation of the
social media architectures, presenting to the “lowest common denominator” (Hogan,
2010), or in some cases conscientiously opting out altogether (Portwood-Stacer, 2013).
The challenge of opting out, however, is increasingly difficult due to the pervasiveness
of social media discussed above.

Interpersonal interaction

As indicated by the label, sociality is a key component of social media. By definition,

social media involve interactivity between users. This interactivity can be synchronous,
asynchronous, one-to-one, one-to-many, situational, or rooted in exhibitional artifacts
(Hogan, 2010). The key debate among scholars and commentators addresses the isolat-
ing versus relationship-building role/potential of social media.
On the one hand, social media can enhance interpersonal relationships by facilitat-
ing connection across geographic and temporal barriers. Especially with the prevalence
of mobile devices, social media make it such that social actors rarely, if ever, have to
be alone. Digital interactivity, facilitated by social media, has become part and parcel
of everyday experiences. Solitary moments can now be shared with friends instanta-
neously, and those friends can engage with the user, inserting themselves into the now
shared experience. Moreover, the vast ties facilitated by social media enable users to
keep in touch with those who might otherwise fall by the wayside, decreasing the cost of
interaction and making tie maintenance more easily obtainable, and, in turn, expanding
network size.
4 SO C I A L ME D I A

Despite fears of fragmentation in contemporary society, research shows that the

expansion of network size through social media can have positive effects on social
capital. Specifically, social media participation, by connecting and activating potential
ties, is instrumental in increasing “bridging” social capital, such that users acquire
access to new perspectives and a broader range of information, resources, and support
than that which is available in close-knit networks. Similarly, intense social media
usage predicts “bonding” social capital, or an increased closeness with existing ties.
Social capital grows along with network size, but only to a point, with positive effects
leveling off, or even declining after network size exceeds 400–500. Importantly, how
users utilize social media platforms affect social capital benefits, with connections
to “actual” friends predicting social capital more so than connections with strangers
or distant acquaintances (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2011; Tong, Van Der Heide,
Langwell, & Walther, 2008).
On the other hand, social media hold the potential to disconnect, tethering users to
screens instead of to each other. Sherry Turkle (2011) makes this argument powerfully
in her recent book, Alone Together. She claims that our connectedness to digital devices
detracts from the richness of human relationships and moves us away from conversa-
tion. Similarly, Stephen Marche (2012) contends that our increased accessibility holds
the unintended consequence of dissipating social cohesion.
Differentiating interactivity within social media from face-to-face interaction, Hogan
(2010) refers to social media sites as “exhibition spaces.” Unlike face-to-face settings,
social media are not temporally bound and actors do not—and cannot—maintain
vigilant adjustments to interaction partners. Instead, they leave content, traces of them-
selves, which are algorithmically curated and then consumed by often large and ambigu-
ous audiences. Importantly, however, Hogan maintains that social media are not sepa-
rate from the physical world, but afford different kinds of engagement.
In a similar vein, Whitney Erin Boesel (2012) describes the devolution of friend-
ship in light of social media, as the crux of friendship labor shifts from production to
consumption. Rather than spending emotional energy as friends direct stories, jokes,
questions, and anecdotes to a specified audience, members of the audience put their
labor toward sorting through the masses of networked artifacts to find that which is rel-
evant and worthy of or necessitating a response. Users quickly and easily post content
about themselves—status updates, pictures, Spotify listens, and Four Square check-ins.
It is up to the user’s friends to select out that data, personalize it, and engage with it in
meaningful ways that sustain the relationship.
Indeed, social media change the landscape of interpersonal interaction, broaden-
ing network reach, strengthening existing ties, creating new ties, stretching ties thin,
and imploding the meaning of “friendship.” This affects not only how people present
themselves—both directly and indirectly—but also how people make sense of their
relationships with one another. The public interactions of social media in many ways
work to establish friendship meanings, solidify and make official significant relation-
ships, and establish distance or schisms through an absence of such public connection.
In all, these interactions reflect and affect face-to-face sociality, reinforcing while inex-
tricably altering what it means to be social.
SO C I A L ME D I A 5

Political participation

The relationship between social media and mass media is one of integration, rather than
juxtaposition. Most mainstream news outlets maintain both a mass media and social
media presence, and many mainstream news stories originate with citizen reporters on
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms. In this vein, social media is an inte-
gral part of the public relations repertoires for politicians and lobbyists. Similarly, much
of the content people share through social media platforms comes from mass media
outlets, as users curate and comment upon mass-produced discourses. Nonetheless,
the presence of social media has shaped the landscape of political discourse generally,
and political participation in particular. The key shift is from primarily one-to-many
political communication capabilities, to a suite of communication modes including
one-to-many, one-to-few, many-to-many, and one-to-one communication.
The potential for digital technologies to facilitate a “public sphere” has long been
debated among Internet scholars. The notion of the Internet as public sphere draws
on the potential to transcend geographic barriers, overcome traditional one-to-many
media oligopolies, and engage in democratic debate. Indeed, such democratic partic-
ipation is a bedrock of Western values, and in many cases a perceived moral “duty.”
At the same time, social media platforms make users traceable and trackable, provide
distraction, and result in a mass of content and information that can be difficult, if not
impossible, to sort through effectively. Social media simultaneously give voice and bring
voices together, while blurring these voices and facilitating their transience.
Some argue that social media are a new and effective avenue for grass-roots move-
ments, cultural sharing, and the presence of multiple voices. These are spaces of revo-
lution and exchange, spaces by and for the people. Others, however, understand social
media technologies as yet another tool of the powerful who can utilize platforms to
perform surveillance, enact social control, and reify (rather than deconstruct) existing
power hierarchies. Still others take a more muted view, arguing that the cacophony of
voices facilitates neither a public sphere nor an oppressive regime, but a benign space
in which multiple voices blur into an oversaturated din.
Interestingly, research shows that social media are neither an impediment nor an
impetus for political participation, but an increasingly required tool for those who do
wish to engage in the political process. In other words, those who are or wish to be
politically active find social media a useful and essential part of their political practice.
Those who do not wish to do so largely ignore political discourse and action both online
and offline (Gustafsson, 2012).
With that said, social media have certainly played a significant role in international
social movements and political uprisings. Twitter and Facebook continue to be instru-
mental in the Arab Spring, as well as the Occupy Wall Street movements. Indeed, the
role of social media in political participation is so salient that new (often value-laden)
language has emerged with which to talk about the phenomenon (e.g. hacktivism, slack-
tivism, Twitter revolution). These platforms, however, have been utilized by both the
people on the ground and those who seek to oppress them. Never was this dual purpose
clearer than during recent events in an embattled Syria.
6 SO C I A L ME D I A

In the effort to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, Syrian rebels were engaged in bloody
battle with the reigning regime. This battle took place on the ground and through digi-
tal communication technologies. With international reporters banned from the region,
rebels communicated with each other and with the outside world using social media
tools. The government, however, also used these tools as a means of tracking rebels
and intercepting plans. Then, on November 29, 2012, with the rebels making significant
inroads and the regime losing control, the government shut down all social media capa-
bilities. The fighting continued, but the communication stopped, changing drastically
the structure of the war. As the rebels adapted, using new digital tools such as Skype, so
too did the regime, tapping into these new communication sources and continuing the
digital battle along with the physical one.
The point here is that political participation, the spread of ideas, the inclusion and
exclusion of voice, has most certainly been affected by social media, but these processes
are very much rooted in an existing physical, political, and cultural reality. Moreover,
while social media enable participation in some ways, they constrain it in others. Over-
all, what it means to participate politically now spans multiple platforms and numerous
communication channels.

The future of social media studies

Social media are integrated into identity, interpersonal relationships, institutions and
the political economy. Social media blur the lines between public and private, work and
leisure, online and offline. Such blurring must be kept in mind as researchers continue
to understand how social media affect, and are affected by, the social world. Some key
areas of interest are beginning to develop.
Increasingly, researchers are looking at the ways in which social media users navi-
gate social media platforms in agentic and active ways. Early research focused largely
on the affordances of social media. This line of work emphasized the ways in which
social media platforms guide users and facilitate particular kinds of interaction and self-
presentation. Emerging work looks more closely at resistance—how social media users
redraw lines, negotiate boundaries, and alter social media landscapes towards their own
ends. This line of research also understands the evolution of digital technologies and
social media usage not as a linear evolution, but as a web of interwoven practices and
material conditions through which users move deftly as fits their needs (Barassi & Treré,
2012).
Another emerging area of inquiry looks at the relationship between social media and
embodiment. Of particular interest is the Quantified Self movement, in which people
track bioindicators using digital technologies and often share their biodata with their
networks (see Quantifiedself.com). In these ways, social media users co-construct their
bodies, enacting their very physicality digitally and publicly, making sense of their bod-
ies in the collaborative social media space.
Finally, emerging work will have to focus on autosharing, or the automatic docu-
mentation of self-data through social media. Applications like social readers, running
trackers, geolocators and social music programs share users’ activities—both online
SO C I A L ME D I A 7

and offline—without any explicit effort on the part of the user. Increasingly, then, social
actors will need to engage with a social media logic, acting under the assumption of vis-
ibility and sociality. This is even the case for those who “opt out” of social media, as their
presence in public spaces subjects them to the documentation and sharing that is part
of an augmented digital-physical landscape.

SEE ALSO: Blogging, Political; Citizen Journalism; Computer-Mediated Communica-

tion; Cultural Studies; Digital Democracy; Digital Divide; Digital Public Sphere; Inter-
net; Interpersonal Communication; Media Democracy; Online News; Political Sociol-
ogy; Popular Culture; Protest, Political; Social Networks

References

Barassi, V., & Treré, E. (2012). Does Web 3.0 come after Web 2.0? Deconstructing theoretical
assumptions through practice. New Media & Society, 14, 1269–1285.
Boesel, W. E. (2012). Social media and the devolution of friendship: Full essay. In
N. Jurgenson & P. Rey (Eds.), Cyborgology. Retrieved from http://thesocietypages.org/
cyborgology/2012/12/18/the-devolution-of-friendship-full-essay-pts-i-ii/
boyd, d., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 210–230.
Brenner, J. (2012). Pew Internet: Social networking (full detail). Pew Internet and American Life
Project.
Davis, J. L. (2012). Prosuming identity: The production and consumption of transableism on
Transabled.org. American Behavioral Scientist, 56, 596–617.
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2011). Connection strategies: Social capital implica-
tions of Facebook-enabled communication practices. New Media & Society, 13, 873–892.
Gustafsson, N. (2012). The subtle nature of Facebook politics: Swedish social network site users
and political participation. New Media & Society, 14, 1111–1127.
Hogan, B. (2010). The presentation of self in the age of social media: Distinguishing performances
and exhibitions online. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30, 377–386.
Jurgenson, N. (2012). When atoms meet bits: Social media, the mobile web and augmented rev-
olution. Future Internet, 4, 83–91.
Marche, S. (2012). Is Facebook making us lonely? The Atlantic, May.
Marwick, A. E., & boyd, d. (2011). I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context
collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media & Society, 13, 114–133.
Nakamura, L. (2007). Digitizing race: Visual cultures of the Internet. Minneapolis, MN: University
of Minnesota Press.
Pew Research Center (2012). Social networking popular across globe. Pew Global Attitudes
Project.
Portwood-Stacer, L. (2012). Media refusal and conspicuous non-consumption: The performa-
tive and political dimensions of Facebook abstention. New Media & Society, Online First. doi:
10.1177/1461444812465139
Tong, S. T., Van Der Heide, B., Langwell, L., & Walther, J. B. (2008). Too much of a good thing?
The relationship between number of friends and interpersonal impressions on Facebook. Jour-
nal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 531–549.
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and more from each other.
New York, NY: Basic Books.
8 SO C I A L ME D I A

Further reading

Papacharissi, Z. (2011). A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Rey, P. J. (2012). Social media: You can log off but you can’t opt out. In N. Jurgenson & P.
Rey (Eds.), Cyborgology. Available at http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/12/18/the-
devolution-of-friendship-full-essay-pts-i-ii/
Tufekci, Z. (2008). Can you see me now? Audience and disclosure regulation in online social
network sites. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 28, 20–36.
Walther, J. B., Van Der Heide, B., Hamel, L. M., & Shulman, H. C. (2009). Self-generated versus
other-generated statements and impressions in computer-mediated communication: A test of
warranting theory using Facebook. Communication Research, 36, 229–253.
Zhao, S., Grasmuck, S., & Martin, J. (2008). Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empow-
erment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 1816–1836.

Jenny L. Davis is an assistant professor of sociology at James Madison University and

coeditor of the Cyborgology blog. Her research interests are social psychology and the
sociology of digital media. Her work appears in prominent sociology and interdisci-
plinary journals, including American Sociological Review, New Media & Society, and
Information, Communication & Society.

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Introduction to Social and
Cyber Media UNIT 4 IMPACT OF SOCIAL AND CYBER
MEDIA

Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Social and Cyber Media
4.2.1 Social Networking Sites
4.3 Characteristics of Cyber Media
4.4 Impact of Social & Cyber Media
4.4.1 Impact on Education
4.4.2 Impact on Youth
4.4.3 Impact on Society
4.4.4 Impact on Politics
4.4.5 Impact on Business
4.5 Cyber Crime and its Prevention
4.6 Let Us Sum Up
4.7 Answers to Check Your Progress

4.0 OBJECTIVES
Our aim through this Unit is familiarize you with the characteristics of social and
cyber media as well as talk about the impact that it has had on our lives. By the end
of this Unit you will be able to judge for yourselves, the great impact that cyber
media has had on our society. You will also be able to see the positive as well as
negative effects of cyber media. Finally you will also be able to take general
precautions to protect yourself from cyber crimes.

4.1 INTRODUCTION
The very definition of communication and social interaction has changed in today’s
world by the rise and evolution of social and cyber media. Social media platforms
like facebook and twitter have revolutionized the way we communicate with each
other. In the previous unit we saw the impact that the internet had on journalism. In
this unit we will see the tremendous impact that cyber media has had on our social,
personal and professional lives. However, where there are plus points of any new
invention—there are bound to be some misuses too. Pros and cons, use and misuse
always go hand in hand. It is up to each individual as well as institution to see that
they do not get conned by cyber criminals. A number of people in today’s’ world
have been duped and have had to pay a heavy price both in terms of finances and
violation of their privacy. They have realized only too late that they have fallen prey
to cyber predators, and there is nothing they can do about it apart from deactivating
their social media accounts. However, some small precautions go a long way in
preventing such crimes. We will be taking about them in details in this Unit.

38
Impact of Social and Cyber
4.2 WHAT IS SOCIAL AND CYBER MEDIA? Media

To understand how the social and cyber media has impacted today’s world, we first
need to know what exactly Social and Cyber media means.

Cyber media is the medium of communication through internet or cyberspace. These

days most communication between organizations, establishments or individuals
takes place through the Internet and the World Wide Web which is the part of the
Internet that is visible to us. Since this form of communication, (that is published
on the Internet or in Cyberspace and portrayed through electronic devices), takes
place through the various websites of the World Wide Web, it is also referred to as
Web media. We tend to use the terms “internet’, ‘Web’, ‘Net’ and ‘cyberspace’
more or less interchangeably to mean online space that we access to find information
or to communicate with others or to be entertained through multimedia content.
Cyber media is also referred to as social media, as it offers a platform to users for
socializing with each other. It has influenced the lives of people and society in a big
way.

Cyber media is, thus, the Internet-based form of communication that allows the
Web-users to converse with each other or share and exchange information, ideas
opinions, feelings, pictures etc. through a particular network or web. Cyber media
comprises blogs, micro-blogs, instant messaging, wikis, photo-sharing and video-
sharing sites, podcasts, widgets, virtual worlds and social networking sites.

4.2.1 Social Networking Sites

Most of us today are extensively using social networking sites like Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, You Tube, LinkedIn, Tumbler, Pinterest, and many more,
for various purposes.

Out of these Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube are perhaps the most frequently
visited networking sites.

Facebook is a socializing networking site that allows people all over the world to
relate with friends, relatives, companies and organizations. Twitter is an informative
micro-blogging website that allows people to post updates in 140 characters or
less. You Tube is the world’s largest video-sharing site. Some other Social networking
sites are the LinkedIn which is a business related site used mainly for professional
networking; Instagram enables users to share pictures and short videos using their
mobile device; Pinterest is a website that offers inspirational and creative content
such as fashions, recipes, event-planning and the likes, and draws a large female
audience.

The benefits of using Social and Cyber media can be seen at many levels. On a
personal level, it helps people to interact with family and friends, to learn new
things, to develop their interests, share information and be entertained. Facebook,
Twitter and You Tube carry a lot of entertaining content shared by billions of people
around the world. On a professional level, networking sites help to add to people’s
knowledge in a particular field and build their professional network by connecting
with other professionals in their field. Cyber media is also of great help to the
corporate companies. Thus at the Corporate level, it helps the companies to converse
with their customers and clients, gain their confidence, get a feedback from them
and promote and elevate the company’s brand and services accordingly.

39
Introduction to Social and
Cyber Media Check Your Progress 1
Note: a) Space given below the question is for writing your answer.
b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
i) Name some networking sites that are commonly in use these days.
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................

ii) List some benefits of networking sites both at a personal as well as at a

professional level.
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...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................

4.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF CYBER MEDIA

Cyber media is the new media as differentiated from the old or traditional or
conventional media. Whereas cyber media consists of the internet mobile phones,
social networking sites, emails etc., conventional media comprises the broadcast
media (radio and T.V.) and the print media (newspapers and magazines). Sometimes,
the users of conventional media take the help of Cyber media as well for the success
of their stories. For instance, they get information for their stories from the Internet
or depend on the images and videos on their mobile phones or on information from
their emails to cover stories that are hard to access. Even the BBC prefers its
correspondents to be well versed in both traditional as well as online media.

Some characteristics of Cyber media are as follows:-

• Hypertextuality is one of the major characteristics of Cyber media. Any
information on the net can be substantiated by other relevant material, linking
web pages in one website to those of any other website on the World Wide
Web.

• Online readers have the option to interact with Cyber writers in any and every
website in the World Wide Web. Online readers can give their views and receive
replies from the Cyber writers instantly.

• Cyber media is multimedia as one can supplement ones content with video
footage, images, pictures etc.

• Cyber media is accessible twenty-four hours a day. A web page can be accessed
by anyone though the Internet at anytime. It is, therefore, not time-bound and
has no time limitation.
40
• Cyber media also has no space limitation as it is borderless. Users of this Impact of Social and Cyber
Media
media in any part of the world can access information or communicate with
anyone without restrictions of borders that divide countries.

• The new media is much more difficult to regulate and censor, unlike the old or
the traditional media. It is difficult to censor or silence Cyber media as
governments cannot easily prosecute someone for posting links on a social
networking site or intercept emails, or close down websites or take legal action
against Internet service providers. The governments also do not have the
infrastructure to control the vast amounts of information flowing constantly
through the wide spread networking sites and websites.
• New media, that is Cyber media, is often audience-created and user-driven.
• Cyber media uses digital, online and mobile technology.

4.4 IMPACT OF SOCIAL AND CYBER MEDIA

Cyber media has influenced our lives in many ways and the world without it is
simply unthinkable today. In the following passages, we shall discuss how every
section of society and every sphere of life has been impacted by social and cyber
media.

4.4.1 Impact on Education

Social and cyber media has had a tremendous impact on our systems of education.
Students can now browse sources like Wikipedia, Google, and others, anytime to
get the information they want. Teachers too are taking the help of You Tube to
show their subject-related videos to the students. As most of the students use
Facebook nowadays, teachers can send them updates on school events, class
schedules, dates for assignment submission etc. by making a common page for all
the students to share. Students too can keep in touch with their teachers to solve
their difficulties in their course of study from home if they are homebound for some
reason. They can also give online presentations, take examinations online and receive
feedback from the teachers. They can also easily communicate, discuss and share
information for a group project they are to submit through various social sites like
Orkut, Facebook and Instagram etc. This promotes team work. Social networking
sites also help students to download matter from the internet or to purchase online
goods and also to read e-books on kindle.

On the negative side, all the information available on the Internet may not be a
hundred percent reliable and needs to be cross-checked before one downloads it.
Also children can access any type of reading material on social sites, including
explicit pornographic material that may harm them in the long run. Some of the
games children access on these sites are extremely violent in nature and can influence
their minds and social behavior adversely. Plagiarism is another bane of the internet.
The information on any topic under the sun offered by the Internet is so vast that
students are easily tempted to copy some of it and pass it off as their own. Sometimes,
they use it to do their assignments and homework, thereby killing the initiative to
think for themselves.

4.4.2 Impact on the Youth

Today, teenagers and young adults are the most frequent users of online Social
media and it has become a way of life with them. It has made their lives easier and
efficient. With tight working schedules, the young rarely have time to meet up with
41
Introduction to Social and friends. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. help them to socialize
Cyber Media
with their old friends and also give them a chance to make new friends. Moreover,
through Social media, they remain updated with what is happening around the world.
It also helps them to stay connected even when they have moved away from each
other. Further, it provides them with a platform to create groups having common
interests which help them to find opportunities through discussions to promote
their respective careers. Social media also helps the young to refine and develop
their artistic abilities. Their creativity gets a boost from the creative comments,
poems, statements etc. posted by other users and from the encouraging feedback
they get from family and friends for their own posts. This also helps to build their
self-confidence and make a career choice.

On the negative side, however, the impact of cyber media on the youth does not
appear to be all rosy. Accessing social platforms with their computers, tablets, or
cell phones and chatting for hours together with cyber friends not only makes them
lose many hours of productive work but may also make them incapable of face-to-
face interaction. Young ones with a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account are
logged in all the time which curbs their physical movement. Eye strain and backaches
are a common complaint of the cyber addicts. Cyber addiction can also lead to
social isolation which in turn, may impair their emotional and mental health resulting
in conditions like anxiety and depression.

Sharing of their personal details online by the young users can increase the risk of
identity theft, and of exposing them to outside predators and to Cyber bullying.
Hackers have been known to have emotionally blackmailed young web users leading
to disastrous results like mental agony and even suicides in some cases. A lot of
sexually explicit content is easily available online which leads to its gross misuse
by the youth.

4.4.3 Impact on Society

The internet has reduced the world to a global village where millions of people are
connected with each other through one of its most innovative technologies—Social
media. Social networking sites have become the most visited destinations on the
Internet. These websites allow users to connect easily and share ideas, feelings and
messages very quickly with other users. Verbal communication has given way to
online messaging. Whereas sites like Facebook and Twitter use writing as the mode
for communication, Skype connects people by word of mouth. The incorporation
of webcams by most social sites enables people to talk with and even watch each
other. The interaction on social sites between friends, relatives, co-workers etc.
promotes social behavior and fosters a profound sense of community. Important
issues can be discussed on various sites and opinions and judgments can be formed
by a variety of people. Groups of people with similar interests can interact with
each other thereby ending their isolation.

Sites like You Tube are a constant source of entertainment and offer a platform to
users to upload and share videos with one another. The You Tube is also a great
platform for film producers and musicians as their fans can easily access their music
videos. My Space and other such sites enable easy access to a variety of videos like
movies, music, sports and documentaries. News can reach the farthest corner of
the world in no time. Some social networking sites are slowly replacing television
because they can provide news at a faster rate. In fact most of the news channels
and newspapers also have Facebook and Twitter accounts that provide news stories
as they are unfolding.
42
Social networking sites have been instrumental in providing a voice to segments of Impact of Social and Cyber
Media
society whose voices might otherwise not be heard. For instance, in the UK a site
called Mumsnet’s forced politicians to address parents as equals. In Libya civil
society members along with disabled persons’ organizations, launched an innovative
multimedia compaign called Zaykum Zayna (“As You are, We Are”). Through
messages on social media, this conveyed democratic values of equality and
highlighted the rights of persons with disabilities.

Although the advent of Cyber and Social media has offered us numerous advantages,
yet there are still groups around the world, such as the elderly the illiterate and the
poor who have limited or no access to social sites. Also, like the young, other age-
groups too in society are becoming addicted to social sites resulting in the same
ailments that afflict the youth. Similarly, people have also become vulnerable to
cyber crimes as hackers are breaking into their accounts and accessing crucial
information like bank account details etc. to con them.

4.4.4 Impact on Politics

The evolving role of social and cyber media in elections and in the functioning of
world democracies cannot be denied. The networking sites are being creatively
used for political campaigning around the world. During the 2016 Presidential
elections in the USA Social networking sites, were used extensively by the leading
presidential candidates, Trump and Clinton. These played a decisive role in the
final outcome. Twitter was used aggressively by Republican presidential candidate,
Donald Trump, to run down his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, and also to
strike a one-to-one rapport with the American people, even if sometimes his tweets
were offensive and violated the standard campaigning norms. Former USA President
Barack Obama, took the help of Facebook to raise funds for his elections and to
send messages to the American public while campaigning for the Presidential
elections in 2008 which he eventually won. Social media also played a major role
in the 2014 Indian elections, won by Narender Modi, whom the citizens on Facebook
voted as the second most “liked” politician in the world after Obama. Like Obama
did during his presidency, Modi as Prime Minister is making extensive use of the
Social and Cyber media to reach out to the Indian masses to promote his cherished
goals of development and innovation.

The social sites also play an indispensable role in the proper functioning and
strengthening of democracy. They act like a “watch dog” to oversee the election
processes. By using text messages, they gather and relay information on irregularities
that political parties and contesting candidates commit during elections, thereby
bringing transparency in the election processes.

Social and Cyber media also educates the voters on how to exercise their democratic
rights. They provide a platform both to the political parties and candidates for
communicating their manifestos to the electorate; and to the people to air their
views and needs, and interact with leaders to debate key election issues.

Social media has also been instrumental in bringing about political change in world
governments. The Arab Spring uprisings, since 2011, are an example of how digital
media enabled communities to unite around shared grievances and mobilize against
dictatorial rules in their respective countries. Social protests against unjust rulers in
the Arab world spread from country to country because social sites carried
documented evidence of the tragedies being suffered by people at the hands of
dictators in the Arab countries. The new information technologies and social media
networks, not easily controlled by the States, helped the activists, to come together
43
Introduction to Social and and rise against dictators resulting in holding of democratic elections in their
Cyber Media
countries after the Arab Spring revolutions.

But social media can also play a negative role in the election processes.
Dissemination of misinformation, relayed easily and very fast by the cyber media,
can at times lead to civil unrest and rioting etc. and at other times endanger the
freedoms of speech and the press. Sometimes, social media poses risks for the
contesting candidates when their comments posted on social sites backfire. At other
times, the predictions on social sites, regarding election results, can go terribly
wrong as the number of twitter mentions received by a candidate may not translate
into electoral success.

4.4.5 Imapct on Business

Business establishements and organizations are turning to social and cyber media
to advertise their goods, to increase their performance in various ways to accomplish
business objectives and to increase their annual sales. Marketing is one of the most
important and common use of social media that businesses make. Today, every
brand has a target section of online audience. Professional networking sites are also
being used by businesses to connect with their clients. Businesses and organizations
reach millions of users by creating pages and offering promotions and discounts to
them. These users, in turn, reach out to their friends and so on. Networks also help
businesses to acquaint them with the likes and dislikes of their prospective customers.
They also help businesses to increase their market insight to get ahead of their
rivals.

Networks can, at times, play spoilsports for some business ventures. An online user
may post a negative comment about a business organization which can snowball
into adverse publicity for it, leading to its shut down. Hackers are known to have
diverted companies of their investment and profits by entering into their personal
accounts on social sites. Sometimes a wrong online brand strategy can also destroy
a company.

Check Your Progress 2

Note: a) Space given below the question is for writing your answer.
b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
i) List some benefits of cyber media in the field of education.
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ii) What impact has cyber media had on the youth?

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44
Impact of Social and Cyber
iii) How is world politics impacted by the use of cyber media? Media
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iv) List some negative impacts of cyber media on people.

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4.5 CYBER CRIME AND ITS PREVENTION

As mentioned in Section 4.4 of this unit, the impact of cyber revolution, in the field
of education, society, business and politics, has also given rise to corresponding
cyber crimes that are increasing at an alarming rate. We mentioned online financial
frauds, violation of privacy of net users, cyber bullying, identity thefts, sex crimes
like trafficking in child pornography, rise in cases of violence, murders, burglaries
etc. and also the menace of plagiarism. A large number of criminals, who are
exploiting the ease and speed of the internet, are indulging in nefarious cyber crimes,
taking advantage of the anonymity offered them by the Internet. Listed below are
some preventive measures that can minimize the threats posed by cyber attacks on
web-users.
• One should be very careful what personal details one posts on the Net because
these will permanently remain there. While making online purchases, one
should see that details like one’s name, age, address, mobile number, bank
details etc. are given only after making sure the websites are secure otherwise
hackers can easily hack into the information provided.
• The safety of one’s personal computer should be ensured by putting in a strong
password and by using an anti-virus software. Also, one should always activate
one’s computer firewall. These measures will prevent any virus from infecting
one’s computer and corrupting files and data.
• One needs to be careful while downloading material and applications because
these are the channels from where viruses may enter one’s accounts.
• One’s social networking sites and profiles should have security settings.
• One should never click on, or open a file of an unknown origin. Neither should
one open emails from strangers. One’s e-mail password should be protected
strongly otherwise email accounts can be easily hacked.
• Incidents like cyber bullying, threats or harassment over the Internet, hacking
and financial frauds, sex crimes, theft of identity etc. should at once be reported
to the site administrator or to the police. 45
Introduction to Social and
Cyber Media Check Your Progress 3
Note: a) Space given below the question is for writing your answer.
b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
i) What preventive measures can one take to keep one safe from cyber crimes?
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4.6 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit we learnt about the basic characteristics of social-cyber media as well
as its impact on our society. We also spoke about the positive and negative effects
of cyber media on our lives. The concept of cyber security is a major concern in our
times because of massive online financial transactions that are taking place these
days. Therefore, we also cautioned against the use of posting personal information
on open sites. Lastly we have provided some crucial ways by which to prevent
cyber crime.

4.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress 1

i) Some networking sites are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram

and You Tube.

ii) At a personal level, networking sites help people to interact with family and
friends, learn new things, develop their interests, share information and be
entertained. Professionally, these sites provide knowledge to people and help
them to connect to other professionals.

Check Your Progress 2

i) Wikipedia and Google have helped students to work out their assignments etc
by providing them with unlimited material which they can use in a judicious
manner.
ii) Helps the youth to stay connected with each other Provides common platforms
to pursue their interests. Can help them to gain confidence by posting their
stories/poems and getting feedback.
iii) Cyber media can impact politics by acting as a watch-dog for various political
activities. They can influence public opinion and thus change the opinion of
voters. Can galvanize support against dictatorial leaders etc.
iv) If not used judiciously—can curb creativity in children. Can lead to cyber
addiction which in turn leads to lack of physical exercise and related problems.
Can fall prey to cyber bullying. Misinformation can also be relayed via this
media.
46
Check Your Progress 3 Impact of Social and Cyber
Media
i) One should be very careful about the personal details one posts on cyber media.
All these should have strong security settings. Cyber staling and cyber bullying
should be reported immediately.

47
See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272498429

Script writing for Radio and Television

Chapter · March 2014

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Chapter

Script Writing for Radio andTelevision

M.S. Nain
Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 11

"Script writing is just as much a craft as interviewing, tape editing and mixing..The script is wha
the information you have gathered. It is the framework for your story. It brings together the
elements, and helps your audience understand the significance of the points the people you h
have made. Scripts are used to ensure include all the relevant information and don't go off su
also important for timing, and help to make sure programmes don't overrun or under run. -
script is different to writing a script for TV because the audience will be focusing purely on th
have no visual cues. This has to be taken into account when choosing language and structure. F
script couldn't contain the line "Look at that!" without also describing what the person is looking at.
A video script may be defined as the pre-visualized description of the visual and aural elem
programme. Script writing involves the writing out of complete video programme in a suitab
script enables each member of a production unit to understand the requirements of a video pro
each unit member gives off ones best for achieving the overall objective of the programme.
sequencing and time management of the various segments of the subject matter and one will hav
the total content of the information when it is put down on paper.

Writing for Radio

Radio can be a news report, a commentary, a conversation, an audio postcard, a documentary o
of all these and more. Regardless of the format, radio journalism is like storytelling - it is conver
Radio scripting is a tool that will help you tell your story. Live radio is stressful enough wit
burden of having to decide what to say next. It is much better to write your announcements befo
then focus entirely on your delivery. Reading material well on-air is not easy. However, wit
confidence things will gradually fall into place. When you become proficient, you can replace c
with dot-points for ad-libbing. But if in doubt, script it. It is far better to say something worthwh
stiffly, than "uumming" and "ahhhing" throughout your program. Writing scripts will take you I
for your show but developing loyal listeners makes it worth it! Think of your script as a way of w
what you hear and see in your imagination. It can be used as a guide for live and pre-produced
Your script will be a guide for the host or narrator of an audio piece and/or for the on-air technic
producer who will be mixing your script to tape.

Basic Principles
Language, grammar and punctuation
There is a big difference between radio and print or television stories. Since we can't go back t
over like a newspaper, and we don't have the visual images of TV, the radio journalist has to write
can understand the story the first time it is read. Below are some basic principles on writing for r
language, grammar/punctuation and script layout.
Write as you speak, in simple sentences. Formal grammar and syntax are inappropriate for the conversationa
style of radio announcing. Avoid highly specialised terms, unless they are explained.
No: "The allochthonous population of Brussels is gradually outnumbering the autochthonous
inhabitants."
Yes: "There are more and more people from different ethnic backgrounds in Brussels."
Test your script as you write. Don't just run your eyes over it, or murmur under your breath. Read it out loud. I
you trip over a word or phrase, it needs changing before show time. This will make it much easier on you and you
audience.
Use precise, clear language. The text should unfold in a logical manner and be easy to follow by ear. If you ar
not sure about a sentence or paragraph, read it out to somebody and see whether they understand.
No: The other day, the police confirmed the suspicion of the family of racial motives .in the well-known
case of the murder of the old woman."
Write for one listener. Write and deliver your words as though you are speaking to one person, not a crowd
Treat your listener as an individual and you'll build a loyal audience.
No: "As you all surely know, March 21 is the International Day Against Racial Discrimination. So if any
of you people are interested, you can attend free training courses at our radio on that day."
Yes: "March 21 is the International Day Against Racial Discrimination. If you are interested in attending
a free training course, come to the radio station on that day."
Write news thoughtfully. News or documentary material should be delivered slowly, and in small chunks
News is information-heavy and more difficult to digest. Give your listeners time to chew it over.
Think for the listener rather than yourself! Assess your script from the position of a listener.
Avoid abstractions. Show, don't tell. Be concrete and talk in pictures and images. It may sound funny, but radio
can be a very visual medium. You have to give listeners something to "look" at... with their imagination instead
of their eyes.
Don't overload your text with too much information.
No: "Between February and June 2000, there was a 21.53% increase in the deportation rate. From July
until September, this escalated to 34.6%, states the recently published report by...".
Yes: "The recently published report by..reveals out a drastic increase of over 30% in the deportation rate
in the year 2000".
Simplify or round numbers. Say "nearly 16 million" instead of the actual figure of "15 870 222". Using comparisons
can be helpful. For instance, a local city of comparable size when mentioning the size of a foreign city.
Avoid repetitions, overused words and tongue twisters.
Expand and elaborate on a point that may not immediately have been conveyed. For instance, don't assume tha
everyone knows who Fidel Castro is.
No abbreviations should be used if you can avoid them, unless you know that they are very well known. If you
can't help avoid them, mention the name in full in the beginning and keep reminding the listener. You cannot re-
wind a radio programme and listen to a detail missed out.
Yes: "The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, better known by the French acronym
AMARC, that's 1'Associationmondiale des radio diffuseurscommunautaires..."
Use brackets and quotation marks as little as possible because they are not audible.
No: "The mention of 'colour' is unnecessary in most crime stories, but this is (nearly always) ignored by
even the most 'progressive' newspapers."
The chairman said: "It is a crying shame." Or The chairman said, quote: It is a crying shame - unquote.
Yes: The chairman said it was a crying shame.
Adjectives and personal values should be avoided in news writing. If you want to give your opinion, do it
through a personality you quote.
No: "The mayor's remarks on the new legislation are a setback to local efforts."
Yes: "The Citizens' Collective of Lyon condemned the mayor's remarks on the new legislation, describing
them as a setback to local efforts."
Avoid using pronouns such as he, her, they etc. The writer knows who they are referring to, but this may not be
so clear for the listener. It is better to repeat than assume.
Avoid lists. You may end up losing the listener's interest.
Write short sentences using the "active" voice.
No: "The world's fastest growing criminal business is considered to be people trafficking."
Yes: " People trafficking is the world's fastest growing criminal business."
Use the present tense where possible.
Punctuate to suit your own reading style.
Yes: "Children learn to build musical instruments using scrap material like toilet paper rolls or popcorn
seeds."
Yes: "Children learn to build musical instruments using scrap material, like toilet paper rolls or popcorn
seeds."
Titles go before names.
Yes: "Minister of Labour, Maurizio Sacconi."; "Musician, YoussouN'Dour."
KISS (Keep it short and simple)You should not try to get too much information into any sentence. Although you
use the inverted pyramid style of story writing, you may only be able to use one or two concepts (ideas) per
sentence. You cannot get as much detail into a radio or television story as you can into a newspaper story.
You cannot expect your listener to understand the Who? What? Where? When? Why? And How? of a story all in
the first paragraph or even the first two paragraphs. Although as a good journalist you should not leave any
essential questions unanswered, you may find that it takes all the time available for a single story to communicate
only a few basic facts. It is often said that you could put all the words in a ten minute radio bulletin on one page
of a newspaper.
Stick to one or two key points per sentence. No sentence should be longer than 20 words, except in unusual
circumstances. Just as a mother feeds a child one spoonful at a time, allowing the child to swallow each spoonful
before taking the next, you should spoon feed your listener. Give them one piece of information at a time so that
it can be digested before the next piece.
Where necessary, split a long and involved sentence into two or more shorter clearer sentences, as you would in
conversation.
No- Japanese fishing boats, which were banned from Fijian waters during an international row over net
sizes last year, returned to fish in the waters off Vanua Levu on Monday
Yes-Japanese boats have returned to fish in Fijian waters. They were banned last year because of an
international row over net sizes. Now they are back in the waters off Vanua Levu.
It may take more words, but what good is the most skillful sentence in history if the listener cannot understand
it? It might help you to write short and simple sentences if you first try to imagine how the story might appear in
a newspaper headline. Once you have reduced it to the bones of a headline, you can put some flesh on it for radio
and television. Don't forget though that, whereas newspaper headlines can be incomplete sentences, without
words like the and a, radio and television news must be in complete sentences. Look at the following example
and notice how we take the details in the information, strip it down to the bones by writing a headline, then add
words to turn the headline into a complete sentence, suitable for radio or television.

Information
A contract for the construction of a new road between Madang and Lae has been awarded to a Korean company.
-
Headline
Koreans to build new road

Intro
A Korean company is to build a new road between Madang and Lae.

Key Principles for Radio Script Writing

1. It is spoken
We should remember that we are not writing a piece of written literature. So we should be natural and use the
words you know the meaning and which are in your spoken vocabulary. Use the spoken words of everyday
speech. Do not be afraid to use the same words twice or thrice if it the right word. The broadcast style must be
natural. Example: Do not write like: The Road is not motorable INSTEAD WRITE LIKE; The Road is blocked or
closed.
In Broadcast scripts, do not use abbreviations. Write full words.
We cannot write Like: Don't, That's, they're, won't, isn't INSTEAD WRITE AS:
Do not, That is, They are, Would not, Is not, etc.
2. It is immediate
Broadcast scripts are considered to be written in immediate format. For Radio and Television, information is
considered immediate. Broadcast is a "NOW" medium. But in print we can publish even history or something
which is not immediate.
Example: Do not write: The Chief Executive said today the country's economy was booming. INSTEAD WRITE
LIKE: The chief executive says the country's economy is booming.
•
3. It is person to person
Writing for Radio and Television must be informal. It is like YOU AND ME medium. It mean that if you write a
script to be transmitted through radio or television, you are supposed to deliver this script in person to person
format. Though, at a time thousands of people would be listening or watching your scripts to be delivered from
radio or television, but they should feel that they are attached to this script or drama or any information.
These scripts develop friendship with listeners and viewers. When we broadcast any script, we should adopt a
friendly tone. Use language normally your audience use to speak and understand.
4. It is heard once
When we write a script for Radio and Television, we should keep in mind that the words, dialogue spoken are
heard once and they can not be referred back as in case of print media. In the print media, we can again read the
words we do not understand or miss them. But when words are spoken at radio and television, they can be heard
again, if slipped first time. So, always use easy, simple short sentence and understandable language and words.
Clarity must be observed. In broadcast script writing the biggest enemy is confusion. Do not write confused
words. Leave out superfluous information. The idea must be grasped. Use only one idea in one sentence.
5. It is sound/picture
You should know that your scripts are delivered through sound in case of radio and sound and picture in case of
television. Your words are a bridge between you and your audience. Do not use vague or ambiguous language in
script writing. Punctuation is absolutely vital. When eyes see a mark on page, the brain reacts in a certain way
and the sentences, dialogues are delivered in a right way. Always your first sentence should be catchy and attractive.
Writing Radio Script
There are probably as many methods of writing as there are writers. Each author has his or her own process for
developing and writing a script. So much is involved in writing a good script that it would be impossible to write
it down in a page or two. If you have never written a script, here is a brief description of one process. If you are
an old hand at writing scripts, use what works for you.
1. Develop a concept. The concept is the story told in its most concise form revealing only essential details.
a. Construct a clear, well defined concept before developing the plot. While writing, it is easy to lose your direction
and become lost in a maze of complications. Keeping the concept in mind, keeps the writer on track. The concept
is the idea that holds the story together. It is the thing that keeps the script focused, providing a direction for the
plot. b. A concept should identify the following:
(1) Setting (Where? When?)
(2) At least the main characters (Who?)
(3) A conflict or problem that the characters must resolve (What?)
(4) The resolution of the conflict (How?)
2. Write a summary of the story. This is a more detailed telling of the story in narrative form.
3. Divide the summary into scenes. Make a list of the scenes.
4. Describe the scenes that tell the story. For each scene, answer the following questions:
a. What does the setting look like?
b. Where is the setting?
c. Specify the date and time.
d. Who are the characters in this scene?
e. What information does the scene communicate to the audience?
f. Identify the point in the story where CONFLICT arises. CONFLICT should arise early in the play.
g. Identify the point in the story where the CLIMAX and RESOLUTION occurs. Both of these may occur in
one scene. CLIMAX and RESOLUTION should occur near the end of the play.
5. Write the dialog for each scene. Make the story happen. Refer to the information you wrote when you described
the scene. You may find that inserting some of the scfund effects at this time is automatic. Don't worry about
getting all of them or even getting them into the correct format; that can be done later. If a sound or an idea for
music comes to you while you are writing the dialog scenes, just make a note and put brackets around it. You can
come back later and make adjustments.
6. Insert the remaining sound effects, music, and transition details in the appropriate format.
7. Compile all dialog scenes into a rough draft.
8. Read through the script. Search for problems (illogical transitions, contradictions, mechanics, etc.), fixing them
as you go.
9. Make a final draft.
Script layout
Prepare your material so that the path between your eyes, brain and mouth remains clear. For instance:
• Write hard-to-pronounce words phonetically
• Write names or figures in full
• Use an easy-to-read font in a large size
• Double space all copy for easy reading
• Type on one side of the page only
• Use one inch margins
• Exaggerate where the paragraph begins by spacing
• Mark your copy to guide your delivery. Marking copy is important to ensure easy reading
• If you want a word emphasized, underline it. Also, put slash marks after the sentences where pauses are
required.

[244
I .
The more complex your radio format, the more complex the audio mix - or melded segments, background sound
and music - will be. To make it easier, you will need to write cues in your script to indicate transitions in an audio
story, or when to bring "in" or fade "out" each sound element:
Actuality: an edited comment or expression meant to serve as a quote; usually recorded at the scene of an event.
Clip: Segment of audio, any length, played as a unit; usually the same as actuality; may be a phrase or sentence
that becomes part of an actuality.
Segment: an edited interview or narrated story with actualities; it could also refer to a clip or actuality.
Ambience: a background sound usually recorded at the scene of an event. Ambience helps place your listener at
the event as a participant or observer.
Narration: the story told by a host, announcer or presenter.
The final script of your piece can also be the transcript of your show, or a detailed rendition in writing of a
recording.

Writing for Television

Although most of the rules for broadcast writing (such as KISS) apply to both radio and television, there are a
few additional factors to remember when writing for television.
Making television news is a more complicated process than producing radio news - which can often be done by
one person. Television always involves several people, performing specialist tasks such as camera operating,
scriptwriting, bulletin presenting, directing, studio managing, lighting and sound mixing. Television also involves
two simultaneous methods of presenting information - sound and vision. Of the two, vision is usually the most
effective in giving details quickly. For example, you could take several minutes to describe a crash scene which
can be understood from a ten-second film segment. The words in television usually support the pictures, not the
other way round. That is why television reporters usually write their scripts after they have edited the videotape
(or film). You usually have to write your script £o that the words match the pictures which are on the screen. This
requires good language skills, especially in simplifying complex language. If a newsreader has to read your
script live - perhaps from an autocue - it will help them if you keep the words and grammar simple and the
sentences short. (An autocue - also called a teleprompter - is a device which projects a magnified image of the
script on a clear screen in front of the camera lens, in such a way that only the presenter can see it. It is invisible
to the viewers at home. It is used so presenters do not need to keep looking down at their scripts.)
Of course, the words become more important when there are no pictures to illustrate the story, only the sight of
the newsreader's head and shoulders. But you should always try to think of ways of presenting some of your
information visually, otherwise you are wasting half of your resources (the vision). For example, if you are telling
about a new tax on beer, you will probably simultaneously show pictures of a brewery and of beer being produced
and consumed. You might also want to show a graph showing how beer sales and taxes have increased over the
past few years. And you may want a clip of the relevant minister explaining why he is increasing the tax.
As well as being aware of how your words will support the pictures, you must also consider the effect the
pictures will have on your viewers' ability to listen to the words. For example, if you have some very dramatic
pictures of an explosion, you should not write your script in such a way that the important facts are given while
viewers have all their attention on the picture. Perhaps leave a couple of seconds without any commentary
during the explosion, then bring your viewers' attention back to the words gradually. Remember that every time
you change the picture on the screen, your viewers' attention is distracted away from the words while they
concentrate on the new image. Bear this in mind when writing your script to fit the edited pictures. Because
television viewers have to concentrate on both sight and sound, you cannot expect them to concentrate on lots of
details while there are interesting pictures on the screen. So if you want to give some very important details,
either do it when the camera returns to a picture of the newsreader, or do it through graphics such as maps,
diagrams, graphs or tables or through captions.
Captions
The names and titles of speakers are usually written on the screen in captions. These must be simple and clear, so
that your viewers do not have to spend much time reading them. Remember too that your viewers may not all be
able to read. If you know that literacy rates are low among your audience, putting the written word on the screen
will not alone explain essential details. For example, in countries with high literacy rates, television newsreaders
or reporters use only captions to identify speakers. You may need to both present a caption and also read the
name aloud.

Subtitles
Subtitles are text versions of the spoken words in the bulletin or program. They usually run along the bottom of
the screen so viewers can read them while still watching the pictures and listening to the words being spoken.
They are mainly used for two reasons: to assist viewers who have hearing difficulties (called closed captions) or to
translate words in languages other than the language of broadcast. They generally need to be prepared beforehand
and they require concentration from the viewer, so they should be done professionally if possible.
To avoid having to use subtitled translations of words spoken in another language, it is possible to over-dub
what the speaker is saying by fading down the original sound and getting another voice to read a translation
over it, either a fellow journalist or a professional voice actor. Simpler still is to fade down the words being
spoken so they can barely be heard then the newsreader (or reporter) can summarise what is said in reported
speech.

Stand-ups
One final word about writing for stand-ups. These are the times when a reporter speaks directly into the camera
at the scene of the story. Each stand-up segment in news is normally about 10 or 20 seconds long, meaning that it
can contain several sentences of spoken word. Some reporters write the words they will say in sentences on a
notebook then read them out in front of the camera. However, this means that the reporter cannot look into the
camera while also looking down to read from the notebook.
It is better either to memorise the sentences then put the notebook to one side or to remember only the key words
you want to use then speak sentences directly into the camera. In both cases, it helps if you keep the language
simple and your sentences short. You must also avoid using words which might be difficult to pronounce. If you
try to say "The previous Prime Minister passed away in Papeete", you will get into difficulties because of all the
"p" sounds. Rewrite the sentence as "The last Prime Minister died in Papeete."
It also helps in sequencing and time management of the various segments of the subject matter and one will have
a clear idea of the total content of the information when it is put down on paper. A video script consists basically
of two columns -
i) Video (picture) and (ii) Audio (sound). The video column describes the images appearing on the television
screen. The audio column describes the type of sound coming out along with a particular image. Audio may
include music, sound affects, commentary, dialogue etc. Video column will indicate the type of shots (long,
medium and close up), angle of the camera (normal, high and low), movement of the camera, type of lighting
and other effects etc.
The script may also have information about the duration of each shot or scene. This enables the working out of
the total time for the programme and modifying the script, if necessary. Stages of script writing are :
i. Research
ii. Treatment
iii. Outline
iv. Sequencing
v. Special effects and animation
vi. Story board
vii. Review
For case of working, the video, script may be divided into the following column :
Scene/Shot No. Type of shot long/ medium / close up Video Audio Duration
While preparing the script for a video lesson, following points must be kept in mind :
a) Lay down the objectives of the video lesson. The objectives can be shown at the beginning of the video
lesson, if necessary.
b) Ensure that the video lesson does not exceed 15-16 minutes duration. If a topic is not fully covered in this
time, the video lesson may be made into parts.
c) It is preferable to deal with a subject in small segments in depth, then to have a video lesson on a vast
subject treated superficially.
d) Plan for a lot of visual elements. Remember that a learner is able to grasp better by seeing than by just
hearing. Remember also that video is primarily a visual medium.
e) Avoid long winded sentences. Remember that the visual and aural elements are complementary to each
other. Hence, use simple sentences that convey meaning directly.
f) The audio text should also avoid the use of words like 'as follows', etc., 'foregoing' etc. They may appear
all right in a written text but sound odd in a video programme.
Recording is the stage where all the visual and aural elements described in the script are collected. The recording
process sometimes takes a lot of time as the recording may be spread over days, months or even seasons, and at
various places. For preparing video lessons, two approaches are commonly used. One approach is to record the
lesson in the instructor's voice, supported by visuals wherever required. Two or more instructors can also cover
different aspects of the topic. In the other approach, the visual portions are recorded as per convenience, not
necessarily in which it is written in the script. All these visual bits, called 'Shots', are rearranged during editing
as per the original script. The commentary is recorded separately and this is dubbed in the video. This process is
called the 'Voice-Over' commentary. A video lesson prepared with 'Voice-Over' commentary is more effective as
these are visual dominated compared to the video lesson when the instructor is seen. Care should be exercised
that the instructor's face is not shown for more than 15-20 per cent of the duration of the video lesson. It is also
essential that the instructor has a personality that is 'presentable'.
The director/teacher must make an evaluation as to the suitability and effectiveness of each specific visual to be
used. Guidelines that can help and which can be memorized as A-BC- D-E-F-G are aspect ratio. Area, Bleed,
Contrast, Detail and Effect of Size, Feeling of Director and Glare. The shot is the basic visual element in a video
programme production. A shot is a single and continuous image taken by a camera. It can be as short as l/25th of

Format of a Video Script (Story Board)

Shot Time Segment Video Shot Audio
Number Description
Voice Music

*
a second (the length of the single video frame) or as long as the length of an entire programme. We generally
assemble a number of different shots together into a sequence. Proper break down of shots, and appropriate
selection of shot sizes can improve the quality of the video programme. Remember that a video screen is very
small as compared to that of film and so it is not ideal to show people in very long shots (V.L.S.) and long shots
(L.S.) for a very long time. It is a good idea to establish the scheme/location with a long shot for about 10 seconds
and then cut to medium close ups (MCU), close ups (CU), and Big close ups (BCD) (stress on facial expressions)
of the characters. Video, is after all a 'close up medium'.
Composition is the artistic and meaningful positioning of all the pictorial elements within the frame of the shot.
It should be aesthetically pleasing to the eye-proper balance, proper use of line, mass, colour and movement and
it should visually provide the dramatic emphasis, significant relationships, the mood and the meaning of the
scene. An important function of composition is to focus the attention of the audience on the point of the shot
where we desire emphasis.

References
Multimedia Training Kit, Trainers' notes: Radio Scripting,Deve\oped by: Elvira Truglia for AMARC. Available online from
http://www.itrainonline.org/
Nelson B. Henery (Ed.) (1954). Mass Media and Education. The National Society for the study of Education, Chicago.
MacDonald I. and Hearne D (1984). Communication skill for rural development Jaico Books, New Delhi.

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