
See also Word Game - What is it, concept, function and examples Advantages and disadvantages of mass media The mass media democratize access to information. This type of media allows their audiences to access knowledge and cultural products of all kinds. That is why in democracies, freedom of the press is so important. The mass media are a key instrument for citizens to access information and news that help them make decisions. The media is a channel where many content or messages related to entertainment are broadcast, such as movies, music and soap operas. In general, three basic functions are attributed to the media, although others can be added: Spatial barriers are not a problem: the same message can be received at different times and places.įunctions of the mass media The Internet allows access to knowledge and cultural products of all kinds. Messages can reach different parts of the world regardless of distances. The messages can be made collectively, that is, several people are involved in their formulation. With the advent of the Internet, however, the recipient can almost automatically craft a message and get it through to the middle, but the impact and scope is never the same. This means that the sender and receiver do not constantly switch roles, as can happen in a face-to-face or telephone conversation. The mass media do not allow interaction or F eedback. Technological advances always represented advances in the mass media. Instead, they use different tools or supports. As these messages must reach the most diverse points, those who emit them cannot use a natural channel, such as the air. The messages that are transmitted in the mass media are designed for the masses or for a heterogeneous collective audience: of different geographical origins, tastes and interests, social classes, ages and sex. Some of the characteristics of the mass media are the following: See also Tragicomedy - Concept, history, characteristics and examples Characteristics of the mass media The mass media do not allow interaction or F eedback. An inherent quality of this medium is that it is a horizontal, multidirectional medium that lacks borders, anonymous and decentralized. Here written, sound, audiovisual messages or a combination of all of them can be emitted and all genres converge in it: entertainment, information, propaganda, advertising, and more. This medium became massive as of the 1990s and has not stopped growing since then. It is also an audiovisual medium that emerged in the 1920s, through which genres of all kinds such as information, entertainment, advertising, propaganda, documentaries and others are broadcast. In the first decades of the last century, however, it was a key instrument for the dissemination of propaganda and information, although these functions were displaced with the emergence of television. It is an audiovisual medium that has its origins in the late nineteenth century and is associated with art and entertainment. This medium is characterized by being very economical, efficient and immediate and therefore, despite the years and the emergence of other options, it is still an option. In this group are located the radio, which uses waves to emit sound signals and can be AM or FM. Within this category you can find newspapers, newspapers, brochures, magazines, flyers, pamphlets. This is the oldest medium and had its origins with the invention of the printing press (in 1440) by the German Johannes Gutenberg. What are the most important mass media? Cinema is an audiovisual medium that has its origins in the late nineteenth century.Īccording to the platform and the format in which the message is formulated, we can talk about different types of mass media.

A letter, for example, does not have the necessary conditions to be read by a large number of people, as do the messages broadcast through radios, newspapers, cinema, television and the Internet, which have a reach higher.

For the aforementioned characteristics, the emergence of mass media is closely linked to technological advances.
