The Concept of Mass Communication

Mass communication takes place through so many channels, these varieties of channels are called the mass media which are simply put as the major gateway through which large number of people received information, entertainment, simultaneously. Mass communication is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envision and designed to reach a very large audience such as population or nation.

 

According to Nweke (2004:52), is the means of communicating with large number of people, mass media are these technical devices or appliances of the print and electronic media as well as the recent information technologies through which messages are transmitted from a source to the receiver.

According to Bittner (2005:10), the media are specifically designed to reach a large audience. The term was got in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio network, mass circulation newspaper and magazines. Some form of mass media such as books and manuscripts had already been in use for centuries. Mass media include television, radio newspaper and internet media (like blogs, message boards, pod casts and video sharing) because individuals now have a means to exposure that is comparable in scale to that previously restricted to a group of mass media producers. The media is able to reach large number of people simultaneously.

 

      Electronic Media

The electronic media is that institutional structure that fosters the rapid transmission of standardized information to as relatively large audience through a mechanized channel. The electronic media can be sub-divided into radio, television, the internet etc. the electronic media (i.e radio, television and the internet) play so many function in the society, in that the information can reach a defined audience in little time as against other forms of communication (Bauran 2003).