MASS MEDIA-ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

INTRODUCTION: There are two kinds of communication namely interpersonal and mass communication. There are several media for mass communication . The post and telegraph , the telephone are the important means of communication . Radio, television, newspaper , journals and magazines are other media. RADIO: According to the All India Radio, the AIR reaches about 200 million people. Though the radio broadcast includes programmes for family welfare ,for youth ,for the farmers and on education, health and hygiene, it is used mainly for listening to film songs. THE FIRST RADIO: The human voice was first heard on the radio on December 1906 .Canadian Radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden sang Oh Holy Night during a Christmas broadcast to radio operators at sea in Atlantic. TELEVISION: In India the state owned television is known as Doordarshan.It reaches about 78.7 percent of Indian population through 534 transmitters .It transmits news , current affairs , educational programmes , dramas , films , world affairs .It is also used as an entertainment medium. SQUARE EYES:

People in the USA watch 250 billion hours of television a year , and two out of three households own three or more television sets. NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALS: The newspapers and journals form the cheapest and the largest media. India publishes 27,000 newspapers,2538 journals in about 93 languages . The circulation is estimated around 58 million .These papers and magazines cater to the needs of its subscribers . But it is useful only to the literate population. One advantage is they are not controlled by government as in the case of AIR and Doordarshan. NEWSPAPER INVENTER: Julius Caesar was first with the news with his Acta Diurna (Daily Acts)-large boards on which information about military victories , coming events , or major trials were displayed in Rome. INTERNET: It is a network linking millions of computers all over the world. With a computer ,the right software and a phone connection , anyone anywhere in the world can set up a website for anyone else to look at. People can publish any information and any one can access to the information with the help of internet. ELECTRONIC MAIL: E-mail is the short form of electronic mail . It is a way of sending messages and is other people by means of computers connected together in a network .The e-mail has replaced conventional letter as a means of communication. The e-mail is different from the letter in that it is precise and short . It does away with the traditional

conventions of letter writing and saves time for the writer as well as the receiver. CONCLUSION: All the means of communication have enormous uses, but people use T.V to see films ,radio to listen music , newspapers to look at pictures rather than gathering information. I conclude that it is in hands of the people to make mass media advantageous or dis advantageous.