Characteristics of Mass Communication

Five characteristics of mass communication have been identified by Cambridge University’s John Thompson.

• Firstly, it “comprises both technical and institutional methods of production and distribution” Thompson: The Media and Modernity, This is evident throughout the history of the media, from print to the internet, each suitable for commercial utility.

• Secondly, it involves the “co modification of symbolic forms”, Thompson: The Media and Modernity, as the production of materials relies on its ability to manufacture and sell large quantities of the work. Just as radio stations rely on its time sold to advertisements, newspapers rely for the same reason on its space.

• Mass communication’s third characteristic is the “separate context between the production and reception of information”, Thompson: The Media and Modernity, while the fourth is in its “reach to those ‘far’ remove’ in time and space, in comparison to the producers”. Thompson: The Media and Modernity

• Mass communication, which involves “information distribution”. This is a “one to many” form of communication, where by product are mass product and disseminated to a great quantity of audiences. Thompson: The Media and Modernity,