Chapter 1 Chapter Overview

This chapter begins with discussing the central importance of media and communication at both individual and societal levels, and goes on to consider the ever-changing nature of communication media. In order to begin examining the nature of the current mediascape from the textbook’s critical perspective, two different models of communication are addressed, along with evolving definitions of mass audiences and mass communication. Mass communication is defined as the transmission and transformation of information on a large scale, including the following three aspects: 

• The production and wide dissemination of information and entertainment
• The decentralized production and wide accessibility of information and entertainment
• The interactive exchange of information (or messages or intelligence) among a number of recipients.

The chapter then explores the nature of media, mass media, and new media, focusing on the impact of convergence in terms of both media ownership and consumptive practices. Traditional mass media, in forms such as newspapers, magazines, cinema, television, radio, advertising, book publishing, and music, emerged in the context of large organizations and institutions and fostered relatively passive audiences. New media, on the other hand, afford opportunities for more significant, decentralized audience participation in media production and distribution, while at the same time creating new challenges in areas such as government regulation. Finally, the chapter considers three social roles of media: politics, economics, and individual identity.