MASS MEDIA

INTRODUCTION
Mass media are tools for the transfer of information, concepts, and ideas to both
general and specific audiences. They are important tools in advancing public health goals.
Communicating about health through mass media is complex, however, and challenges
professionals in diverse disciplines. In an article in the Journal of Health Communication,
Liana Winett and Lawrence Wallack wrote that "using the mass media to improve public
health can be like navigating a vast network of roads without any street signs—if you are not
sure where you are going and why, chances are you will not reach your destination" (1996, p.
173).
Definition:
Mass media may be defined as any form of communication which is meted out to the
people at large, through the various forms of communication. What modes of
communication are we talking about? Well there can be no static definition for the channels
of mass communication as they are increasing all the time. But any form of communication
which is seen and understood by a large mass of people can be taken to mean mass
communication or mass media channels.
Types of mass media
Print Media:
The print media includes newspapers, magazines, brochures, newsletters, books and
even leaflets and pamphlets. Visual media like photography can also be mentioned under this
sub-head, since photography is an important mass media, which communicates via visual
representations. Although, it is said that the electronic or new media have replaced the print
media, there exists a majority of audiences who prefer the print media for various
communication purposes. Public speaking and event organizing can also be considered as a
form of mass media.

Electronic Media:
For many people, it is impossible to imagine a life without their television sets, be it
the daily news dose or even the soap operas. This mass media includes television and radio.
This category also includes electronic media like movies, CDs and DVDs as well as the new
hottest electronic gadgets.

New-age Media:
With the advent of new technologies like Internet, we are now enjoying the benefits of
high technology mass media, which is not only faster than the old-school mass media, but
also has a widespread range. Mobile phones, computers and Internet are often referred to as
the new-age media. Internet has opened up several new opportunities for mass
communication which include email, websites, blogging, Internet TV and many other mass
media which are booming today.
Mass Media and Health
Sophisticated societies are dependent on mass media to deliver health information.
Marshall McLuhan calls media "extensions of man." G. L. Kreps and B. C. Thornton believe

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media extend "people's ability to communicate, to speak to others far away, to hear
messages, and to see images that would be unavailable without media" (1992, p. 144).
It follows that employment of mass media to disseminate health news (or other
matters) has, in effect, reduced the world's size. The value of health news is related to what
gets reported and how it gets reported. According to Ray Moynihan and colleagues:
“The news media are an important source of information about health and medical
therapies, and there is widespread interest in the quality of reporting. Previous studies have
identified inaccurate coverage of published scientific papers, overstatement of adverse
effects or risks, and evidence of sensationalism. The media can also have a positive public
health role, as they did in communicating simple warnings about the connection between
Reye's syndrome and the use of aspirin in children” (1999, p. 1645).
Despite the potential of news media to perform valuable health-education functions,
Moynihan et al. conclude that media stories about medications continue to be incomplete in
their coverage of benefits, risks, and costs of drugs, as well as in reporting financial ties
between clinical trial investigators and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Objectives and Functions of Mass Media
The mass media are capable of facilitating short-term, intermediate-term, and long-
term effects on audiences. Short-term objectives include exposing audiences to health
concepts; creating awareness and knowledge; altering outdated or incorrect knowledge; and
enhancing audience recall of particular advertisements or public service announcements
(PSAs), promotions, or program names. Intermediate-term objectives include all of the
above, as well as changes in attitudes, behaviours, and perceptions of social norms. Finally,
long-term objectives incorporate all of the aforementioned tasks, in addition to focused
restructuring of perceived social norms, and maintenance of behavior change. Evidence of
achieving these three tiers of objectives is useful in evaluating the effectiveness of mass
media.
Mass media performs three key functions:
Educating, Shaping Public Relations, And Advocating For A Particular Policy Or
Point Of View. As education tools, media not only impart knowledge, but can be part of
larger efforts (e.g., social marketing) to promote actions having social utility. As public
relations tools, media assist organizations in achieving credibility and respect among public
health opinion leaders, stakeholders, and other gatekeepers. Finally, as advocacy tools, mass
media assist leaders in setting a policy agenda, shaping debates about controversial issues,
and gaining support for particular viewpoints.
Television.
Television is a powerful medium for appealing to mass audiences—it reaches people
regardless of age, sex, income, or educational level. In addition, television offers sight and
sound, and it makes dramatic and lifelike representations of people and products. Focused
TV coverage of public health has been largely limited to crises. However, for audiences of
the late 1950s, the 1960s, and the 1970s, television presented or reinforced certain health
messages through product marketing. Some of these messages were related to toothpaste,
hand soaps, multiple vitamins, fortified breakfast cereals, and other items.
Public health authorities have expressed concern about the indirect influence of
television in promoting false norms about acts of violence, drinking, smoking, and sexual
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behavior. A hypothetical equation for viewers might be: drinking plus smoking equals sex
and a good time. Safe sex practices are rarely portrayed on television. An additional public
health concern is that TV viewing promotes sedentariness in a population already known for
its multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses.
A more focused coverage of health matters occurred in the 1990s as a result of two
events: (1) an expansion of "health segments" on news broadcasts, which included the hiring
of "health" reporters, and (2) the expansion and wider distribution of cable television
(CATV) and satellite systems. Television coverage of health issues reveals some of the
medium's weaknesses as an educator, however. Health segments incorporated into news
broadcasts are typically one to three minutes in length—the consumer receives only a brief
report or "sound bite," while the broadcaster remains constrained by the fact that viewers
expect the medium to be both visual and entertaining. Fortunately, with the advent and
maturation of CATV, more selected audience targeting has become possible. The Health
Network is dedicated entirely to health matters, while other cable networks (e.g., Discovery
Channel) devote significant amounts of broadcast time to health. This narrowcasting allows
the medium to reach particular market segments. However, the proliferation of cable
channels decreases the volume of viewers for a given channel at any point in time.
According to George and Michael Belch, even networks such as CNN, ESPN, and MTV
draw only 1 to 2 percent of primetime viewers.
Although TV has the potential to deliver messages about HIV/AIDS (human
immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), smoking, cardiovascular
disease, cancer, and so on, televised messages have the characteristic of low audience
involvement. The main consumer effect of messages occurs through repetition and brand
familiarity. Most health messages do not have the exposure level that brands of toothpaste,
soap, or antiperspirant receive, for public health groups rarely can sustain the cost of
television, thereby limiting their message's penetration.
For all its potential strengths, TV suffers many shortcomings. The cost of placing
health messages on TV is high, not only because of the expense of purchasing airtime, but
because of production time for PSA creation. Televised messages are fleeting—airing in
most instances for only 15 to 30 seconds. Belch and Belch point out that for 13 to 17 minutes
of every hour viewers are bombarded with messages, creating a clutter that makes retention
difficult.
Radio.
Radio also reaches mass and diverse audiences. The specialization of radio stations by
listener age, taste, and even gender permits more selectivity in reaching audience segments.
Since placement and production costs are less for radio than for TV, radio is able to convey
public health messages in greater detail. Thus, radio is sometimes considered to be more
efficient.
Radio requires somewhat greater audience involvement than television, creating the
need for more mental imagery, or what Belch and Belch call "image transfer." Because of
this, radio can reinforce complementary messages portrayed in parallel fashion on TV.
However, the large number of radio stations may fragment the audience for health message
delivery.
Radio health message campaigns have been effective in developing countries,
especially when combined with posters and other mass media. Ronny Adhikarya showed that
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mass media message targeted at wheat farmers in Bangladesh increased the percentage of
those who carried out rat control from 10 percent to 32 percent in 1983. Continuation of the
campaign in subsequent years saw rat control efforts rise to 72 percent.
Internet.
The advent of the World Wide Web and the massive increase in Internet users offers
public health personnel enormous opportunities and challenges. The Internet places users in
firmer autonomous control of which messages are accessed and when they are accessed. It is
possible to put virtually anything on-line and disseminate it to any location having Internet
access, but the user has little control over quality and accuracy. Internet search engines can
direct users to tens of thousands of web sites after the user's introduction of one or more
keywords. A critical task for public health educators will be to assist people in discriminating
among Internet health-information sources. Efforts need to stop short of censorship, thus
balancing accuracy, quality, and (in the U.S.) protection of free speech (First Amendment
rights).
Unlike TV or radio, which are available in nearly all households, Internet access
requires some technical skill, as well as the resources to purchase hardware and Internet
subscription services. J. R. Finnegan and K. Viswanath explain that, as with its predecessor
technologies, the Internet suffers from a certain "legacy of fear" about its impact on children,
youth, and others. As with cinema since the 1940s and TV since the 1950s, the Internet has
been accused of promoting mindlessness; exposing people to pornography, violence, and
other examples of society's lowest common denominators; and enabling sedentary behavior.
The Internet is said to facilitate activities of society's hate groups and to teach children and
others how to construct bombs and obtain weapons. Unlike some other mass media, the
Internet is presently not universally available across socioeconomic strata due to cost and
other barriers. It is possible that this lack of universality has already contributed to existing
information gaps between society's "haves" and "have-nots."
The Internet's utility for conveying health information can be illustrated by looking at
three sample web sites. Considered by some to be the best source for public health data and
information is the web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(http://www.cdc.gov). From here persons can locate numerous government data sources,
obtain facts on chronic and infectious diseases, and gain fingertip access to health updates,
including the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Another valuable site is
that of the Association for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
(http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HEC/primer.html), which includes a primer on health risk
communication principles and practice. Through this site, persons learn how to communicate
about health risks to a skeptical public, including factors that influence the public's risk
perceptions. Finally, Columbia University's health education web site
(http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu) makes it possible to access information on a
voluminous array of health topics, with particular relevance to college students. This site also
permits individuals to submit questions anonymously, receive responses, and be referred to
other Internet links. These items are then archived for use by persons having similar queries.
Speculating about the Internet's future is not easy. However, the Internet offers all of
the audio and visual strengths of other electronic media, plus interactivity and frequent
updates. The challenge is to increase its availability and augment the skills of Internet users.
Newspapers.

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 Belch and Belch estimate that newspapers are read daily in 70 percent of U.S.
households, and in as many as 90 percent of high-income households. Newspapers permit a
level of detail in health reporting not feasible with broadcast media. Whereas one can miss a
television broadcast about breast cancer, and thus, lose its entire message, one can read the
same (and more detailed) message in a newspaper at one's choice of time and venue.
Although newspapers permit consumers flexibility concerning what is read, and when, they
do have a brief shelf life. In many households, newspapers seldom survive more than one or
two days.
Newspapers are available in daily and weekly formats, and local, regional, and
national publications exist. In addition, there are numerous special audience newspapers
(e.g., various ethnic groups, women and feminist related, gay and lesbian, geography-
specific, neighborhood). Consequently, health messages contained in newspapers can reach
many people and diverse groups. Newspapers often fall short of their dissemination
potential, however. In addition to educating people about public health, deliberate efforts
need to be directed at educating other media and politicians (McDermott 2000, p. 269).
Other authorities have illustrated the shortcomings of the newspapers in conveying
health information. Few stories call for individual or community policy or action, and even
fewer present a local angle.
Magazines.
Belch and Belch divide magazines into three varieties: consumer (e.g., Reader's
Digest, Newsweek, People), farm (e.g., Farm Journal, National Hog Farmer, Beef), and
business (professional, industrial, trade, and general business publications). Magazines have
several strengths, including audience selectivity, reproduction quality, prestige, and reader
loyalty. Furthermore, magazines have a relatively long shelf life—they may be saved for
weeks or months, and are frequently reread, and passed on to others. Magazine reading also
tends to occur at a less hurried pace than newspaper reading. Health messages, therefore, can
receive repeated exposure.
Other Print Media.
Pamphlets, brochures, and posters constitute other print media used to disseminate
health messages. These devices are readily found in most public health agencies, offices of
private practitioners, health care institutions, and voluntary health organizations. They are
common and familiar educational tools of the American Cancer Society, the American Heart
Association, and the American Lung Association. Though widely used, their actual utility is
infrequently evaluated (e.g., units distributed vs. changes in awareness, cost analysis). Until
the 1990s, few of these print media were developed with the assistance of target audiences,
and few contained varied messages, were culturally tailored, or employed readability and
face validity techniques. The extent to which persons read, reread, and keep these devices—
or circulate them to other readers—is not well evaluated. Thus, their permanence is
unknown.
Outdoor Media.
Outdoor media include billboards and signs, placards inside and outside of
commercial transportation modes, flying billboards (e.g., signs in tow of airplanes), blimps,
and skywriting. Commercial advertisers such as Goodyear, Fuji, Budweiser, Pizza Hut, and
Blockbuster all make extensive use of their logo-bearing blimps around sports stadiums. In

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the United States, none of these outdoor modes are used extensively to convey health
messages, although billboards and transit placards are the most likely forms to contain health
information. For persons who regularly pass by billboards or use public transportation, these
media may provide repeated exposure to messages. Pro-health messages displayed on urban
public transportation may suffer, however, from the image problems that afflict urban buses
and subways. In addition, the effectiveness of such postings wears out quickly as audiences
grow tired of their sameness.
Tobacco and alcohol manufacturers have made extensive use of billboards and other
outdoor media. However, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the states and the
tobacco industries outlawed billboard advertising of cigarettes. In their 1994 Chicago-based
study, Diana Hackbarth and her colleagues revealed how billboards promoting tobacco and
alcohol were concentrated in poor neighborhoods. Similar themes were seen in other urban
centers (Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco)
where alcohol and tobacco billboards were much more concentrated in African-American
neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods. The tobacco industry now pursues the same
strategy in developing countries.
MEDIA EFFECTS
Decades of studies on the consequences of mass media exposure demonstrate that effects are
varied and reciprocal—the media impact audiences and audiences also impact media by the
intensity and frequency of their usage. The results of mass media for promoting social
change, especially in developing countries, have become important for public health. J. R.
Finnegan Jr. and K. Viswanath (1997) have identified three effects, or functions, of media:
(1) the knowledge gap, (2) agenda setting, and (3) cultivation of shared public perceptions.
The Knowledge Gap.
Health knowledge is differentially distributed in the population, resulting in
knowledge gaps. Unfortunately, mass media are insufficient for distributing information in
an egalitarian fashion—changes in social structure and institutions are also necessary for this
to occur. Thus, the impact of mass media on audience knowledge gaps is influenced by such
factors as the extent to which the content is appealing, the degree to which information
channels are accessible and desirable, and the amount of social conflict and diversity there is
in a community. Hence, public health media campaigns are more effective when structural
factors that impede the distribution of knowledge are addressed.
Agenda Setting.
The selective nature of what members of the media choose for public consumption
influences how people think about health issues, and what they think about them. When
Rudolph Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, publicly disclosed he had prostate cancer
prior to the 2000 New York senatorial election, many news media reported the risks of
prostate cancer, prompting greater public awareness about the incidence of the disease and
the need for screening. A similar episode occurred in the mid-1970s when Betty Ford, wife
of President Gerald R. Ford, and Happy Rockefeller, wife of Vice President Nelson
Rockefeller, were both diagnosed with breast cancer.
A related theme is the extent to which the media set the public's perception of
health risks. According to J. J. Davis, when risks are highlighted in the media, particularly in
great detail, the extent of agenda setting is likely to be based on the degree to which a public

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sense of outrage and threat is provoked. Where mass media can be especially valuable is in
the framing of issues. "Framing" means taking a leadership role in the organization of public
discourse about an issue. Media, of course, are influenced by pressures to offer balance in
coverage, and these pressures may come from persons and groups with particular political
action and advocacy positions. According to Finnegan and Viswanath, "groups, institutions,
and advocates compete to identify problems, to move them onto the public agenda, and to
define the issues symbolically" (1997, p. 324). Thus, persons who desire to access mass
media's agenda-setting potential must be aware of the competition.
Cultivation of Perceptions.
Cultivation is the extent to which media exposure, over time, shapes audience
perceptions. Television is a common experience, especially in the United States, and it serves
as what S. W. Littlejohn calls a "homogenizing agent." However, the effect is often based on
several conditions, particularly socioeconomic factors. Prolonged exposure to TV or movie
violence may affect the extent to which people think community violence is a problem,
though that belief is likely moderated by where they live. However, the actual determinants
of people's impressions of violence are complex, and consensus in this area is lacking.

Mass media influences

Mass Media Influence on Youth
There is a burgeoning need amongst the youth to be accepted as a part of a group, to
be popular, to have friends and relationships with people of the opposite sex etc. Mass media
experts understand this need of the people and hence they come out with advertisements on
TV, or in the newspapers, or on websites on how people can be more popular using a certain
product. Most advertisements you see which are aimed at the youth generally talk about the
'cool quotient' of the product and how it is going to be the next 'in-thing'. And if you want to
stay ahead of the game, it is absolutely vital that you procure it. The visual effect, seeing the
things happen in front of you and the slice-of-life effect makes them look a lot believable
than they should be.

So how mass media should be used with youth? Mass media, effective as it is, can be
used on the youth to drive home pressing concerns in the country. Child obesity, the dangers
of alcohol and preteen sexual relations, importance of exercise and fitness etc. If these things
can be done, the mass media will be able to influence the youth for the better and send better
messages for the development of the youth than what it is sending today.

Mass Media Influence on Adults

Like children and youth, mass media influences adults too, although perhaps not on
the same scale. Most adults with a platonic view of things will resist the temptation of being
buoyed up by what the mass media has to offer. While men usually find it difficult to hold
themselves back in the face of the allure of sexuality. Other subjects which also appeal to
men are financial security and a luxurious hassle-free lifestyle. Women on the other hand are
more tempted towards products which guarantee immunity from aging altogether and not
just what the previous generation called 'aging gracefully'.
Using mass media can be counterproductive if the channels used are not audience-
appropriate, or if the message being delivered is too emotional, fear arousing, or

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controversial. Undesirable side effects usually can be avoided through proper formative
research, knowledge of the audience, experience in linking media channels to audiences, and
message testing.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF MASS MEDIA TO OTHER FORMS OF

COMMUNICATION
The interaction between media messages and interpersonal communication was first
described by Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld in their two-step flow hypothesis. They argued
that media effects were moderated principally by interpersonal encounters. Community
opinion leaders scan the media for information, then communicate that information to others
in interpersonal contexts. It is in this second step, interpersonal interaction, that opinion
leaders wield enormous power, influencing others not only by what they choose to reveal but
also the slant that they use in conveying the message.
The two-step model has been expanded to include multistep models—most notably
information diffusion models. Step models have been limited by their linear assumptions of
one-way influence and causation. Media influence is undeniably linked to complex
interpersonal dynamics. A shared influence likely results when people are exposed to health
messages and then converge together in contexts that influence what they say to one another
(and even how they say it), as well as what they selectively think.
George Gerbner describes a three-component framework. The first of these
components is semiotics, the study of signs, symbols, and codes. Language comprises one
such set of symbols and codes that can be further embellished by sights, sounds, and other
visual and aural cues. The second aspect of the framework relates to behaviors and
interactions associated with exposure to messages. Psychologists, marketers, and others
attempt to predict behavior based on specially designed messages. The third element
examines how communication is organized around social systems, and the extent to which
history and human experience influence society's institutions.
Designers of health messages need to consider such models and frameworks. Modern
views of health behaviour change acknowledge eclectic approaches and consider multiple
aspects of human experience, from the individual level to the community level. Individual
channels of communication (e.g., face-to-face encounters) offer personal support and may
invoke trust, but are labor intensive, have limited reach, and may require ancillary materials.
Mass media channels transmit information rapidly and to general or specific audiences. Mass
media can set agendas, but questions have been raised concerning their impartiality and
integrity. Community channels (e.g., coalitions, community action groups, and the like),
have less "reach" than mass media, but they reinforce, expand, and localize media messages
and offer institutional and social support. Knowledge of the complementary strengths of
various channels helps to optimize penetration and effectiveness of health messages.

MASS MEDIA PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGNS—THE RIGHT "MIX"

Because of the inherent properties of various mass media, a U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services publication advises that health-message designers consider a series of
questions relative to choice of channels:
 Which channels are most appropriate for the health problem/issue and message?
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  Which channels are most likely to be credible to and accessible by the target
audience?
 Which channels fit the program purpose (e.g., inform, influence attitudes, change
behavior)?
 Which and how many channels are feasible, considering your time and budget?
A 1999 article by A. G. Ramirez and colleagues describes a media mix that significantly
increased adherence to recommended guidelines concerning cervical cancer screening
among women in a predominantly Spanish-speaking Texas border city. The media mix
included 82 television segments, 67 newspaper stories, and 48 radio programs, all featuring
role models. In a 1998 study by Ramirez and other investigators, programs employing a
similar strategy in New York, Florida, and California showed significant change in target
behaviours among Hispanic populations.
In Project Northland, Cheryl Perry's team of researchers focused on moderating
alcohol use by adolescents, but could not use radio and television spots due to their potential
confounding properties (i.e., being heard or viewed by adolescents in a non-intervention
comparison group) with respect to evaluation of this school-and community-based
intervention. Print media, including posters, brochures, and newsletters, were used in the
intervention communities to market health messages and advertise ancillary events, and
adolescents and adults were trained in media advocacy to increase media coverage of
underage use of alcohol.
The primary health communication tool used by the Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) is PRIZM, which was developed by Claritas, Inc. PRIZM divides the
United States into sixty-two lifestyle clusters, or groups of people with similar
"geodemographic characteristics, consumer behaviors, psychosocial beliefs, and media
habits" (Parvanta and Freimuth 2000, p. 22). It provides data on 250 sociodemographic
census variables and approximately 500 items concerning media preferences, purchasing
behaviors, and lifestyle activities.
Following a needs assessment that revealed an abnormally high birth-defect rate in a
four-county area of Virginia, mass media were tapped to inform more than 22,000 women of
child-bearing age about the health benefits of folic acid supplements and folate-rich foods.
The campaign included television and radio PSAs, brochures, posters and display boards, as
well as the cooperation of a local grocery store chain that provided other print media (food
information cards and special food labels on folate-dense products). In a 1999 evaluation,
CDC investigators reported a statistically significant increase in folic acid awareness
between 1997 and 1999.
Mass media have been major sources of information about HIV/AIDS and other
sexually transmitted infections. In a 2000 study, 96 percent of 1,290 men aged twenty-two to
twenty-six reported hearing about these subjects through television advertisements, radio, or
magazines. Some authorities have expressed skepticism about the mass media's future
motivation to provide positive sex education messages, since portrayal of sex attracts
viewers, which in turn, increases revenues.
Other evidence of the media's ability to improve reproductive health and promote
population control exists, especially from developing countries. Mass media have made
people aware of modern contraception and where to access it, as well as linking family

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planning to other reproductive health care and to broader roles for women. Communication
about family planning and population control creates awareness, increases knowledge, builds
approval, and encourages healthful behaviors. In Egypt, where nearly all households have
television, population control objectives have been achieved through televised PSAs. Data
also support the positive effects of mass media messages on contraception use in Zimbabwe,
Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya. In a 1999 Tanzania-based study, a team of researchers led by
Everett M. Rogers showed how the popularity of a radio soap opera promoting family
planning increased listeners' self-efficacy with respect to discussing contraception with
spouses and peers.
Although mass media are important for disseminating health messages and
encouraging an adoption of healthful lifestyles, they currently fall short of their potential.
The realization of this potential in the future depends, in part, on increasing the media
advocacy skills of public health authorities, improving understanding of competing
antihealth media messages, and organizing channels for an optimal media mix.
The mass media, particularly television, influence childhood development by
providing opportunities for modeling and information-seeking outside family and school.
Americans in all age groups tend to spend more time watching television than any activity
other than sleeping. The average American child has been estimated to watch over 20,000
television commercials per year in addition to the commercial programming interspersed
between them. In 2000, children two to five years old watched 40 hours of television per
week and children six to eleven years old watched 50-60 hours per week. Thus the messages
that television conveys not only represents the culture in which they appear but are also a
large part of it.
Stereotypical behaviour by females and males characterizes both children's and adult's
programming, as well as commercials. For example, a study of Saturday morning children's
programs found that 68% of the major characters were male and that male characters
engaged in more activity than female characters. Boys thereby had the greater opportunity to
imitate same-sex models than girls. Also, the sexes tended to appear in different roles.
Females were more often presented in relationships with others such as family or friends,
while males were more often portrayed in roles independent of others or at work. In
commercials, males were presented as more knowledgeable and females as more bewildered.
Here we see the familiar pattern of males seeming more important, deserving of more
attention, and more in command of themselves and the situation. Not surprisingly, both
children and adults who watch more television tend to be more aware of gender stereotypes,
see themselves in more stereotypical terms and hold more traditional attitudes toward men's
and women's roles.
Magazine advertising has conveyed similar messages. Until recently, ads rarely
showed women in working roles and never showed them as executives or professional.
Several stereotypes of women's roles occurred regularly
a. Women's place as in the home
b. Women as not making important decisions
c. Women as dependent and in need of men's protection
d. Men regarding women as sex objects, not as people.

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 Women most often were portrayed as happy and diligent homemakers, beautiful and
dependent social companions or most concerned with being blonde, thin, or having other
physical characteristics they did not possess.
Television has made some attempts to adjust to the reality of women in the workplace,
but not without difficulty. The Wall Street Journal observed in 1984 that, while most
advertisers agreed that they should no longer portray mothers as dim-witted housewives
aiming to please, they didn't know what should replace those images. As a result, fewer
commercials and programs were showing married mothers at all and Dad was instructing the
kids about the virtues of toothpaste, instant rice, and the like. Television's stay-at-home
mothers have been replaced by single women, divorced women sharing homes. These
changes suggest that television may contribute less to the formation and reinforcement of
gender stereotypes than in the past. It has contributed greatly to gender stereotyping by
present-day parents, however, who are passing on what they have learned about male and
female roles to their children.
Center for Communications, Health and the Environment (CECHE) in India
The Center for Communications, Health and the Environment (CECHE) has initiated a
multidimensional mass media-based community intervention program, in collaboration with
the Indian NGO counterparts, aimed at promoting the health of mothers and their children in
urban-rural communities in India. The Promoting Child Survival and Family Health project
aims to bridge this gap through a model demonstration project that builds on traditional
approaches and their successes to date, incorporates the lessons learned and uses local and
national print and electronic media to reach the masses in India.
The emerging health threat to India's rural-urban population requires urgent attention
together with the challenge of ensuring reproductive health and child survival that continue
to plague India. India still leads the world in malnutrition, with an estimated 53% of children
under the age of five years being malnourished in 1996.
Mass media coupled with traditional health education practices has been effectively
used to promote health behaviour worldwide. The opportunity today to reach the masses in
India through television and other mass media is unparalleled in history. CECHE has
successfully used mass media to educate, motivate and advocate health in its programs in
Central and Eastern Europe.
CECHE is using this experience to improve the nutritional status and prevent
malnutrition-related illnesses and deaths of infants, children and pregnant and lactating
women by promoting the following: the provision of adequate food during pregnancy and
lactation; protection and support of breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices;
frequent feeding and nutritional surveillance; supplementation of vitamin A, iodine and iron
to prevent deficiencies for both women and their children; diarrhoea prevention and
treatment through early use of available food-based fluids and use of ORS, continued
breastfeeding, small frequent feeds, catch up feeding following diarrheal episodes and
appropriate treatment in severe cases; and pregnancy care and postpartum care of the mother
and newborn.
An additional effort will be made to educate families about the emerging threat and
prevention of lifestyle diseases caused by smoking, alcohol, lack of exercise and excessive
intake of food. Our program is educating health providers, caretakers and community
members by improving the technical training and interpersonal communication skills of
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traditional health providers, health workers and link workers, and by teaching mothers to
properly care for their children and prevent malnutrition and related childhood illness.
CECHE partnered with the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR), and the S.I.
Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University to undertake a
multidimensional mass media-based community intervention program, aimed at promoting
maternal, child, and family health and nutrition for the urban-rural family in India. The
project is expected to lead to the following:
 A community-based model program using mass media, for the promotion of
reproductive and family health and child survival, and evaluating its impact;
 Integration of successful programs and activities into local practices, and state and
national policies and programs.
CECHE is seeking to increase indigenous capacity of health and media professionals and
NGOs and to set the pace in catalyzing progressive local and national health policies and on
lifestyle practices that will positively affect family and child health in throughout India.

Pros of Mass Media:

 The wide reach offered by mass media is phenomenal. It can target a global audience.
 In terms of newspapers and magazines, it can reach a specified target group. Besides,
it is easily accessible. For example, the newspaper lands on the doorstep and we have
the latest news in our drawing rooms due to the television set.
 Certain types of media have a loyal fan following. This would mean that an advertiser,
publication or news channel would have a ready audience.
 We have the latest news and information at the click of the mouse! The Internet is
such a medium that it can give many options for the kind of information required.
 Television, movies, Internet and the radio are some of the best forms of entertainment.
 Mass media can be used for educational purposes in an effective manner.
Cons of Mass Media:
 At times, the information reported may not be authentic from every angle. Hence,
there may be a misinterpretation of a situation.
 News can be manipulated to influence the minds of the audiences. For example – a
particular political party may manipulate reports in their favor, which would indicate
the political control in the media.
 Media bias can occur due to various issues. A journalist or an editor may give personal
preference to an issue. Read more about the types and reasons of media bias.
 A particular event or a celebrity may receive undue importance and set wrong ideals
before the youth. It may present an ostentatious lifestyle, which may inculcate wrong
ideals amongst youngsters.
 Unnecessary sensationalism of an issue may project wrong information to the public.
 Misleading messages may again divert young minds towards a wrong path.

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  Wrong interpretation of news may even blow things out of proportion. This would
create further unrest in any place or even violence in case of extreme situations.
 At times, a particular event or news item may receive too much attention simply
because of the lack of important news or snippets. This would again present a wrong
idea before the public.
 Certain types of mass media such as newspapers or leaflets have a very short shelf life.
In terms of advertising, it would not serve to be useful for every kind of product or
message.
CONCLUSION
Mass media are media, which can be used to communicate and interact with a large
number of audiences. Be it the pictorial messages of the early ages, or the high-technology
media that are available today, one thing that we all agree upon, is that mass media are an
inseparable part of our lives. Entertainment and media always go hand in hand, but in
addition to the entertainment, mass media also remain to be an effective medium for
communication, dissemination of information, advertising, marketing and in general, for
expressing and sharing views, opinions and ideas. Mass media is a double-edged sword
which means that there are positive effects of media as well as negative influences of media.
So it is our responsibility to use it in proper way.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.google.com
www.who.com
www.ceche.co.in

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