Dimensiuni ale comunicării de masă
Dimensions of Mass Communication

Summary/Abstract: Mass communication defines a series of transmission techniques and networks which permit to an important set of messages to reach a large public target. Mass media is sometime used as a synonym even if the two syntagma do not designate the same thing. Unlike mass-media, mass communication defines not only a set of resources and techniques, but also a social process that is very complex, institutional, organized and socially standardized. Mass communication is a social institution where activities are developed by qualified personnel with the aim of satisfying some of the needs of the modern society: rapid and constant information of each individual; creating connection channels between individuals and society; producing and distributing information. Other features of mass communication are: the public characteristic of the messages, the speed of the transmission and a large, heterogeneous, anonymous audience. Some of the recent studies point out the most important roles of mass communication: searching, producing and disseminating information, expressing opinions and entertaining. Mass-media is credited with a big influence upon society and individuals. Mass-media is linked in its influenced with some variables: the receiver of the message, the reception conditions and the message itself. Mass communication does not operate in the same manner upon all individuals. Even in the case of a single receiver, a set of aspects needs to be overviewed: the interactive process, which is very complex, the emission and the content of the messages, the concrete conditions for the reception, the intention of the sender, the motivation of the receiver. Media refers to the channels for the transmission of the messages, while mass-media represents a large range of instruments that modern communication uses nowadays. Modern mass-media includes four major classes: written media (newspaper, magazines, and books); recordings (audio and video tapes); movies, radio and TV; internet. All forms of mass-media present common features: they hire professional communicators to choose what is delivered to the audience; all mass-media messages are mass products and are rapidly disseminated; mass-media communication are usually unilateral, the members of the audience rarely transmit their messages using the same channel; the feedback of the audience is indirect, rare and late; communicators are physically separated from their audience and the audience is separated in groups; the audience selects and interprets mass-media messages and is influenced by them.

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