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15.2 Functions and Theories of Mass Communication

Learning objectives.

• Identify key functions of the mass media.
• Explain how the media functions as a gatekeeper.
• Discuss theories of mass communication, including hypodermic needle theory, media effects, and cultivation theory.

How does mass communication function differently than interpersonal communication? Do we have relationships with media like we have relationships with people? To answer these questions, we can look at some of the characteristics and functions of mass communication. One key characteristic of mass communication is its ability to overcome the physical limitations present in face-to-face communication. The human voice can only travel so far, and buildings and objects limit the amount of people we can communicate with at any time. While one person can engage in public speaking and reach one hundred thousand or so people in one of the world’s largest stadiums, it would be impossible for one person to reach millions without technology.

Another key characteristic of mass communication in relation to other forms of communication is its lack of sensory richness. In short, mass communication draws on fewer sensory channels than face-to-face communication. While smell, taste, and touch can add context to a conversation over a romantic dinner, our interaction with mass media messages rely almost exclusively on sight and sound. Because of this lack of immediacy, mass media messages are also typically more impersonal than face-to-face messages. Actually being in the audience while a musician is performing is different from watching or listening at home. Last, mass media messages involve less interactivity and more delayed feedback than other messages. The majority of messages sent through mass media channels are one way. We don’t have a way to influence an episode of The Walking Dead as we watch it. We could send messages to the show’s producers and hope our feedback is received, or we could yell at the television, but neither is likely to influence the people responsible for sending the message. Although there are some features of communication that are lost when it becomes electronically mediated, mass communication also serves many functions that we have come to depend on and expect.

Functions of Mass Media

The mass media serves several general and many specific functions. In general, the mass media serves information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion functions:

• Information function. We have a need for information to satisfy curiosity, reduce uncertainty, and better understand how we fit into the world. The amount and availability of information is now overwhelming compared to forty years ago when a few television networks, local radio stations, and newspapers competed to keep us informed. The media saturation has led to increased competition to provide information, which creates the potential for news media outlets, for example, to report information prematurely, inaccurately, or partially.
• Interpretation function. Media outlets interpret messages in more or less explicit and ethical ways. Newspaper editorials have long been explicit interpretations of current events, and now cable television and radio personalities offer social, cultural, and political commentary that is full of subjective interpretations. Although some of them operate in ethical gray areas because they use formats that make them seem like traditional news programs, most are open about their motives.
• Instructive function. Some media outlets exist to cultivate knowledge by teaching instead of just relaying information. Major news networks like CNN and BBC primarily serve the information function, while cable news networks like Fox News and MSNBC serve a mixture of informational and interpretation functions. The in-depth coverage on National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, and the more dramatized but still educational content of the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and the Discovery Channel, serve more instructive functions.
• Bonding function. Media outlets can bring people closer together, which serves the bonding function. For example, people who share common values and interests can gather on online forums, and masses of people can be brought together while watching coverage of a tragic event like 9/11 or a deadly tornado outbreak.
• Diversion function. We all use the media to escape our day-to-day lives, to distract us from our upcoming exam, or to help us relax. When we are being distracted, amused, or relaxed, the media is performing the diversion function.

Just as a gate controls the flow of traffic, the media acts as a gatekeeper, allowing some messages to travel through and others not.

Jacqui – Gates – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The Media as Gatekeeper

In addition to the functions discussed previously, media outlets also serve a gatekeeping function , which means they affect or control the information that is transmitted to their audiences. This function has been analyzed and discussed by mass communication scholars for decades. Overall, the mass media serves four gatekeeping functions: relaying, limiting, expanding, and reinterpreting (Bittner, 1996). In terms of relaying, mass media requires some third party to get a message from one human to the next. Whereas interpersonal communication only requires some channel or sensory route, mass media messages need to “hitch a ride” on an additional channel to be received. For example, a Sports Illustrated cover story that you read at SI.com went through several human “gates,” including a writer, editor, publisher, photographer, and webmaster, as well as one media “gate”—the Internet. We also require more than sensory ability to receive mass media messages. While hearing and/or sight are typically all that’s needed to understand what someone standing in front of you is saying, you’ll need a computer, smartphone, or tablet to pick up that SI.com cover story. In summary, relaying refers to the gatekeeping function of transmitting a message, which usually requires technology and equipment that the media outlet controls and has access to, but we do not. Although we relay messages in other forms of communication such as interpersonal and small group, we are primarily receivers when it comes to mass communication, which makes us depend on the gatekeeper to relay the message.

In terms of the gatekeeping function of limiting, media outlets decide whether or not to pass something along to the media channel so it can be relayed. Because most commercial media space is so limited and expensive, almost every message we receive is edited, which is inherently limiting. A limited message doesn’t necessarily mean the message is bad or manipulated, as editing is a necessity. But a range of forces including time constraints, advertiser pressure, censorship, or personal bias, among others, can influence editing choices. Limiting based on bias or self-interest isn’t necessarily bad as long as those who relay the message don’t claim to be objective. In fact, many people choose to engage with media messages that have been limited to match their own personal views or preferences. This kind of limiting also allows us to have more control over the media messages we receive. For example, niche websites and cable channels allow us to narrow in on already-limited content, so we don’t have to sift through everything on our own.

Gatekeepers also function to expand messages. For example, a blogger may take a story from a more traditional news source and fact check it or do additional research, interview additional sources, and post it on his or her blog. In this case, expanding helps us get more information than we would otherwise so we can be better informed. On the other hand, a gatekeeper who expands a message by falsifying evidence or making up details either to appear more credible or to mislead others is being unethical.

Last, gatekeepers function to reinterpret mass media messages. Reinterpretation is useful when gatekeepers translate a message from something too complex or foreign for us to understand into something meaningful. In the lead-up to the Supreme Court’s June 2012 ruling on President Obama’s health-care-overhaul bill, the media came under scrutiny for not doing a better job of informing the public about the core content and implications of the legislation that had been passed. Given that policy language is difficult for many to understand and that legislation contains many details that may not be important to average people, a concise and lay reinterpretation of the content by the gatekeepers (the media outlets) would have helped the public better understand the bill. Of course, when media outlets reinterpret content to the point that it is untruthful or misleading, they are not ethically fulfilling the gatekeeping function of reinterpretation.

In each of these gatekeeping functions, the media can fulfill or fail to fulfill its role as the “fourth estate” of government—or government “watchdog.” You can read more about this role in the “Getting Critical” box.

“Getting Critical”

The Media as “Watchdog”

While countries like China, North Korea, Syria, and Burma have media systems that are nearly if not totally controlled by the state regime, the media in the United States and many other countries is viewed as the “watchdog” for the government. This watchdog role is intended to keep governments from taking too much power from the people and overstepping their bounds. Central to this role is the notion that the press works independently of the government. The “freedom of the press” as guaranteed by our First-Amendment rights allows the media to act as the eyes and ears of the people. The media is supposed to report information to the public so they can make informed decisions. The media also engages in investigative reporting, which can uncover dangers or corruption that the media can then expose so that the public can demand change.

Of course, this ideal is not always met in practice. Some people have critiqued the media’s ability to fulfill this role, referring to it instead as a lapdog or attack dog. In terms of the lapdog role, the media can become too “cozy” with a politician or other public figure, which might lead it to uncritically report or passively relay information without questioning it. Recent stories about reporters being asked to clear quotes and even whole stories with officials before they can be used in a story drew sharp criticism from other journalists and the public, and some media outlets put an end to that practice. In terms of the attack-dog role, the twenty-four-hour news cycle and constant reporting on public figures has created the kind of atmosphere where reporters may be waiting to pounce on a mistake or error in order to get the scoop and be able to produce a tantalizing story. This has also been called being on “scandal patrol” or “gaffe patrol.” Media scholars have critiqued this practice, saying that too much adversarial or negative reporting leads the public to think poorly of public officials and be more dissatisfied with government. Additionally, they claim that attack-dog reporting makes it more difficult for public officials to do their jobs (Coronel, 2008).

• In what ways do you think the media should function in a democratic society?
• Do you think the media in the United States acts more as a watchdog, lapdog, or attack dog? Give specific examples to support your answer.
• In an age of twenty-four-hour news and instant reporting, do you think politicians’ jobs are made easier or more difficult? Do you think reporters’ jobs are made easier or more difficult? Support your answers.

Theories of Mass Communication

Theories of mass communication have changed dramatically since the early 1900s, largely as a result of quickly changing technology and more sophisticated academic theories and research methods. A quick overview of the state of the media in the early 1900s and in the early 2000s provides some context for how views of the media changed. In the early 1900s, views of mass communication were formed based on people’s observation of the popularity of media and assumptions that something that grew that quickly and was adopted so readily must be good. Many people were optimistic about the mass media’s potential to be a business opportunity, an educator, a watchdog, and an entertainer. For example, businesses and advertisers saw media as a good way to make money, and the educator class saw the media as a way to inform citizens who could then be more active in a democratic society. As World War I and the Depression came around, many saw the media as a way to unite the country in times of hardship. Early scholarship on mass media focused on proving these views through observational and anecdotal evidence rather than scientific inquiry.

Fast forward one hundred years and newspapers are downsizing, consolidating to survive, or closing all together; radio is struggling to stay alive in the digital age; and magazine circulation is decreasing and becoming increasingly more focused on microaudiences. The information function of the news has been criticized and called “infotainment,” and rather than bringing people together, the media has been cited as causing polarization and a decline in civility (Self, Gaylord, & Gaylord, 2009). The extremes at each end of the twentieth century clearly show that the optimistic view of the media changed dramatically. An overview of some of the key theories can help us better understand this change.

Hypodermic Needle and Beyond

In the 1920s, early theories of mass communication were objective, and social-scientific reactions to the largely anecdotal theories that emerged soon after mass media quickly expanded. These scholars believed that media messages had strong effects that were knowable and predictable. Because of this, they theorized that controlling the signs and symbols used in media messages could control how they were received and convey a specific meaning (Self, Gaylord, & Gaylord, 2009).

The hypodermic needle theory of media effects claimed that meaning could be strategically placed into a media message that would then be “injected” into or transmitted to the receiver.

ChrisWaldeck – The Media Needle – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Extending Aristotle’s antiquated linear model of communication that included a speaker, message, and hearer, these early theories claimed that communication moved, or transmitted, an idea from the mind of the speaker through a message and channel to the mind of the listener. To test the theories, researchers wanted to find out how different messages influenced or changed the behavior of the receiver. This led to the development of numerous theories related to media effects. Media businesses were invested in this early strand of research, because data that proved that messages directly affect viewers could be used to persuade businesses to send their messages through the media channel in order to directly influence potential customers.

This early approach to studying media effects was called the hypodermic needle approach or bullet theory and suggested that a sender constructed a message with a particular meaning that was “injected” or “shot” into individuals within the mass audience. This theory is the basis for the transmission model of communication that we discussed in Chapter 1 “Introduction to Communication Studies” . It was assumed that the effects were common to each individual and that the meaning wasn’t altered as it was transferred. Through experiments and surveys, researchers hoped to map the patterns within the human brain so they could connect certain stimuli to certain behaviors. For example, researchers might try to prove that a message announcing that a product is on sale at a reduced price will lead people to buy a product they may not otherwise want or need. As more research was conducted, scholars began to find flaws within this thinking. New theories emerged that didn’t claim such a direct connection between the intent of a message and any single reaction on the part of receivers. Instead, these new theories claimed that meaning could be partially transferred, that patterns may become less predictable as people are exposed to a particular stimulus more often, and that interference at any point in the transmission could change the reaction.

These newer theories incorporated more contextual factors into the view of communication, acknowledging that both sender and receiver interpret messages based on their previous experience. Scholars realized that additional variables such as psychological characteristics and social environment had to be included in the study of mass communication. This approach connects to the interaction model of communication. In order to account for perspective and experience, mass media researchers connected to recently developed theories in perception that emerged from psychology. The concept of the gatekeeper emerged, since, for the first time, the sender of the message (the person or people behind the media) was the focus of research and not just the receiver. The concepts of perceptual bias and filtering also became important, as they explained why some people interpreted or ignored messages while others did not. Theories of primacy and recency, which we discussed in Chapter 9 “Preparing a Speech” , emerged to account for the variation in interpretation based on the order in which a message is received. Last, researchers explored how perceptions of source credibility affect message interpretation and how media messages may affect viewers’ self-esteem. By the 1960s, many researchers in mass communication concluded that the research in the previous twenty years had been naïve and flawed, and they significantly challenged the theory of powerful media effects, putting much more emphasis on individual agency, context, and environment (McQuail, 2010).

The next major turn in mass communication theory occurred only a few years after many scholars had concluded that media had no or only minimal effects (McQuail, 2010). In the 1970s, theories once again positioned media effects as powerful and influential based on additional influences from social psychology. From sociology, mass media researchers began to study the powerful socializing role that the media plays but also acknowledged that audience members take active roles in interpreting media messages. During this time, researchers explored how audience members’ schemata and personalities (concepts we discussed in Chapter 2 “Communication and Perception” ) affect message interpretation. Researchers also focused more on long-term effects and how media messages create opinion climates, structures of belief, and cultural patterns.

In the late 1970s and into the 1980s, a view of media effects as negotiated emerged, which accounts for the sometimes strong and sometimes weak influences of the media. This view sees the media as being most influential in constructing meanings through multiple platforms and representations. For example, the media constructs meanings for people regarding the role of technology in our lives by including certain kinds of technology in television show plots, publishing magazines like Wired , broadcasting news about Microsoft’s latest product, airing advertisements for digital cameras, producing science fiction movies, and so on. Although these messages are diverse and no one person is exposed to all the same messages, the messages are still constructed in some predictable and patterned ways that create a shared social reality. Whether or not the media intends to do this or whether or not we acknowledge that how we think about technology or any other social construct is formed through our exposure to these messages is not especially relevant. Many mass communication scholars now seek to describe, understand, or critique media practices rather than prove or disprove a specific media effect.

More recent media effects theories acknowledge that media messages do affect the receivers but that receivers also have some agency to reject or reinterpret the message.

Sean MacEntee – – CC BY 2.0.

Additionally, mass communication scholars are interested in studying how we, as audience members, still have agency in how these constructions affect our reality, in that we may reject, renegotiate, or reinterpret a given message based on our own experiences. For example, a technology geek and a person living “off the grid” have very different lives and very different views of technology, but because of their exposure to various forms of media that have similar patterns of messages regarding technology, they still have some shared reality and could talk in similar ways about computers, smartphones, and HD television. Given the shift of focus to negotiated meaning and context, this view of mass communication is more in keeping with the transactional model of communication.

Media Effects

Media effects are the intended or unintended consequences of what the mass media does (McQuail, 2010). Many of the key theories in mass communication rest on the assumption that the media has effects on audience members. The degree and type of effect varies depending on the theory. In general, we underestimate the effect that the media has on us, as we tend to think that media messages affect others more than us. This is actually so common that there is a concept for it! The third-party effect is the phenomenon just described of people thinking they are more immune to media influence than others. If this were true, though, would advertisers and public relations professionals spend billions of dollars a year carefully crafting messages aimed at influencing viewers?

There are certain media effects that are fairly obvious and most of us would agree are common (even for ourselves). For example, we change our clothes and our plans because we watch the forecast on the Weather Channel, look up information about a band and sample their music after we see them perform on a television show, or stop eating melons after we hear about a salmonella outbreak. Other effects are more difficult to study and more difficult for people to accept because they are long term and/or more personal. For example, media may influence our personal sense of style, views on sex, perceptions of other races, or values just as our own free will, parents, or friends do. It is difficult, however, to determine in any specific case how much influence the media has on a belief or behavior in proportion to other factors that influence us. Media messages may also affect viewers in ways not intended by the creators of the message. Two media effects that are often discussed are reciprocal and boomerang effects (McQuail, 2010).

The reciprocal effect points to the interactive relationship between the media and the subject being covered. When a person or event gets media attention, it influences the way the person acts or the way the event functions. Media coverage often increases self-consciousness, which affects our actions. It’s similar to the way that we change behavior when we know certain people are around and may be watching us. For example, the Occupy Movement that began on Wall Street in New York City gained some attention from alternative media and people using micromedia platforms like independent bloggers. Once the movement started getting mainstream press attention, the coverage affected the movement. As news of the Occupy movement in New York spread, people in other cities and towns across the country started to form their own protest groups. In this case, media attention caused a movement to spread that may have otherwise remained localized.

The boomerang effect refers to media-induced change that is counter to the desired change. In the world of twenty-four-hour news and constant streams of user-generated material, the effects of gaffes, blunders, or plain old poor decisions are much more difficult to control or contain. Before a group or person can clarify or provide context for what was said, a story could go viral and a media narrative constructed that is impossible to backtrack and very difficult to even control. A recent example of such an effect occurred at the University of Virginia when the governing body of the university forced President Teresa A. Sullivan to resign. The board was not happy with the president’s approach to dealing with the changing financial and technological pressures facing the school and thought ousting her may make room for a president who was more supportive of a corporate model of university governance (Pérez-Peña, 2012). When the story picked up local and then national media coverage, students, faculty, and alumni came together to support Sullivan, and a week later she was reinstated. Instead of the intended effect of changing the direction and priorities for the university, the board’s actions increased support for the president, which will also likely add support to her plans for dealing with the issues.

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory is a media effects theory created by George Gerbner that states that media exposure, specifically to television, shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence and risk in the world. The theory also states that viewers identify with certain values and identities that are presented as mainstream on television even though they do not actually share those values or identities in their real lives (Griffin, 2009). Drawing on cultivation as it is practiced in farming, Gerbner turned this notion into a powerful metaphor to explain how the media, and television in particular, shapes our social realities. Just as a farmer plants seeds that he or she then cultivates over time to produce a crop, the media plants seeds in our minds and then cultivates them until they grow into our shared social reality.

Cultivation theory states that heavy television viewing cultivates, or grows, certain ways of thinking about the world that are distorted.

Yoshihide Nomura – Watching TV – CC BY-ND 2.0.

Over decades of exploring cultivation theory, Gerbner made several well-supported conclusions that are summarized as follows:

• Prime-time television shows and weekend morning children’s programming have been found to contain consistently high amounts of violence over the past thirty years.
• Older people, children, African Americans, and Latino/as are more likely to be shown as victims of violence than are their young-adult, middle-aged, and/or white counterparts. This disparity is more meaningful when we realize that these groups are also underrepresented (relative to their percentage in the general population) on these shows while their vulnerability to violence is overstated.

The effects of television viewing on our worldview build up over years, but in general, people who are more heavy viewers perceive the world as more dangerous than do light viewers. Gerbner coined the phrase “mean world syndrome,” which refers to the distorted view of the world as more violent and people as more dangerous than they actually are.

• Heavy viewers predict that their odds of being a victim of violence within the next week are 1 in 10, while light viewers predicted 1 in 100. Real crime statistics give a more reliable estimate of 1 in 10,000.
• Heavy viewers fear walking alone on the street more than do light viewers, believing that criminal activity is actually ten times more prevalent than it actually is.
• Heavy viewers believe that more people are involved in law enforcement and that officers draw and use their weapons much more than is actually the case.
• Heavy viewers are generally more suspicious of others and question their motives more than do light viewers (the basis of the mean world syndrome).
• Given that most people on television are portrayed as politically moderate and middle class, heavy viewers are more likely to assume those labels even though heavy users tend to be more working class or poor and more politically conservative than moderate. In short, they begin to view themselves as similar to those they watch on television and consider themselves a part of the mainstream of society even though they are not.

“Getting Competent”

Applying Media Theories

Although most do not get mass public attention, there are many media criticism and analysis organizations that devote much time and resources to observing, studying, and/or commenting on how the media acts in practice, which often involves an implicit evaluation of media theories we have discussed so far, in particular media effects theories. Media outlets and the people who send messages through media outlets (i.e., politicians, spokespeople, and advertisers) are concerned about the effects and effectiveness of their messaging. As we already learned, the pervasive view of media effects today is that media messages do affect people, but that people have some agency in terms of how much or little they identify with or reinterpret a message.

To understand media effects, media criticism organizations do research on audience attitudes and also call on media commentators to give their opinions, which may be more academic and informed or more personal and partisan. In either case, taking some time to engage with these media criticism organizations can allow you to see how they apply mass communication theories and give you more information so you can be a more critical and informed consumer of media. You can find a list of many media criticism organizations at the following link: http://www.world-newspapers.com/media.html . Some of these organizations have a particular political ideology or social/cultural cause that they serve, so be cautious when choosing a source for media criticism to make sure you know what you’re getting. There are also more objective and balanced sources of media criticism. Two of my personal favorites that I engage with every week are CNN’s show Reliable Sources ( http://reliablesources.blogs.cnn.com ) and the public radio show On the Media ( http://www.onthemedia.org ). Reliable Sources even has an implicit reference to reciprocal effects in its show description, stating, “The press is a part of every story it covers.” [1] On the Media ran a story that implicitly connects to cultivation theory, as it critiques some of the media’s coverage of violence and audiences’ seeming desensitization to it (Bernstein 2012).

• Of the “functions of mass media” discussed earlier in the chapter, which functions do media criticism organizations like the ones mentioned here serve? Specifically, give examples of how these organizations fulfill the gatekeeping functions and how they monitor the gatekeeping done by other media sources.
• Since media criticism organizations like Reliable Sources and On the Media are also media sources (one a television show and one a radio show), how might hey be contributing to reciprocal effects?
• Using the links provided, find a substantial article, study, or report that analyzes some media practice such as the covering of a specific event. Apply some aspect of media effects from the chapter to the story. How might media effects theory help us understand the criticism being raised?

Key Takeaways

• The mass media serves information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion functions.
• As a gatekeeper, the media functions to relay, limit, expand, and reinterpret information.
• The hypodermic needle theory of mass communication suggests that a sender constructs a message with a particular meaning that is “injected” into individuals within a mass audience.
• Theories of media effects explore the intended or unintended effects of what the media does. Theories have claimed strong effects, meaning that media messages can directly and intentionally influence audience members. They have also claimed weak effects, meaning that media messages have no little power over viewers. More recently, theories have claimed negotiated effects, meaning that media messages do affect viewers but that viewers also have some agency to identify with, reject, or reinterpret a message.
• Cultivation theory explores a particular kind of media effect claiming that media exposure, specifically to television, shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence and risk in the world.
• Which function of mass media (information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, or diversion) do you think is most important for you and why? Which is most important for society and why?
• What ethical issues are created by the gatekeeping function of the media? What strategies or suggestions do you have for bypassing this function of the media to ensure that you get access to the information you want/need?
• Getting integrated: Discuss media messages that have influenced or would influence you in a professional, academic, personal, and civic context.

Bernstein, B., “The Story of the Times Gory Empire State Shooting Photo,” On the Media , August 24, 2012, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.onthemedia.org/blogs/on-the-media/2012/aug/24/story-times-gory-empire-state-shooting-photo1 .

Bittner, J. R., Mass Communication , 6th ed. (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1996), 11.

Coronel, S. S., “The Media as Watchdog,” Harvard-World Bank Workshop, May 19, 2008, accessed September 19, 2012, http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Conference/Conference%20papers/Coronel%20Watchdog.pdf .

Griffin, E., A First Look at Communication Theory , 7th ed. (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2009), 352–53.

McQuail, D., McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory , 6th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), 457.

Pérez-Peña, R., “Ousted Head of University Is Reinstated in Virginia,” New York Times , June 26, 2012, accessed November 11, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/education/university-of-virginia-reinstates-ousted-president.html?pagewanted=all .

Self, C. C., Edward L. Gaylord, and Thelma Gaylord, “The Evolution of Mass Communication Theory in the 20th Century,” The Romanian Review of Journalism and Communication 6, no. 3 (2009): 29.

• “About This Show,” CNN Reliable Sources , accessed September 20, 2012, http://reliablesources.blogs.cnn.com . ↵

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mass communication

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mass communication , process of sharing information with a large audience. Mass communication is accomplished via mass media —that is, technology capable of sending messages to great numbers of people, many of whom are unknown to the sender (e.g., television ). The purposes of mass communication include entertainment, education , and political propaganda . Among the fields of endeavour that engage in mass communication are marketing , public relations , and journalism .

Mass communication is a complicated phenomenon. Its use has had a significant impact on society, shaping not only cultural norms and values but also the way people perceive and interact with the world. It disseminates new ideas and beliefs, and it affects its audiences’ buying habits, styles, schedules, and health. The producers of content for mass media have the power to set the agenda for public discourse by determining which issues are deemed most important—or, indeed, which issues receive any attention at all. Consequently, political power relies in part on the effective use of mass communication. The field of mass communication is therefore broad and encompasses many different areas. Scholars research how mass media is produced, deployed , consumed, and otherwise used, but they also study the legalities and ethics involved in mass communication, the ultimate effect of mass media on those who consume it, and other related political, social, and cultural issues. Among the many theories that have resulted from this intellectual inquiry are the two-step flow model of communication , which is concerned with how information is filtered through active media users who act as opinion leaders for less active media consumers; the spiral of silence theory , which suggests that people with minority opinions tend to censor themselves; and the uses and gratifications theory, which posits that people do not simply receive information but rather seek out the information that they need or want.

Opportunities for mass communication first appeared with the invention of writing . A pharaoh, for example, could make proclamations to his subjects via hieroglyphics on a monument. However, the age of widespread mass communication is often said to have begun in the 15th century with Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press , which made it possible to produce books, pamphlets, and other printed materials at relatively low cost. Gutenberg’s creation led not only to the dissemination of information but also to the spread of literacy and education, as people adapted to take advantage of the new opportunities the press offered. The technology of sharing the written word was thus democratized, making mass communication possible for the masses themselves.

Another leap forward occurred in the 19th century: In 1844 Samuel Morse completed the first large-scale telegraph line, allowing for the rapid transmission of messages over long distances using electrical signals. This system led to the development of the first news agencies, such as the Associated Press (AP) in the United States , which were able to gather and disseminate news from around the world in a matter of minutes. It has been argued that among the effects of this innovation was a consolidation of the national character as people in disparate regions simultaneously reacted to the same news, often with the same emotions.

In the early 20th century, mass communication became ubiquitous and instantaneous. The popularization of motion pictures in the first decades of the century and of radio in the 1920s brought heightened immediacy to mass communication and revolutionized not only the news but also music, politics, and entertainment. Celebrity culture , consumer culture, and other aspects of modern society all began to manifest in ways that are still recognizable today. Moreover, the effectiveness of these new methods of mass communication further homogenized their audiences, giving rise to an ever more identifiable mass culture . When the television replaced the radio as the public’s mass medium of choice in the 1950s, these societal changes only accelerated.

With the development of the Internet and the proliferation of digital media in the 21st century, almost every aspect of mass communication has again changed dramatically. Like Gutenberg’s press, new technologies have resulted in the more equitable distribution of the ability to communicate with large audiences. Once, only the owners of newspapers, radio stations, and television broadcasters possessed the means of influencing popular opinion, but now anyone can participate in the public forum through social media , blogs, and other online platforms. The effect of this more diverse and decentralized media landscape has been the dissemination of a wider range of voices and perspectives.

However, the age of information has also led to concerns about the spread of misinformation and “fake news.” The ease with which information can be shared and spread online has also made it easier for misinformation to be spread quickly and widely. Documented consequences include risks to public health , financial losses, and the spread of extreme ideologies . Calls for increased media literacy and education have been made so that people can better discern the credibility of the information they are consuming.

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Introductory Guide to the Study of Mass Communication

The fabric of modern society is so intricately woven with the fibers of Mass Communication, it is impossible to comprehend our lives without it. Indeed, Mass Communication so fully saturates our everyday lives, we often forget its presence – and its influence. Moreover, the technologies that make modern Mass Communication possible serve to only reify its omnipresence and power.

The technologies – often referred to by scholars and pundits as the “mass media” – can be described as the vehicles through which communication can reach the masses. In conceptualizing the mass media, many often think of the Internet – and for good reason. Some scholars estimate that upwards of four billion people are regularly connected to the Internet and that Internet traffic will be 95 times greater in 2020 than it was in 2005.

The mass media, however, is more than just the Internet. Indeed, television, radio, and even newspapers and magazines are considered part of the mass media. In this article, the evolution of the mass media – and thus, the evolution of the scholarly study of Mass Communication – is traced, and some key theories and concepts are discussed, in an effort to provide future master’s students with a foundational understanding of this area of communication that permeates almost every industry and aspect of consumer life.

Defining Mass Communication

Before tracing the evolution of mass media and Mass Communication as an academic field, it is important to first define some key terms. By and large, Mass Communication can be defined as the communication conveyed to a large audience via media. Media, in this sense, is the channel that carries this communication to the masses through electronic or printable means. While electronic forms of media – the Internet, television, and radio – certainly altered connotations of “mass” in Mass Communication, its print predecessors – magazines, newspapers, and books – laid the foundation for communication to reach larger numbers of people.

Mass Communication scholars generally employ definitions of communication similar to their colleagues studying other realms of communication. Even with its larger scope and reach, communication in Mass Communication is still thought of as the symbolic process through which meaning and, therefore reality, is constructed, shared, altered, and reified. Perhaps more so than others, Mass Communication scholars highlight the everyday-ness of media and its embedded place in our culture.

Given mass media’s unique position as a conduit, regulator, and even manipulator of communication, many Mass Communication scholars urge students – and, ideally, citizens – to become media literate. Media literacy is the ability to critically evaluate media and its contents by asking questions like: Who benefits from this form of media or type of content? What is the underlying message in this content? How does this particular form of media reinforce existing power structures? Or, conversely, does this media provide a voice to the marginalized and oppressed?

There is a persistent, if not nagging, myth (which contemporary Mass Communication scholars continually seek to dispel) that due to mass media’s omnipresence and capability to manipulate, human beings have been reduced to automatons, essentially drones controlled by corporations or governments. While there is certainly an enduring danger embedded within mass media, scholars continue to highlight that human beings – both individually and collectively – possess incredible critical thinking and reasoning skills, helping to combat this dystopian fear.

Though this myth is certainly grounded in honest fear and anxiety, the confluence of emerging media technology and an increase in education continues to enhance our critical perspective in consuming media. Indeed, each generation seems to further add to the concept of media literacy, providing valuable insight to scholars studying Mass Communication.

The Evolution of Mass Media

Well before the Internet and instant communication, mass media occupied a different realm – that of print and paper. Some scholars trace humanity’s use of written symbols in books back at least 5,000 years, but the modern conception of the book is a relatively recent phenomenon. Indeed, the first true instance of “mass” communication came in the wake of the printing press.

Contrary to common belief, Johannes Gutenberg did not invent the printing press, nor did he invent the crucial component of the printing press – moveable type. Gutenberg, did, however, create a more efficient, streamlined system of printing that made printing significantly faster, easier, and, more importantly, cheaper. The “Gutenberg Revolution” that followed was consequential to 15th Century Europe in that knowledge was no longer confined to families and small, local communities, books and pamphlets started becoming more common, and the incentive to become literate grew. However, the ramifications of this technology did not stay in Europe. Indeed, ideas and news spread much faster and, in a sense, the world grew smaller.

Several centuries later in Colonial America, mass media further evolved. Revolutionary ideas spread rapidly throughout the colonies – Thomas Paine’s Common Sense , for example, sold about 120,000 copies in the first three months after its publication, rivaling the number of copies of the Bible printed at that time throughout the colonies.

In 19th Century America, the rise of the “penny press,” or newspapers that were sold for a penny, coincided with higher literacy rates and a (slight) democratization of American politics. Building upon that and aided by the continual development of a national postal service, magazine circulation rose astronomically and reached larger and larger audiences. Juxtaposed to local newspapers, a magazine’s audience could become national, yet again altering the connotation of “mass” in Mass Communication.

The rapid development of electronic technology in the 20th Century propelled mass media to its current place of import in modernity. Pioneering this path, radio’s role cannot be overstated. Indeed, as the first electronic medium for mass communication, radio reshaped social, economic, political, and cultural structures across the world. In the 1930s, for example, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” helped assuage American anxieties about the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s radio broadcasts to the nation became a staple in American life for a time, with many Americans stating that some of their first memories were set around the fireplace listening to the president’s voice.

Furthermore, radio’s quick ascendancy in the United States led to the creation of the first broadcast networks, laying the foundation for future electronic mass mediums and instilling the “trustee principle,” or the need for government regulation of the burgeoning broadcast industry. The establishment of broadcast networks helped aid in television’s swift rise a few decades later in the 1950’s as the infrastructure was, essentially, already in place.

A Brief History of the Study of Mass Communication

Today’s Mass Communication scholars can, to some degree, trace their academic lineage to Walter Lippman and John Dewey, particularly through the famed “Lippman-Dewey” debate(s) of the 1920s and 30s that considered the role of journalism as a form of mass communication and its impact on their preferred version of democracy. At least initially, Lippman favored a journalistic approach that placed intellectual elites as the true – and better equipped – stewards of democracy, so news reporting ought to be written for these intellectuals. While Lippman saw experts as more capable of maintaining the promise of democracy, Dewey, on the other hand, advocated for journalists to write for common, everyday citizens as these citizens are democracy’s foundation.

While Lippman later wrote of the dangers of his approach, Dewey did agree that mass media and culture were becoming too much for the average citizen to comprehend. Instead of looking to experts to sift through the mess of mass culture, Dewey hoped that through communication Americans could band together to form a “Great Community,” an inclusive group comprised of various local and co-publics that were educated and civically engaged.

Almost a century has passed since Lippman and Dewey discussed and debated the nature of democracy and mass media’s impact, and even with the passage of time and the profound advancement in telecommunication technology, the core tenets of their philosophies continue to influence our perspectives on mass media and communication. Indeed, building off Lippman and Dewey, the study of Mass Communication took further shape following the Second World War. Like with the developing study of Persuasion in Communication Studies, Mass Communication researchers began to study propaganda, its effects, and the uses of mass media in spreading and combatting propaganda.

Mass Communication Theories & Concepts

In the study of Mass Communication theories and concepts, it is important to first articulate that there is no singular Mass Communication theory that encapsulates the discipline, or to which every scholar subscribes. Instead, Mass Communication scholars tend to focus on the degree to which media impacts communication, culture, and society. With the introduction of new mediums that changed the way we communicate, the nature of Mass Communication Theory also changed. Indeed, many of the theories listed below reflect the evolution of our understanding of Mass Communication with the introduction of new technology.

Additionally, many of the concepts articulated below have been repurposed in other realms of Communication Studies. For example, agenda-setting, framing, and priming continue to be analyzed by both Mass Communication and Political Communication scholars, while Social Cognitive Theory has been, and continues to be, employed by Health Communication scholars.

Agenda-Setting, Framing, and Priming : Now considered to be fundamental in the study of Mass Communication, the concepts of agenda-setting, framing, and priming all originated in the context of Communication research. Agenda-setting, or the idea that media tells us not what to think, but what to think about, helped scholars begin to articulate mass media’s impact potential and is now invariably discussed in graduate seminars in Mass Communication. Likewise, framing, or the ways in which events, people, and ideas are characterized through media depictions continues to be a tool for scholars in examining a litany of media. Finally, priming is considered to be the effect of agenda-setting and framing, as audiences are cognitively conditioned to adopt attitudes that are set by the media’s agenda and framing of particular issues or objects.

For more information on agenda-setting, framing, and priming, see our article on Political Communication Research .

Mass Society Theory : The aforementioned myth regarding mass media’s overwhelmingly negative impact on society was once a generally accepted scholarly perspective. Mass Society Theory suggests that mass media undermines the social order and human beings are vulnerable, if not entirely defenseless, to its power. Also known as the “magic bullet” theory or the “hypodermic needle” theory, Mass Society Theory is built upon the premise that human beings are simple receivers and mass media just injects ideas into our brains.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, many asked how citizens in democracies like Germany and Italy could suddenly embrace fascism. At the time, Mass Society Theory offered a relatively easy answer – and a sort of scapegoat – to how a people could turn to the horrors of fascist rule and the accompanying atrocities committed in its name. While these two examples extended credibility to the theory, we now know, of course, that mass media was not the singular culprit in the lead up to the Second World War – that a confluence of socio-economic issues helped to rapidly tear at the political seams of these countries through appeals to racism and authoritarianism.

Limited Effects Theory : Generally speaking, research on the Limited Effects of media produced several important concepts that are widely accepted today, namely that human beings are not passive consumers of media and that we actively use media for a variety of purposes and goals. Additionally, Limited Effects research helped articulate concepts like agenda-setting, framing, and priming.

Many consider Limited Effects Theory to be the natural and direct successor to Mass Society Theory. Realistically, however, Limited Effects Theory came to be simultaneously through the testing of Mass Society Theory. In examining Mass Society Theory, researchers determined that media influence can and usually is limited by individual differences, social categories, personal relationships, and level of education, thus constructing Limited Effects Theory.

More specifically, there are several other theories that help comprise Limited Effects Theory and add to its explanatory powers. Social Cognitive Theory, for example, suggests that media impacts people in a variety of ways and that people employ a learning process in consuming media. As highlighted in our Health Communication article, we may imitate what we see and hear in media, or if we do not exactly replicate what we consume, we may identify with something produced and engage in behavior that is sympathetic to its spirit. In other words, we learn from others – and media aids in this process.

Cultural Theory : Cultural Theory employs a critical, macro-level approach in examining media and its impact on society. In short, this theory argues that the meaning conveyed and debated between media and various audiences as they interact can have larger cultural impacts.

Because of its focus, Cultural Theory is inherently political, is concerned with big picture/largescale media effects, examines power and how the media is used to help those in power stay in power and oppress the marginalized, and operates to reveal the capitalistic forces at work within media. Cultural Theory, for example, has been used to some degree in studying media conglomerations here in the United States. In wielding this theory, scholars are able to highlight Disney (and other’s) cultural impact and power.

Meaning-Making Theory : This perspective suggests that as media consumers, we use media to create meaning and label experiences for ourselves. In other words, we use media as a catalyst in shaping meaning for our lives.

An enduring concept that comes from Meaning-Making Theory is cultivation analysis, or the idea that media cultivates a belief that the world they create/portray is real. This is not to say that we think the events of Game of Thrones are necessarily real, but that its portrayal of human interaction is close to reality. In other words, Meaning-Making Theory argues that the media’s depiction of human behavior, human relationships, social hierarchies, and worldviews is relatively close to reality.

As a force for good, for example, this can be used over time to alter attitudes regarding same-sex relationships, or the larger LGBTQIA Community. Indeed, shows like Modern Family , Queer Eye for the Straight Guy , and Grace & Frankie portray same-sex relationships or members of the LBGTQIA Community positively, and over time and repetition, this cultivates a positive association.

Studying Mass Communication Today

Today, Mass Communication continues to grow. As evidenced by the number of Mass Communication programs offered by universities across the country and around the world, as well as the increasing number of employers needing skilled professionals in this realm of research and practice, Mass Communication is as every bit part of our society as the technologies that make it possible. The field of Mass Communication, it seems, is synonymous with progress and modernity.

Within Communication Studies, Mass Communication is perhaps more important than ever. An example of its import is in the study of “fake news.” The recent onslaught of fake news and its socio-political consequences here in America and around the world is a communicative phenomenon ripe for Mass Communication scholars to examine. Indeed, studying fake news is not only relevant as it is occurring at this moment in time, it is crucial, as some scholars contend, to the survival of Western liberal democracy. Here, the echoes of Dewey and Lippman reverberate.

As new mass media technologies continue to develop, so too will our conceptions of Mass Communication. If the 21st Century has taught us anything thus far, it is that Mass Communication is indeed woven into the fabric of modern society, its presence, for better or for worse, integral to our survival and well-being.

Sources and Additional Resources

To learn more about the study of Mass Communication, its theoretical foundations, and societal applications, check out the following publications:

• Baran, S. J. (2018). Introduction to Mass Communication (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
• Baran, S. J., & Davis, D. K. (2020). Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future . Oxford University Press.
• Bryant, J., Thompson, S., & Finklea, B. W. (2012). Fundamentals of Media Effects: Second Edition . Waveland Press.
• Jeffres, L. W. (2015). Mass Communication Theories in a Time of Changing Technologies. Mass Communication & Society , 18(5), 523–530. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15205436.2015.1065652
• UC Santa Barbara. (n.d.). A Citizen’s Guide to Fake News | Center for Information Technology and Society. Retrieved October 14, 2019, from https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news

*Note: Christopher Wernecke teaches an undergraduate course on Media, Culture, and Society at Georgia State University. The content in this article was drawn from the research he conducted for his course curriculum.

Understanding Mass Media and Mass Communication

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Mass media refers to the technologies used as channels for a small group of people to communicate with a larger number of people. The concept was first addressed during the Progressive Era of the 1920s, as a response to new opportunities for elites to reach large audiences via the mass media of the time: newspapers , radio, and film. Indeed, the three forms of traditional mass media today are still the same: print (newspapers, books, magazines) , broadcast (television, radio ), and cinema (movies and documentaries).  

But in the 1920s, mass media referred not just to the number of people such communication reached, but rather to the uniform consumption and anonymity of the audiences. Uniformity and anonymity are characteristics which no longer fit the way people seek out, consume, and manipulate information into their daily lives. Those new media are called "alternative media" or "mass self-communication."

Key Takeaways: Mass Media

• Mass media as an idea was created in the 1920s.
• There are three major forms of traditional mass media: print, broadcast, and cinema. New forms are being created constantly.
• The internet has changed the nature of mass media by creating consumers who control and even create media of their own, and producers who can more easily track consumer responses.
• Being a smart consumer of media means exposing yourself to a variety of points of view, so that you can become more adept at recognizing subtle and not subtle forms of propaganda and bias .

Mass Communication 

Mass media are the transport forms of mass communication, which can be defined as the dissemination of messages widely, rapidly, and continuously to large and diverse audiences in an attempt to influence them in some way. 

Five distinct stages of mass communication exist, according to American communication scholars Melvin DeFleur and Everette Dennis: 

• Professional communicators create various types of "messages" for presentation to individuals.
• The messages are disseminated in a "quick and continuous" manner through some form of mechanical media.
• The messages are received by a vast and diverse audience.
• The audience interprets these messages and gives them meaning.
• The audience is influenced or changed in some manner. 

There are six widely acknowledged intended effects for mass media. The two best known are commercial advertising and political campaigns. Public service announcements have been developed to influence people on health issues such as smoking cessation or HIV testing. Mass media has been used (by the Nazi party in Germany in the 1920s, for example) to indoctrinate people in terms of government ideology. And mass media use sporting events such as the World Series, the World Cup Soccer, Wimbledon, and the Super Bowl, to act as a ritual event that users participate in.

Measuring the Effects of Mass Media 

Research on the impacts of mass media began in the 1920s and 1930s, with the rise of muckraking journalism—elites became concerned about the effects of investigative reporting in magazines such as McClure's on political decision-making. Mass media became a prominent focus of study in the 1950s after television became widely available, and academic departments dedicated to communication studies were created. These early studies investigated the cognitive, emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of media on both children and adults; in the 1990s, researchers began to use those earlier studies to draw up theories concerning the use of media today.

In the 1970s theorists such as Marshall McLuhan and Irving J. Rein warned that media critics needed to watch how media affects people. Today, this remains a key concern; much attention has been paid, for example, to the impact on the 2016 election of false messaging distributed on social media. But the myriad forms of mass communication available today have also encouraged some researchers to begin to investigate "what people do with media."

The Move to Mass Self-Communication

Traditional mass media are "push technologies:" that is to say, producers create the objects and distribute them (push it) to consumers who are largely anonymous to the producer. The only input consumers have in traditional mass media is to decide whether to consume it—if they should buy the book or go to the movie: undoubtedly those decisions have always been significant to what got published or aired. 

However, in the 1980s, consumers began to transition to "pull technology:" while the content may still be created by (elite) producers, users are now free to select what they wish to consume. Further, users can now repackage and create new content (such as mashups on YouTube or reviews on personal blog sites). The users are often explicitly identified in the process, and their choices may have immediate, if not necessarily conscious, impact on what information and advertising they are presented with going forward. 

With the widespread availability of the internet and the development of social media, communication consumption has a decidedly personal character, which the Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells calls mass self-communication. Mass self-communication means that the content is still created by the producers, and the distribution is made available to a large number of people, those who choose to read or consume the information. Today, users pick and choose media content to suit their needs, whether those needs were the intent of the producers or not. 

Computer-Mediated Communication

The study of mass media is a fast-moving target. People have studied computer-mediated communication since the technology first became available in the 1970s. Early studies focused on teleconferencing, and how interactions between large groups of strangers differ from interactions with known partners. Other studies were concerned with whether communication methods lacking nonverbal cues could influence the meaning and quality of social interactions. Today, people have access to both text-based and visual information, so those studies are no longer useful. 

The immense growth in social applications since the start of Web 2.0 (also known as Participatory or Social Web) has made huge changes. Information is now distributed in many directions and methods, and audiences can vary from one person to many thousands. In addition, everyone with an internet connection can be a content creator and media source. 

Blurring the Lines Between Producers and Consumers

Mass self-communication can potentially reach a global audience, but it is self-generated in content, self-directed in its mission, and typically focuses on self-related information. Sociologist Alvin Toffler created the now-obsolete term of "prosumers" to describe users who are almost simultaneously consumers and producers—for example, reading and commenting on online content, or reading and replying to Twitter posts. The increases in the number of transactions that now occur between consumer and producer create what some have called an "expression effect."

Interactions also now cross-media streams, such as "Social TV," where people use hashtags while watching a sports game or a television program in order to simultaneously read and converse with hundreds of other viewers on social media.

Politics and the Media 

One focus of mass communication research has been on the role that media plays in the democratic process. On the one hand, media provides a way for predominantly rational voters to obtain information about their political choices. That likely introduces some systematic biases, in that not every voter is interested in social media, and politicians may choose to work on the wrong issues and perhaps pander to an active set of users who may not be in their constituencies. But by and large, the fact that voters can learn about candidates independently is predominantly positive. 

On the other hand, media can be leveraged for propaganda, which exploits cognitive errors that people are prone to make. By using the techniques of agenda-setting, priming, and framing, the producers of media can manipulate voters to act against their own best interests.

Propaganda Techniques in Mass Media 

Some types of propaganda that have been recognized in mass media include:

• Agenda-Setting: Aggressive media coverage of an issue can make people believe an insignificant issue is important. Similarly, media coverage may underplay an important issue.
• Priming : People evaluate politicians based on the issues covered in the press.
• Framing : How an issue is characterized in news reports can influence how it is understood by the receivers; involves the selective inclusion or omission of facts ("bias").
• DeFleur, Melvin L., and Everette E. Dennis. "Understanding Mass Communication." (Fifth Edition, 1991). Houghton Mifflin: New York. 
• Donnerstein, Edward. "Mass Media, General View." Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict (Second Edition). Ed. Kurtz, Lester. Oxford: Academic Press, 2008. 1184-92. Print.
• Gershon, Ilana. " Language and the Newness of Media. " Annual Review of Anthropology 46.1 (2017): 15-31. Print.
• Pennington, Robert. "Mass Media Content as Cultural Theory." The Social Science Journal 49.1 (2012): 98-107. Print.
• Pinto, Sebastián, Pablo Balenzuela, and Claudio O. Dorso. " Setting the Agenda: Different Strategies of a Mass Media in a Model of Cultural Dissemination. " Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 458 (2016): 378-90. Print.
• Rosenberry, J., Vicker, L. A. (2017). "Applied Mass Communication Theory." New York: Routledge.
• Strömberg, David. " Media and Politics. " Annual Review of Economics 7.1 (2015): 173-205. Print.
• Valkenburg, Patti M., Jochen Peter, and Joseph B. Walther. " Media Effects: Theory and Research. " Annual Review of Psychology 67.1 (2016): 315-38. Print.
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Mass Communications Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

No Change No Gain: A Comparative Framing Analysis of the NFL’s Inspire Change Campaign , Kia K. Cannon

Comparative Analysis of Abortion Coverage in CNN and Fox News from the Perspective of Agenda Setting Theory , Xinyu Chang

From the Patient’s Perspective: Understanding the Colorectal Cancer Patient Experience Portrayed in Edutainment Television , Allison M. Fisher

Influence of Merck Gardasil 9 Advertisements on Male Vaccination Behavior Through a Health Belief Model Framework , Lauren Kierpa

Lights, Camera, Recruitment: Analyzing DoD-Hollywood Synergy and its Effects on Attitudes and Behaviors Towards the Military , Jose-Andres Leon-Gil

Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Media Influencers: Effectiveness of CSR Brand-Endorsed Messaging on Consumers , Hannah Sarmiento

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

An Experimental Analysis of the Effect of Crisis Response Message Strategies on Consumer Emotions, Perceptual Beliefs and Intended Behavior , Valentina Ahumada

How the Taiwanese podcast Bailingguo News framed the 2019 Hong Kong movement: A framing analysis of the anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill , Yu-Fei Chiu

Advocating for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Study of the NHL’s #HockeyIsForEveryone Campaign on Twitter , Jessica Martinez

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

An Analysis of International Soccer Fans’ Knowledge of Qatar, Perceptions of Qatar’s Country Image, and Intention to Support the 2022 FIFA World Cup , Taleb Al-Adbah

Analysis of Prescription Drug Brand Mentions in Music: Prevalence and Consumer Perceptions , Lisa A. Blake

Elements of Instagram Influencer Posts that Drive Follower Engagement , Yishan Li

Communicating Breast Cancer Awareness: Using the Health Belief Model to Develop Mass Communication Themes to Influence Early Detection Behaviors , Srisai Kamakshi Ramya Harika Pucha

The European Super League (ESL): A Political Economy and Media Framing Analysis , Patrick Sidwell

Inaugural Addresses, Framing Theory, and the Impact on American Perceptions of the Presidency , Kalin Meagan Velez

The Use of Social Media by Leaders in Times of Crisis: 2020–21 United States Election Protests , Cagdas Yuksel

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The Influence of Hate Speech on TikTok on Chinese College Students , Tengyue Chen

Cultivating Courage: Medical Dramas and Portrayals of Patient Self-Advocacy , Alyssa H. Harrell

The Media Reproduction of Racial Violence: A Content Analysis of News Coverage Following the Death of George Floyd Jr. , Keylon Lovett

Credibility of Spokespersons and E-cigarette Prevention Messages: Elaboration Likelihood Model and The Moderating Role of Perceived Risk , Emmanuel Maduneme

An Examination of COVID-19 Health Behaviors and Public Health Messaging Using the Health Belief Model and Organization-Public Relationship Quality , Aaron L. Nichols

The Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) and Risk Perceptions of Twitter messages related to COVID-19 , Muhammad E. Rasul

Framing #MeToo movement in China A Content Analysis of China Women’s News Coverage , Wenminzi Wu

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Super Bowl Ads and the Donald Trump Culture War , Jessica Barron

A Case Study on Black Twitter’s Reactions to the Framing of Blacks in Dove’s 2017 Facebook Advertisement , Shereena Farrington

The Roles of Emotional Cues and Purchasing Incentives in WeChat Commerce: A Content Analysis , Xuezhu Hao

People with Parkinson’s and Care Partners of PwPs’ Uncertainty Management Through Information Strategies , Amy Haywood

Asian Male Stereotypes: An Investigation of Current Beliefs About Asian Males and Stereotypes Perpetuated by U.S. Modern Cinema , Noelle Knopp

Developing Design Elements for a Parkinson’s Disease Informative Website: A Social Marketing Approach , Emilie R. Madsen

Evaluation of Native Advertisement though Third Person Effect Theory: An Experimental Design , Inga Nafetvaridze

EPPM and Its Effectiveness in Advertisements of Colorectal Cancer Screening among Young Adults , Anh T. Nguyen

The Role of Threat and Efficacy in Anti-Vaping Ads: A Test of the Extended Parallel Process Model , Ryan Noone

An Experimental Investigation into the Impact of Crisis Response Strategies and Relationship Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry , Nikoletta Pappas

Media Fandom: Social Media Use and Collective Identity in China: A Case Study of Z.Tao’s Weibo Fandom , Mier Sha

'Golden Spike': Examining Atlanta United FC Communications During the Launch of the Team , Maria Tsyruleva

The Role of Influencer Endorsement in Consumer Brand Engagement on Sina Weibo , Xiaofan Wei

One News Event, Three Media Frames , Le Xin

Applying the Situational Theory of Publics to Children's Sex Education in China , Baoyi Zeng

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

The Role of Social Media Journalists in TV News:Their Effects on the Profession and Identity of TV Journalism, the Quality of News, and theAudience Engagement , Yousuf Humiad AL Yousufi

Relationship Management Communications by NHL Teams on Twitter , Kelsey M. Baker

2018 China-United States Trade War: Framing Analysis of Online News Coverage in the United States and China as portrayed by the New York Times and the People’s Daily , Jiangling Huang

The Research on the Determinants of Users' Willingness to Pay for Chinese Paid Sports Model Based on Use and Gratification Theory , Jing Li

Online MMORPG Games in China: Player Motivations and the Mediating Role of Flow , Jiaxin Liu

The Hostile Media Effect and Its Potential Consequences: Examining the Influence of Presumed Influence of International Media Coverage , Zhennan Liu

Womenpreneurs in a Digital Environment: Utilizing Instagram to Build a Personal Brand , Michelle N. Nuñez

Objectification of Women in Bollywood Item Numbers , Zahabia Z. Slatewala

A Research on eSports Users’ Motives and Satisfaction in China The Case of League of Legends , Qianyin Sun

An Analysis of the Language and the Relationship of the President of the USA Related Twitter Accounts toward the National Media , Sait Serif Turhan

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Perception of Kazakhstan in the U.S through the New York Times Coverage , Tursynay Alikhanova

The Influence of Instagram Selfies on Female Millennials’ Appearance Satisfaction , Diliara Bagautdinova

Women’s Body Image in the Media: Fitspiration on Instagram , Brook M. Bryant

Political Talk Shows in Taiwan: First- and Third-Person Effects, Their Attitudinal Antecedents and Consequences , Shou-Chen Hsieh

An Examination of Image Repair Theory and BP’s Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill , William Anthony Korte Jr.

An Analysis of Organ Donation Presentations on Weibo , Shengfei Li

Gender Sexualization in Digital Games: Exploring Female Character Changes in Tomb Raider , Jingjing Liu

Shithole Countries: An Analysis of News Coverage in the U.S. , Murewa O. Olubela

Self-esteem, motivation, and self-enhancement presentation on WeChat , Xiao Qiu

The Portrayal of Women in the Oldest Russian Women’s Magazine “Rabotnitsa” From 1970-2017 , Anastasiia Utiuzh

Cultural Adaptation and Maintenance: Chinese International Students' Use of Facebook and WeChat , Mengni Wang

The Understanding of Absolute Right to Freedom of Expression in the Case of Hate Speech , Qinqin Wang

Body Image, Self-Esteem and Eating Disturbance among Chinese Women: Testing the Tripartite Influence model , Weiwei Wang

I’m Your Fan – Engaging in Celebrity’s Social Media Page with the Mediation of Parasocial Interaction and Parasocial Relationship , Jiahui Zhuang

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Household Food Waste Prevention in Malaysia: An Issue Processes Model Perspective , Syahirah Abd Razak

Countering the Questionable Actions of the CPD and FEC , Brian C. Cole

“You Know Who I Am, Don’t You? I’m the One They’re Writing About in the Newspapers and on TV” , Casey Killen Crane

To Tell the Truth: The Credibility of Cable News Networks In an Era of Increasingly Partisan Political News Coverage , Christopher Jadick

Political Media Bias in the United States: Immigration and the Trump Administration , Bryce Josepher

Social Media Use and Political Participation in China: The Mediating Role of Political Efficacy , Bingyang Liu

Framing Genetically-modified Foods Communication in China: A Content Analysis of News Coverage of People’s Daily and Southern Metropolis , Linqi Lu

Conceptualizing Social Wealth in the Digital Age: A Mixed Methods Approach , Kristina Oliva

The Road to the White House: A Correlational Analysis of Twitter Sentiment and National Polls in the 2016 Election Cycle , Melissa G. Pelletier

Using Green Messages to Cue Recycling Tendencies , Danielle Quichocho

Traversing Privacy Issues on Social Networking Sites Among Kuwaiti Females , Shahad Shihab

Chinese National Identity and Media Framing , Yufeng Tian

Smog Pollution in China: News Framing and Issue-Attention Cycle per the , Yingying Zhang

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Corporate Social Responsibility Communication: Beliefs in Motives, First- and Third-Person Effects and Behavioral Consequences , Nianyuan Cheng

Crimean Referendum: Annexation VS Reunification. Framing Analysis of Online News Coverage in Russia and the U.S. , Anna Dedova

Investigating the Determinants of Recycling Behavior in Youth by Using Theory of Planned Behavior. , Tejaswini Gadiraju

Media Perceptions on Sexual Assault on College Campuses , Maggie M. Hall

The Impact of Emojis and Emoticons on Online Consumer Reviews, Perceived Company Response Quality, Brand Relationship, and Purchase Intent. , Jayme Hill Hill

Media Multitasking and Memory: The Role of Message Modalities , Le Nguyen

Cultivating Philanthropy in Community Colleges: A Dual-Model Approach , Rachel Faith Pleasant

Avatar Self-Identification, Self-Esteem, and Perceived Social Capital in the Real World: A Study of World of Warcraft Players and their Avatars , Melissa Watts

The Effects of Mission Statement Design on Behavioral Intention , Jonathan David West

Impact of a Brand Crisis on Nation Branding: An Analysis of Tweets about VW’s Emissions Crisis , Kara Julie Whytas

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Responding to a Rumor: How Crisis Response Strategies Influence Relationship Outcomes , Bo Breuklander

Crisis Communication and Celebrity Scandal: An Experiment on Response Strategies , Leah Champion

Speaking Their Language: Textisms in Today's Communication , Adam Lloyd Drum

Direct-to-Consumer Messaging: A Phenomenological Examination of DTC Best Practices , Nicholas Dominick Fancera

Examining Endorsement and Viewership Effects on the Source Credibility of YouTubers , Stephanie Fred

The Cultivation of Eating Disorders through Instagram , Kendall O'Brien

Online Game Advertising and Chinese College Students: Attitudes, First- and Third-Person Effects , Yan Tang

On the Convergence of Cinema and Theme Parks: Developing a Predictable Model for Creative Design , Ryan Luke Terry

I Threw My Pie for You: Engagement and Loyalty on TV Show Facebook Pages , Tracy M. Wisneski

First- and Third-Person Effects of Alcohol Advertising on Chinese College Students , Dong Xue

Framing Occupy Central: A Content Analysis of Hong Kong, American and British Newspaper Coverage , Mengjiao Yu

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Climate Change, Situational Theory of Problem Solving, and Issue Framing Effects , Michael Eddie Burch

British Cultural Narrative in Winston Churchill's Political Communication , Andres L. Faza

Communication Behavior Study of Support in the Arts Using the Situational Theory of Publics and the Theory of Reasoned Action , Ashleigh Gallant

A Comparison Study on Violent Video Games: Explained by the Gamers Themselves , Christopher John Kneifer

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58 Mass Communication Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best mass communication topic ideas & essay examples, 🔍 most interesting mass communication topics to write about, 🔎 simple & easy mass communication essay titles.

• Movies as a Medium of Mass Communication Over the decades of its development, the phenomenon of a movie has changed significantly, especially with the introduction of new genres and the discovery of new ways of conveying a particular idea visually.
• The History of Mass Communication: New Opportunities and Challenges for Society In the history of mass communication, it is possible to distinguish three main stages: ethic-legal paradoxes, techno-legal time-gap, and surveillance society, The new media is characterized by technological changes and changes in ideas and ideals […]
• India Movie Industry as a Medium of Mass Communication India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is therefore charged with the development and regulation of the broadcasting, print, film and other media on behalf of the state.
• Ethical Issues in Mass Communication and Advertising The following are some of the primary ethical issues that mass communication and advertising need to observe in modern society where media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion.
• Telegraph and Its Impacts in Mass Communication The invention of electricity was very instrumental as it led to the discovery of electric telegraphy by William and Charles in the 19th century.
• What is “Two-step Flow”? What Implications Does It Have for Our Understanding of Mass Communication? It should be known that there has been an implication of our understanding of mass communication as a result of this theory based on the fact that it has redefined our predictions on the influence […]
• Larry King: The Pioneer of Mass Communication The ‘Numbers Guy,’ as he was referred to by callers while hosting the Larry King Show, makes one of the greatest broadcasters in media history despite not having taken a course in mass communication. Larry […]
• Social Media as a Component of Mass Communication The reasons for such a claim are justified and refer to different opportunities that social media and the Internet give their users. During that time, social media helped me to stay aware of the current […]
• E-Media Fast: Mass Communication Theory The level of my media usage had risen to a point that I could not spend a day without the use of any of the media sources.
• Mass Communication Law and Ethics As the hotel employee did not clean up the water out of a fish tank that resulted in an accident, the hotel was to be responsible for that situation.
• The Study of Mass Communication and Popular Culture The contributions of the French sociologist emile Durkheim to the formation of sociology are rather sufficient, as the scientist has studied the ways in which societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in the present […]
• Global Mass Communication: Web Television The Web TV and IPTV are a powerful enabling force that enables the use of similar ideas in different corners of the world.
• Mass Communication Impact on Modern language Within the frames of another tradition, the impact of mass communication and mass culture on language and mass consciousness is analyzed in a different critical way.
• Mass Media Communication: Personal Analysis Finally, when I do the same in the kitchen in the morning, I am occupied with preparing and eating my breakfast; therefore, television serves as a background and I cannot be focused on the information […]
• Global Music: Mass Communication The era of globalization had a dramatic impact not only on the economic development of the countries but also implied cultural exchange while distributing national music around the world.
• Mass Communication and Public Policy One example of the websites that help to exchange ideas but negatively is the In the real sense, there several public interests in conflict when the information about the funding of a politician is disclosed […]
• The Implication of Chaffee and Metzger’s Article “The End of Mass Communication” With the development of computer-based communication technologies, the university should focus on this issue in determining the impact of technological changes on mass communication and the need to change the courses offered at the Lindenwood […]
• Americans: Global Awareness and Mass Communication
• How Technology and Convergence Has Changed the Face of Mass Communication
• Basic Ideas and Theories of Mass Communication
• Bringing Cultural Change Through Mass Communication
• Criteria for Professional Journalism and Mass Communication Programs
• The Uses and Impacts of Mass Communication
• Celebrity Phenomenon in an Era of Mass Communication
• Debating Mass Communication During the Rise and Fall of Broadcasting
• Demystifying Mass Communication Majors Into the Magazine Industry
• Digital History: Leading the Rise of Mass Communication
• How Mass Communication Approach Can Change Into Perspective
• Improving Physical Fitness Through Methods of Mass Communication
• Incorporating Mass Communication, Philosophy, and Sociology in the Education of an Athlete
• Internet Addiction Between Mass Communication and Nursing Students of Segi University
• Language and Mass Communication: Omnivore’s Dilemma
• Mass Communication and Its Effects on the Audience
• Linking Mass Communication and Academic Art
• The Relations Between Mass Communication and Culture
• Mass Communication Between People and Communities
• Relations Between Mass Communication and Social Policies
• The Parallels Between Mass Communication and Graphic Design
• Historical Analysis of Mass Communication During World War II
• The Link Between Mass Communication, Media, and Culture
• Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion Controlling America
• Relationship With Smartphones: Mass Communication
• Mass Communication Theory and Practice: An Overview
• Social Learning Theory: Are Children Being Corrupted by the Mass Communication Industry?
• Experience in Using Social Media for Mass Communication
• Sustainable Consumption and Mass Communication: A German Experiment
• The African Americans Throughout the History of Mass Communication
• The History and Evolution of Technology and Mass Communication
• Theories, Concepts, and Models in Mass Communication Theory Foundations and Future
• The Uses and Gratifications of Research of Mass Communication
• Understanding and Evaluating Mass Communication Theory
• The Role and Impact of Mass Communication on Sexuality in TV Programs
• Review of the Origin and Evolution of Mass Communication and Technology
• Mass Communication and Technological Advancement in “How Are Media Born”
• Synopsis of Dynamics of Mass Communication
• Corporate Communication Questions
• Nonverbal Communication Essay Titles
• Telecommunications Questions
• Media Bias Questions
• Television Ideas
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• 24 July 2024

Science must protect thinking time in a world of instant communication

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Digital devices are proliferating but don’t always have the positive effect on productivity researchers might hope. Credit: Getty

Video calls. Instant messaging. Voice calls. E-mails. Social media. Smartphones. Tablets. Laptops. Desktops. More digital devices equals less time to concentrate and to think. The negative effects of this on researchers are tackled by computer scientist Cal Newport in his latest book, Slow Productivity 1 .

The book’s title challenges the idea, common to many workplaces, that productivity must always increase. A study has shown that science is becoming less disruptive , even though there are now more papers being published and grants awarded than ever before 2 . Newport, who studies technology in the workplace at Georgetown University in Washington DC, says that researchers and other knowledge workers need to slow down and spend more time thinking, to focus on maintaining and improving quality in their work.

Newport does the research community a service by shining a spotlight on an overburdened workforce. Institutions should already be accessing the expertise that exists within their walls in the search for answers, but are not doing so. Newer communications technologies have enormous benefits, including speeding up research, as was necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic. But they are also squeezing out thinking time. Newport’s book reminds us that there are researchers who will know how to help.

Stop, drop and think

Thinking time — the time needed to concentrate without interruptions has always been central to scholarly work. It is essential to designing experiments, compiling data, assessing results, reviewing literature and, of course, writing. Yet, thinking time is often undervalued; it is rarely, if ever, quantified in employment practices.

Is science really getting less disruptive — and does it matter if it is?

One way to think about the practice of juggling research with e-mail and instant messaging is to visualize someone working next to a physical letterbox. Imagine opening and reading every letter as soon as it arrives, and starting to compose a reply, even as more letters drop through the box — all the while trying to do your main job. Researchers say that their to-do lists tend to lengthen, in part because colleagues can contact them instantly, often for good reasons. Researchers also often have to choose what to prioritize, which can cause them to feel overwhelmed.

Newport gives suggestions on reclaiming thinking time, include limiting the number of items on to-do lists and project teams setting aside time to complete tasks that require all members, thus avoiding individual members sending e-mails to each other. For institutions, Newport recommends a transparent workload management system — a way for managers to see everything that a colleague is expected to do — and then to adjust the workload if there are more tasks than there is available time.

Undoubtedly good advice, this might be easier to implement in industrial settings than in academic ones. In many academic research laboratories, researchers report to a single principal investigator, with little management structure. This is partly because it is hard to justify to academic funders the budget for paying for management and administration roles.

Is science’s dominant funding model broken?

But Felicity Mellor, a science-communication researcher at Imperial College London, is sceptical about giving managers a role in thinking time. In many cases, researchers are already feeling the weight of their institution’s monitoring and evaluation systems. Mellor argues that including yet another box in an evaluation form might not go down well. She also thinks that institutions will not accept this. “Can you imagine the response if a scientist filled out a time sheet where it says ‘eight hours spent thinking’?” Ultimately, she says, creating a more supportive research culture needs a much more fundamental change. That suggests an even more radical rethink of the current funding model for academic research, as we wrote last month (see Nature 630 , 793; 2024 ), along with changes to other aspects of academic science.

Quality check

Newport’s thesis raises a much more fundamental question: what is the impact of lost concentration time on science — not just on the structure and process of science, but also on the content and quality of research?

In 2014, Mellor co-led a research project, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, called The Silences of Science, published as a book two years later 3 . Researchers discussed this question, and others in a series of workshops, but the work did not continue after the grant expired. Such explorations need to be revived, but they also need to incorporate the impact of artificial-intelligence technologies. These tools are being implemented at pace around the world to automate many routine administrative tasks. Researchers need to evaluate whether such tools can free up more thinking time for researchers; or whether they could have the opposite effect.

Communications technologies are sure to evolve further and to continue distracting researchers from their work. More studies investigating the effect of these technologies on science are needed urgently, as are studies on how thinking time can be protected in a world of instant communication. This knowledge will help researchers and institutional leaders to make better decisions about the technologies’ deployment — and, hopefully, allow researchers to carve out that all-important space and time to think.

Nature 631 , 709 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02381-x

Newport, C. Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout (Portfolio, 2024).

Google Scholar  

Park. M et al. Nature 613 , 138–144 (2023).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Mellor, F. & Webster, S. The Silences of Science: Gaps and Pauses in the Communication of Science (Routledge, 2016).

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Merrill Ph.D. Students and Faculty to be Honored, Present Research at 2024 AEJMC National Conference

COLLEGE PARK — Nine Ph.D. students from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism had research accepted for presentation at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication ’s national conference, which will be held Aug. 8-11 in Philadelphia.

Additionally, Assistant Professor Christoph Mergerson and Ph.D. student Jodi McFarland Friedman will be honored at the conference. Mergerson won the Promising Professor Award from the AEJMC Mass Communication & Society Division. 

Friedman was named an AEJMC-Mass Communication & Society Division Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellow, and received a grant for attending the conference. 

“Merrill College is doing outstanding research on topics ranging from journalists reporting from the battlefield, to the history of American journalism, to digital tools for journalists,” said Dr. Sarah Oates , Merrill College's associate dean for research. “The AEJMC conference gives us the opportunity to showcase all the wonderful things happening at Merrill, including the insightful research being done in service of journalism, media and democracy.”

Razan Aljohani either wrote or co-authored three selections, while Mohamed Salama , Michael Sessa and Joey Mengyuan Chen each had two papers accepted.

Salama’s co-authored paper, “Shattered Lives, Unbroken Stories: Journalists' Perspectives from the Frontlines of War,” took first place in the International Communication Division’s Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition.

His paper, “Law Enforcement and Lynching in the Press: America's Narrative from 1835 to 1950,” was selected to the Commission on Graduate Education’s Top Paper Refereed Research Paper Section.

Chen’s “Dancing with Shackles On: The Consulted New Woman in the Exchange of Letters in Linglong Magazine” won the Warren Price Student Paper competition award.

Merrill College’s presence at the premier journalism research event is boosted by four faculty members sharing their expertise on conference panels.

Associate Professor Rob Wells and Assistant Professor Naeemul Hassan will be panelists on the pre-conference workshop, “Using the Tools of Digital Humanities in Journalism History and Media Research.”

Mergerson will be a member of the panel, “My First Year as a Full-Time Faculty Member: Experiences and Lessons from the First-Year On the Job.” 

Associate Dean Linda Steiner will serve as a panelist on a research session from the Commission on the Status of Women/Media Ethics Division, “Lessons Learned: Creating a Guide to Best Practices for Ethical Collaborations.”

COMPLETE LIST OF PAPERS TO BE PRESENTED BY MERRILL PH.D. STUDENTS:

Razan Aljohani, “The Contribution of Saudi Female Journalists in Newspapers: Before and After Saudi Vision 2030”

Razan Aljohani, “Unveiling the Neglected: Exploring Media Depictions of Sudanese Women Amid Crisis”

Joey Mengyuan Chen, “Dancing with Shackles On: The Consulted New Woman in the Exchange of Letters in Linglong Magazine”

Joey Mengyuan Chen, “Sowing Roses in Concrete: The Resistance and Resilience of Chinese Young Feminist Social Media Practitioners” (co-authored)

Sally Farhat, “The 2005 Assassinations of Lebanese Journalists”

Diana Krovvidi, “How Ethnic Press in the US Urged the Diaspora to Preserve the Ukrainian Language (1893-1914)”

Jodi McFarland Friedman, “Truth Hurts: Lizzo, Fat-Feminism, and the Power of Gaze”

Mohamed Salama, “Shattered Lives, Unbroken Stories: Journalists' Perspectives from the Frontlines of War” (co-authored)

Mohamed Salama, “Law Enforcement and Lynching in the Press: America's Narrative from 1835 to 1950”

Michael Sessa, Razan Aljohani and Kemi Busari, “Anniversary Journalism in Action: Comparative Analysis of Russo-Ukrainian War Coverage Across Global Newspapers” (co-authored)

Michael Sessa, “Ordinary Transgender Representation in Criticized New York Times Reporting”

Gea Ujčić, “This_is_Scandalous: A Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis of an Online Anti-harassment Campaign in Croatia”

For more information, contact: Josh Land [email protected] 301-405-1321

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178 Communication Research Topics For Your Paper

Imagine what the world would be without communication! How would we get along? I guess there would be no sense in existing after all. That is just a tiny snippet of how important communication is in everyday life. Exchanging information is a key component of coexistence as it creates order and a sense of satisfaction in the end.

However, communication as a discipline cuts across all other niches in the academic world. Students from an Engineering course would also take up communication as a unit of study. Students delve into the transmission, representation, reception, and decoding of information communicated to a greater extent.

Situations When You May Need To Write A Communication Paper

Various scenarios call for a communication paper either as an assignment or a research project in college. The communication papers needed for every situation vary in format and outline. Here are some of the cases when communication papers are necessary:

When writing a resume or cover letter In presentations and reports Internal or external communication in a company Writing a thesis statement

When writing communication papers in these different scenarios, students can develop the following aspects:

Understand the various communication phenomena Ability to direct communication messages towards accomplishing individual and organizational goals Understand various types of communication such as rhetoric, interpersonal or organizational

Such an assignment is peculiar because it deals with students’ communication processes. Therefore, the student can easily relate a communication assignment to the real-world environment.

You will have to conduct extensive digging before writing your paper like any other research project. In writing a communication research paper, you will benefit from the importance of communication in general, such as building better relationships and finding the right solutions to various problems.

It takes a lot of time to create a high-quality writing, so you have all the right to ask dissertation writers for hire to help.

Guidelines On Structure And Step By Step Tips On Writing

To have an award-winning communication paper, you need to understand that structure is always at the heart of it all. A great communication paper follows the structure below:

Solid intro : Begin by presenting a captivating introduction by highlighting the facts, questions, or problems that you will explore in the body. The reader should find more than a million reasons to proceed with your essay by reading the first two lines. A strong thesis statement is also necessary for the introduction. An insightful literature review : It shows the theoretical basis of your research project, thus giving it validity. An in-depth literature review will give room for exploration and further research. Main body : This is where we expect to find all your findings, methodological steps, concepts, analyses, and the outcome. Discussion and conclusion : Depending on your professor’s instructions, you can divide this into two parts or put it as one. In either case, this section will consist of the strengths and weaknesses of your research and any future development or improvements. You could also compare the results found in your research with what other authors have discovered.

Provided you have all your facts at hand, a communication research paper will be the easiest you will ever handle in college. Nonetheless, you can order a custom paper from various online writing experts.

If you want to make an impression with your communication research paper, here are some tips to consider:

Select a thought-provoking and captivating research topic Have a working outline with all the arguments and examples/evidence in place Ensure that you exhaust reading all the possible research materials on your topic Such papers are always in the first person except in unique cases

You can review some of the samples on our essay writer to familiarize yourself with the structure and outline of a communication research paper.

Let’s now explore 178 of the hottest communication research topics to ace your project:

Top Interpersonal Communication Research Topics

• Evaluate the different relational patterns of interaction theory
• How to achieve coordinated management of meaning
• Discuss the fundamentals of pedagogical communication
• How does technology relate to interpersonal communication?
• Key constructs of openness and closeness
• Establishing identities in the identity management theory
• Evaluate the contribution of interpersonal communication scholars
• How mental representations influence how people interpret information
• Conceptualizing the process of social interaction
• Discuss the various behavioral interaction patterns among siblings
• Why do individuals modify their communicative behavior?
• Describe why new environments present a challenge for most people to communicate effectively
• The role of eye contact and gestures in interpersonal communication
• Varying effects of nonverbal and verbal acts of interpersonal communication
• Effects of different cultures on interpersonal communication strategies

World-Class Communication Research Topics For College Students

• Understanding the historical research methods in communication
• Discuss the relationship between technology, media, and culture
• Evaluate the various revolutions in human communication
• Discuss the developments made in the invention of human speech and language
• The role of image-making, cinema, and media entertainment in communication
• How to overcome communication barriers among students
• Steps in encouraging participation in meetings
• How employees contribute to the information flow in organizations
• How to evaluate a report based on its findings
• Sources of error during nonverbal communication
• How the media can match the channels of communication to their audience
• Ensuring audience attention during a presentation
• The impact of graphics in communication strategies
• How to interpret non-verbal signals
• Developing communication methods that match a given purpose

Possible Topics For Communication Research

• How to develop realistic communication strategies
• Discuss the economics of finance in communication processes
• How exposure to radio and TV impacts communication
• How to manage controversial issues in communication
• Why speaking with confidence is still difficult for many people
• The effectiveness of communicating with words and body language
• Why defining your purpose is key in any communication process
• Why explanatory communication is more difficult than informative communication
• The place of communication in long-distance relationships
• Communication strategies that influence people
• How to use communication effectively for conflict resolution
• Developing your self-esteem for effective communication
• Effects of redundancy in communication processes
• The place of responsibility in developing communication messages
• How to acquire effective communication skills in college

Latest Communication Topic For Research

• The role of persuasive dialogue in negotiations
• Why everyone must learn proper expression strategies
• Effects of emoji and other characters in enhancing textual conversations
• The role of propaganda in shaping communication tones
• Evaluate the unique political language used in America versus Africa
• The continuing impact of the internet on interpersonal communication
• How images are enhancing communication
• Discuss the effects of gender victimization on communication
• Evaluate the development of modern digital communication
• How to effectively communicate during a war or crisis
• How hacking is transforming communication of encrypted messages
• Effects of stereotyping in developing communication messages
• Is virtual reality ruining effective communication?
• Evaluate language as a barrier in communicating messages
• The role of empathy in communicating to victims of a disaster

Top-Notch Communication Research Paper Topics

• The role of diplomacy in fostering better relations among countries
• Why aided communication may not achieve the intended purpose
• Effects of using a translator in the communication of critical messages
• Evaluate the development of audio-visual devices for communication
• The dangers of failing to notice barriers to communication
• How stigma and prejudice impact effective communication
• Discuss the impact of having a common language in a country
• How social classes affect communication messages
• Factors that hinder communication between fighting political sides
• How to develop strong communication skills in a marketplace
• Why opinions may prevent one from seeing the true picture
• Discuss the role of fantasy and exaggeration in communication
• Differences between oral and verbal messages in conveying information
• The role of attitude and mood in enhancing effective message delivery
• How the media sets the communication pattern of a given society

Highly Rated Mass Communication Research Topics

• Discuss the essence of social media among PR practitioners
• The role of mass media in rebranding a nation
• Challenges to media freedom and their impact on proper communication
• Discuss the effects of news commercialization and their credibility
• How TV advertisements impact children and their development
• Compare and contrast between animation and real-people adverts in mass media
• How the internet affects professionalization in news media
• How mass media messages contribute to the development of religion in Africa
• Evaluate the radio listenership patterns between men and women
• How does mass media contribute to an emerging democracy
• Discuss how the media enlightens the public on issues of concern
• The role of mass media in communicating development messages
• Why mass media is critical before, during, and after elections
• Assess the influence of community radio in remote areas
• How mass media contributes to national integration

Good Communication Research Topics

• What determines consumer preference patterns in the 21 st century?
• Effective communication strategies for creating awareness against drug abuse
• Prospects and challenges of local dialects in communication
• Evaluate the influence of television on public opinion
• Discuss the growing cyberactivism in the digital age
• How social media is contributing to misleading information
• Challenges facing teachers when communicating to pre-school students
• Discuss the impact of information overload on the credibility of information
• Evaluate communication patterns among the youth in the US
• Assess the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on communication patterns
• How public perception influences communication strategies
• Explain how mothers learn to communicate with and understand their babies at such a tender age
• The role of music in shaping communication models
• How to overcome the challenge of top-down communication in companies
• Management of information on online media for effective use

Business Communication Research Paper Topics

• Discuss the increasing role of influencers on brand marketing
• Why company blogs are essential in attracting new clients
• Evaluate the differences between face to face and virtual business meetings
• The growing popularity of social media in business marketing
• Why every company should have a partner relations department
• Dealing with complaints in a relaxed and useful manner
• Why online project management is the future of business
• Discuss why it is necessary to have company retreats
• Explore the role of digital document sharing in speeding up business communication
• Effects of relying on online communication at the expense of physical meetings
• The role of effective business management in the performance of an organization
• How staff motivation improve the overall working environment
• Discuss the place of corporate social responsibility in a company
• Effective ways of handling crisis in a large company
• Explain why trust is important in any business partnerships

Intercultural Communication Research Topics

• Discuss how Muslims interact with Christians at a social level
• Evaluate the reception of instructions from a man to a woman
• How Americans interact with Africans at the basic level
• Discuss how an American Democrat would associate with a Chinese politician
• Discuss the impact of marginalization in developing communication messages
• How migration and immigration affect communication patterns
• Effects of social stereotyping in communication
• How do Western communication models differ from those of Africa?
• Impact of discriminatory communication messages
• How to organize an effective intergroup come-together
• How the media represents various groups in its communication
• Effects of the growing intercultural norms
• The role of language attitudes in inhibiting effective communication
• Evaluate how ethnographic perspectives affect communication messages
• Why it is difficult to solve intercultural conflicts

Additional Interpersonal Communication Topics For Research Paper

• The role of interpersonal communication in team member satisfaction
• How collaboration and teamwork enhances business success
• Discuss how interpersonal communication enhances problem-solving skills
• The role of trust in interpersonal communication
• Effects of confusion, negativity, and conflicts on interpersonal communication
• How to deal with workplace miscommunication effectively
• The role of personalizing information
• How to improve internal communication channels in a company
• Discuss the role of interests in communication patterns
• Challenges when implementing modern communication solutions
• Evaluate how jargon and inattention make internal communication difficult
• The role of feedback in interpreting messages correctly
• Discuss the influence of environmental factors in communication
• Why miscommunication may result in a disconnect among a group of people
• Discuss the role of skills and knowledge in effective communication among leaders

Interesting Communication Research Topics

• How can effective interpersonal communication be a catalyst for action
• Why a focused and intentional approach is necessary for effective communication
• Discuss why online dating is not successful in most cases
• Evaluate the role of non-verbal communication and customer satisfaction
• Why is it important to have a list of communication networks?
• Effects of lack of personal contact when it comes to communication
• Discuss the various forms of human interactions and their influence on communication
• The role of clear communication during an organizational change process
• Why online communication is not as effective as physical meetings
• Evaluate the roles and issues involved in a nurse-patient communication
• The role of TV shows in determining how people relate to each other in the society
• Effects of the digital divide in communication paradigms
• The relationship between quality leadership and effective communication
• Why is email still not yet an effective communication medium?
• Effects of integrating marketing communication

General Communication Studies Research Topics

• Discuss the differences in body language between male and female
• The role of communication in familiarizing with someone
• How online gaming communication affects one’s interpersonal communication
• Why a leader without proper communication skills may not succeed
• The role of communication in achieving an organization’s vision
• How mobile phone conversations are turning around interpersonal communication
• Discuss the role of different personality types in communication
• Is there a difference between language and communication?
• Discuss how communication in the military is different from that in a normal setting
• Compare and contrast between written and spoken forms of communication
• Why family communication is critical for a peaceful coexistence
• Shortcomings to understanding foreign languages
• Discuss the effectiveness of web-based communication

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Global Strategic Communication Consortium announces Berger Research award recipients

The Global Strategic Communication Consortium named Ruth Avidar, Ph.D., senior lecturer, Yezreel Valley College, Israel, and  Itzhak Mashiah, Ph.D. visiting scholar, University of Mississippi, recipients of the inaugural Berger Research Award . They were competitively selected for their proposed research titled, "Strategic Approaches of AI Technology by PR Leadership: Exploring Ethical Artificial Intelligence Usage in Public Relations."

Avidar will present a lecture on the research at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications on August 28, 2024.

Avidar and Mashiah’s research argues that the field of AI in PR is ripe for a study that systematically explores how PR firms can uphold ethical standards amidst technological disruption. It seeks to bridge the theoretical gap by proposing strategies to ensure that AI is used in ways that align with the foundational principles of PR professionalism.

Shannon A. Bowen , founder and executive director of GSCC, said that although there are academic ethical AI standards there is a need to know what is happening in industry.

"This research examines what public relations agencies are using as standards for their AI provisions, the ethical examination of AI use, and how practitioners are trained on AI — topics we desperately need to study in our industry that has received little to no attention from researchers,” Bowen said.

The authors want to develop and refine strategic approaches that guarantee AI advancements and improve communication effectiveness while examining ethical standards. Their research will provide practical insights for industry to help PR professionals ethically utilize AI technologies, thereby contributing to the development of ethical practices in strategic communication.

About the Berger Award

The Berger Award is an annual $2,500 award donated by longtime public relations academician Bruce Berger, Ph.D. , professor emeritus and GSCC Executive Board Member, formerly with The Plank Center for Public Relations at the University of Alabama . The award focuses on data collection for PR research that analyzes the intersection of ethics and futurism in global strategic communication. It is given to researchers focusing on ethical considerations in strategic communication, future trends and challenges, innovative approaches to moral decision-making, implications of emerging technologies on communication ethics, leadership through challenges and crises, and responsible values management.

About the Researchers

Ruth Avidar

Avidar is a senior lecturer and the head of the marketing communication track in the Department of Communication at Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel. She is also a faculty member in the Department of Health Systems Management. Her research examines online public relations, social media, customer and patient experience, and new technologies in communication and healthcare. Her works appear in several books and international journals and she serves on editorial boards of international communication journals.

Itzhak Mashiah

Mashiah is a visiting scholar in the Integrated Marketing Communication Department at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. His research interests include marketing communication, brand management, strategic rhetoric, tech storytelling, innovation discourse and policy. Both scholars represent the GSCC at institutions in Israel, and will present their award-winning research at a specially-themed Berger Award session of the GSCC Conclave in Sardinia, Italy, in May 2025.

About the Global Strategic Communication Consortium

Based at the University of South Carolina, the GSCC aims to advance strategic communication by focusing research on ethics, future challenges, AI and technological innovations, crises and challenges in the public relations field. Its membership is comprised of leading scholars from six continents.

For more information on the GSCC and the Berger Award, contact:

Shannon A. Bowen, Ph.D., Exec. Director [email protected] 803-777-3764 (O) 803-777-4103 (F) X: @GlobalStratComm

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Learning Outcomes for M.A. in Communication

Program Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss the Communication discipline, its organization, and subfields using research vocabulary and language related to inquiry and writing in the field.
• Formulate research questions about communication phenomena/topics and locate information to answer the question(s) formulated.
• Identify and explain some of the similarities and differences between various research methodologies and paradigms in Communication research.
• Design, implement, and report on an original research project reflecting the conventions of the communication field.
• Exhibit the critical thinking, information literacy, and research skills necessary to adapt and succeed in research project development, question formation, interpretation and summarizing of findings.
• Understand the implications of using new media as part of an organization's communication strategy
• Evaluate and apply the appropriate channel and communication medium for specific situations
• Produce and present communication phenomenon and research projects in written and oral formal presentation modes.
• Create and present effective digital visual aids to support oral and written reports and presentations in various contexts.
• Analyze, evaluate, and apply communication theories, contexts, phenomena, and practices to various project-related situations in- and out of- class in interpersonal, organizational, and professional contexts.
• Recognize the challenges organizations, leaders, and employees face as adoption of new media and social media tools becomes reality.
• Consider how communication knowledge pertains to issues and challenges outside of academia
• Formulate a career plan and identify communication artifacts produced in the program to illustrate skills suitable for obtaining a position in the communication profession or the pursuit of an advanced degree in the discipline or related field.