Many years ago
in India, people gathered around the radio to hear an important news
announcement or listen to the leader of the nation speak. People also got
together at small tea stalls to discuss the day's newspaper. Fast forward to
about five decades, the internet and telecommunications industry have
transformed the way news, information and entertainment get delivered to people
across the country.
Mass
communication is the act of making information available to the public. Mass
media refers to the various media or methods through which this becomes
possible. The list broadly includes radio, newspapers, television and digital
media.
The radio made
it possible for the masses to stay informed about current developments and
important announcements along with access to entertainment. The first radio
broadcast took place in 1923 from the Radio Club of Bombay. In 1936, the India
State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio (AIR). When India became
independent, there were six radio stations in India: Delhi, Bombay (now Mumbai),
Calcutta (now Kolkata), Madras (now Chennai), Tiruchirappalli (also known as
Trichy) and Lucknow. The radio still exists in India, covering nearly 92% of
the country's total area. AIR is India's broadcasting giant, which broadcasts
in 23 languages and 146 dialects.
The advent of
the printing press made it possible to print newspapers on a large scale,
paving the way for multiple newspapers and magazines that served a similar
purpose to the radio.
Then came along
television in the early 1960s, but it took almost two decades for television to
become widely accessible across the country. The entry of television changed
the lifestyle of people, with the introduction of Doordarshan and a few other
private channels. It made it possible to deliver news in video format in
regional languages as well as English and Hindi.
However, all
this while, news could not be accessed on demand. It could be accessed only
when a radio station aired it or when a newspaper was delivered or when a
television channel broadcasted it. Fast forward to today, news is available to
access on demand through multiple channels.
Internet and
Its Impact on Mass Communication:
The economic
reforms of the 1990s benefitted the telecommunications and information
technology sector. While it led to a rise in the sale of computers in general,
it also led to a steady increase in the number of internet users. At present,
there are approximately 692 million active internet users in India. It is
estimated that by 2025, this number will reach 900 million.
Digitised,
Interactive and Easily Accessible Content:
The advent of
the internet has made it possible to access all sorts of news on demand. Not
just that, online news is free and more diverse than other media. According
to a recent survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 53% of
Indian audiences use YouTube and 51% use WhatsApp for news.
Social media
apps further facilitate information sharing.
Short News Apps:
There are news
apps that help deliver important news in short. These are said to be more
reliable than the information available on social media apps.
Impact of
Digital Media:
Radio has been
far ahead in adapting to changing trends. Radio stations have been reinventing
themselves to cater to niche audiences, offering a variety of content. As of
2018, broadcast radio reached 99% of the Indian population. Rural India
especially continues to rely on the radio since it is the most inexpensive and
portable medium.
However, English
newspapers in particular seem to be lagging behind. According to KPMG's 2019
Media and Entertainment Report, the circulation revenues of newspaper companies
were expected to fall for the first time in years. These trends have led to
several newspapers providing online editions as well. The pandemic has only
accentuated this trend. However, it is said that regional language newspapers
haven't lost their sheen yet.
With respect to
television, the traditional newsrooms delivering 'breaking news' do not have
the same appeal as before. News bulletins can now be accessed at any time on
mobile devices, thus eliminating the monopoly of television in delivering news
in video format.
On the
flipside, while information is a lot more accessible and easier to find these
days, the danger of false information being disseminated has also become fairly
prevalent.
