Mass communication research

Mass communication is communication via mass media. It is communication to large groups rather than to small groups of people. Among the defining characteristics are:

- The recipients are anonymous (unknown) for the producers.
- It is dominantly one-way communication and the receivers have very limited possibilities

  for providing feedback. 
- The sender has great power and possibility of influencing the audience.

Important kinds of mass media are: Film, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, video and weeklies.

Research in mass communication is a subfield within communication studies with its own journals, educational programs, organizations etc. Like communication studies in general it must be regarded as a field related to, but different from Library and Information Science (LIS). Research in mass communication is carried out by various disciplines such as sociology, literature studies, psychology and has been influenced by various epistemologies, which are broadly known in the social sciences and also have their parallels in LIS (such as, for example, cognitive, critical and sociocultural approaches).  The relation between Mass communication and LIS may, for example, be studied bibliometrically (cf., Borgman & Rice, 1992).

Literature:

Borgman, C. L. & Rice, R. E. (1992). The Convergence of Information Science and Communication: A Bibliometric Analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 43(6), 397-411.

Chaffee, S. (2001). Mass Communication: Empirical Research.  IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (Pp. 9321-9328).

Dahlgren, P. (2001). Mass Media: Introduction and Schools of Thought  IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (Pp. 9350-9358).

Entman, R. M. (2001). Mass Media, Representations in. IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (Pp. 9363-9368).

Hjarvard, S. (1995). Nyhedsmediernes rolle i det politiske demokrati. Rapport udarbejdet for Statsministeriets Medieudvalg. København: Statsministeriet, medieudvalget.

Murdock, G. (2001). Mass Media, Political Economy of. IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (Pp. 9358-9363).
 

Peters, J. D. (2001). Mass Communication: Normative Frameworks. IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (Pp. 9328-9334).

Schlesinger, P. (2001). Mass Media and Cultural Identity. IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (Pp. 9341-9346).

Winston, B. (2001). Mass Communication: Technology. IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (Pp. 9334-9338).

See also: Information science, related fields

Birger Hjørland

Last edited: 22-05-2006

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To be edited:

Massemedieforskning interesserer sig bl.a. for massemediernes påvirknings­mulig­heder og ikke mindst deres rolle i det politiske demokrati. Masse­medierne kan også tjene faglig formidling, herunder oplysnings- og ud­dan­nelsesformål. Massemedieforskningen danner her en vis modsætning til den infor­mationsfaglige forskning i faglig formidling, der tager udgangspunkt i "discourse communities", d.v.s. i mindre grupper karak­te­ri­seret ved en høj grad as synkroniseret viden. Massemedieforskning er således et grænseområde til informationsvidenskaben. Massemedie­forskningen tyngde eller hovedinteresse adskiller sig fra informations­videnskaben, fordi sidst­nævnte tager udgangspunkt i "desired information" og i brugerens mulighed for at identificere information, der er relevant for en bestemt problemløsning, d.v.s hovedinteressen for sidstnævnte er ordning og søgning af dokumenter.

Subcategories of research in mass communication are, for example, advertising research, press research with journalism, and research in visual communication.