The Influence and Significance of Media

Running head: MASS MEDIA: A STUDY
MASS MEDIA: A STUDY
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1MASS MEDIA: A STUDY
The respective paper is an essay that implies to critically analyze the influence and
significance of media and its approaches in the global and local society. The essay summarizes to
identify the key concepts that are present in the socio- historical perspective of media studies.
The essay tries to understand, argue and justify the relationship between science, technology and
culture. The essay also tries to find out the similarities and differences between broadcasting and
participatory culture of mass media.
Mass media is a revolutionary movement that happened all over the world that
completely changed the outlook of the global and local society. Media has been a bridge between
the common man and the authority or government. Media, in generic terms, can be defined as
communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver information or data (Winston 2002).
The term “media” relates to the modern applications related to communication channels which
are utilized in order to inform the mass about different information and data regarding various
subjects, disciplines and branches.
In the age of global and international media, participatory culture is considered to be
driven by the “participants” or the personal individuals who take active as well as indirect part in
the media. Social media, which is in vogue in today’s generation, is highly participatory, which
means that social media and its contents are specifically dominated by the particular participant
who provides it in the digital or internet portal. Recent advances in internet services and
technologies have provided a separate space to create and publish such personal and individual
media, usually through the internet. Technologies, nowadays, have provided the people with a
new form of communication, expression and engagement in the arena of public discourse.
Culture and cultural movements would develop technologies based on the needs and preferences
of the masses as the creative influences lie on them. Subsequently, technology would also give

2MASS MEDIA: A STUDY
birth to counter culture or sub culture which would have new and modern characteristics
influenced by technological advancement in the society (Murphie and Potts 2017). People have
started writing and journaling every single happenings and possibilities of their life through such
participatory media, which has provided a completely different paradigm shift to the society. A
new set of ideas, thoughts and expressions have emerged across the globe where people have
become more “participatory” and have upheld the ideals of “individualism” and “public
opinion”. Freethinking, free thought, self reliance and free speech are propagated and practiced
through the help of participatory culture all over the world. The global politics and geopolitics
have been shaped by the differences and similarities of opinions of the general public which has
been largely influenced by the participatory type of media fueled by the different media portals
such as social media, digital media, blogs, micro blogs and websites. As there is an increased
access to internet surpassing different margins and spheres of society, the type and characteristics
of media and information depiction has also changed. There is a massive shift of media from
broadcasting culture to participatory culture. Earlier, the broadcasting culture of media had only
focused on a one sided news and information presentation. In more generic terms, broadcasting
is the distribution of audio and video content (sometimes, written) to a dispersed audience with
the help of electronic mass communication medium and the phenomenon is loosely based on the
“one- to- many” model (Winston 2002). One- to- many model can be defined as the mechanism
of transferring and transmitting data/ information and communication where one sender
communicates with many receivers. Such communication model is highly “one sided” and often
manipulated and exploited for negative means such as spreading hoaxes and misinformation to
instill hatred or chaos. However, participatory form of media has challenged the traditional “one-
to-many” communication model of traditional media by providing a sovereign authority to the