Communication and The Mass Media

  COMMUNICATION has been defined as ‘the passing of ideas, information, and attitudes from person to person’. Some of the technological inventions which brought about a revolution in communications, such as the telegraph, the telephone, the gramophone, the wireless, the television, the transistor, the computer, and the use of satellites, have been mentioned in Chapter 7. All these developments have taken place during a period which has seen vast economic and political changes the world over. Along with the mass production of goods and the participation by the people in the political life of their countries, or as is sometimes called mass democracy, there have developed mass media. These mass media or means of mass communication include the newspaper, the cinema, the radio, and the television. Of these, the newspaper is the oldest media, having come into being in some countries not long after the invention of printing. All the other media are new and are products of modern technology. The newspaper in the twentieth century has also developed as a result of technological developments, both in terms of news or information gathering and transmission as well as printing.
   The new communications and mass media have had a deep impact on the social and cultural life of the people in every part of the world. They have created new industries, new occupations, new art forms, and new ways of influencing, and even controlling, people. The mass audience-or the recipients of information-that they created is an entirely new phenomenon in human history. The mass media also created new forms of mass entertainment. More people now have leisure because of reduction in the hours of work and the forms of entertainment have come to have a mass character.
   These developments have brought the world closer in terms of ideas, information, and attitude as the developments in transport brought the World closer by carrying people and goods from one place to another. The mass media have also created problems for which solutions have to be found.

Newspapers

  The newspaper, as has been mentioned earlier, is the earliest of the mass media to emerge. With the spread of literacy within each country, the demand for newspapers grew and there was a tremendous increase in the number of newspapers and the number of copies printed the world over. Reading the newspaper became an essential part of an educated person’s morning routine. According to a recent report, there are Over 8000 daily newspapers today with a circulation of about 500 million copies. Countries that have a large illiterate population have very low circulation of newspapers. However, even in ‘these countries, it is common for people who are notable to read to listen to the news being read to them. Newspapers in India played a very important role in spreading national consciousness. Over 1600 daily newspapers are published in India; some of them are more than 100 years old.
   With the increased national and international coverage of news, national and international news agencies with vast technical and human resources have grown powerful. These agencies collect the news and make them available to newspapers through the electronic media. There are five major international news agencies United Press International (UPI), Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass. Except the last one, which is a Soviet news agency, the other four are all Western. In fact, these four control the bulk of the world’s news collection and dissemination. According to an estimate, almost 80 per cent of all information disseminated in the non-socialist countries originates in these four agencies. The concentration of news collection and dissemination has been a source of major concern during the past three decades.
   Those who started the newspapers wanted to use them to mould the public opinion as well as satisfy the intellectual curiosity of the readers. However, gradually, the newspapers became an industry and the proprietors or the companies owning the newspapers became primarily interested in making profits. In fact some newspapers were started by industrial houses. With the increase in readership, the newspaper became the major media of advertisement so much so that in many cases between 30 and 40 per cent of all space is devoted to advertisements. The profits of the newspapers now came not from the number of copies sold but from the advertisers. In this situation, newspapers' policies also came increasingly under the influence of advertisers. There has also been a tendency throughout this century for the concentration of ownership and control of newspapers, with a few companies owning and controlling many newspapers. Many newspapers ceased publication, even when they had a large readership, for want of advertisements.
   While the newspaper continues to be the main information media and the freedom of this medium remains a major feature of all democratic systems, the developments mentioned above are seen as distorting the purposes of this medium as well as a threat to its freedom. The main source of threat to the freedom of the press is seen to be not only the State but also these other developments. The State, of course, continues to manipulate the press, particularly when faced by internal and external crises and threats. Many instances have come to light during the recent years when newspapers claiming to be independent had disseminated stones planted by the intelligence agencies of the State. In the countries ruled by communist parties, the newspaper media was generally under the total control of the State or the party. In the Soviet Union, this control has begun to end only recently.

Radio and Television

  A revolutionary development in communication took place with the introduction of regular radio broadcasting in the 1920s. Television services were introduced on a small scale in the 1930s but it was only after the Second World War that the television became an influential mass media and, in a sense, the most powerful one. With the invention of the transistor, the radio was no longer confined to the drawing room of the home. It could be carried in the pocket and did not need to be connected to the domestic electric line. Soon the number of radios outstripped the number of the copies of the daily newspapers. With further revolutionary developments in communication technology, “any event or human effort of global and even cosmic significance can be witnessed simultaneously by people all over the world”. It has become possible for virtually billions of people to watch sitting at home cultural and sports events, the proceedings of conferences, the scenes of civic disorder and uprisings and police and military operations, and even assassinations of political leaders According to an estimate of mid-1980s, there were over one billion radio receivers and 500 million television sets in the world.
   The State control over these two media has been greater than that over the newspaper though in many countries, the radio and television transmission is in private hands. In most cases, these media are under the control of the advertisers who are their main source of income. The exceptions to this are those transmission stations which are run as public services with State funds. In India, radio broadcasts first started in 1927. At that time, the two transmitters which started these broadcast, were privately owned. In 1930, however, they were taken over by the government and in 1936 the radio broadcasts were operated by the All India Radio. In 1957, the name was changed to Akashvani. The television service in India was started on an experimental basis in 1959 but it became a major mass medium only from the early 1970s. The Indian television service is called the Doordarshan and it began to transmit programmes on national network in 1982 through a number of relay centers. Most developing countries are dependent for their television programmes on the countries of the West as they do not have the resources and the technological infrastructures to produce their own programmes.
   The increasing domination of these two media, particularly the television, has given rise to new forms of mass art and entertainment. These include music, radio plays, TV serials, and sports. As most programmes are sponsored by advertisers, the timing, the type and the quality of programmes are greatly influenced by them. The domination by advertisers has tended to make these media as mainly business concerns and the programmes transmitted by them as business operations. For example, major world sports events telecast by sponsors through world-wide television net-work has tended to make these events as largely business operations.

Cinema

  The technology of taking and transmitting motion pictures was developed in the 1890s-and cinema (motion pictures) began to be a major form of mass entertainment from the second decade of this century. D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation made in the USA in 1915 is regarded as the first important full-length film. ‘Soon after, Hollywood in the USA became the most important centre of film production and dominated the world-wide market for about three decades. Until 1926, when sound was introduced, all motion pictures were silent. The first feature film in India was produced in 1912 and the first talkie (as films with sound were called) in 1931. Cinema, which started as a form of mass entertainment, however, gradually developed into a major art form. It has, in fact, been called the distinctive art form of the twentieth century. While it continued to be the most popular form of entertainment until television began to increasingly cut into cinema audiences, at number of sensitive directors, actors, composers, and many other categories of creative people helped to make cinema as much more than just entertainment. The life and joys and travails of the common man became the subject of many films. Such mms which were also popular with the audiences the world over helped in promoting sensitivity on social questions. Although the actors and actresses who played glamorous, and also sometimes, sensitive roles, became popular with the audiences as heroes and stars, the growth of cinema as an art form was really the work of the directors. After the Second World War, a number of directors made films which were sharply different from commercial cinema. Some of the most prominent directors in the history of cinema are Sergei Eisenstein, Charles Chaplin. Akira Kurosawa, Vittorio de Sica, Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, Bresson, Fellini, and Alfred Hitchcock.
   After the Second World War, Hollywood lost its dominant position in the world of cinema although it continued to dominate the film market in many parts of the world. Significant films were made in both Western and Eastern Europe, in Japan, India and Latin America. Presently the largest numbers of films are made in India.
   The developments in communication have made accessible to hundreds of millions of people great works of art. They have also made accessible to the common man, even the illiterate, news, ideas, and information of various kinds from different parts of the world. They have also opened up vast avenue for social, cultural, educational, and economic development as well as for building truly democratic societies. Many countries are using these media effectively for ending ignorance and promoting education and awareness of crucial social questions. However, these mass media have also opened up possibilities of manipulating ideas and attitudes of millions of people by those who control these media. The growth of what is sometimes called mass culture, in the sense of inferior culture, which these media have often been utilized to promote, is also an area of concern because of the gap it has created between mass culture and the culture of the elite. A question which has been persistently raised is “How to achieve popularization of the arts without their vulgarization, the diffusion of culture without its dilution and debasement, the utilization of new technical resources with discrimination and good taste?” The electronic media particularly have come under criticism for what is called the ‘high degree of passivity’ that they force upon the audience.
   In recent years, a new breakthrough has taken place with the introduction and increasing popularity of video. This has a vast potential for use in education. It has also opened up possibilities for the viewers to exercise their freedom of choice.

New Information Order

  As has been indicated before, the technological developments that have brought about a revolution in communication, have also created a situation in which a few economically developed countries exercise a position of domination and control over the mass media of all countries. The developing countries have been expressing their concern at this situation. They have been strongly protesting against the imposition on their countries the developed Western countries’ interpretations of world events. Much of the information that the developed countries’ media disseminate, is either irrelevant to their needs or is distorted. The cultural values that these media disseminate are also viewed as corrupting the cultures of the developing countries. They have been insisting that international exchanges of information should be truly equal and mutually beneficial. The domination exercised by the Western countries over mass media has been termed as ‘communication imperialism and the developing countries, through regional cooperation. Non-Aligned Movement, the United Nations and UNESCO have been striving to create a New International Information Order.
   The Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations and its specialized agencies, particularly UNESCO, have played a crucial role in promoting the New Information Order though the achievements in this regard so far have been limited. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression and that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. This principle of ‘free flow of information has been misinterpreted by the governments of many Western countries to mean that they have a right to impose their interpretations, ideas and values on others by virtue of their control over the technology of communication.
   In 1978, UNESCO adopted a Declaration on Fundamental Principles concerning the Contribution of the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding, to the Promotion of Human Rights and to Countering Racialism, Apartheid and Incitement to War. Article of the Declaration states -
   The strengthening of pace and International understanding, the promotion of human right and the countering of racialism, apartheid and incitement to war demand a free flow end a wider and better balanced dissemination of information. To this end, the mass media have a leading contribution to make. This contribution will be the more effective to the extent till the Information reflects the different aspects of the subject dealt with.

Article 2 of the Declaration reads -

(1) The exercise of freedom of opinion, expression and intonation, recognized as an integral part of human right and fundamental freedoms, it a vital factor in the strengthening of peace International understanding?
(2) Access by the public to information should be guaranteed by the diversity of the sources and means of information available to it, thus enabling each individual to check the accuracy of facts and to appraise events objectively. To this end journalists must have freedom to report and the fullest possible facilities of access to information. Similarly, it is important that the mast media be responsive to concerns of peoples and individuals, thus promoting the participation of the public in the elaboration of information.
(3) With a view to the strengthening of peace and international understanding, to promoting human rights and to countering racialism, apartheid and incitement to war, the mass media throughout the world, by reason of their role, contribute to promoting human rights, in particular, by giving expression to oppressed peoples who struggle against colonialism, neo-colonialism, foreign occupation and all forms of racial discrimination and oppression and who are unable to make their voices heard within their Own territories.
(4) If the mass media are to be in position to promote the principles of the Declaration in their activities, it is essential that Journalists and other agents of the mass media, in their own country or abroad, be assured of protection guaranteeing them the best conditions for the exercise of their profession.
   Subsequently, UNESCO set up an International Programme for Development of Communication (IPDC). The aim of this programme is to provide assistance to developing countries in the establishment and improvement of national information systems, to perfect the mass media infrastructure, and bridge the gap existing between different countries in this field.
   The importance which UNESCO gave to this question created resentment in some countries and the USA, followed by Britain and Singapore, left UNESCO.
   In the meantime, the Non-Aligned Movement took some significant steps towards creating a New Information Order. In 1976, the Information Ministers of the Non-Aligned countries met at New Delhi and adopted a declaration on this question. The declaration took note of “the persistent and serious imbalance in the current global information situation” and its adverse effects on the Non-Aligned countries. It stressed the need “to liberate their information and mass, media” from the colonial legacy, and called for “the decolonization of information” and “the establishment of a new international order for information”. The declaration stated that the new information order was “as necessary as the new economic order”. Soon after, a News Agencies Pool of the Non-Aligned Countries was set up to promote news exchange among the pool partners.