Functions of Mass Communication for Society

Surveillance Surveillance refers to what we popularly can the news and infor­mation role of the media. The surveillance function can be divided further into two main types.,

 Warning, Or Beware, surveillance occurs when the media inform us about threats from ter­rorism, depressed economic conditions, increas­ing inflation, or military attack. There is, however, much information that is not particularly threatening to society that people might like to know about.

Instrumental surveillance has to do with the transmission of information that is useful and helpful in everyday life. News about films playing at the local theaters, stock market prices, new products, fashion ideas, recipes, and teen fads are exam-pies of instrumental surveillance.

Interpretation

The mass media do not supply just facts and data. They also provide information on the ultimate meaning and significance of events. Articles that analyze the causes of an event or that discuss the implications of government policy are also examples of the interpretation function. Why is the price of gasoline going up.

Interpretation can take various forms. Editorial cartoons, which originated in 1754, may be the most popular form. Other examples are less obvious but no less important. Critics are employed by the various media to rate motion pictures, plays, books, and records. Restaurants, cars, architecture, and even religious ser­vices are reviewed by some newspapers and magazines.

Linkage

The mass media are able to join different elements of society that are not directly connected. For example, mass advertising attempts to link the needs of buyers with the products of sellers. Legislators may try to keep in touch with constituents' feelings by reading their hometown papers. Voters, in turn, learn about the doings of their elected officials through newspapers, TV, radio, and websites. Attempt to raise money for the treatment of certain diseases are another example of this linkage function. The needs of those suffering from the disease are matched with the desires of others who wish to see the problem eliminated.

Another type of linkage occurs when geographically separated groups that share a common interest are linked by the media.

Transmission of Values/Socialization 

The transmission of values is a important function of the mass media. It has also been called the socializafion function. Socialization refers to the ways an individual comes to adopt the behavior and values of a group. The mass media portray our society, and by watching, lis­tening, and reading, we learn how people are supposed to act and what values are important. Consider the images of an important but familiar concept as seen in the media: motherhood.

 Cell phones link parents with children. Sports talk radio joins peo­ple with a common interest in athletics.

The media can create totally new social groups by linking members of society who have not previously recognized similar interests in one another.

On the other hand, this linkage function may have harmful consequences. Terrorists can use hate sites to spread hate propaganda and to recruit new mem­bers. Some websites provide password-protected online discussion groups in which veteran terrorists can persuade new members to join their cause

TV and Socialization: Of all the mass media, television probably has the greatest potential for socialization. 

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Politics and media control

Today, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is quite a media conglomerate at a national level. Its central organs are People’s Democracy in English, from New Delhi, Kolkata, Kochi, Hyderabad, and Agartala, and the Lok Lehar in Hindi. The Party publishes a theoretical quarterly, The Marxist; five dailies in different Indian languages; several weeklies and fortnightlies in Assamese, Oriya, Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi, Kannada, Marathi, and Gujarati. Its Hindi weekly, Swadhinata, and its Urdu fortnightly, Abshar, are published from Kolkata. Besides, there are Janashakti(Kannada), Jeevan arg (Marathi), Samyabadi (Oriya), Ganashakti (Assamese and Bengali) and Chitan (Gujarati). There are also Hindi fortnightlies, Lok Samvad (Uttar Pradesh), Lok Jatan (Madhya Pradesh), and Lok Janvad (Bihar). These efforts are backed by its own news agency, the India News Network. The party also runs a publishing house, LeftWord Books, which deals in broad Left-wing publications only. That apart, it has publishing houses in various States such as the National Book Agency in West Bengal, the Chinta Publications in Kerala, and the Prajashakti Book House in Andhra Pradesh.

In Kerala, another CPI (M) stronghold, the party also has the newspaper,Deshabhimani, published by Chintha Printing and Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd, controlled by the CPIM(M) Kerala State Committee. Besides, there is the CPI (M)-controlled Malayalam Communications Limited that owns the Kairali TV and People TV.

The Shiv Sena has the Saamnain Maharashtra; the Rashtriya Swayamsevak  prior to the partition of the country the same year. Over the years it has had leading political personalities editing it, including L. K. Advani. 

The National Herald, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru (on September 9, 1938) and funded by the Indian National Congress for many years, shut down in 2008, in its 70th year, along with its Urdu edition Qaumi Awaz, and was revived in 2011 (with a stockbroker, Vishnu Goyal putting in the funds and becoming editor). The paper was once edited by the redoubtable M. Chalapathi Rau.

The company which publishes The Pioneer, the daily for which Rudyard Kipling once wrote, is now controlled by a Rajya Sabha member from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Chandan Mitra. It also owns Namaskar, the in-flight magazine of Air India, (through CMYK Printech Ltd).

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of the nation, published Harijan in English (from 1933 to 1948), Harijan Bandhu in Gujarat and Harijan Sevak in Hindi, all of which ceased to exist.

It is one thing for a newspaper or a magazine to have a political or economic point of view. It is quite another for a media organ that does publicly admit to no affiliation to plug a point of view to the unsuspecting reader or a viewer. Politically affiliated or owned publications occupy a very important and expanding space in the media business, with inroads into radio and television as well.

In Andhra Pradesh, for instance, Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of the late chief minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has the newspaper and television channel Sakshi, both owned by the Jagan Mohan-controlled Indira Television Limited (Sakshi TV) and Jagati Publications Ltd, the holding company for the daily Sakshi. Sakshi TV has had a photograph of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy on a top corner that has had flowers being showered on the head of the deceased leader non-stop, from the day he passed away.

The other important Andhra media player with a clear political agenda is the K. Chandrasekhara Rao-controlled television channel T-News. 

Thus, Rajeev Shukla, the Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and secretary of the All India Congress Committee, controls the News 24 television channel with hiswife Anuradha Prasad, who happens to be the sister of the BJP leader, Ravi Shankar Prasad..

Vijay Darda, Congress member of the Rajya Sabha, is the chairman of the Lokmat Media Group that controls IBN-Lokmat, apart from the newspaper Lokmat,the largest-circulated Marathi daily which is also one of the most widely-circulated daily newspapers in India. 

In Kerala, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has teamed up with four non-resident Indian businessmen who have a combined holding of about 26 per cent in Jai Hind TV, controlled by Bharat Broadcasting Network Ltd.

Among the key individuals controlling the operations are Ramesh Chennithala, former minister and official spokesman of KPCC, M.M. Hassan and two Dubai-based businessmen, Kunjukutty Aniyankunju and Vijayan Thomas.the Indiavisionchannel, controlled by M. K. Muneer, former Muslim League minister, through Indiavision Satellite Communications Limited.

Other Congress connections with the media in Tamil Nadu come courtesy H. Vasanthkumar, MLA and president of the Tamil Nadu commerce wing of the Congress, which controls Vasanth TV held by Vasanth and Co. Media Network Private Limited. There is also K. V. Thangabalu, Congress MP and former Union minister, who controls Mega TV, held through Silverstar Communications Limited. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) controls Makkal TV, through Makkal Tholai Thodarpu Kuzhumam Ltd, which is controlled by PMK chief S. Ramadoss, father of former Union Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss.

Kalanithi Maran, the grand nephew of Karunanidhi, the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch. Maran controls Sun TV, Sun News, KTV, Sun Music, Chutti TV, Sumangali Cable, Adithya TV, Chintu TV, Kiran TV, Khushi TV, Udaya Comedy, Udaya Music, Gemini TV, Gemini Comedy, and Gemini Movies. He also controls the newspaper Dinakaran,and Suryan FM93.5 and Red FM 93.5 in the radio space. Sun TV is controlled by Sun TV Network Limited, Suryan FM is owned by Kal Radio Ltd,Red FM is owned by South Asia FM Ltd, Dinakaran is owned by Kal Publications Pvt. Ltd. Kal Radio Ltd and South Asia FM Ltd are, in turn, subsidiaries of Sun TV Network Ltd, and Kalanithi Maran has 75 per cent control over these companies. DMK supremo Muthuvel Karunanidhi himself controls Kalaignar TV Pvt. Limited, owner of the very popular Kalaignar TV (one of the alleged beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum scam, courtesy former Union Telecom Minister Andimuthu Raja). Close associate and businessman, M. Raajhendran, controls Raj TV and Raj Digital Plus through Raj Television Network Limited in which he owns 11.3 per cent shares.

With the DMK playing such an important role in this space, can Ms. Jayalalithaa be missing from the scene? The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief controls Jaya TV, Jaya Max, Jaya Plus, and J Movie through Mavis Satcom Ltd.

Interestingly, Karnataka does not have the kind of political presence in the media as do Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The two important players are Anita Kumaraswamy, wife of former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who owns Kannada Kasturithrough Kasthuri Medias Pvt. Ltd, and businessman Rajeev Chandrashekhar, an independent member of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, who controls a host of language offerings: Asianet and Asianet Plus (Malayalam), Suvarna (Kannada), Vijay(Tamil) and Sitara (Telugu), Best FM and Radio Indigo, and Kannada Prabhathrough Jupiter Media and Entertainment, which owns 26 per cent of the shares in the company that publishes Kannada Prabha.

The Trinamool Congress also controls Channel 10, held by Bengal Media Private Limited owned by Santanu and Sudeshna Ghosh. 

source: Hoot

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Indian Television Trend

Television was introduced in India on September 15, 1959 in Delhi, little over two decades after British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began the first television service of the world in 1936. It was with the help provided by UNESCO that it all started.  The programmes were broadcast twice a week for an hour a day on such topics as community health, citizens’ duties and rights, and traffic and road sense.

In 1961 the broadcasts were expanded to include a school educational television project. The first major expansion of television in India began in 1972, when a second television station was opened in Bombay. This was followed by stations in Srinagar and Amritsar (1973), and Calcutta, Madras and Lucknow in 1975.  For the first 17 years, broadcasting of television spread haltingly and transmission was in black and white. By 1976, the network consisted of eight television stations covering a population of 45 million spread over 75,000 square kilometers. Faced with the difficulty of administering such an extensive television system as part of All India Radio, the government constituted Doordarshan, the national television network, as a separate Department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Development
There were three ignition points that triggered the phenomenal growth of television in India from mid 1970s. First: The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). Conducted between August 1975 and July 1976, it used a satellite to broadcast educational programmes to villages across six states. The objective was to use television for development, though entertainment programmes were also included. It actually brought television closer to the masses. Second: INSAT-1A, the first of the country's domestic communications satellites became operational in 1982 and made possible the networking of all of Doordarshan's regional stations. For the first time Doordarshan originated a nation-wide feed dubbed the "National Programme" which was fed from Delhi to the other stations. In November 1982, the country hosted the Asian Games and the government introduced color broadcasts for the coverage of the games.
The third spark came in the early nineties with the broadcast of satellite TV by foreign programmers like CNN followed by Star TV and a little later by domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV into Indian homes.  More television sets were added in Indian homes. Access to television also increased.

Present Status
There are nearly 138 million households (out of total 223 million) in India who own a television. Cable penetration has reached 80% with the help of the Direct to Home (DTH) platform. The total number of TV channels (both private and government owned) grew from 461 in 2009 to 626 in January 2011. The number of News and Current Affairs channels was 312 and that of Non-News and Current Affairs channels was 314 up till January 2011. A total of 75 channels have been down-linked till January 2011 by a number of foreign broadcasters.

Key Trends
Digitization: Digitization continues to be a key growth driver for the industry. DTH achieved robust growth of  subscriber . With the regulatory push on digitization, ongoing 3G rollouts, increasing mobile and broadband penetration, the market for digital distribution platforms is growing.

Regionalization.
Regional media consumption is expected to continue to rise. Realising the power of regional media, national and foreign players have ventured into regional markets .  Meanwhile regional players have achieved scale and are now looking to go national

New Media: The past decade marked the convergence of media and technology; of user generated content, social media and new publishing models that have changed the way of media consumption. The new breeds of smart TVs are offering excellent convergence opportunities.

Regulation to drive growth: The government’s thrust on digitization and addressability for cable television, is expected to increase the pace of digitization leading to tremendous growth in DTH and digital cable.

Niche formats: Increasing audience segmentation is driving content and delivery. Television showed signs of this growing trend through the launch of several new niche channel genres such as food, action movies etc. It has now become to assess trends for continually changing customer preferences, lifestyles and media buying habits and incorporate the understanding in focused content, marketing and delivery strategies for each target audience segment.

Consumer Understanding: With increasing fragmentation and intensity of competition, a deeper understanding of cultural and social references through focused study groups will enable players to target their consumers specifically and build loyalty.

Innovation: It is becoming increasingly important for industry players to continuously innovate new formats and strategies in order to enable brand loyalty help expand the market.

Consolidation: Mature players are increasingly looking to build scale across the media value chain and explore cross media synergies. In addition, existing foreign players are looking to expand their Indian portfolio and several other are expected to make an entry into India. Inorganic growth is likely to be a preferred route for many of these players. With increased digitization and accountability, Indian media companies are also expected to generate greater interest from private equity players.

Challenges for Doordarshan
The stupendous growth in television made Doordarshan, India’s national broadcaster one of the players from the exalted position of the sole player. Its monopoly was long gone.
In 1997, Doordarshan and AIR were converted into government corporations under Prasar Bharati, which was established to serve as the public service broadcaster of the country and to provide greater autonomy for DD and AIR.

Fifty three years after it switched on, Doordarshan is facing ‘3 R’ challenges: Reach, Relevance and Revenue, like the public service broadcasters of many countries are facing now. With more and more channels jostling for eyeballs (with innovative programming at the best and prurient and provocative at the worst) Doordarshan is losing viewers. Losing viewers (especially the high disposable income urban ones) means losing revenue as well. Critics argue that losing viewers also at the end of the day mean losing relevance.

Future of Doordarshan
Doordarshan now stands at a cross road. With the advancement of technology and change of viewer’s profile and audience taste
Doordarshan needs to reinvent itself.
. In the management domain, it needs good managers who can take and implement decisions and instill good professional work culture.
 In the hardware domain, it needs to upgrade to full digital platform.
It has to be convergence friendly, fully adaptable to a net savvy environment.
Its contents need to be streamed across delivery platforms including social media. 

l-metamorphosis.html

Source: The author, a journalist turned media academician presently heads Eastern India campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) located in Dhenkanal, Odisha.

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The Elements of Thought

Critical thinking is the art of thinking about thinking in such a way as to:

1.    identify its strengths and weaknesses, and recast it in improved form (where necessary). The first characteristic requires the thinker to be skilled in analytic and evaluative thinking. The second requires the thinker to be skilled in creative thinking.

Thus, critical thinking has three dimensions: the analytic, the evaluative, and the creative.

Here are each of the creative acts implicit in analytic thought.

1. Purpose, goal, or end in view: Whenever we reason, we reason to some end, to achieve some purpose, to satisfy some desire or fulfill some need. If we create goals that are unrealistic or contradictory to other goals we have, the reasoning we use to achieve our goals is problematic.

 2. Question at issue (or problem to be solved): Whenever we attempt to reason, there is at least one question at issue, at least one problem to be solved. If we are not clear about the question we are asking, or how the question relates to our basic purpose or goal, we will not be able to find a reasonable answer to it, or an answer that will serve our purpose.

3. Point of view or frame of reference: Whenever we reason, we must reason within some point of view or frame of reference. This point of view or frame of reference is created by the mind. Any defect in our point of view or frame of reference is a possible source of problems in our reasoning. Our point of view may be too narrow minded, may be based on false or misleading analogies or metaphors, may not be precise enough, may contain contradictions, and so forth.

. 4. The information we use in reasoning: Whenever we reason, we are reasoning about some stuff, some phenomena. Any defect in the experiences, data, evidence, or raw material upon which our reasoning is based is a possible source of problems. Information is not given by nature, it is constructed by human minds.

 5. The conceptual dimension of our reasoning: All reasoning uses some ideas or concepts and not others — ideas or concepts created by the mind. Any defect in the concepts or ideas (including the theories, principles, axioms, or rules) with which we reason is a possible source of problems. Concepts and ideas are not given to us by nature. They are constructs (i.e. creations) of human minds.

6. Assumptions — the starting points of reasoning: All reasoning must begin somewhere, and must take some things for granted. Any defect in the starting points of our reasoning, any problem in what we are taking for granted, is a possible source of problems.

7. Our inferences, interpretations and conclusions: Reasoning proceeds by steps called inferences. Any defect in the inferences we make while we reason presents a possible problem in our reasoning. Information, data, and situations do not determine what we shall deduce from them.

8. Implications and consequence Thus, our reasoning has implications, ideas that follow from our reasoning, things that might happen if we reason in this or that way, if we make this or that decision. The implications of our reasoning are an implicit creation of our reasoning.

Three conditions contribute to a high level of creative thought:

1. A minimal level of innate intellectual capacity (though it need not be extraordinary).

 2. An environment that stimulates the development of that capacity.

3. A positive response and inner motivation on the part of the person thus born and situated.

The role that intellectual discipline, external support, and internal commitment typically play in the development of great thinkers, artists, dancers, and composers. In each case, notice how much attention, tutoring, dedication, and special training each of these thinkers had.

Leonardo Da Vinci

 According to Funk and Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia (1986), Da Vinci was “the son of a wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant woman. In the mid 1460s the family settled in Florence, where Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, the intellectual and artistic center of Italy, could offer.” At the age of 16, Leonardo “was apprenticed as a studio boy  of the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his day.” As a scientist, Leonardo “understood better than anyone of his century or the next, the importance of precise scientific observation… In anatomy he studied the circulation of the blood and action of the eye. He made discoveries in meteorology and geology, learned the effect of the moon on the tides, foreshadowed modern conceptions of continent formations, and surmised the nature of fossil fuel. These abilities were clearly developed through systematic and disciplined study

Charles Darwin

Darwin had a careful mind rather than a quick one: “I have as much difficulty as ever in expressing myself clearly and concisely; and this difficulty has caused me a very great loss of time, but it has had the compensating advantage of forcing me to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus I have been led to see errors in reasoning and in my own observations or those of other.” In pursuing intellectual questions, Darwin relied upon perseverance and continual reflection, rather than memory and quick reflexes. “I have never been able to remember for more than a few days a single date or line of poetry.” Instead, he had “the patience to reflect or ponder for any number of years over any unexplained problem…At no time am I a quick thinker or writer: whatever I have done in science has solely been by long pondering, patience, and industry”.

 Albert Einstein

 Einstein, did so poorly in school that when his father asked his son’s headmaster what profession his son should adopt, the answer was simply, “It doesn’t matter; he’ll never make a success of anything.” In high school, the regimentation “created in him a deep suspicion of authority. This feeling lasted all his life, without qualification.” Einstein showed no signs of being a genius, and as an adult denied that his mind was extraordinary: “I have no particular talent. I am merely extremely inquisitive.” He failed his entrance examination to the Zurich Polytechnic. When he finally passed, the examinations so constrained his mind that, when he had graduated, he did not want to think about scientific problems for a year. His final exam was so nondistinguished that afterward he was refused a post as an assistant (the lowest grade of postgraduate job). Exam-taking, then, was not his forte. Thinking critically and creatively were. Einstein had the basic critical thinking ability to cut

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Creative Thinking

Creativity

The process of being creative. A series of actions which create new ideas, thoughts and physical objects.

Thinking

The process of thought. The process of exercising the mind in order to make a decision, judge , believe or to  remember or recollect and to make the mental choice between options.

Creative Thinking

Specific thought processes which improve the ability to be creative. Being in an optimal(best) state of mind for generating new ideas. To think deliberately in ways that improve the likelihood of new thoughts occurring. To maximize the ability of the brain to think of new ideas. The ability to think of original, diverse and elaborate ideas. A series of mental actions which produce changes and developments of thought.  The process of exploring multiple avenues of actions or thoughts. (Sometimes called divergent thinking because thought patterns and areas of belief are expanded

Difference between Creative thinking and critical thinking

Creative thinking	Critical thinking
creative thinking is divergent	critical thinking is convergent
creative thinking tries to create something new	critical thinking seeks to assess worth or validity in something that exists;
creative thinking is carried on by violating accepted principles,	critical thinking is carried on by applying accepted principles

Although creative and critical thinking may very well be different sides of the same coin they are not identical.

Critical thinking defines as "…the use of cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It also   includes the formation of logical inferences, developing careful and logical reasoning (Stahl & Stahl, 1991), deciding what action to take or what to believe through reasonable reflective thinking (Ennis, 1991), and purposeful determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment (Moore & Parker, 1994)., "…critical thinking has been defined and measured in a number of ways but typically involves the individual’s ability to do some or all of the following: identify central issues and assumptions in an argument, recognize important relationships, make correct inferences from data, deduce conclusions from information or data provided, interpret whether conclusions are warranted on the basis of the data given, and evaluate evidence or authority: Critical thinking as a higher-order thinking activity that requires a set of cognitive skills. 

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How People Use the Mass Media?

The functions of mass com­munication in society could be paralleled by statements about how the media function at the level of the individual. how the individual uses mass communication. At the individual level, the functional approach is given the general name of the uses-and-gratifications model the various uses and gratifications classified  into a four-category:  cognition; diversion; social utility; and withdrawal

Cognition 

Cognition is the act of coming to know something. When a person uses a mass medium to obtain information about something, then he or she is using the medium in a cognitive way. At the individual level, there are two different types of cognitive functions are performed. One has to do with using the media to keep up with information on current events, while the other has to do with using the media to learn about things in general or things that relate to a person's general curiosity. It have found that many people give the following rea­sons for using the media:

·      I want to understand what is going on in the world.

·      I want to know what political leaders are doing.

·      I want to satisfy my curiosity.

·      The media make me want to learn more about things.

·      The media give me ideas.

Diversion

Another basic need of human beings is for diversion. Diversion can take many forms. Some of the forms identified by researchers are

 (1) stimulation, or seeking relief from boredom or the routine activities of everyday life;

(2) relax­ation, or escape from the pressures and problems of day-to-day existence; and

 (3) emotional release of pent-up emotions and energy. Let us look at each of these gratifications in more detail. 

Stimulation Seeking emotional or intellectual stimulation seems to be an inherent motivation in a human being. Psychologists have labeled these activities lucid behaviors"—play, recreation, and other forms of activity that seem to be performed to maintain a minimum level of intellectual activity.. Many people report that they watch, read, or listen simply to pass the time. The media have taken.

Relaxation 

When faced overload, people tend to seek relief. The media are one source of this relief. Watching channels  or reading magazine represents a pleas­ant diversion from the frustrations of everyday life. Some  might relax by listening to serious /cinema classical music. The content is not the defining factor, since virtually any media material might be used for relaxation by some audience members.

Emotional Release

The use of the media for emotional release is fairly obvious. For instance, emotional release can take more subtle forms. One of the big attractions of soap operas, for example, seems to be that many people in the audiences are comforted by seeing that other people have troubles greater than their own. Other people identify with media heroes and par­ticipate vicariously in their triumphs. Such a process evidently enables these peo­ple to vent some of the frustrations connected with their normal lives. Emotional release was probably one of the first functions to be attributed to media content. Aristotle, in his Poetics, talked about the phenomenon of catharsis (a release of pent-up emotion or energy) occurring as a function of viewing tragic plays. In fact, the catharsis theory has surfaced many times since then, usually in connection with the portrayals of television violence.

Social Utility

Psychologists have also identified a set of social integrative needs, including our need to strengthen our contact with family, friends, and others in our society. The social integrative need seems to spring from an individual's need to affiliate with others. The media function that addresses this need is called social utility, and this usage can take several forms. First, we have talked with a friend about a TV program. Or we Have discussed a current movie or the latest record you heard on the radio. If so we are using the media as conversa­tional currency. The media provide a common ground for social conversations, and many people use things that they have read, seen, or heard as topics for dis­cussion when talking with others.

Withdrawal 

At times, people use the mass media to create a barrier between themselves and other people or activities. For example, the media help people avoid certain chores that should be done.

People also use the media to create a buffer zone between themselves and other people. When you are riding a bus or sitting in a public place and do not want to be disturbed, you bury your head in a book, magazine, or newspaper. If we are on an airplane, we might insert a pair of earphones in our ears and tune everybody out. Télevision can perform this same function at home by isolating adults from chil­dren or children from adults .

Content and Context In closing, we should emphasize that it is not only media content that determines audience usage, but also the social context within which the media exposure occurs. For example, soap operas, situation comedies, movie magazines all contain material that audiences can use for escape purposes. People going to a movie, however, might value the opportunity to socialize more than they value any aspect of the film itself. Here the social context is the deciding factor.

It is also important to note that the functional approach makes several assumptions:. Audiences take an active role in their interaction with various media. That is, the needs of each individual provide motivation that channels that individ­ual's media use.

1.   The mass media compete with other sources of satisfaction. Relaxation, for example, can also be achieved by taking a nap or having a couple of drinks, and social utility needs can be satisfied by joining a club or playing touch football.

2.       The uses-and-gratifications approach assumes that people are aware of their own needs and are able to verbalize them. This approach relies heavily on surveys based on the actual responses of audience members. thus, the research technique assumes that people's responses are valid indicators of their motives.

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