Functions of Mass Media

Almost everyone gets his or her information about world, national, and local affairs from the mass media. This fact gives both print and electronic media important functions that include influencing public opinion, determining the political agenda, providing a link between the government and the people, acting as a government watchdog, and affecting socialization.

Media Organization

“Media Organization” is a deceptively simple term encompassing a countless array of institutions and individuals who differ in purpose, scope, method, and cultural context. Mass media include all forms of information communicated to large groups of people, form a handmade sign to an international news network.
There is no standard for how large the audience needs to be before communication becomes “mass” communication. There are also no constraints on the type of information being presented.

Broadcast Vs. Print Media

Historical Differences:-
The main historical difference between broadcast and print media is their development. Print media, and thereby print journalism, evolved from a process. Anthony Smith (1980; in Herbert 2001) states: "Printing evolved from a series of divisions of labor that had been introduced in an effort to speed up the task of manuscript copying." In short, print journalism developed from a process already in place for centuries, namely the manual transcription of manuscripts. In contrast, broadcast media (and broadcast journalism) were born of technology. The telegraph, telephone, radio, television, and Internet were not built specifically for journalism nor did they evolve from some existing process related to journalism; instead, people adapted these inventions to serve the media. In this sense, broadcast is a relatively young medium especially when compared to print.

Press Laws & Media Ethics ( Copyright Act 1957)

Copyright Act (1957):- A work of literature, drama, music or art is an intellectual property. It must be protected from illegal copy or reproducing it. The copyright act accords this protection.


This act is based on to competing consideration= The creator’s property i.e. the original work needs to be protected.
= For advancement of knowledge in the interest of the society there should be some amount of the freedom to produce parts of other people copyrighted works. Copyright has been held to be a right which a person acquires in a work that is a result of his intellectual labor.

In respect of the press copyright means under section 14 of the copyright act 1957, the exclusive right in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, to do an authorized the doing in substantive form of any of the following acts mainly:-
1. To reproduce the work in any material form.
2. To publish the work.
3. To make any adaption of work.
4. To re-produce or publish translation of the work.

Punishment for knowingly infringing or abating infringement of a copyright is imprisonment which may extend up to one year or fine or both.