Mass Media and Communications Sociology - Mass Media and Communications

What do you understand by the idea of ‘imagined communities’ that Benedict Anderson wrote of?

How has automation brought about a change in the making of the newspaper?

What are national dailies? Name any two.

How is mass media different from mass communication?

What strategies have been used to make the Indian language newspapers popular?

Discuss the growth of print media in India after Independence.

Explain different aspects of mass media.

Discuss the potential of FM channels in post-liberalisation India.

Discuss the role of radio broadcasting in newly free India.

‘The mass media is a part of our everyday life.’ Comment with suitable examples.

Read the passage given below and answer the associated questions.
We have a parliamentary and a legal system, a police and educational system built very much on the British model. We drive on the left side of the road like the British. We have "bread-omelette" and "cutlets" as menu offered in many roadside eateries and canteens. A very popular manufacturer of biscuits is actually named after Britain. Many school uniforms include neck-ties. We often admire the west and as often resent it. These are just some of the many and complex ways that British colonialism lives on in contemporary India.

1. What is colonialism?
2. In what way colonialism has effected our lives?

Describe the changes that have been happening in the medium of television.

Write a note on the beginning of modern mass media. What were its effects?

In what ways has Globalisation affected Indian television?

Read the following passage and answer the given question:
The place is a cramped… rented shack stacked with music tapes and rusty electrical appliances which double up as Raghav’s radio station and repair shop.
He may not be literate, but Raghav’s ingenuous FM station has made him more popular than local politicians. Raghav’s love affair with the radio began in 1997 when he started out as a mechanic in a local repair shop. When the shop owner left the area, Raghav, son of a cancer-ridden farm worker, took over the shack with his friend. Sometime in 2003, Raghav, who by now had learned much about radio… In impoverished Bihar state, where many areas lack power supplies, the cheap battery powered transistor remains the most popular source of entertainment. “It took a long time to come up with the idea and make the kit which could transmit my programmes at a fixed radio frequency. The kit cost me 50 rupees”, says Raghav. The transmission kit is fitted on to an antenna attached to a bamboo pole on a neighbouring three-storey hospital. A long wire connects the contraption to a creaky, old homemade stereo cassette player in Raghav’s radio shack. Three other rusty locally made battery-powered tape recorders are connected to it with colourful wires and a cordless microphone.

1. What changes has media experienced over the last few years?
2. How can media be successful in representing the weaker section of society?