essay on print media in english

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Essay: Print Media

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Print Media

In the present time applications of Visual art through Mass media and specially print media has emerged as a immense significant medium in our society. Role of media to generate awareness and to educate people has been through a lot of experimentation. By using instruments of visual art in a direct and indirect ways we can make public inform and to govern lives of community. The following study attempts to examine characteristics and evolution of print ads issued in public interest by GOI (Government of India). Also an attempt to examine changing of strategy used in GOI print campaigns made for conveying health related messages in public. Starting with a brief history of print advertising and print advertising in India, then covering elements of print ad, GOI Health Communication strategy, GOI Print campaigns, Polio eradication campaign will be the major focus of this study. In order to understand celebrity endorsement and its impact in rural area the concentration will be on Polio Campaign. I choose polio print campaign because of its huge nationwide print campaign for mass impact. India is a land of one billion people and still counting and a zillion opportunities. How does one communicate with this land where dialects, culture and even cuisine changes every 8 to 10 miles as one goes by. Production and creation of effective advertising has long been a concern of both advertisers and advertising agencies. There have been various rules of thumb for creating effective advertising since advertising began. In order to understand this better I have added a brief history of advertising in India. The history of Indian Advertising can be tracked down to the time with hawkers calling out their wares, right from the days cities and markets first began. The trend moves from shop font signage to street side sellers to press ads. In 18th Century, concrete advertising began with classified advertising and not to forget this was also the time when print ads appeared for the very first time in Hickey’s Bengal Gazette, which was India’s First newspaper. It was a weekly newspaper. Newspapers are one of the best platforms for conveying information due to cheap medium, easy accessibility and also extended reach as well as high frequency of publication. Government of India has been using this medium to spread public health information and to raise awareness. Many times depending upon areas in our country, like in rural areas this medium plays major role in awareness. The newspaper becomes the only medium for Government to approach the communities. So it’s important that health related messages should be highly effective and easy to understand at the same time. To bring desirable change in a community message should be conveyed effectively and strongly.

However, the history of India can not overlook the 200 year British rule over the country. Every aspect of Indian lifestyle, whether it is education, transportation, commerce, or advertising and communications, was affected by the foreign invasion. But, it was in such a time period that type setting shops, also called studios, emerged, marking the beginning of advertising created in India (as opposed to imports from England). These studios were set up for bold type, ornate fonts, fancier, and larger ads. These newspaper studios then trained the first generation of visualizers & illustrators. The earliest of ads that can be seen, appeared in newspapers, in the form of the latest merchandise from England around the early 1700s. Other goods advertised then were patent medicines; the first brands as we know them today were a category of advertisers.

INTRODUCTION

Advertising has been any business’s most important part since centuries, The very first print advertisement in English got printed in 1472 for selling a book of prayer. It’s very clear that the media today has become a very present force in India and abundance of advertisements is the result of free media. In print advertising history it can be explained by the offers which are posted in newspapers or sent through mail. It is one of the oldest medium of advertising and it has long history. During the time of William Caxton, in 1468, it started, when William promoted a book which had his first printed advertisement. Later in 1704 a person named Joseph Campbell started to include ads in Newsletter of Boston. After this, Benjamin Day got a book printed named New York Sun in the period of 1833, It was a mix of stories and advertising car. Later in 1910 the ‘Edward book of Women home book’ made a magazine ad code. Since this time period print advertising started giving more attention towards design and glamour. Print advertising was only effective if people see them, when a person look through one or two publications he bent towards getting new details and also his observation starts which gradually increases about the things which interest him. This type of advertising attracts more people to towards products and services, when they see or read publications. These type of advertisements are mostly seen in newspapers, magazines etc. A lot of planning by a group of individuals is done for this kind of advertising. By going through history of print advertising we get this idea that a group of creative people is needed to create ideas which further becomes an ‘ Idea’. Another group of other people works on appropriately placing these ideas so that they can earn more money. Print media advertising is a prime part of minting money for a publication. Mailers are also a part of print advertising which consist of notice size white paper to postcards. Now as we know, advertising has been a important thing for business for years, Its signs & symptoms are there during the early Roman and Greek civilizations up to the middle 17th Century. Earlier advertising was exclusively meant to be an outdoor medium. The local merchants used advertising to attract and interact customers. When the adoption of printing press went widespread, the publication of local newspapers started and they started classified advertising. Enterprising merchants used postal and press system to print the very first commercial catalogs. About Print Ads/Visuals In these days application of visual art via mass media has gained a lot of significance in society. Use of media in way to generate awareness, to inform and to supervise and control any community’s lives in many direct and in-direct ways- can be made much more impactful by using tools or principals of visual art. Mix of media and visual art has a vast area of opportunity to play a important role in country like India which has huge geographical area. Variety of Culture, 18 scheduled languages and social-economic disparity. The value of communication in making people mobilized as well as seeking people’s interest and involvement In country’s development is well recognized. If the communication facilities will be great the modernization process will be very fast. A plan which indicates where the component parts of the ad like illustrations, text, headline etc. will be placed for effective communication is called layout. The layout plays a major role in performing psychological or symbolic function. The final print ad which is followed by the final layout gives the reader or viewer a very first impression of service, organization, product or individual sponsoring the print ad. When a layout is very formal it shows that the advertiser is solid, conservative and stable. To present the impression of any dynamic, innovative company or service a modern and informal layout is required. Image of ‘class’ and exclusiveness is represented by sufficient white space in any print ad most of the times. To give the impression of discount type of something white type on heavy black background or a layout covered with heavy elements is made. This type of things is mostly done in retail advertising. (Brian, 2012)

DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF PRINT ADS

There are different elements of print ads which contribute in a formation of design which is created to attract customers attention. These elements together form a good treat to eyes which forces him to read the whole advertisement. These points are also put here in terms of psychology also.

Attention The main aim of the print ads is to get customer attention and lure them for any service or product. For triggering any ad’s boom factor, the attention step is critically important.Most of the time strong headline is used for this purpose. Any advertiser has to keep these points in mind while creating one :

1. The message should be easy to understand 2. convince instead of entertainment. 3. Assume customer’s lack of interest 4. Provide relevant information 5. Be confident

Three Basic means to attract attention by Russel and Lane(1996): to use a combination of headline with visual, to use a headline alone or to use a visual alone. In an Ad the visual image should be in rhythm with the body copy and headline. In many of the print ads celebrities are used to attract attention. The glamour of celeb works in drawing customer’s attention. According to Rotfeld (2002) celebs are just used when there is lack of any good idea and mostly the celebs are not connected with the product for which they are advertising. But these type of print ads attracts people better than usual print ads.

Advertisers should not use vivid styles, sizes and pictures or else readers will ignore the ad, according to Sawyer(1995). There should be a continuous flow which will help the person in observation of all the important things in any print advertisement. A good print ad must represent what a problem any service or product can solve and how it is the perfect choice. One of the major aim of the print ad is to create a long lasting image of any brand or service. Color ads gain much success as compared to black and white ads.

Three different type of elements are there in a print ad, picture, brand and text. (Pieters & Wedel, 2004). Picture works in attracting the reader or person’s attention toward print ad. The brand element shows the visual scene of brand’s logo, identity, name & trademark. Most of the time a packaging or a logo is remembered by a person by a image which refers to that particular brand image. In some other print ads only a hint of something is essential for the brand. Two different ways are there for any brand’s ad. Either to emphasize on the ad for service or product or by showing the service or product in use. In newspaper and magazine ads a person attention is captured by seven seconds of text, six seconds of picture and four seconds of brand. The bigger visual will create bigger attention. The headlines plays a vital role in making of a nice print ad. It is very important to consider all three parts for making a good print ad, which are picture, brand and text.

Why colors are used in any print ad or visual? Beside making them attractive there are more different reasons to it. Like, representing people, objects, scenes with complete fidelity, creating good impression and fastening visual impressions in anybody’s memory, emphasizing some important part, representing objects and obviously attracting attention. In 1891 use of color in newspaper advertising was done for the first time. But now if we talk about today the whole scenario has changed, we can’t imagine our world without color. Colored newspaper advertisement are a essential thing to grab the attention. Consumers can often be motivated by colors, depending upon cultural background and personal experience. Lifestyle preference can be imparted by color preference. For example red, blue, yellow etc. which are primary colors when juxtaposed with white stripes exude decisiveness and are often used as team colors in sporting events. They are associated with sporting lifestyle. Yellow, light blue and green are some of spring colors which suggest a exuberant, fresh character. Deep violets, black and dark blue etc. are some of winter colors which represents chilly and cool attitudes.

Illustrations

In any print communication it is the most important element. By attracting the attention of reader they play a vital role in any print’s effectiveness. They give a fast and quick idea to the reader, mostly when its hard to convey the idea verbally. Good illustration and its appropriate use develops interest in viewer’s mind about print ad. It also makes communication more believable. Photographs and art work are the two basic tools of any Illustration. These days photographs are used mostly in print media publications. They are believed to be more real and authentic in comparison to artwork. Researches proves that pictures or photographs sells more than drawings. Most of the time artwork is believed to represent fantasy. But sometime cartoon work and artwork are used to enhance a certain feature of message. Diagrams in health concerned messages could be a useful medium of artwork in depicting or illustrating complicated messages. To put an idea across effectively the visual content should be focused and relevant.

Symbol/Ideogram

It’s also one important part of communication or we can say it’s a another vital visual tool for conveying the message. An image which embodies any organization is called ideogram. It is a graphic symbol which is used to represent any idea or concept. Some are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention. Others convey through pictorial objects and also known as pictograms. Culture, background, education and sophistication play a important part in role of symbol in communication. Symbols may weaken or strengthen the communication on how and where they are used. And also depending on the level of understanding each involved person has about what specific symbol means. Logo

To gain instant public recognition government authorities or organizations, commercial enterprises, individual person etc. use an emblem or graphic mark known as logo. It can be graphical purely or composition of the name of the organization. The importance of logo lies in its visual content, some studies shows that instead of text people relate and recognize image faster. (Ra, 2008) designing a good logo may require involvement of marketing and design agency. It requires a clear idea about values and concept of any firm, organization, authority or service. It also requires better understanding of the target group or consumer. The logo in any print ad should be used in appropriate place or else it can cause distraction and harm the impact of print ad. And it should be in right size also.

The layout of the print ads deals with different relationships, between top and bottom, left and right, horizontal and vertical. There exist the different layout and arrangement to catch the attention of the customer. (Moriarty, 1991)

Grouping and Unity are the combination of visual elements to make sense in print ads and the important things are boldly marked in ad. To create a gap between the elements white space is used. White space is regarded as blockade, but still it’s a vital component. Can be used as support or backdrop. It should be put outside for maximum use of its application. To tell a viewer from where to begin a good layout is necessary.

Simplicity, Contrast, Balance, Sequence, Emphasis are the other important element of a good layout.

If print medium had music, for sure it would be typography. Typefaces are decoded as we read. Each letter’s cut will transmit many signals to the brain. Typography underscores words with emotional presence, creates atmosphere, colors the way we want our message interpreted. With the invention of Mac, numerous of new typographical techniques and faces have been spawned overnight.

Two Art directors have become the world’s master of typography, one is Neil Godfrey who dominated the British Industry and Neil French roamed the Asian stage.

Advertisements also have personalities like people, some say their message in a fresh way and they are able to make an impact. Some are boring so they go unsuccessful. Like for example, most of us might be polite to dull people but to a dull ad no one will be polite. ‘The written word is the deepest dagger you can drive into a man’s soul.’ Not only the print is the oldest advertising medium it is one of the most resilient also. Advertising witnessed transition from one type to another. Print exercise is an tempting charisma. It is the permanence of the page, the romantic chemistry of paper and ink. It is the only medium which we can touch and hold and the best part is communication here is one to one.

Objectives of this study 1. To analyze the existence of evolution in Government (Indian) print ads issued in public interest. 2. To analyze how successfully government print ads left an impact on reader’s mind as compared to commercial print ads of the private brand or service. 3. To identify and analyze the key factors influencing the consumer

Advertising in India In India the first newspaper published in 19th Century which carried advertising, So since then it has been a long tradition in India. In India B.Datram & Company established in 1905 was the very first advertising company in india followed by few others mentioned below. (Ciochetto, 2004) 1. India Advertising Company (1907) 2. Calcutta Advertising Agency (1909) 3. S.H.Bensen (1928) 4. J. Walter Thompson Associates as Hindustan Thompson Associate (1929) 5. Lintas which is Lever International Advertising Services (1939) 6. McCann Erikson (1956) Expenditure of advertising was estimated at $ US 300,000 in 1950’s. Due to influence of more socialist political environment of 60’s and 70’s companies to advertise were getting very little incentive, and the reason behind it was that the advertising was Non-tax deductible. 58% rise in number of agencies registered was noted in 1970’s. In the duration between 1969 to 1979 the agencies turned to 168 from 106, and not to forget this also included Indian agencies growth. Print Ads in India while dealing with print ads It is necessary to keep viewer in mind. The low level of literacy could be the reason why any print ad become less effective or impactful in rural areas of india. A lot of visuals might increase its effectiveness. Now india becoming a succeeding country is picking up on literacy rate, this point is important and must be considered, In india print ads have great reach. We can see ads in market place where most of the people contact to each other. The visuals and the memory devices can still ensure the message delivery even if the language used in ad is English. The only way to reach local audience is to keep the ad Relaxed and simple and to the point. The Advertising Standards Council of India The Advertising Standard Council of India was formed on 21st Oct.1985 under section 25 of the companies act, 1956 as a non-profit body. The council has provided a list of guidelines to all its members to help them to regulate their behavior themselves. Membership of Advertising Standards Council of India is open to firms and companies in the following categories. a) Advertisers of good and/ or services. b) Proprietors or publishers of Newspapers, periodicals and other media that carry advertisement of services or good. c) Advertising agencies. d) Outdoor contractors, film/video/TV/radio producers/distributors block maker, printers and such other types of allied and ancillary trades and profession who assist in the creation or placement of advertising or in any manner concerned with advertising. The advertising Standards Council has adopted a code for self-regulation in advertising. It is expected from all its members, whether they are the advertisers, advertising agencies, media houses, or outside contractors or suppliers dealing with the advertising work, to follow such self-regulatory norms and behave in a responsible manner. As the code become increasingly accepted and observed, three benefits are expected to happen : 1. Fewer false and misleading claims resulting in more credibility. 2. Fewer unfair advertisements resulting in fairer competition. 3. Increasing respectability. This code applies to the advertisements read or viewed in India by a significant number of people even if carried by media that are published or that which originate abroad.

Governments Advertisements in India In India government ads are not considered as source of monetary assistance to any media outlet or publication. To this end, Only when the occasion or need arises none of the ads issued. During the financial year 2009-10 the government spent 2,4413000 rs. on advertisements. About 11,551 government advertisements were released to different newspapers throughout whole India. This included around 95,06,914 outdoor displays and 80,000 copies of printed materials, like calendars, speeches of the prime minister and other government publicity literature. The Indian Government advertising process is a complex process consisting of balances and multiple checks at each and every stage. From Ad’s creation decision to actual placement and analysis of the impact. Indian newspapers are not subsidized by the government. Ads of the Indian government are not a source of income for newspapers. In fact the government agencies for example DAVP which stands for Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity gets 40% cheaper rates than the commercial rates from these newspapers. (Robert Grabow, p. 39)

A Bar chart visualization of what the government spent on print advertising in year 2009-2010 through newspapers.

Government goes Private The government has to ensure that its policies and programs are properly presented and correctly interpreted through the press and other media to the people on whose support and good will it holds office. Around 11 to 12 thousand government ads are released in a year in various newspapers in all India on which government spend approx. 2,30,00000 to 2,40,00000 Rs. (Robert Grabow, p. 39) In this modern time where commercial segment is trying to lure customers with their colorful & experimental print ads, Government is also trying to compete them.To increase the attention of public in their messages they are now hiring ad agencies. Some Print ad Campaigns of government bodies has been done by private advertising agencies like Orchard, Dentsu, Taproot and percept etc. For example if we take the ‘India Shining’ Campaign which ran across the country on a huge level, it was done by Orchard Advertising which is a Indian subsidiary of Leo Burnett, a U.S. based advertising Company. Orchard’s advertisement strategy was to counter the mood set by the ‘ India Shining ‘ campaign. Most advertisements by congress did not use bright & many colors was mainly concentrated more on the poor. Indian National Congress (INC) has awarded its entire creative and media mandates to Percept, ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand following a multi-agency pitch. Commenting on the win, Amitava Mitra, chief operating officer, Percept, said, ‘Yes, Congress has chosen us to work on the campaigns for both these states. UP is one of the most important states for Congress; it’s not been in power here for the last 22 years, thus we have a very huge and challenging task ahead of us. We will develop the complete integrated campaign for the party. The decision to work with Percept was unanimous at the party level since the agency understood the objective well and had a tone and language in the campaign that was in sync with the thinking of the Congress.’

Rajiv Agrawal, executive creative director, Percept/H, added, ‘This is truly a satisfying win. It called for a different kind of understanding and sensibilities. While on the one hand, you had to understand the vision and the thinking process of the person leading the charge – Rahul Gandhi in this case, on the other hand, you had to address different audiences and, therefore, different problems/ issues at the same time, yet have a single-minded thought which cuts across. We had an interesting thought ‘ sensible, yet warm, honest, yet clutter breaking.’

The Congress party has opted for many of the same people who were behind its advertising campaign for the 2009 elections, picking Dentsu and Taproot to join JWT as the agencies that will handle the Rs 500 crore contract. The party made its choice last week, said more than five people aware of the decision. They didn’t want to be named. It was reported earlier that JWT had been chosen by the party to run its ad campaign. While the three agencies have been barred from speaking to the media by the party, the people familiar said Dentsu and its unit Taproot will handle the above-the-line (ATL) communications or those with a mass focus. Dentsu picked up a 51% stake in Taproot last year and both agencies made a joint pitch. JWT will handle the activation or on-ground events for Congress. The party is expected to spend nearly Rs 400 crore on ATL messaging that includes television, print, radio, outdoor and digital and around Rs 100 crore for the on-ground activities. The party will be looking to the ad agencies to burnish an image that’s been battered by corruption scandals and criticism over inaction on policy changes for much of its term. Experts said the Congress party will be looking to the food security legislation, the Right to Information Act, the direct transfer of benefits initiative and others as its main campaign planks for the election, besides indirect, subtle attacks on the opposition party over its secular credentials. ‘Rahul Gandhi wants to use ’empowering the common man.

For the last election, JWT created a three-month campaign for Congress backed by the tagline ‘Aam aadmi ke badhte kadam’. The campaign took place in three phases with some 250 films and radio spots in 22 languages. Special films were also made to reach out first-time voters with the slogan ‘Yuva Bharat ke badhte kadam’, leveraging Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and the late Rajiv Gandhi’s contribution to the country’s development. They have a tough task ahead of them, given the current image of the party and the popularity of the BJP’s Narendra Modi.

On a similar track Bangalore traffic police also hired a private ad agency for its campaign. Bangalore traffic Police has been running an outdoor advertising campaign using disturbing photography to shock people out of talking to their friends and families on the phone while they are driving. Men and women are shown grimacing as blood spurts out from their telephones. The tag line: ‘Don’t talk while he drives’ The Campaign was developed at Mudra Group, India, by executive creative director – Joono Simon, Art director – Vinci Raj, Copywriter ‘ Akhilesh Baghri, Photographer Mallikarjun Katakol with retouching by Satish.

Advertising for a good cause. Cancer in India. A survey by Indian Cancer Society in year 1978 in Bombay (which is known as Mumbai now) revealed that awareness of symptoms, causes & treatments of cancer was very low. Then the Indian Cancer Society asked O&M to mount on advertising campaign. To change the attitudes from fatalism and ignorance to optimism and understanding was the main motto of the campaign. Only then could people be persuaded to have regular check-ups at the free clinics of the society. The theme was one of hope : Life after Cancer’Its worth living. The advertisement showed real people who had been cured and within 2 months the no. of check-ups given by the clinics tripled.

It says most of the people are attracted towards any print ad most of the time due to colors and creative visuals or any Celebrity image.

Hence my further research was more concentrated on Visuals, colors and elements of design, which in combination make any print ad interesting.

There was also study of consumer psychology behind this, Bright images, bright colors, creative visuals or use of any celebrity’s image grabs attention more. And Colors and images are the first thing which attracts a person to a print ad.

Thus the elements of design plays main part in grabbing the attention of reader. Your advertisement should be very different if you want more people to be interested in it. However since starting private advertising agencies/companies were very experimental and unconventional in their treatments of print ads, the competition is getting tough these days due to the Internet Age. But print has still its charm.

By above data we can say that government is trying hard to convey its message in public widely and effectively and that’s why government is hiring private advertisement agencies. They are doing something different from their routine working, they know in this modern world your print ads should be catchy enough to stay in mind for a while. Many of their advertisement campaigns were successful and famous in metro as well as small cities and in aged ones as well as youth. By their efforts people now have started giving time & thoughts to their ads.

Bibliography

(n.d.). http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/10/its-dentsu-taproot-jwt-for-congress/#sthash.rSTFMJko.dpuf. (2013, October). Retrieved from www.mxmindia.com: http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/10/its-dentsu-taproot-jwt-for-congress/#sthash.rSTFMJko.dpuf Ciochetto, L. (2004). Advertising and globalisation in India. Wellington, New Zealand: EASA. http://www.campaignindia.in/Article/284706, p.-t.-h.-c.-d.-f.-c.-u.-p.-a.-u.-e.-c. (n.d.). Malin Edlund, H. N. (2006). The Use of Print Ads for an International Brand. Lulea University of Technology. Robert Grabow, S. D. (n.d.). Government Advertising Policies:Some Findings from Around the World. Columbia University, New York.

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Essay on Print Media and Electronic Media

Students are often asked to write an essay on Print Media and Electronic Media in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Print Media and Electronic Media

Print media.

Print media is a form of communication that uses printed materials, such as newspapers, magazines, and books. It has been around for centuries and has played a vital role in keeping people informed and entertained. Print media is typically more formal than electronic media and is often used for in-depth analysis and reporting.

Electronic Media

Electronic media is a form of communication that uses electronic devices, such as television, radio, and the internet. It is a relatively new form of communication, but it has quickly become one of the most popular ways to share information. Electronic media is often more immediate and interactive than print media and is often used for breaking news and entertainment.

Print media and electronic media have both advantages and disadvantages. Print media is often more reliable and in-depth, while electronic media is often more immediate and interactive. Ultimately, the best type of media for a particular purpose depends on the individual’s needs and preferences.

250 Words Essay on Print Media and Electronic Media

Print media: the traditional powerhouse of information.

Print media has ruled the realm of information dissemination for centuries. From newspapers and magazines to books and journals, printed words have shaped and molded public opinion, communicated news, and disseminated knowledge. Print media’s enduring strength lies in its tangible nature, enabling people to hold, feel, and interact with the information in a deeply personal way.

Electronic Media: The Modern Marvel of Instant Connectivity

Electronic media, born from the confluence of technology and innovation, has revolutionized the way we consume information. With the advent of the internet, television, and social media platforms, information is now available at our fingertips 24/7. Electronic media offers real-time updates, interactive experiences, and multimedia content that captivates audiences across the globe.

Convergence: The Intertwining of Two Worlds

As technology continues to advance, print media and electronic media are increasingly converging, creating a dynamic and interconnected information landscape. Newspapers and magazines have established strong online presences, extending their reach beyond the printed page. Conversely, electronic media outlets often create print publications, blurring the lines between the two mediums.

Impact on Society: Shaping Our Understanding of the World

Both print media and electronic media wield immense influence on society, shaping our perceptions, opinions, and behaviors. They inform us about current events, educate us on a myriad of topics, and entertain us in countless ways. The accessibility and immediacy of electronic media have made it a dominant force in shaping public opinion, often influencing political discourse and societal attitudes.

Conclusion: A Symbiotic Relationship

Print media and electronic media, while seemingly distinct, are intricately intertwined. They complement each other, providing diverse avenues for information dissemination and consumption. The future of media lies in the harmonious coexistence of these two powerful forces, each playing a vital role in informing, educating, and entertaining the world.

500 Words Essay on Print Media and Electronic Media

Print media: the traditional powerhouse.

The world of information and communication has undergone a remarkable transformation over the years, with print media playing a pivotal role in shaping societies for centuries. Print media encompasses a wide range of formats, including newspapers, magazines, journals, and books. These mediums have served as primary sources of information, entertainment, and education for generations.

Newspapers, with their daily updates, have kept people informed about current events, local happenings, and global issues. Magazines, covering diverse topics from fashion and lifestyle to science and technology, have catered to a wide range of interests and provided in-depth analysis and perspectives. Journals, academic and scholarly publications, have advanced knowledge and research across various disciplines. Books, the timeless companions, have transported readers to different worlds, enriched their imaginations, and expanded their horizons.

Electronic Media: The Digital Revolution

The advent of electronic media has ushered in a new era of communication and information dissemination. Electronic media encompasses a vast array of technologies and platforms, including television, radio, the internet, and social media. These mediums have transformed the way people consume news, entertainment, and information.

Television, with its ability to broadcast live events and produce captivating shows, has become a ubiquitous household fixture. Radio, despite the rise of other media, has maintained its popularity, reaching audiences with news, music, and talk shows. The internet, with its boundless connectivity and accessibility, has revolutionized the way people communicate, learn, and access information. Social media platforms, connecting people across geographical boundaries, have become powerful tools for sharing news, opinions, and experiences.

Convergence: The Blending of Print and Electronic

The distinction between print and electronic media has gradually blurred over time, leading to the emergence of convergence. Convergence refers to the integration of different media platforms and technologies to create new and innovative ways of delivering information and entertainment.

Many newspapers and magazines have established online versions, allowing readers to access content anytime and anywhere. Radio and television stations have expanded their reach through online streaming and podcasting. Social media platforms have become distribution channels for news and information, enabling users to share content from traditional media outlets and independent sources.

Impact on Society: A Changing Landscape

The evolution of print and electronic media has profoundly impacted society in numerous ways. Access to information has become more widespread, breaking down geographical and cultural barriers. News and information can now reach remote areas and marginalized communities, empowering individuals with knowledge and enabling them to participate in public discourse.

Electronic media has also revolutionized the way people learn and consume entertainment. Online courses, educational videos, and interactive games have made learning more accessible and engaging. Streaming services and online platforms offer a vast selection of movies, TV shows, music, and other forms of entertainment, catering to diverse tastes and preferences.

The Future of Media: Embracing Innovation

The future of media is poised for continued evolution, driven by technological advancements and changing consumer behaviors. Print media, while facing challenges, is likely to adapt and find new ways to engage audiences. Electronic media, with its dynamic and interactive nature, is expected to continue expanding and diversifying.

Innovation will play a crucial role in shaping the future of media. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality, have the potential to transform the way people consume and interact with information and entertainment. Media companies and content creators are constantly exploring new possibilities and experimenting with innovative formats to captivate audiences and deliver compelling experiences.

In conclusion, print and electronic media, with their unique strengths and characteristics, have played a profound role in informing, educating, and entertaining societies. As technology continues to advance and media landscapes evolve, the convergence of these mediums will likely lead to even more transformative and immersive experiences, shaping the way people engage with the world around them.

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Essay on Media: Short and Long Sample Essays

• Updated on  
• Dec 18, 2023

Media plays an important role in shaping our perceptions, influencing public opinion, and connecting individuals across the globe. The role of media in today’s modern world is not limited to just providing information. There are three basic purposes of media; inform, educate, and entertain. A society with free media allows it to have a social and cultural impact on it. Media offers us information about every activity going on in the world. Our smartphones, laptops, televisions, radios, and even public transportation have access to media, where we can watch news anytime and anywhere. Media not only influence our thoughts but can often manipulate our understanding of a particular topic. Continue reading essay on media to know more. Stay tuned!

Also Read: Social Media Bane or Boon

Also Read: Essay on Colonialism

Short Essay on Media

‘Media plays an important role in shaping our perceptions, influencing public opinion, and connecting individuals across the globe. Media includes different platforms such as television, radio, newspapers, and the internet. Media is considered a powerful tool to disseminate information and have social, cultural, and political influences on the masses.’

Some of the roles played by the media are:

• Informing the public through newspapers, news channels, and online portals.
• At the push of a button, media can provide us with a large source of information.
• Media has a significant impact on public opinion by framing issues, influencing perceptions, and shaping narratives.
• Some media platforms are considered political watchdogs, scrutinizing the actions of government officials and institutions. 
• Several media platforms rely on advertising revenue, and in turn, they provide a platform for businesses to promote their products and services.

Media can have both positive and negative impacts on an individual and society as a whole. Understanding the role of media and its limitations is important when watching or reading news. Media is meant for informational purposes. Its influence can vary from person to person. Media is a double-edged sword, which can have a negative or positive impact on our understanding, depending on how we perceive information.

Also Read: Essay on Social Issues

Long Essay on Media

‘Media is a great source of information. Some watch media for entertainment, while others for information or educational purposes. The way we perceive media can have a great impact on our understanding of a particular topic or information. In recent years, the influence of media has significantly increased. The role and influence of media is not limited and can take different forms. Newspapers and radio stations are some of the old and most preferred media sources as compared to television and internet media sources. The choices made by editors, the emphasis given to certain stories, and the narratives crafted can significantly impact how we perceive the world.

Types of Media

There are different types of media, which determine our choices.

News media comprises various platforms like SMS, blogs, email, internet, etc. These platforms are used to access and disseminate economic, social and political information. It offers new ways to develop business relationships with telecommunication companies that are capable of disseminating critical information that can change people’s lives.

Mass media includes print (newspapers, magazines), TV and radio. Due to the fast-paced TV and radio media platforms, there has been a significant decline in newspaper readership all over the world. However, there is a section of a group who still prefer newspapers as the best sources of information. On the other hand, TV and radio stations offer live information from different parts of the world.

Community Media

Community media focuses on the development and issues of a particular community. Some journalists work for community newspapers and radio stations within their community. They have their geographical limitations and sometimes are poorly resourced with immature journalists and editors.

What is the Role of Media?

‘Media plays multiple roles, educating and informing us about different fields. Media is not only there for news but also produces some amazing stories, documentaries, magazine programs and articles through its platforms.’

‘Media allows us to raise awareness and public voice against any unethical activity or decision of the government. Apart from sharing information, media has the power to be a catalyst for social change. It serves as a platform for advocacy, shedding light on injustices, and human rights violations, and inspiring collective action. 

We have witnessed how movements for equality and justice have gained momentum through the amplifying effect of media. As responsible citizens, we should support and engage with media that contributes to positive social change.

Different Roles of People in Media

Different people play different roles in the media and mass communication sector. 

• Board of Directors – Their job is to ensure that everyone within the organization fulfills their responsibilities within the given framework. They are the real policymakers within the organization. They are not responsible for day-to-day media programs. Their job is not to influence the work of editorial staff and junior journalists. 
• Media Manager – They are responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies for employees. They keep a check on what their media covers, how they have to do it, and what resources are required for everyday media coverage.
• Editors – There are different editorial teams, based on their roles and responsibilities. It includes editor-in-chief, special projects, financial, business, assignment, entertainment, etc. They are the gatekeepers because they are the final decision-makers on what will be published. They also guide journalists on the sources they would like to see in the story. 
• Sub-editors – They are an important part of a media house as they determine the ‘End product.’ Their role is to edit stories of structure, measure lengths of stories, check factual details, etc. They are responsible for writing news headlines and captions for photographs. These people have to work under strict deadlines. Because of this, their decision can be detrimental to the published stories.
• Reporter/ Journalist – They are the news hunters and gatherers. They make decisions on which stories to cover. It is critical to identify which journalists cover your type of issues and develop a relationship with them. 

Related Articles

Ans: Media plays an important role in shaping our perceptions, influencing public opinion, and connecting individuals across the globe. Media includes different platforms such as television, radio, newspapers, and the internet. 

Ans: There are three types of media: New media, Community media, and mass media.

Ans: Several people perform different roles in a media house, including reporters or journalists, sub-editors, editors, media managers, and the board of directors.

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Research Essay: Influence of Electronic Media on Print Media

Electronic media such as the Internet, e-books and tablet readers may be having an effect on the print media sector. This essay finds out if there is any validity to this argument.

Digital media does seem to have had an impact on the modern world, both affecting the online world and the offline business sectors, as well as world markets. It has certainly affected the communications sector and so it is plausible that it has affected print media too. (G5lo, 2013).

Since the year 2003, the amount of printed material in use for recreational purposes has gone down whilst the use of TV and other electronic media has gone up. This may indicate that digital media is having a direct influence on print media. (Wala, 2009).

Children are being encouraged towards digital media because there is more of it and because it is easier for parents when trying to entertain children. This means that children will grow to love digital media whilst ignoring print media. This is going to affect the print media sector in the long run. (Farnia, 2012).

Print media is easier to use and read which may be why it has not sunk out of our society completely. But, the read availability, convenience and price of digital media means that it may soon replace print media permanently. (Withers, 2012).

Studying may always rely on reading material, which begs the question of whether print media is going to fall from existence completely. It would appear that the transition from print media to digital media has been a lot slower in the academic world. And yet, it is conceivable that print media will be replaced by more convenient tablet devices in the future. (Ezeji, 2012).

Data does suggest that digital media is having an influence on the popularity of printed media, and that children are going to grow up to be fond of digital media. Print media is easier to read, but that is just one benefit of print media, where digital media has many benefits.

The evidence points towards the fact that digital media is influencing print media. But, the sliding popularity of print media may be more to do with social factors such as children are reading less. On the other hand, the benefits of digital media do seem to significantly outweigh the benefits of printed media.

Even though the reasons for the decline of print media popularity are unclear, it cannot be argued that digital media is rising. It may be rising as it replaces printed media, or it may be pushing printed media out of the arena. The two factors may be completely unrelated, but given the evidence provided on this essay, and the subsequent analysis and evaluation, I conclude that digital media is influencing print media.

Ezeji, E.C. (2012). Influence of Electronic Media on Reading Ability of School Children. Library Philosophy and Practice 2012. 1 (1), pp.1-114

Farnia (2012). Print and electronic media feeding us with information. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/print-electronic-media-feeding-us-information-37965/. [Last Accessed 22nd August 2013].

G5lo (2013). Impact of Electronic Media on the Society. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.g5lo.org.uk/index.php/8-communication/2-impact-of-electronic-media-on-the-society. [Last Accessed 22nd August 2013].

Wala, N, P. (2009). Electronic Media Stealing the Print Media’s Share! . [ONLINE] Available at: http://propakistani.pk/2009/01/30/electronic-media-stealing-the-print-media-share/. [Last Accessed 22nd August 2013].

Withers, J. (2012). Print Media Vs. Electronic Media. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ehow.com/about_5548825_print-media-vs-electronic-media.html. [Last Accessed 22nd August 2013].

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The Role of Print in the Digital News World

Paper by Journalist Fellow

Jayant Sriram argues that while the media must go digital, the printed word will survive. But print must change and adapt.  

Publishers of the future will, and must, play up the strengths of print for opinion, analysis, long-form narratives and infographics. In the world of 24 hour digital news, newspapers must move beyond the traditional American-style multi-section format approach, with page after page containing news that is already old by the time it reaches the newsstand.  

The print newspaper still has an important role to play, however. Print can help to define a brand, and gives readers a tangible connection with the title.  

Jayant Sriram

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Empowerment and Print Media Essay

Introduction, empowerment of print, works cited.

A deeper understanding of written and print media of communication can help understand its impact on the modern world. For instance, the growth of the human species does not develop naturally. It is achieved through the technology of writing that this transformation is attained. This paper looks into the aspect of empowerment of print.

Over the years, writing or public media have been highly regarded because they have helped to transform human consciousness. Writing has reconstituted originally spoken language to a visual space. This has formulated a platform where culture can be passed on to other generations. However, this is under scrutiny. It is evident that, over the years, print has liberated, educated, and exposed information to the masses leading to empowerment (DeGregori, 22).

The line between literacy and print is very thin. For instance, comparing the information, fiction, science, or any other aspect that is contained in a book cannot be equated to mere utterance. Thus, it is very evident that print media have had multiple effects on the modern society. This applies to institutions, churches, economy, and even the government. For instance, modern day print media has led to a revolution from oral-based education to the modern platform, which is adhered to by many people.

The modern education system has facilitated the use of charts and other logical diagrams when formulating analysis. Print has also enhanced the management of knowledge. For instance, the use of dictionaries help in providing correct language. With regards to economic development, print has facilitated ownership of words. Unlike the primary culture that would encourage the sharing of themes and ideas, the modern print culture has encouraged the use of proprietary rights (Briggs & Burke, 72).

During the age of the television and radio, television secondary orality was achieved. However, this cannot be considered to be different from the earlier forms of oral language because the communication sense is the same. It is also notable that the secondary orality is largely based on writing and print, which are critical for the manufacture, operation, and usage of the equipments. The impact that is generated by the developments in technology is attributed to print.

For instance, the television has brought a change in the political arena among many nations. This is achieved by reaching large masses through the modern developments. The live debates help the audience know the personality of their leaders. With this mandate, print largely challenges the authority of various governments (Briggs & Burke, 72).

The main challenge that print poses to institutions and governments lies in its ability to expose information and create awareness among the residents of a certain country. In addition, the print is very dynamic as compared to the primary oral culture.

Writing has greatly impacted on the church and religion as a whole. This has led to various religions adopting print as a form of media. Nevertheless, it has been observed that print lacks creativity, and its products are derived from the influence from others, or the environment in which they thrive (Bloom, 77).

It is evident that, over the years, print has liberated, educated, and exposed information to the masses leading to the empowerment of the citizenry. However, various forms of criticisms have been noted. In this case, print has exposed what would otherwise be considered as secrets. The proponents consider this as empowerment emanating from print. Print is a medium through which information is passed. Therefore, it has challenged governments and religion.

Bloom, Harold. The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry . New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.

Briggs, A. & B. Burke. The Print Revolution in Context , 2005. Print.

DeGregori, Thomas R. Bountiful Harvest: Technology, Food Safety, and the Environment . Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2002. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2022, March 27). Empowerment and Print Media. https://ivypanda.com/essays/empowerment-of-print/

"Empowerment and Print Media." IvyPanda , 27 Mar. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/empowerment-of-print/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Empowerment and Print Media'. 27 March.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Empowerment and Print Media." March 27, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/empowerment-of-print/.

1. IvyPanda . "Empowerment and Print Media." March 27, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/empowerment-of-print/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Empowerment and Print Media." March 27, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/empowerment-of-print/.

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The Evolution of Print Media: A Comprehensive Exploration

The evolution of print media: a glimpse into ancient times.

The evolution of print media can be traced back to ancient civilizations, where various forms of written communication were utilized. Ancient civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia recorded their histories, laws, and stories on clay tablets, papyrus [i] , and stone inscriptions. Standardized communication marked a significant step forward with the invention of writing systems like hieroglyphics [ii] and cuneiform [iii] .

In This Article

The invention of paper in Han Dynasty China (about 105 CE) was a turning point in the development of the print media. While writers still had to transcribe documents manually, this innovation greatly facilitated the production of written materials. However, the innovations in printing technology in the later centuries truly revolutionized how information was disseminated.

The Gutenberg Revolution: Birth of the Printing Press

The development of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440 was one of the most revolutionary events in the history of print media. The invention harnessed the power of moveable type, enabling the mass production of books and other printed goods. His Bible, printed in 1455, is regarded as the first significant book to be printed using this revolutionary technology. This breakthrough marked the beginning of the mass production of books, making disseminating knowledge more accessible and affordable.

The printing press had a significant effect on the growth of print media. It enabled the dissemination of knowledge and played a crucial part in the Renaissance, a time characterized by a renewed interest in the arts, sciences, and classical studies. With the emergence of printed books, education became more accessible to a larger portion of society, resulting in increased literacy rates and a shift in how people acquired knowledge.

The Era of Newspapers: Informing the Masses

As print technology continued to advance, newspapers emerged in the 17th century. The “Relation” was published in Strasbourg in 1605, followed by the “London Gazette” in 1665. These early newspapers were often published weekly or monthly, informing readers about current events, commerce, and politics.

In the 18th century, newspapers proliferated throughout Europe and the American colonies. These newspapers were indispensable to political debate and crucial in molding public opinion. In the United States, publications such as Benjamin Franklin’s “The Pennsylvania Gazette” contributed to disseminating ideas that sparked the American Revolution.

Birth of Print Media in India

The history of print media in India began in the 16th century when European missionaries and merchants introduced printing technology. In 1556, the Portuguese created the first printing press in India in Goa to disseminate Christian literature. However, the turning point occurred in the early 18th century when Irishman James Augustus Hicky published “Hicky’s Bengal Gazette” in Calcutta in 1780. (now Kolkata). It is primarily regarded as India’s first newspaper, marking the beginning of Indian journalism.

Industrialization and the Mass Circulation Press

Significant advances in print technology were made during the 19th century, coinciding with the rising industrialization of Western countries. The newspaper industry was changed by innovations such as steam-powered printing presses, mechanical typesetting, and the employment of high-speed machines. This era witnessed the emergence of the mass circulation press, which was marked by daily publications and lower prices.

Due to their low pricing, penny newspapers, such as “The New York Sun” and “The Daily Mail” in the United States and the United Kingdom, made newspapers more accessible to the working class. This period also saw the birth of sensationalism in journalism, as newspapers battled for readership with attention-grabbing headlines and scandalous stories.

Early Growth and Struggles of Print Media in India

India had a tremendous expansion of print media in the 19th century. During this time, the impact of newspapers such as “The Hindu” (formed in 1878) and “ The Times of India ” (started in 1838) began to take shape. These publications were crucial in shaping public opinion and establishing a spirit of nationalism.

During the colonial era, the Indian press was also subject to censorship and repression, as many legislation and laws tried to restrict press freedom. For instance, the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 sought to regulate regional-language journals. Despite this, Indian journalists and publications persisted in their efforts to inform and inspire the masses.

The Role of Print Media in the Independence Movement of India

Print media played a crucial part in India’s freedom struggle. Leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru utilized newspapers and magazines to promote their goals and rally public support. Gandhi’s “Harijan” and “Young India” were effective spokespersons for his nonviolent resistance movement.

Post-Independence Era

In 1947, when India gained independence, the print media scene witnessed a tremendous transformation. The Indian Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press, and this newfound liberty created a thriving and diverse media environment. The circulation of “The Times of India,” “The Indian Express,” and “Hindustan Times” increased significantly as they became influential voices in the Indian media landscape. Alongside English-language media, regional language newspapers began to develop, catering to India’s unique linguistic and cultural landscape. These publications include “Amar Ujala” (Hindi), “Anandabazar Patrika” (Bengali), and “Dainik Bhaskar” (Hindi).

Print Media in the 20th Century: Challenges and Innovations.

For print media, the 20th century was a century of contrasts. On the one hand, it experienced extraordinary development and innovation, while on the other, it faced problems posed by evolving technology and competition from other media types.

The introduction of color printing and advancements in photojournalism expanded the visual attractiveness of newspapers and magazines. World War I and World War II highlighted the significance of print media as a news and information source. During this time, newspapers such as “The New York Times” and “The Times of London” gained international fame.

In the latter half of the 20th century, television and radio emerged as the primary forms of mass communication. Print media faced the challenge of adapting to these new mediums. Nonetheless, it found ways to innovate, introducing new forms such as tabloid newspapers and magazines catering to specific interests such as fashion, entertainment, and way of life.

The Digital Revolution: Navigating the Information Age

The digital revolution of the late 20th and early 21st centuries changed the print media landscape. The advent of the Internet and digital technology presented both benefits and obstacles. Online news websites and digital editions of newspapers and magazines allowed global distribution and real-time updates. However, the ease of internet publication has led to questions regarding the quality and accuracy of information.

Print media organizations had to adapt quickly to the digital age by developing online presences, embracing multimedia storytelling, and introducing paywalls and subscription structures to maintain revenue. Social media platforms have further transformed news dissemination, as information may be instantly and virally disseminated.

Indian Print Media in the Digital Age

The introduction of offset printing, the computerization of editing operations, and the use of satellite technology for news distribution enhanced the quality and effectiveness of print media in India.

However, the greatest dramatic development occurred in the 1990s with the introduction of the Internet. Newspapers and publications have embraced online media, expanding their global readership reach. The “The Times of India” website was created in 1997, followed by other major publications.

The Contemporary Landscape: Print Media Today

Print media has evolved into a multi-platform enterprise in the 21st century. Traditional newspapers and magazines continue to exist in print and digital modes, while independent journalism websites and new media channels have flourished. The accessibility of smartphones and tablets has increased the reach of print media by enabling readers to access content on the go.

In-depth reporting, investigative journalism, and lengthy narratives rely heavily on the printed word. Magazines like The New Yorker and National Geographic continue to prosper, giving readers in-depth analysis, photographs, and captivating storylines.

Print media remains a powerful and dynamic industry in India. Leading newspapers such as “The Times of India” and “The Indian Express” maintain a significant print and digital presence, appealing to a varied audience. Regional language newspapers have also adapted to the digital age, ensuring that news is available to speakers of various Indian languages.

Print media continues to be a critical source of news and information, particularly for those who prefer the tactile experience of reading a physical newspaper. In addition, the editorial standards and investigative journalism of Indian publications remain vital in holding those in power accountable.

Challenges and Controversies

From the first newspaper in the late 18th century to the digital transformation in the 21st century, Indian print media has been instrumental in informing, influencing, and reflecting the diverse voices of the nation. However, there have been concerns about the independence and integrity of the print media.  Occasionally, the issue of paid journalism, sensationalism, and biased reporting has damaged the reputation of certain publications. Despite this, Indian print media has continued to provide the public with trustworthy, educational, and thought-provoking information.

The rise and development of print media are evidence of human brilliance, technological advancement, and the medium’s continuing relevance. From the earliest forms of written communication to the digital age, print media has adapted to shifting societal requirements and technological advances. It has been instrumental in changing societies, stimulating public dialogue, and sharing information.

Print media is an important component of mass communication and journalism in the information era, coexisting with digital platforms and providing a unique and useful perspective. In an ever-changing media world, its capacity to provide in-depth reporting, critical analysis, and long-form narratives maintains its sustained relevance.

[i] Papyrus is a tall, grass-like plant, used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans as a writing material.

[ii] Hieroglyphics is a form of writing that uses pictures or symbols to represent objects, concepts, or sounds. Hieroglyphics were used in ancient Egypt and other writing systems.

[iii] Cuneiform is an ancient writing system that was used in the Middle East. Cuneiform was first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE. It was used to record literature, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, and to communicate and formalize legal systems, such as Hammurabi’s Code. Cuneiform was used until the 1st century BC.

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Essay on Media – Types, Role, Power, Importance, Disadvantages

Category: Essays and Paragraphs On January 16, 2019 By Mary

Media can be referred to a means of communication that provide people with information and they also store information. There are various types of media that are used to deliver current news and offer entertainment to people. The media is an important tool as it mostly referred to as the voice of the people.

Types of Media

The first type of media is print media . This includes newspapers, magazines and journals. In this type of media, information is written down a bunch of paper and people get to read.

The second type of media is broadcast media . This includes radios and televisions. In this type of media, information is broadcasted over electronic devices.

Internet media is whereby people get information through the internet. This may include through social media sites or in websites.

Examples of Media

• Newspapers are an example of print media where information is contained in printed paper.
• Televisions are an example of broadcast media where people get information through videos and sound.
• A radio is an example of broadcast media where people get information through sound.
• Magazines are a type of printed media where people get information from printed paper.
• Websites are an example of internet media where people get to get information through the internet.

Purpose of the Media

The main purpose of the media is to provide the people with a platform where they can be informed, educated and given insights. It has the purpose of making sure that information is given to the public in an unbiased way.

Role of the Media

• The media has the role of strengthening the society . This is through airing the injustices that happen in the society and educating the society about their rights.
• The media has the role of shaping public opinion . It achieves this by providing a platform where the society can air their views.
• The media has a role to educate people . It should educate the people to make them more conversant about the changes that are happening in the society.
• The media also has the role of informing people . It should provide a platform where people get information that they seek.
• The media also has the role of being unbiased . It should provide information to the public with no bias and they should be non-partisan.

Power of the Media

The media is a very powerful tool in the modern society. The power of the media is dependent upon the roles of the media.

When it comes to politics, the media is a powerful tool that is used to uphold democracy. This is through ensuring that there is transparency in how the government is ruling.

It also is powerful when it comes to economies as it is through the media that people get to learn about the threats facing the economy and people hence react accordingly.

The media is also a powerful tool where truth can be put out there without biasness.

Importance of the Media

• The media helps to create transparency about what is going on around us. This is because media gives a platform where truths are told with no bias.
• The media is also important as it helps to promote democracy . This is by making sure that the public are informed about what is going on in their governments.
• The media is also important as it helps to inform and hence reducing ignorance. People get a lot of information through the media.
• The media is also important as it helps to warn people about bad weather and hence people can find ways of coping with the weather.
• The media also helps to expose injustices that are happening in the society.
• The media is important as it provides people with timely information about what is going on around them.
• The media is also important as it helps to educate people about various matters like health and the environment.

Disadvantages of the Media

• The media causes lack of privacy . This is because at times it tends to expose issues that are too personal and they also investigate people without their consent.
• Another disadvantage of the media is that it can carry out inaccurate reporting and this may cause information mishaps among people.
• It may also be difficult to limit the accessibility of children to certain media contents. Some the content that is contained in the media is not appropriate for children
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Essay On Media

Keeping up with the most recent developments is critical in today's society. People can get the most recent and important news through the media. The media is the most commonly used medium for receiving information from north to south or east to west. Here are a few sample essays on the topic ‘Media’.

100 Words Essay On Media

200 word essay on media, 500 word essay on media.

The media has an impact on the reputation of a political party, organisation, or individual. Media keeps people informed about current happenings in politics, culture, art, academia, communication, and commerce. Different forms of media help modern civilization in remaining in touch with the world in the shortest amount of time.

The media is all around us; we are immersed in it even when we are not aware of it. It is seen in newspapers, television, and technological gadgets such as cell phones. We perceive it as a tool for speeding time or distancing ourselves from what is going on in other people's lives.

Social media is a tool that has become immensely popular among all ages due to its user-friendly interface. The youth are the most prevalent social media user demographics, which is both remarkable and concerning.

Imagery from the media abounds in today's culture. We know this since we may see posters advertising well-known brands and the latest products almost anywhere we go, such as while driving on the highway. When we are drawn to advertisements, we may begin to imagine or visualise ourselves using them.

The media can tell us about a product, service, or message. Today, media influence is so powerful that it may easily influence public opinion both positively and negatively. We also live in a society that is heavily reliant on the media for entertainment and information. Indeed, pictures in the media have an effect on both people and society, especially women, men, teenagers, and young children.

Simultaneously, media such as television, broadens our perspective by providing us with access to facts from all around the world. Television may also provide us with a wide range of news and current happenings. It can also be a useful learning tool, guiding future generations in the proper direction.

The media has a large influence on our lives. We educate ourselves on a regular basis by staying up with the latest events. The news serves a crucial role in keeping us informed about current affairs and global happenings. For example, because of globalization, you can read about current happenings in the United States of America even if you live in India.

The media is the most significant communication tool. It aids in the delivery or dissemination of news. Although the media is also associated with spreading fake news, it also plays an important role in informing us about reality. We cannot deny that this world is filled with so many social problems that we require the media to spotlight these concerns so that the government or other individuals can take action to resolve these social issues.

Role Of Media

When it comes to the media, it is regarded as the fourth element of democracy. It's the most comprehensive repository of information on the globe. Everyone hope and expects the media to provide us with the most complete and accurate news in any situation. As a result, the media plays an important role in balancing all areas of our society.

It is crucial for teaching and informing global citizens about what is happening around the world. As a result, supplying readers with truthful and authentic news is vital for societal growth. The case of Aayushi Talvaar is a good illustration of how the media works.

Advantages Of Media

Education | The media educates the public. The mob learns about health issues, environmental preservation, and a variety of other relevant topics through television or radio programming.

Keeps Us Informed | People obtain the most recent news in a timely manner. Distance is not a barrier to providing knowledge to people from anywhere on the planet. People receive the daily latest news from media sites, which keep them current on the latest trends and happenings throughout the world.

Knowledge | The media can help you learn more about a variety of topics.

Amusement | It is a great source of entertainment. People are amused by music and television shows.

Disadvantages Of Media

Individualism | People spend far too much time watching or binge-watching stuff on the internet. As a result, their relationships with friends, family, and neighbours may suffer as a result.

Fraud and Cybercrime | The Internet is lurking with imposters, fraudsters, hackers, and other predators with the opportunity to commit criminal acts without the victims' knowledge.

Addiction | For most children and adults, some television shows and internet media can be quite addictive, resulting in a decrease in productivity.

Health Issues | Prolonged television viewing or internet bingeing can cause visual difficulties, and prolonged exposure to loud noises via headphones or earphones can cause hearing impairments.

Malware and Fake Profiles | Anyone can set up an anonymous account and pretend to be someone else. Anyone with access to such profiles might use them for malevolent purposes, such as spreading misinformation, which can harm the image of any targeted people or company.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

• Construction
• Entertainment
• Manufacturing
• Information Technology

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Geotechnical engineer

The role of geotechnical engineer starts with reviewing the projects needed to define the required material properties. The work responsibilities are followed by a site investigation of rock, soil, fault distribution and bedrock properties on and below an area of interest. The investigation is aimed to improve the ground engineering design and determine their engineering properties that include how they will interact with, on or in a proposed construction. 

The role of geotechnical engineer in mining includes designing and determining the type of foundations, earthworks, and or pavement subgrades required for the intended man-made structures to be made. Geotechnical engineering jobs are involved in earthen and concrete dam construction projects, working under a range of normal and extreme loading conditions. 

Cartographer

How fascinating it is to represent the whole world on just a piece of paper or a sphere. With the help of maps, we are able to represent the real world on a much smaller scale. Individuals who opt for a career as a cartographer are those who make maps. But, cartography is not just limited to maps, it is about a mixture of art , science , and technology. As a cartographer, not only you will create maps but use various geodetic surveys and remote sensing systems to measure, analyse, and create different maps for political, cultural or educational purposes.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Product Manager

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Operations manager.

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Bank Probationary Officer (PO)

Investment director.

An investment director is a person who helps corporations and individuals manage their finances. They can help them develop a strategy to achieve their goals, including paying off debts and investing in the future. In addition, he or she can help individuals make informed decisions.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

An expert in plumbing is aware of building regulations and safety standards and works to make sure these standards are upheld. Testing pipes for leakage using air pressure and other gauges, and also the ability to construct new pipe systems by cutting, fitting, measuring and threading pipes are some of the other more involved aspects of plumbing. Individuals in the plumber career path are self-employed or work for a small business employing less than ten people, though some might find working for larger entities or the government more desirable.

Construction Manager

Individuals who opt for a career as construction managers have a senior-level management role offered in construction firms. Responsibilities in the construction management career path are assigning tasks to workers, inspecting their work, and coordinating with other professionals including architects, subcontractors, and building services engineers.

Urban Planner

Urban Planning careers revolve around the idea of developing a plan to use the land optimally, without affecting the environment. Urban planning jobs are offered to those candidates who are skilled in making the right use of land to distribute the growing population, to create various communities. 

Urban planning careers come with the opportunity to make changes to the existing cities and towns. They identify various community needs and make short and long-term plans accordingly.

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Naval Architect

A Naval Architect is a professional who designs, produces and repairs safe and sea-worthy surfaces or underwater structures. A Naval Architect stays involved in creating and designing ships, ferries, submarines and yachts with implementation of various principles such as gravity, ideal hull form, buoyancy and stability. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Veterinary Doctor

Pathologist.

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Speech Therapist

Gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

Hospital Administrator

The hospital Administrator is in charge of organising and supervising the daily operations of medical services and facilities. This organising includes managing of organisation’s staff and its members in service, budgets, service reports, departmental reporting and taking reminders of patient care and services.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Videographer

Multimedia specialist.

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Linguistic meaning is related to language or Linguistics which is the study of languages. A career as a linguistic meaning, a profession that is based on the scientific study of language, and it's a very broad field with many specialities. Famous linguists work in academia, researching and teaching different areas of language, such as phonetics (sounds), syntax (word order) and semantics (meaning). 

Other researchers focus on specialities like computational linguistics, which seeks to better match human and computer language capacities, or applied linguistics, which is concerned with improving language education. Still, others work as language experts for the government, advertising companies, dictionary publishers and various other private enterprises. Some might work from home as freelance linguists. Philologist, phonologist, and dialectician are some of Linguist synonym. Linguists can study French , German , Italian . 

Public Relation Executive

Travel journalist.

The career of a travel journalist is full of passion, excitement and responsibility. Journalism as a career could be challenging at times, but if you're someone who has been genuinely enthusiastic about all this, then it is the best decision for you. Travel journalism jobs are all about insightful, artfully written, informative narratives designed to cover the travel industry. Travel Journalist is someone who explores, gathers and presents information as a news article.

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

Merchandiser.

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Metallurgical Engineer

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Media Education in English Language Arts

Literacy is expanding, and English language arts (ELA) educators at all levels must help learners develop the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed for life in an increasingly digital and mediated world. Media education is defined as the study of the media with the aim of cultivating people’s media literacy competencies (Lee, 2010). For people of all ages, media function as a public pedagogy due to their influential role in “organizing, shaping, and disseminating information, ideas, and values” (Kellner & Share, 2007, p. 3). To address inequalities in digital technologies and competencies, continuing curricular innovation in the ELA curriculum at all levels of K–12 education is needed. In this position statement, we articulate three core themes that make media education fundamental to teaching and learning in ELA education:

• Exploring Representation and Power through Critical Reading, Listening, and Viewing. Educators value the use of teaching and learning practices that help to identify and disrupt the inequalities of contemporary life, including structural racism, sexism, consumerism, and economic injustice. Critical pedagogies help learners see themselves as empowered change agents, able to imagine and build a better, more just world.
• Empowering Voice with Writing, Speaking, and Self-Expression. All learners need to be able to express themselves using writing, speaking, and visual representation using varied modes, genres, and platforms of communication. These competencies are essential to work, life, and citizenship, impacting who has access to conversations, who can speak, and who is heard.
• Increasing Relevance by Critically Examining Digital Media and Popular Culture. Media education includes attention to teaching and learning practices that increase the relevance of school to society. Inquiry pedagogies can help all learners understand the strengths and limitations of different media forms through an examination of the texts and literacy practices of everyday life, including informative, entertaining, and persuasive genres.

Context: Why Now?

Today’s students live in highly mediated worlds where information, entertainment, and persuasion are delivered to them through the many screens of daily life. If it could ever be said that language is the carrier of all meaning, this is certainly no longer the case, as multimodality represents “the normal state of human communication” (Kress, 2010, p. 1). We no longer live in a print-dominant, text-only world. We experience this reality daily in the GIFs and selfies we share with one another, the memes and videos we circulate through our social media feeds, the news broadcasts we watch on demand, the podcasts we binge, and the films, TV series, and live events we stream through the ever-growing list of digital platforms. Yet all these modalities involve some element of written language.

Young people encounter many types of media texts and use many different literacy practices throughout a given day. Everyone in our society now needs the ability to assess the widely varying quality of the information, entertainment, and persuasion that surrounds them, to evaluate the veracity and validity of claims, and to debunk misinformation when necessary. The broadening of the communication landscape opens greater opportunities for student voice and agency as they move from users and consumers to participators and creators. Through media education, students begin to deepen sociopolitical consciousness as they recognize how power relationships structure the narratives that surround us (Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1993).  

Around the world, educators have recognized that the many forms of media offer an expanded set of genres for reading and writing, and these practices have generally been identified as the practice of media education (Buckingham, 2003). ELA educators have long been well poised to support students’ identities as digital consumers, creators, distributors, and inventors through curriculum and pedagogy (Mirra et al., 2018). ELA educators are responsible for preparing students for a future with an evolving media landscape. As society and technology change, so too does literacy (NCTE, 2019b). While some instructional practices of media education can be generalized across disciplines, many areas are unique to disciplinary literacy within ELA education.

Because English teachers have a professional responsibility to prepare students for work, life, and citizenship, media education must be an essential component of the professional identity of teachers. We believe that ELA educators are creative individuals who are familiar with the power of digital media authorship in their own lives. They are

• active participants in contemporary culture and in their local communities, and they recognize how continually evolving media texts and platforms shape how stories and information are created, shared, and circulated (Weninger, 2018);
• professionals who take steps to actively understand, teach about, and compensate for media landscapes that are specifically designed to amplify narratives where some voices and points of view are emphasized and others are trivialized, demeaned, or ignored (Garcia et al., 2015);
• supportive of lifelong learners’ ability to understand, question, and analyze the many spaces of media and communication that are part of everyday life (Morrell et al., 2015).

Members of our discipline have long recognized how print literacies work in tandem with multiple modes of expression (Multimodal Literacies Issue Management Team, 2005). Students should examine how digital media and popular culture are completely intermingled with language, literature, and writing. The time has come to decenter book reading and essay writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education. Speaking and listening are increasingly valued as forms of expression that are vital to personal and professional success, and with the rise of digital media technologies, they now occur in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. The ability to represent one’s ideas using images and multimedia is now a valued competency in a wide variety of professional careers in the knowledge economy. It behooves our profession, as stewards of the communication arts, to confront and challenge the tacit and implicit ways in which print media is valorized above the full range of literacy competencies students should master.

Research evidence amply shows the need to move beyond the exclusive focus on traditional reading and writing competencies. For example, secondary school students lack critical reading comprehension skills that require them to distinguish between journalism and sponsored content, and they routinely ignore the source of a message when judging its accuracy (Breakstone et al., 2019). But when students are empowered to critically examine popular culture texts in the classroom, the process can productively disrupt classroom hierarchies as learners exercise the right to freedom of expression on issues that are perceived to have meaningful relevance to their identity and values (Cannon et al., 2020).

The rapid changes in the information and communication ecosystem have had important implications for English teachers and others both in and outside of school. It is important for ELA educators to recognize the variety of approaches used in media education, which are each rooted in disciplinary contexts with distinctive lineages, keywords, and concepts.

Approaches to Media Education

The variety of approaches used in media education is a source of great strength for ELA educators, because it enables them to align instructional practices with the needs of their learners and their school and community context (NCTE, 2021). Considering the diverse learning needs of children, adolescents, young adults, preservice teachers, teachers, parents, and other adult learners, one or more of these media education approaches will be relevant to ELA educators:

• News literacy. Driven by rising interest in “fake news” and disinformation, students learn to understand, interpret, and evaluate different forms of news, analysis, and opinion.
• Information literacy. Students receive scaffolding and support for research processes as they access, locate, curate, and evaluate information content, using library databases and the open internet to appreciate how expertise and authority are constructed and contextual.
• Media literacy. Students examine authors, audiences, messages, meanings, representations, and social realities by accessing, analyzing, and creating media in a wide variety of forms, using language, images, sound, and interactivity. Through practices of reflection and action, they consider how information and communication make an impact in the world.
• Media production. Working individually or collaboratively, students compose media through a creative process, during which a completed work product is shared with an authentic audience. This work may occur in any classroom, or it may be offered as an elective in school journalism, video production, or in other activities where voice, agency, and civic engagement are cultivated.
• Critical literacy. Students examine the cultural, ideological, and sociolinguistic content of the curriculum and focus on the uses of literacy for social justice in marginalized and disenfranchised communities.
• Critical media literacy. Students examine mass communication, popular culture, and new technologies by analyzing relationships between media and audiences, information, and power, often with attention to media institutions and representations that address systemic inequalities and social justice.
• Digital literacy. Students develop competencies in using digital platforms for lifelong learning through activities that involve guided inquiry, creative production, and connected learning.
• Digital citizenship. Students learn about the rights and responsibilities of people in complex, diverse societies and reflect on their own ethical choices as they use digital platforms in the context of work, life, and citizenship.
• Newer terms including data literacy and algorithmi c literacy invite learners to understand the ethical, political, technological, and economic dimensions of digital platforms and how they structure and control people’s access to information, entertainment, and persuasion.

Although each of these terms reflects distinctive instructional practices of media education, there is substantial overlap between them, which we identify below as core themes. As an essential part of curriculum and instruction in English language arts, these core themes should be also addressed in preservice and inservice teacher education and professional development.

Core Theme 1: Exploring Representation and Po wer with Critical Reading, Listening, and Viewing

English language arts education has changed over time in response to changes in culture, technology, and society. Educators now include a range of forms and types of texts, tools, and technologies, which now include modes (including linguistic, visual, and auditory), industries (journalism, publishing, advertising, film and video games), and genres (fiction, nonfiction, opinion, romance, horror, memes, GIFs, etc.). Today, people generally experience many different forms of media through digital platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Facebook, etc.). The architecture of these platforms reflects the values and identities of their commercial creators, while simultaneously shaping how users interact with each other to express and share thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

Narrative, expository, and persuasive texts are complex representations of social reality. As such, they shape our understanding of the world. In both the elementary and secondary grades, teachers model what they want students to do with texts, guiding and providing time for practice, then sharing and reflecting as a class. The use of digital texts and technologies amplifies existing literacy practices. For young children, these practices build trust, ownership, and a feeling of belonging (Muhtaris & Ziemke, 2015). Active discussion of media texts also enables learners to exert a degree of deliberate control over the reading process that may be less possible with other types of literature (Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1993). When the texts and learning activities in ELA classrooms are culturally responsive to the students we teach, education can function to reduce prejudice through developing critical questioning and cultural competence (Morrell et al., 2015). Student-initiated conversations that are responsive to the media texts of everyday life can generate critical thinking and rich inquiry on big topics like immigration, xenophobia, police brutality, racism, and environmental degradation, just to name a few.

Many teachers—whether consciously or unconsciously—tend to think of curriculum as a zero-sum game in which the study of literature competes with other activities, including the study of persuasive genres or popular culture. While updating our curricula beyond the canonical classics that have historically been taught may be necessary, media education need not displace the study of literature. A growing number of teachers value the opportunity to help students make connections between classic literature and contemporary media texts to advance multicultural understanding and address issues of equity. To this end, teachers benefit from developing confidence to implement instructional strategies that include

• Involving students as co-creators of the curriculum by acknowledging their unique lived experience, pleasures, and preferences in the selection of texts and learning activities (Dalton, 2020);
• Layering the reading of popular culture texts, multimodal texts, and classic literature together to showcase issues of representation in relation to the full scope of human creativity and imagination (Hall, 2016);
• Modeling how to use multiperspectival reasoning and critical evaluation strategies with digital texts and technologies (Hicks, 2021).

Core Theme 2: Empowering Voice with Writing, Speaking, and Self-Expression

Teachers of English language arts acknowledge that reading, writing, speaking, and writing should be central to the ELA curriculum, and they value the opportunity to help students become thoughtful and effective communicators. But some teachers feel pressure to prepare learners to succeed only on a few specific kinds of academic writing tasks, such as writing a five-paragraph essay, while others believe that speaking and multimodal composing activities take up too much classroom time.

Outside of the ELA classroom, the creative work of effective speakers and writers can be found in a wide array of media genres and forms, including journalism, blog posts, advertising, political campaigns, YouTube videos, social media, Buzzfeed-style listicles, photo essays, podcasts, infographics, and many other forms. Many students are more familiar with these forms than they are with traditional academic writing genres (Hobbs et al., 2019). When students can compose in a genre that they are familiar with and enjoy, they can explore ideas and issues in ways that academic writing alone cannot provide, often by deepening their emotional response to texts (Smith, 2018). Because not all students have the same access to compose and share digital media outside of the classroom, teachers can address issues of equity in media participation by providing students multiple opportunities to write and remix media genres within the classroom, as part of a media-rich academic writing curriculum. To this end, teachers benefit from developing confidence to implement instructional strategies that include

• Developing reading, listening, and viewing activities that use texts whose target audience crosses between age boundaries (Bintz & Ciecierski, 2021);
• Using multimodal composition practices to deepen critical engagement with academic content and present learners’ personal stances on contemporary social issues (Unsworth & Mills, 2020);
• Supporting learners as they compose messages to inform, persuade, and entertain, using language, music, and sound to advance critical listening and performance skills (Buckley-Marudas & Doerr-Stevens, 2019)

Core Theme 3: Increasing Relevance by Critically Examining Digital Media and Popular Culture

Outside the classroom, students’ engagement with digital media, popular culture, and multimodal texts is as high as it’s ever been and is ever increasing, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (Eales et al., 2021). ELA classrooms that exclusively rely on the study of literature and academic writing are becoming increasingly disconnected and remote from students’ lived experiences. Educators are often pleasantly surprised to discover how much time and talent students invest in their work when we expand our notions of literacy to include the analysis and production of video, infographics, podcasts, graphic novels, fanfiction, and other diverse modes. When literature, language, and writing are connected to students’ experiences with contemporary media and popular culture, it can also help keep the curriculum fresh and joyful (French, 2021).

Persuasion and propaganda play a central role in consumer culture, democracy, and public life, and the field of English language arts has long recognized the need to call attention to the power of misleading language that distorts reality (NCTE, 2019a). Still, for a variety of reasons, narrative and expository forms receive the lion’s share of attention in ELA classrooms, and the study of persuasive genres is uncommon—even when nearly every message in the home, workplace, and community includes persuasion. While some educators position argumentation as superior to persuasion and propaganda, classic theories of rhetoric have always recognized the coequal status of ethos, pathos , and logos as they work in concert to influence audience attitudes, knowledge, values, and behaviors (Fleming, 2019). To this end, teachers benefit from developing confidence to implement instructional strategies that include

• Exploring the interconnections between children’s participation in popular culture and their composing practices as they use diverse symbolic tools, including drawing, writing, and talking (Dyson, 2018);
• Using curated multimedia and popular culture resources, including music and podcasting, that are linked to ELA topics, issues, and themes (Evans et al., 2021);
• Deepening critical examination of persuasive genres, including the study of contemporary propaganda, by providing opportunities for learners to “talk back” to advertisers, political leaders, corporations, celebrities, and other public agents of persuasion (Hobbs, 2020).

Now that we have introduced three core themes, we briefly consider the importance of access and equity as well as the ongoing challenge of assessing student learning, which are key dimensions of media education in English language arts.

Access and Equity

Some English teachers may value the three themes of media education but not feel personally responsible for helping to develop students’ digital technology skills. But in the world outside the classroom, a wide range of literacy practices now rely on access to and use of digital texts, platforms, and technologies. Although digital texts, platforms, and technologies are important resources for learning, access to them is unevenly available in homes, schools, and communities. For this reason, ELA teachers should participate as active stakeholders and advocates in helping to increase access to digital devices, digital content, bandwidth, digital readiness, and the political economy of computational languages.

Digital devices: In creating compositions of all kinds, tools always matter. Just as pens and paper were once essential for traditional forms of literacy, digital devices are necessary to participate in the literacy practices of work, life, and citizenship. Although many students have access to smartphones, not all devices are created equal, and both hardware and software can impact a student’s ability to use the device in English language arts contexts. For instance, the hardware a student uses can affect their composition options in creating multimodal texts. Tablets and mobile phones are application-based, and their design lends itself to documenting life around students by capturing video, visual, audio, and geolocation information. But tablets and Chromebooks often limit pedagogies to consumption-focused practices (Sahin et al., 2016). Students in robust ELA curricula need to be able to do far more. Students need access to digital devices that enable them to engage with and manipulate digital texts, and schools can either provide greater access to a wider range of more useful devices in the classroom or offer more flexibility in allowing students to use their own digital devices (Woodall, 2021).

Digital content : Not all digital content is created equal. Whereas traditional textbook content could often be traced through clearly visible publishers, editors, and advisory boards, digital content often appears before teachers without comparable transparency. Whether from small, start-up ed tech companies, or from well-meaning teachers, it can be frustratingly difficult for teachers to gauge the trustworthiness and quality of digital content. In addition, digital content is often inseparable from the digital devices and applications used to access it. Whereas traditional static print-based content appeared straightforward to teachers, digital content always includes dynamic elements that are both seen and unseen: buttons to click on, text boxes to type into, voice-recording options, and a constant flow of data generated that sometimes (though not always) informs a student’s learning. Teachers must increase their confidence in scrutinizing both the source of digital content itself and the ways dynamic digital elements influence what and how students learn.

Bandwidth: Access to the internet can vary widely based on socioeconomic and geographic factors. When students or families report that they have home access to the internet, that does not mean that the access they have is equitable. A student who has access to the internet via a cable modem will in many cases be able to work more quickly and multitask compared to a student who reported having home internet access but is sharing a single device with cellular phone service. This is especially relevant as more and more schools are turning to video conferencing applications to facilitate blended and online learning.

Digital readiness: Discussion about digital divides now includes increasing emphasis on the degree to which people succeed or struggle when they use technology to try to navigate their environments, solve problems, and make decisions (Horrigan, 2016). Both students and teachers benefit from digital literacy competencies that empower them to use internet-connected devices well. Just as writers gain fluency through opportunities to read and write daily, students gain competencies through regular invitations to compose, share, and revise digital media compositions. In constructing multiple opportunities for students to build digital competencies, we foster students’ capacity to speak and be heard in the larger social conversations happening outside of the classroom. Because confidence in using technologies is necessary for lifelong learning, teachers must be sensitive to how an individual student’s readiness to engage with digital technology may be specific to a particular task, device, or app. For this reason, teachers also benefit from diverse professional development opportunities that increase their own confidence in implementing instructional practices that make use of digital media tools, apps, and platforms. Professional development experiences need to offer educators the chance to practice technical skills as well as to learn to implement rich, nuanced pedagogical practices. This need not be time consuming. Educators who explore DIY and makerspace approaches to teaching and learning have found that having shorter timeframes to create work and setting limits on the materials to be utilized increase both creativity and learning (Lahana, 2021).

Computational languages and power: All of the digital tools, platforms, and applications used by students and teachers are themselves composed of computer code written (most often) by companies. It is important for English educators to advance in our own critical awareness of how issues of power and inequity operate in the greatly invisible computational languages that comprise digital tools, platforms, and applications, especially as a small number of companies dominate our online activities and profit from the data we produce through online interactions (Nichols et al., 2022). Because our access to digital media is mediated and shaped by profit-seeking firms, it is important to unmask and critique the less-visible dimensions of the digital platforms we use for school, work, and daily life (Lynch, 2015), which are comprised of computational languages written for commercial purposes. Educators also have the right to be critical of technology firms that push gadgets into school districts in the name of revolutionizing education.

The inequalities of access to digital technologies in education heighten larger social inequalities in society. For this reason, many students need explicit instruction, modeling, and time to become proficient readers who comprehend and use digital technologies as tools for thinking. Without ongoing opportunities to learn, practice, revise, and reflect upon the digital tools they are using, students with limited or low-tech instruction will be missing key building blocks to becoming lifelong learners. For these reasons, we recommend that ELA teachers participate as active stakeholders, advocates, and co-learners in helping to increase access to digital devices, bandwidth, and digital readiness, and to understand and challenge the political economy of digital platforms and computational languages.

Assessment of Student Learning

The assessment-centric culture of schools clearly affects how teachers, parents, administrators, and students perceive the value of media education pedagogies and practices. While high-stakes testing and interruptions to instruction place demands on time and space in the ELA curriculum, educators have the power to articulate priorities in the choices they make during the school day.

Although many ELA teachers are quite receptive to expanding the concept of literacy, they often acknowledge that assessments of student learning are poorly aligned with the many new instructional practices of media education that are implemented in elementary and secondary schools (Dalton, 2020). Educators may struggle to apply conventional assessment practices to students’ use of digital and media technologies. For example, when students create digital media using online platforms, some teachers are unaware of how templates and design format options have influenced the structure and shape of the work. For this reason, it is important to align medium- or genre-specific criteria for evaluation with foundational rhetorical concepts like audience, purpose, point of view, structure, sequence, and tone.

Teachers need to design learning experiences with clear criteria for evaluation, and then provide timely, specific, and goal-oriented feedback that helps them develop knowledge and skills. Projects that require students to create media to demonstrate their learning provide opportunities to evaluate students based on their labor, which can include free-writing, drafting, peer review, revision, and editing (Hicks, 2021). Using multiple strategies for assessment includes attention to both process and product, self-reflection on learning, and attention to the affordances of digital technology for using, remixing, manipulating, and creating multimodal texts (Tan et al., 2020).

Feedback is the most important driver of student learning, and ELA educators understand deeply that it should be a primary form of assessment. Digital annotation enables students and instructors to have significant flexibility in commenting on student-created work, providing personalized, detailed feedback by highlighting text, adding comments, drawing notes, or attaching additional images, videos, or other resources directly within the creative work. Video annotation tools permit instructors and peers to make comments on student videos by pinpointing their comment to a particular moment in time.

Another intervention that may assist the migration of media education into the mainstream of education practice would be a disciplinary acceptance or agreed-upon language and systems for assessing and evaluating the communicative qualities present in diverse, multimodal texts (McGrail et al., 2021). While the communicative qualities deemed rhetorically effective will shift in relation to genre, audience, purpose, usage, and platforms, some general criteria have emerged for creative digital media products produced by learners. For example, criteria such as appropriation and transformativeness (the appropriate use of copyrighted material in the creative process) may provide a means to assess some features of student-produced media, helping students to avoid the perils of plagiarism and engage in remix practices that are creatively generative.

A Call to Action

In summary, we offer these action steps to advance media education in English language arts:

• The time is now to bring media education into the mainstream of ELA education. NCTE members should take personal responsibility for this work, working individually and collaboratively at the local, regional, and national levels.
• There are many different instructional practices and approaches to media education because of the rapid changes that have occurred in the information and communication ecosystem. NCTE members should make strategic decisions about which approaches to implement with their learners, taking into consideration their needs and using practices that are most relevant to the context of their classroom, school, and community.
• explore questions of representation and power through critical reading, listening, and viewing;
• use their empowered voices through writing, speaking, and self-expression in multiple genres and formats;
• make relevant connections between school and society through the use of digital media and popular culture.
• As an essential part of curriculum and instruction in English language arts, these media education themes should be addressed in both preservice and inservice teacher education and professional development through hands-on, minds-on learning.
• ELA teachers should participate as active stakeholders, advocates, and co-learners in helping to increase access to digital devices, bandwidth, and digital readiness, and to understand (and challenge) the political economy of digital platforms and computational languages.
• In assessing student learning, students and teachers should make use of digital and video annotation tools to provide multidirectional feedback from teachers, learners, and public audiences. Research and policy leadership initiatives should be implemented to help NCTE articulate best practices in assessment for project-based media assignments, including frameworks that support both medium-specific and general criteria for evaluation.

For students to be prepared for success in college and careers, they need high levels of engagement in their own learning and a strong sense of confidence in their identity as learners. For this reason, media education pedagogies can be a key lever in education reform when educators wield influence in ways that support critical, flexible, responsive, and creative thinking.

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Nichols, T. P., Smith, A., Bulfin, S., & Stornaiuolo, A. (2022). Critical literacy, digital platforms, and datafication. In J. Z. Pandya et al. (Eds.), The handbook of critical literacies  (pp. 345–353). Routledge.

Sahin, A., Top, N., & Delen, E. (2016). Teachers’ first-year experience with Chromebook laptops and their attitudes towards technology integration.  Technology, Knowledge and Learning ,  21 (3), 361–378.

Smith, B. E. (2018). Composing for affect, audience, and identity: Toward a multidimensional understanding of adolescents’ multimodal composing goals and designs.  Written Communication ,  35 (2), 182–214.

Tan, L., Zammit, K., D’warte, J., & Gearside, A. (2020). Assessing multimodal literacies in practice: A critical review of its implementations in educational settings. Language and Education , 34 (2), 97–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2019.1708926

Unsworth, L., & Mills, K. A. (2020). English language teaching of attitude and emotion in digital multimodal composition.  Journal of Second Language Writing ,  47 , 100712.

Weninger, C. (2018). From language skills to literacy: Broadening the scope of English language education through media literacy . Routledge.

Woodall, M. K. (2021). Beyond apps and activities: Intentional integration of technology in English language arts education. In C. M. Moran (Ed.),  Affordances and constraints of mobile phone use in English language arts classrooms  (pp. 29–40). IGI Global.

This statement is an update of the NCTE position statement on Multimodal Literacies (2005).

Statement Authors

• Renee Hobbs, chair, University of Rhode Island
• Denise Chapman, Monash University, Australia
• Candance M Doerr-Stevens, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Seth D. French, Bentonville High School, AR
• Tom Liam Lynch, The New School, New York, NY
• Cruz Medina, Santa Clara University, CA
• Ernest Morrell, University of Notre Dame, IN
• Chris Sloan, Judge Memorial Catholic High School, UT
• Lisa Stringfellow, The Winsor School, MA
• Kristin Ziemke, Big Shoulders Fund, Chicago, IL

Critical Friends

• Bill Bass, Parkway School District, St. Louis, MO
• Fred Haas, Hopkinton High School, MA
• Troy Hicks, Central Michigan University
• Sara Kajder, University of Georgia
• Katie Muhtaris, Barrington Community Unit School District 220, IL
• Csilla Weninger, National Institute of Education, Singapore

This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.

Essay On Mass Media

500 words essay on mass media.

All kinds of different tools which come in use to help in distributing and circulating information and entertainment to the public come under the term of mass media. In other words, everything including radio, newspapers , cable, television and theatre are parts of mass media. These tools include exchanging opinions and public involvement. Through essay on mass media, we will go through it in detail.

Introduction to Mass Media

In today’s world, mass media embraces internet , cell phones, electronic mail, computers, pagers and satellites. All these new additions function as transmitting information from a single source to multiple receivers.

In other words, they are interactive and work on the person to person formula. Thus, it revolves around the masses i.e. the people. It is true that radio, television, press and cinema are in the spotlight when we talk about mass media.

Nonetheless, the role of pamphlets, books, magazines, posters, billboards, and more also have equal importance if not less. Moreover, the reach of these tools extends to a huge amount of masses living all over the country.

Television, cinema, radio and press are comparatively expensive forms of media which private financial institutions or the Government runs. These tools centre on the idea of mass production and mass distribution.

Therefore, newspapers, television and radio cater to the needs of the mass audience and accommodates their taste. As a result, it will not always be refined or sophisticated. In other words, it displays popular culture.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

The Function of Mass Media

The main function of mass media is to reach out to the masses and provide them with information. In addition to that, it also operates to analyze and observe our surroundings and provide information in the form of news accordingly.

As a result, the masses get constantly updated about not just their own surroundings but also around the world. This way mass media spreads and interprets information. For instance, weather forecasts equip people and farmers to plan ahead.

Similarly, fishermen get updates about the tidal activities from the news. In addition to this, mass media also strives to keep the fabric of our social heritage intact which showcasing our customs, myths and civilization.

Another major product of mass media is advertising. This way people learn about the goods and services in the market. It also spreads social awareness. For instance, anti-smoking campaign, women empowerment, green earth clean earth and more.

Most importantly, with the numerous mediums available in multiple languages, the masses get entertainment in their own language easily. Millions of people get to access a cheap source of relaxation and pass their time. In fact, it also helps to transport momentarily from our ordinary lives to a dream world. Thus, it remains the undisputed leader in reaching out to the masses.

Conclusion of Essay on Mass Media

All in all, while it is an effective tool, we must also keep a check on its consumption. In other words, it has the power to create and destroy. Nonetheless, it is a medium which can bring about a change in the masses. Thus, everyone must utilize and consume it properly.

FAQ on Essay on Mass Media

Question 1: Why is mass media important?

Answer 1: Mass media is essential as it informs, educates and entertains the public. Moreover, it also influences the way we look at the world. In other words, it helps in organizing public opinion.

Question 2: How does mass media affect our lives?

Answer 2: Mass media affects many aspects of human life, which range from the way we vote to our individual views and beliefs. Most importantly, it also helps in debunking false information.

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Mass Media Essay

500+ words mass media essay.

The current age is termed the era of information. So, mass media is used to spread and share information. Mass media has become more potent after the advancement of digital technology. It is the most influential source of various ideas, news, and opinions. It also provides information about the happenings around the world.

Mass media means tools used in distributing and circulating information and entertainment to the masses. It includes television, the internet, radio, newspaper, and theatre. These modes of communication provide a platform to exchange opinions and public involvement.

In this essay on mass media, we will discuss the function of mass media and its importance to the world.

Introduction to Mass Media

In our society, mass media plays a crucial role. Mass media is a medium that brings news, entertainment, and cultural and educational programs to millions of homes. Mass media is classified into two categories: Print media and electronic media. Print media includes journals, newspapers, magazines, etc., and electronic media consists of the internet, TV, movies, etc. Some primary resources through which we get information are reading newspapers and magazines, listening to the radio and watching TV.

Radio, television, cinema and press are expensive forms of media run by private or government-run institutions. The main focus of these institutions is the idea of mass production and mass distribution. Among all the mass media tools, TV is the most popular. We have many channels to watch various shows, films, sports, plays, and educational and cultural programs.

Compared to other mass media tools, the information published in the newspapers is different. It publishes information about the latest happenings nationally and internationally. Some magazines and newspapers cover news, events, and reports on sports, cultural life, education, fashion, and entertainment for youth.

By watching TV or listening to the radio, you can upgrade your history, literature, and cultural knowledge and even learn foreign languages. Mass media includes cell phones, the internet, computers, pagers, emails, and satellites in today’s world. Information can be sent from a single source to multiple receivers through these mediums.

Other mass media tools such as books, magazines, pamphlets, books, billboards, etc., also have equal significance as the reach of these mediums extends to a massive number of masses.

The Function of Mass Media

Information.

One of the primary functions of mass media is the dissemination of information. Mass media circulates information and opinions about various events and situations to mass audiences. The information we get through multiple mediums of mass media is subjective, objective, secondary and primary. As an audience, we get informative news about the happenings worldwide via mass media. Media broadcast information on TV, radio, newspapers or magazines. Moreover, advertisements are also mainly for information purposes.

Entertainment

The most apparent function of mass media is entertainment. It is a performance that pleases people by making leisure time more enjoyable. Magazines and newspapers, television, radio, and other online mediums offer serials, stories, films, and comics to entertain audiences. Other instances include news, sports, columns, art and fashion. Infotainment means the fusion of entertainment and information, and edutainment is education and fun programs.

Socialisation

Socialisation means the transmission of culture and media works as reflectors of society. Socialisation is a process by which people behave in acceptable ways in their culture or society. Through this process, we learn how to become members of our community or human society in a greater sense. People who read a newspaper or watch television know how people react to matters and what norms and values they perceive on particular events, issues, or situations.

The link between the government and the people

The government utilises the power of mass media to explain, inform, and support its policies and programs.

Conclusion of Essay on Mass Media

All in all, while it is an effective tool, we must also check its consumption. In other words, it has the power to create and destroy. Nonetheless, it is a medium that can bring about a change in the masses. Thus, everyone must utilise and consume it properly.

From our BYJU’S website, students can also access CBSE Essays related to different topics. It will help students to get good marks in their exams.

Frequently asked Questions on Mass media Essay

Why is mass media important.

Mass media provides information, education and also entertainment. Thus it is considered important and a quick media to share any type of content.

What are two main categories of mass media?

Print media and electronic media are the two main mass media categories. All the other types of media mostly come under these two broad sections.

What types of information can one obtain from such mass media?

History, literature, kowledge on cultural and foreign language, etc are some of the examples that can be obtained from mass media.

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Short Essay on Power of Media [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF

In today’s lesson, you will learn how you can write short essays on ‘Power of Media.’ There will be three different sets of short essays on the same topic covering different word limits. 

Short Essay on Power of Media in 100 Words

The term ‘’media’’ is derived from the word ‘’medium’’, which refers to the way through which information is transferred from one person to another. Media as the collection of several types of equipment enable the spreading of news and messages far and wide.

Several modes of communication like television, telephone, radio, internet, newspaper, advertisements, allow us to impart knowledge about important issues in our life. Media is extremely powerful in its speed of spreading accurate information. At any specific time, we observe how media personals work at several places and give us the news most required. Any scandal, rumour, facts,  everything is noted by the media and explained to us in due course. 

Short Essay on Power of Media in 200 Words

Media is the way of mass communication and entertainment. It is the process through which the masses of people are communicated and united under one single piece of information. Media or the several forms of information medium fall under the group of information technology.

All of them act together to deliver error-free news and information so that democracy is not disturbed by fake information. Media includes newspapers, magazines, telephone, television, internet, advertisement, emails, messages, cinemas, and others. Media acts through both audio and visual effects to create the maximum effect. 

The biggest power of media lies in its potential to persuade people to take necessary action. When we hear a newsreader dictating the news, then the listeners are swayed by the intonation of the reader. The person speaks in order to claim the truthfulness of the piece of information. In the exact same manner, a newspaper is organized to direct the opinions of the readers in a certain course.

Advertisements are the most powerful ways of media. We are highly influenced by it and inspired to take ready actions that are necessary. At present, the internet is the media that share all news with the greatest speed. 

Short Essay on Power of Media in 400 Words

The influence of media in our lives is of immense importance. It not only imparts us news and pieces of information but is the biggest source of entertainment. Cinema and music as parts of media give us pure joy and happiness, which also enables us to entertain ourselves. Yet the majority of the media is concentrated on gathering correct information and delivering it to the country.

Media includes newspapers, radio, T.V., telephone, internet, advertisements, placards and posters, and others. All these are our constant companions that allow us to form our opinions on different issues regarding life, society, and country. 

Media is powerful in its mode of persuasion. The biggest capacity of any media equipment is that it can easily manipulate the opinion of people and allow them to form a specific sort of perspective. The best weapon in this regard is the newspaper. The way a newspaper is arranged and the headlines are prepared, makes this persuasion quite easy. The visual and literal aspects of a newspaper are the sole power of media. The same goes for the advertisements as well.

The visual and written content of advertisements equally influences us to buy a product or service. For the newsreaders, their intonation is the power. The way they narrate a news story enables listeners to realize the significance of the news. The diction of a newsreader is important in this regard that helps to grab the attention of the people. Media is the potential way to unite the country under one principle and equal opinion. The issue lies with the efficiency of the journalist.

He risks every danger so as to collect authentic news for the benefit of mankind. The efficiency of the strength of media lies at every stratum of collecting the information and converting it into the news. Be it the print media or the audio method, all require this adept nature to strongly create a safe environment for news channels.

Media is both effective and effective. In this regard, the nature of the internet can be considered. Even in the most difficult circumstances internet becomes the den of evil and fake news. It creates unnecessary commotion among innocent folks and is equally responsible for disrupting the peace and stability of the nation.

The capacity to create public opinion is used for dangerous purposes and the power of media is wasted for the benefit of evil people. It is thus the knowledge of the people to not accept all news blindly. Media is effective in spreading the news within the shortest period. However, careful utilization of this power is expected.

Hopefully, after going through this session, you have a  holistic idea about writing short essays on the topic ‘Power of Media.’ I have written these essays in very simple words for a better understanding of all kinds of students. Kindly comment down your doubts, if you still have any. 

Keep browsing our website to read more such short essays on various important topics. And don’t forget to join us on Telegram to get all the latest updates. Thank you. 

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Essay on Media | Role of Media Essay For College Level Students

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Media is the important pillar of society. It has great positive and negative impacts of society. In any way we can never deny the role, power, importance, advantages & disadvantages of media in every walk of our life.

List of Topics

For that, we have tried to write short & Long Essays on topic media covering all important points like; power of media, advantages & disadvantages of media, types, role & impacts of media in our lives.

These short & Long essays are quite helpful for Children & students of Primary, middle, high school & college level students in 100, 200, 300 & 500 plus words essay on Media.

Essay on Media | Types & Role of Media in Society

We live in a society that depends on information to keep moving in the right direction. Media has that power to influence peoples’ attitude and perspective about many issues.

It has power to groom the society and lead a country towards success. It would not be wrong to say that media plays an important role in any individual’s life by providing information about anything, from politics to entertainment.

Types of Media

There are two types of media; print media and electronic media. Print media includes newspapers, magazines and books whereas electronic media includes television, radio and radio.

Role of Media in Society

Now a days, our life is surrounded by mass media. We start our day by reading newspaper while having a cup of coffee, we see television to get an idea of what is happening in the world.

>>>>> Related Post:   Speech on Technology & its Importance

We can have access to every information with just a flip of tv channel or turn of newspaper pages. Media covers all categories of our interest including weather, health, politics, science, geography, fashion, entertainment, war etc.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Media

People working in media risk their lives during live coverage of incidents just to update us. They do not care about their own life, they deliver us latest information even if there are floods, earth quakes or protests. If there is no media coverage then this entire world would plunge into ignorance.

Our minds are under the constant influence of media. It can make people change their opinions about many things. We get a lot of ideas about our daily life through advertisements like what we should eat, buy or wear.

We learn about our role models by hearing about their great deeds through media. The electronic media also brings us awareness about political, cultural and religious life of every country. It is because of media that even a domestic woman can learn about cooking, education and important health tips. It helps to build our knowledge and change our perspective about certain things.

Media has much power to criticize the wrong doings of government. We learn about all the policies of government and how is the relationship of our country with other countries. There are various talk shows where government officials are invited and questioned about their role in the improvement of country’s condition.

It forms a link between government and people. Many corrupt people are also exposed because of media. It would be not wrong to say that media has played an important role in strengthening the society. Media plays a huge role in protecting and promoting the cultures and traditions of its country. It spreads happiness and peace through its entertainment programs.

However, there are some flaws in today’s media. Unnecessary coverage of events has now become a trend. Moreover, there are several programs in which media twists the whole story just to gain more audience. They exaggerate certain issues in order to gain more hype for their channel’s benefit.

The ways in which media is contributing for the betterment of society are remarkable. However, media is destroying its image in the eyes of people because of these issues. Therefore, media should deliver true concept-based stories without exaggerating it because media is the only platform which act as a catalyst for bringing a positive change in society.

>>>>>>> Similar Reading:   Essay on Importance of English as an International Language

Media is a platform to update us with true facts and information of the world. Without media, we would have been left far behind in the race of life. However, media should be fair and free in order to bring a change in this society and mindset of people.

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The Cowardice of Guernica

The literary magazine Guernica ’s decision to retract an essay about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reveals much about how the war is hardening human sentiment.

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Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

In the days after October 7, the writer and translator Joanna Chen spoke with a neighbor in Israel whose children were frightened by the constant sound of warplanes. “I tell them these are good booms,” the neighbor said to Chen with a grimace. “I understood the subtext,” Chen wrote later in an essay published in Guernica magazine on March 4, titled “From the Edges of a Broken World.” The booms were, of course, the Israeli army bombing Gaza, part of a campaign that has left at least 30,000 civilians and combatants dead so far.

The moment is just one observation in a much longer meditative piece of writing in which Chen weighs her principles—for years she has volunteered at a charity providing transportation for Palestinian children needing medical care, and works on Arabic and Hebrew translations to bridge cultural divides—against the more turbulent feelings of fear, inadequacy, and split allegiances that have cropped up for her after October 7, when 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage in Hamas’s assault on Israel. But the conversation with the neighbor is a sharp, novelistic, and telling moment. The mother, aware of the perversity of recasting bombs killing children mere miles away as “good booms,” does so anyway because she is a mother, and her children are frightened. The act, at once callous and caring, will stay with me.

Not with the readers of Guernica , though. The magazine , once a prominent publication for fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction, with a focus on global art and politics, quickly found itself imploding as its all-volunteer staff revolted over the essay. One of the magazine’s nonfiction editors posted on social media that she was leaving over Chen’s publication. “Parts of the essay felt particularly harmful and disorienting to read, such as the line where a person is quoted saying ‘I tell them these are good booms.’” Soon a poetry editor resigned as well, calling Chen’s essay a “horrific settler normalization essay”— settler here seeming to refer to all Israelis, because Chen does not live in the occupied territories. More staff members followed, including the senior nonfiction editor and one of the co-publishers (who criticized the essay as “a hand-wringing apologia for Zionism”). Amid this flurry of cascading outrage, on March 10 Guernica pulled the essay from its website, with the note: “ Guernica regrets having published this piece, and has retracted it. A more fulsome explanation will follow.” As of today, this explanation is still pending, and my request for comment from the editor in chief, Jina Moore Ngarambe, has gone unanswered.

Read: Beware the language that erases reality

Blowups at literary journals are not the most pressing news of the day, but the incident at Guernica reveals the extent to which elite American literary outlets may now be beholden to the narrowest polemical and moralistic approaches to literature. After the publication of Chen’s essay, a parade of mutual incomprehension occurred across social media, with pro-Palestine writers announcing what they declared to be the self-evident awfulness of the essay (publishing the essay made Guernica “a pillar of eugenicist white colonialism masquerading as goodness,” wrote one of the now-former editors), while reader after reader who came to it because of the controversy—an archived version can still be accessed—commented that they didn’t understand what was objectionable. One reader seemed to have mistakenly assumed that Guernica had pulled the essay in response to pressure from pro-Israel critics. “Oh buddy you can’t have your civilian population empathizing with the people you’re ethnically cleansing,” he wrote, with obvious sarcasm. When another reader pointed out that he had it backwards, he responded, “This chain of events is bizarre.”

Some people saw anti-Semitism in the decision. James Palmer, a deputy editor of Foreign Policy , noted how absurd it was to suggest that the author approved of the “good bombs” sentiment, and wrote that the outcry was “one step toward trying to exclude Jews from discourse altogether.” And it is hard not to see some anti-Semitism at play. One of the resigning editors claimed that the essay “includes random untrue fantasies about Hamas and centers the suffering of oppressors” (Chen briefly mentions the well-documented atrocities of October 7; caring for an Israeli family that lost a daughter, son-in-law, and nephew; and her worries about the fate of Palestinians she knows who have links to Israel).

Madhuri Sastry, one of the co-publishers, notes in her resignation post that she’d earlier successfully insisted on barring a previous essay of Chen’s from the magazine’s Voices on Palestine compilation. In that same compilation, Guernica chose to include an interview with Alice Walker, the author of a poem that asks “Are Goyim (us) meant to be slaves of Jews,” and who once recommended to readers of The New York Times a book that claims that “a small Jewish clique” helped plan the Russian Revolution, World Wars I and II, and “coldly calculated” the Holocaust. No one at Guernica publicly resigned over the magazine’s association with Walker.

However, to merely dismiss all of the critics out of hand as insane or intolerant or anti-Semitic would ironically run counter to the spirit of Chen’s essay itself. She writes of her desire to reach out to those on the other side of the conflict, people she’s worked with or known and who would be angered or horrified by some of the other experiences she relates in the essay, such as the conversation about the “good booms.” Given the realities of the conflict, she knows this attempt to connect is just a first step, and an often-frustrating one. Writing to a Palestinian she’d once worked with as a reporter, she laments her failure to come up with something meaningful to say: “I also felt stupid—this was war, and whether I liked it or not, Nuha and I were standing at opposite ends of the very bridge I hoped to cross. I had been naive … I was inadequate.” In another scene, she notes how even before October 7, when groups of Palestinians and Israelis joined together to share their stories, their goodwill failed “to straddle the chasm that divided us.”

Read: Why activism leads to so much bad writing

After the publication of Chen’s essay, one writer after another pulled their work from the magazine. One wrote, “I will not allow my work to be curated alongside settler angst,” while another, the Texas-based Palestinian American poet Fady Joudah, wrote that Chen’s essay “is humiliating to Palestinians in any time let alone during a genocide. An essay as if a dispatch from a colonial century ago. Oh how good you are to the natives.” I find it hard to read the essay that way, but it would be a mistake, as Chen herself suggests, to ignore such sentiments. For those who more naturally sympathize with the Israeli mother than the Gazan hiding from the bombs, these responses exist across that chasm Chen describes, one that empathy alone is incapable of bridging.

That doesn’t mean empathy isn’t a start, though. Which is why the retraction of the article is more than an act of cowardice and a betrayal of a writer whose work the magazine shepherded to publication. It’s a betrayal of the task of literature, which cannot end wars but can help us see why people wage them, oppose them, or become complicit in them.

Empathy here does not justify or condemn. Empathy is just a tool. The writer needs it to accurately depict their subject; the peacemaker needs it to be able to trace the possibilities for negotiation; even the soldier needs it to understand his adversary. Before we act, we must see war’s human terrain in all its complexity, no matter how disorienting and painful that might be. Which means seeing Israelis as well as Palestinians—and not simply the mother comforting her children as the bombs fall and the essayist reaching out across the divide, but far harsher and more unsettling perspectives. Peace is not made between angels and demons but between human beings, and the real hell of life, as Jean Renoir once noted, is that everybody has their reasons. If your journal can’t publish work that deals with such messy realities, then your editors might as well resign, because you’ve turned your back on literature.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, Reveals She Has Cancer

The princess described the news as a “huge shock” and asked for “time, space and privacy” in a prerecorded video broadcast on the BBC on Friday evening in Britain.

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Princess of Wales Announces Cancer Diagnosis

In a video statement, catherine, princess of wales, said that she had been diagnosed with cancer and started chemotherapy..

I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst I’ve been recovering from surgery. It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family. But I’ve had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me, for which I’m so grateful. In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London, and at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I’m now in the early stages of that treatment. This, of course, came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that’s appropriate for them and to reassure them that I’m going to be OK. As I’ve said to them, I am well. And getting stronger every day, by focusing on the things that will help me heal, in my mind, body and spirits. Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance, too, as is the love, support and kindness that has been shown by so many of you. It means so much to us both. We hope that you’ll understand that as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy, and I look forward to being back when I’m able. But for now, I must focus on making a full recovery. At this time, I’m also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.

Mark Landler

Reporting from London

Here’s the latest on the Princess of Wales’s cancer news.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, has been diagnosed with cancer and has begun chemotherapy, she announced in a video message on Friday, in which she described the past two months as “incredibly tough for our entire family.”

Her diagnosis follows that of King Charles III , who announced his own cancer diagnosis and treatment in early February. It comes after a period of intense uncertainty about the health of Catherine, who underwent abdominal surgery in January and largely disappeared from public view as she tried to recuperate.

Like the king, Catherine, 42, did not specify what kind of cancer she had but asked the public and news media to respect her desire for privacy.

“We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment,” said Catherine, who is the wife of Prince William and a future queen.

“This of course came as a huge shock,” Catherine said, “and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time.”

Catherine’s announcement is a grim coda to a period of increasingly wild rumors about her health and well-being. But it plunges the British royal family into a period of even deeper uncertainty, with both the 75-year-old monarch and his daughter-in-law, the wife of his eldest son and heir and the mother of Prince George, the second in line to throne, facing grave health problems.

In her statement, Catherine said that at the time her surgery was performed, doctors believed that her condition was noncancerous. The surgery was successful, she said, but in further tests, the doctor found evidence of cancer. They recommended a course of chemotherapy, which she said she had recently begun.

“It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment,” Catherine said in the video. “But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”

Catherine’s announcement eerily echoed that of Charles’s. Buckingham Palace said that the king’s cancer was detected after a procedure for an enlarged prostate. While the palace has said he does not have prostate cancer, it has not specified what kind of cancer it is, nor his prognosis.

Until Catherine’s video on Friday, Kensington Palace, where William and Catherine have their offices, had released even fewer details about her condition, an information vacuum that led to a raft of rumors and conspiracy theories on social media .

In the video, which Kensington Palace said was recorded by BBC Studios in Windsor on Wednesday, Catherine is sitting on a bench outside, with daffodils and trees in blossom behind her.

Her hands clasped on her lap, she begins by thanking the public for their messages of support and understanding while she was recovering from surgery, before announcing her diagnosis.

“In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London, and, at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous. The surgery was successful,” she said. “However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I am now in the early stages of that treatment.”

Catherine’s statement emphasized the importance of her three children and their well-being as a key factor in the timing of the announcement. “As I have said to them,” she said, “I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal; in my mind, body and spirits. Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance, too.”

The children’s school has now closed for the Easter holidays. A Kensington Palace official said Catherine and William had wanted to share the information when they felt it was right for them as a family.

Catherine ended her video statement with a message for other people affected by a cancer diagnosis. “At this time, I am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer,” she said. “For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.”

Gina Kolata

Gina Kolata previously reported on King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis .

Doctors recognize familiar pattern in the princess’s statement.

Although it is not known what type of cancer Princess Catherine has, oncologists say that what she described in her public statement that was released on Friday — discovering a cancer during another procedure, in this case a “major abdominal surgery” — is all too common.

“Unfortunately, so much of the cancer we diagnose is unexpected,” said Dr. Elena Ratner, a gynecologic oncologist at Yale Cancer Center who has diagnosed many patients with ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and cancers of the lining of the uterus.

Without speculating on Catherine’s procedure, Dr. Ratner described situations in which women will go in for surgery for endometriosis, a condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is found elsewhere in the abdomen. Often, Dr. Ratner says, the assumption is that the endometriosis has appeared on an ovary and caused a benign ovarian cyst. But one to two weeks later, when the supposedly benign tissue has been studied, pathologists report that they found cancer.

In the statement, Princess Catherine said she is getting “a course of preventive chemotherapy.”

That, too, is common. In medical settings, it is usually called adjuvant chemotherapy.

Dr. Eric Winer, director of the Yale Cancer Center, said that with adjuvant chemotherapy, “the hope is that this will prevent further problems” and avoid a recurrence of the cancer.

It also means that “you removed everything” that was visible with surgery, said Dr. Michael Birrer, director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “You can’t see the cancer,” he added, because microscopic cancer cells may be left behind. The chemotherapy is a way to attack microscopic disease, he explained.

Other parts of Catherine’s statement also hit home for Dr. Ratner, particularly her concern for her family.

“William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” Catherine said, and “It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte, and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”

Those are sentiments that Dr. Ratner hears on a regular basis and reveal, she says, “how hard it is for women to be diagnosed with cancer.”

“I see this day in and day out,” she said. “Women always say, ‘Will I be there for my kids? What will happen with my kids?’

“They don’t say, ‘What will happen to me?’”

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Another heavy blow for the British royal family.

For the royal family, the news of a cancer diagnosis for Catherine, Princess of Wales, was another heavy blow, sidelining one of its most visible figures at a time when its ranks were already depleted.

In addition to King Charles III, who has canceled public appearances to undergo his own cancer treatment, the family has been adjusting to the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022; the departure of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan; and the exile of Prince Andrew, disgraced by his association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Harry and Meghan issued a statement saying they wished “health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace.”

Since Harry and Meghan, who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, withdrew from royal duties in 2020 and left Britain for Southern California, Harry has been estranged from his father, Charles, and his brother, Prince William. He visited his father briefly after Buckingham Palace announced the king’s cancer diagnosis in February.

The palace said on Friday that Charles was “so proud of Catherine for her courage in speaking as she did.” Noting that the king had visited her when they were both being treated in a London hospital, the palace said Charles “has remained in the closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law throughout the past weeks.”

Buckingham Palace said only last month that King Charles has cancer.

King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer in early February and suspended his public engagements to undergo treatment, casting a shadow over a busy reign that began around 18 months ago after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The announcement, made by Buckingham Palace, came after the 75-year-old sovereign was discharged from a London hospital, following a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate.

The palace did not disclose what form of cancer Charles has, but a palace official said it was not prostate cancer. Doctors detected the cancer during that procedure, and the king began treatment on Monday.

News of Charles’ diagnosis ever since has reverberated through Britain, which, after seven decades of Elizabeth’s reign, has begun to get comfortable with her son. Charles waited longer to ascend the throne than anyone in the history of the British monarchy, and he was a familiar figure, with a personal life relentlessly dissected by the British media by the time he became the sovereign.

Nate Schweber

The mood is somber at a British outpost in New York.

The mood was somber Friday afternoon in the section of Manhattan’s West Village that some people call Little Britain after Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced that she was being treated for cancer.

At Myers of Keswick, a shop on Hudson Street that sells British goods like Hobnobs biscuits, Wilkin & Sons marmalade and steak and ale pie, Jennifer Myers-Pulidore, the owner, said she had watched the announcement live while fielding alarmed texts from her father, Peter Myers. He opened the store 39 years ago and is now retired and living back in Keswick, England.

“I feel for her,” said Ms. Myers-Pulidore, 45, who was born in New York and grew up spending summers in Keswick. With three children of her own, she said she could relate to the princess’s desire to address the matter with her family before discussing it publicly.

“I understand wanting to protect the children,” Ms. Myers-Pulidore said. “I can’t imagine living in the limelight as they do.”

She said she had not kept up with the recent wave of speculation online about why Catherine had not been seen much in public since undergoing abdominal surgery earlier this year. Ms. Myers-Pulidore had nothing good to say about those who had spread wild rumors.

“It’s awful. It’s sort of pathetic that she couldn’t even have time in private,” she said. “It almost makes me think she had no other option but to come clean.”

For Ms. Myers-Pulidore, the news stirred painful memories of Princess Diana, a previous Princess of Wales to whom the store owner considers Catherine a spiritual heir.

“She, in England, is loved,” Ms. Myers-Pulidore said of Catherine. “People think of her as the people’s princess.”

After Diana’s death; the death of Queen Elizabeth II; King Charles’s cancer diagnosis; and estrangement between William, Prince of Wales, and his brother, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Ms. Myers-Pulidore said she worried about the British royal family’s future.

“I hope they will make it,” she said.

Outside the shop, Richard Barnett winced while discussing the news.

“It’s all very sad,” said Mr. Barnett, a London native who has lived in New York for 35 years. He added that he hoped Catherine’s treatment would be successful and that her recovery would be swift and comfortable.

“Wish her the best,” he said. “And peace and quiet.”

Asked whether he had followed the recent gossip and speculation about Catherine that Ms. Myers-Pulidore had condemned, Mr. Barnett nodded.

“It’s good she stopped the rumors,” he said.

Outside Tea & Sympathy, a British restaurant a few blocks away on Greenwich Avenue, Dave Heenan shook his head when asked about the news.

“It’s awful. I’m devastated — the whole royal family, they’re cursed!” said Mr. Heenan, 81, who moved to New York from Newcastle, England, in 1963. He said that, like other British people, he had come to love Catherine and was excited about her future.

“She’s the one member of the royal family who could really carry that crown,” he said.

One positive thing he could say was that he had been able to share his feelings with fellow English men and women: “It brings English people together.”

Iain Anderson, Tea & Sympathy’s manager, said he had become concerned about Catherine recently as she stayed out of the public eye and rumors about her flew. He said that to him, the announcement on Friday felt forced.

“Maybe they had to say something because of the public pressure,” Mr. Anderson, who is originally from Gloucestershire, England, said. “If they had to open up about this and they didn’t want to, that’s unfortunate.”

Like Ms. Myers-Pulidore, he said he had a grim feeling of déjà vu.

“We’ve had all this before with Lady Diana,” he said

Michael West, a Briton living in Manhattan, said he was reminded of Queen Elizabeth II’s death two years ago as well as King Charles’s cancer diagnosis.

“It just seems as though trouble comes in threes,” he said as he passed the British Consulate on Second Avenue. “And it just seems as though, for that family at the moment, that perhaps trouble comes in tens.”

Mr. West is originally from a village called Higham, famous as the place where Charles Dickens died. He said that although Catherine had not been born into royalty, she had fit well into her role as a Windsor.

“Among my family and friends, people were happy with them,” he said of the family, adding, “They do their job with grace.”

Sean Piccoli contributed reporting.

Megan Specia

The reaction of Londoners is full of concern.

As news filtered out about the princess of Wales’s cancer diagnosis in London on Friday, just as the sun was setting on a mild spring evening, many expressed their shock and concern for a well-liked member of the British royal family, who is destined to one day be queen.

Kensington Palace had urged the public to respect the privacy of Catherine as she recovered from a major abdominal surgery in January, but as the days drew into weeks, the rumor mill swirled — with conspiracy theories growing deeper and wilder — about what had been keeping such a prominent member of the royal family out of view.

On Friday evening, many lamented the scrutiny she had faced and what the family had been forced to endure at such a terrible time.

“She is still just a human,” said Aaron Viera, 33, and a lifelong Lononder. “It’s just really sad that she has to go through this.”

Alongside co-workers sharing a drink outside the Goat Tavern, just steps from Kensington Palace where Catherine and her family had lived, Mr. Viera denounced the social media speculation.

Much of that frenzy has been driven by an American “obsession” with the royals, interjected another friend, Maryann, 35, who declined to give her last name. At the end of the day, she’s a mother of three, another woman, Jessi, pointed out, and she worried about toll chemotherapy would take on Catherine. So many in the country know the struggles of cancer personally, and they agreed that Catherine’s candor about her illness unfortunately would be easy for many to relate to.

Catherine, 42, the wife of William, Prince of Wales, is the second member of the British royal family to be diagnosed with cancer in recent weeks after Buckingham Palace announced in February that her father-in-law, King Charles III , also was being treated for cancer.

On Friday evening, the overwhelming sentiment seemed to be of concern for the well-being of the princess of Wales.

“God, she’s had cancer, has she?” one woman said to her friend, engrossed in a news article on her phone while getting off a bus in the northwest of the city. “Terrible, she’s only 40-something, isn’t she?”

The New York Times

Read Catherine’s full statement.

A transcript of the video message given by Catherine, princess of Wales:

I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you, personally, for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst I have been recovering from surgery. It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family, but I’ve had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me, for which I am so grateful. In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment. This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK. As I have said to them; I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal; in my mind, body and spirits. Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance too. As is the love, support and kindness that has been shown by so many of you. It means so much to us both. We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment. My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I look forward to being back when I am able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery. At this time, I am also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.

Derrick Bryson Taylor

A timeline of the royal family’s tumultuous year.

• Outside Kensington Palace. Henry Nicholls/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Catherine, Princess of Wales, made her announcement on a video. Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Watching the announcement outside Buckingham Palace. Hollie Adams/Reuters
• Prince William and Princess Catherine in Cardiff, Wales, in October. Chris Jackson/Getty Images
• A reporter outside the London Clinic, a private hospital where Catherine had surgery in January. Tolga Akmen/EPA, via Shutterstock
• Catherine in May at King Charles III's coronation. Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Watching a news report at a hotel pub in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Carl Recine/Reuters

Since King Charles III and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, each went to hospitals for health matters in recent months, public attention has been riveted on the royal family. The extended absence of Kate from the public eye, especially, propelled a wave of rumors over her whereabouts, fueled further by an edited photo released by the palace.

Here is a quick timeline of key moments.

Jan. 17, 2024

Kate undergoes surgery.

A little more than three weeks after Kate made a public appearance on Christmas Day, Kensington Palace announced that she had been admitted to the London Clinic to have abdominal surgery . Officials gave few details about her health but said the surgery was successful, and that her condition was “not cancerous.”

Hours later, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III would be treated for an enlarged prostate.

Jan. 29, 2024

Kate is released from the hospital.

Almost two weeks later, Kate returned home to Windsor, just outside London . Kensington Palace officials said that she would convalesce at home for two to three months and would not resume her public duties until after Easter, at the end of March.

Feb. 5, 2024

King Charles is diagnosed with cancer.

Buckingham Palace officials announced in early February, just days after Charles had undergone treatment for an enlarged prostate, that the king had been diagnosed with cancer .

The palace did not share what form of cancer Charles has, but a palace official said it was not prostate cancer. Doctors had discovered the cancer during the earlier procedure.

March 4, 2024

Kate is spotted for the first time in months.

The public’s appetite for information about Kate’s whereabouts and recovery reached a fever pitch in the first week of March. And around that time, TMZ published a grainy paparazzi shot of Kate riding in a car driven by her mother.

Despite the photograph circulating on the internet, British newspapers and broadcasters did not republish it, citing Kate’s request for privacy during her convalescence — though they did report on the sighting.

March 10, 2024

Kate and children appear in Mother’s Day photograph.

To mark Mother’s Day in Britain, Kensington Palace released an official photograph of a smiling Kate surrounded by her three children, George, Charlotte and Louis. The palace did not give many details about the picture except that it was taken by William last week in Windsor, where the family lives in Adelaide Cottage, on the grounds of Windsor Castle.

While the picture was meant to highlight a happy family on the holiday and quell rumors, it became a subject of intense scrutiny after The Associated Press, and several other photo agencies, issued a “kill order,” asking its clients to remove it from all platforms over concerns that it had been manipulated. The New York Times, which had initially used the picture in a story, also removed it.

March 11, 2024

Kate apologizes for the altered photo.

On Monday, Kate took the blame and apologized for the Mother’s Day photo.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said on social media. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”

Kate is known as a photography enthusiast, and the palace often distributes her photos of the family. Palace officials stressed that Kate made minor adjustments for what was intended to be an informal family picture that was taken by William.

March 18, 2024

Another royal photo is flagged.

Getty Images placed an editorial advisory on a second royal family photo, this time an image of Queen Elizabeth II, flanked by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The photo — taken by Kate at Balmoral Castle in Scotland in August 2022 and released in 2023 on what would have been the queen’s 97th birthday — had been “digitally enhanced” before it was released by the palace, the photo agency said.

Mark Landler and Lauren Leatherby

Speculation had swirled since the Princess of Wales apologized for an edited image a week ago.

Zipper and hair are

Portion of sleeve is

Edges of tiles appear

Hair has artificial pattern

Hair has artificial

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, apologized last week for doctoring a photo of her with her three children, which was recalled by several news agencies after they determined the image had been manipulated .

The decision to recall the photo reignited a storm of speculation about Catherine, who had not been seen in public since Christmas Day and had abdominal surgery in January. In her statement, the 42-year-old princess chalked up the alteration to a photographer’s innocent desire to retouch the image.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” Catherine wrote in a post on social media. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”

The photo, which marked Mother’s Day in Britain, depicted a smiling Catherine surrounded by her children, George, Charlotte and Louis.

Kensington Palace said that William had taken the photo last week in Windsor, where the family lives in Adelaide Cottage, on the grounds of Windsor Castle. But Catherine is known as a keen photographer, and the palace often distributes her photos of the family.

Hours after Kensington Palace released the photo, The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse issued advisories urging news organizations to remove the image.

The A.P. said that after a post-publication inspection of the photograph, its editors determined that the image “shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.” The source of the photo, it said “had manipulated the image in a way that does not meet A.P.’s photo standards.”

Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C — The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 11, 2024

The details of the photo show a range of visual inconsistencies suggesting it was doctored. In several areas of the image, details like a sleeve or a zipper don’t line up, or have artificial patterns.

A palace official said Catherine made minor adjustments in what was meant to be an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day. The official reiterated that William had taken the photo, though Catherine edited it.

Samora Bennett-Gager, an expert in photo retouching, identified several other questionable elements, including the edges of her daughter Charlotte’s legs, which he said were unnaturally soft, suggesting the background had been manipulated. Catherine’s hand on the waist of her son, Louis, is blurry, which he said could indicate the image was taken from a separate frame of the shoot.

The photograph appeared on newspaper front pages and websites around the world, including the website of The New York Times. The Times removed the photo from an article about it on Sunday evening.

Adam Dean contributed reporting.

Is a robot writing your kids’ essays? We asked educators to weigh in on the growing role of AI in classrooms.

Educators weigh in on the growing role of ai and chatgpt in classrooms..

Remember writing essays in high school? Chances are you had to look up stuff in an encyclopedia — an actual one, not Wikipedia — or else connect to AOL via a modem bigger than your parents’ Taurus station wagon.

Now, of course, there’s artificial intelligence. According to new research from Pew, about 1 in 5 US teens who’ve heard of ChatGPT have used it for schoolwork. Kids in upper grades are more apt to have used the chatbot: About a quarter of 11th- and 12th-graders who know about ChatGPT have tried it.

For the uninitiated, ChatGPT arrived on the scene in late 2022, and educators continue to grapple with the ethics surrounding its growing popularity. Essentially, it generates free, human-like responses based on commands. (I’m sure this sentence will look antiquated in about six months, like when people described the internet as the “information superhighway.”)

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I used ChatGPT to plug in this prompt: “Write an essay on ‘The Scarlet Letter.’” Within moments, ChatGPT created an essay as thorough as anything I’d labored over in AP English.

Is this cheating? Is it just part of our strange new world? I talked to several educators about what they’re seeing in classrooms and how they’re monitoring it. Before you berate your child over how you wrote essays with a No. 2 pencil, here are some things to consider.

Adapting to new technology isn’t immoral. “We have to recalibrate our sense of what’s acceptable. There was a time when every teacher said: ‘Oh, it’s cheating to use Wikipedia.’ And guess what? We got used to it, we decided it’s reputable enough, and we cite Wikipedia all the time,” says Noah Giansiracusa, an associate math professor at Bentley University who hosts the podcast “ AI in Academia: Navigating the Future .”

“There’s a calibration period where a technology is new and untested. It’s good to be cautious and to treat it with trepidation. Then, over time, the norms kind of adapt,” he says — just like new-fangled graphing calculators or the internet in days of yore.

“I think the current conversation around AI should not be centered on an issue with plagiarism. It should be centered on how AI will alter methods for learning and expressing oneself. ‘Catching’ students who use fully AI-generated products ... implies a ‘gotcha’ atmosphere,” says Jim Nagle, a history teacher at Bedford High School. “Since AI is already a huge part of our day-to-day lives, it’s no surprise our students are making it a part of their academic tool kit. Teachers and students should be at the forefront of discussions about responsible and ethical use.”

Teachers and parents could use AI to think about education at a higher level. Really, learning is about more than regurgitating information — or it should be, anyway. But regurgitation is what AI does best.

“If our system is just for students to write a bunch of essays and then grade the results? Something’s missing. We need to really talk about their purpose and what they’re getting out of this, and maybe think about different forms of assignments and grading,” Giansiracusa says.

After all, while AI aggregates and organizes ideas, the quality of its responses depends on the users’ prompts. Instead of recoiling from it, use it as a conversation-starter.

“What parents and teachers can do is to start the conversation with kids: ‘What are we trying to learn here? Is it even something that ChatGPT could answer? Why did your assignment not convince you that you need to do this thinking on your own when a tool can do it for you?’” says Houman Harouni , a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Harouni urges parents to read an essay written by ChatGPT alongside their student. Was it good? What could be done better? Did it feel like a short cut?

“What they’re going to remember is that you had that conversation with them; that someone thought, at some point in their lives, that taking a shortcut is not the best way ... especially if you do it with the tool right in front of you, because you have something real to talk about,” he says.

Harouni hopes teachers think about its implications, too. Consider math: So much grunt work has been eliminated by calculators and computers. Yet kids are still tested as in days of old, when perhaps they could expand their learning to be assessed in ways that are more personal and human-centric, leaving the rote stuff to AI.

“We could take this moment of confusion and loss of certainty seriously, at least in some small pockets, and start thinking about what a different kind of school would look like. Five years from now, we might have the beginnings of some very interesting exploration. Five years from now, you and I might be talking about schools wherein teaching and learning is happening in a very self-directed way, in a way that’s more based on … igniting the kid’s interest and seeing where they go and supporting them to go deeper and to go wider,” Harouni says.

Teachers have the chance to offer assignments with more intentionality.

“Really think about the purpose of the assignments. Don’t just think of the outcome and the deliverable: ‘I need a student to produce a document.’ Why are we getting students to write? Why are we doing all these things in the first place? If teachers are more mindful, and maybe parents can also be more mindful, I think it pushes us away from this dangerous trap of thinking about in terms of ‘cheating,’ which, to me, is a really slippery path,” Giansiracusa says.

AI can boost confidence and reduce procrastination. Sometimes, a robot can do something better than a human, such as writing a dreaded resume and cover letter. And that’s OK; it’s useful, even.

“Often, students avoid applying to internships because they’re just overwhelmed at the thought of writing a cover letter, or they’re afraid their resume isn’t good enough. I think that tools like this can help them feel more confident. They may be more likely to do it sooner and have more organized and better applications,” says Kristin Casasanto, director of post-graduate planning at Olin College of Engineering.

Casasanto says that AI is also useful for de-stressing during interview prep.

“Students can use generative AI to plug in a job description and say, ‘Come up with a list of interview questions based on the job description,’ which will give them an idea of what may be asked, and they can even then say, ‘Here’s my resume. Give me answers to these questions based on my skills and experience.’ They’re going to really build their confidence around that,” Casasanto says.

Plus, when students use AI for basics, it frees up more time to meet with career counselors about substantive issues.

“It will help us as far as scalability. … Career services staff can then utilize our personal time in much more meaningful ways with students,” Casasanto says.

We need to remember: These kids grew up during a pandemic. We can’t expect kids to resist technology when they’ve been forced to learn in new ways since COVID hit.

“Now we’re seeing pandemic-era high school students come into college. They’ve been channeled through Google Classroom their whole career,” says Katherine Jewell, a history professor at Fitchburg State University.

“They need to have technology management and information literacy built into the curriculum,” Jewell says.

Jewell recently graded a paper on the history of college sports. It was obvious which papers were written by AI: They didn’t address the question. In her syllabus, Jewell defines plagiarism as “any attempt by a student to represent the work of another, including computers, as their own.”

This means that AI qualifies, but she also has an open mind, given students’ circumstances.

“My students want to do the right thing, for the most part. They don’t want to get away with stuff. I understand why they turned to these tools; I really do. I try to reassure them that I’m here to help them learn systems. I’m focusing much more on the learning process. I incentivize them to improve, and I acknowledge: ‘You don’t know how to do this the first time out of the gate,’” Jewell says. “I try to incentivize them so that they’re improving their confidence in their abilities, so they don’t feel the need to turn to these tools.”

Understand the forces that make kids resort to AI in the first place . Clubs, sports, homework: Kids are busy and under pressure. Why not do what’s easy?

“Kids are so overscheduled in their day-to-day lives. I think there’s so much enormous pressure on these kids, whether it’s self-inflicted, parent-inflicted, or school-culture inflicted. It’s on them to maximize their schedule. They’ve learned that AI can be a way to take an assignment that would take five hours and cut it down to one,” says a teacher at a competitive high school outside Boston who asked to remain anonymous.

Recently, this teacher says, “I got papers back that were just so robotic and so cold. I had to tell [students]: ‘I understand that you tried to use a tool to help you. I’m not going to penalize you, but what I am going to penalize you for is that you didn’t actually answer the prompt.”

Afterward, more students felt safe to come forward to say they’d used AI. This teacher hopes that age restrictions become implemented for these programs, similar to apps such as Snapchat. Educationally and developmentally, they say, high-schoolers are still finding their voice — a voice that could be easily thwarted by a robot.

“Part of high school writing is to figure out who you are, and what is your voice as a writer. And I think, developmentally, that takes all of high school to figure out,” they say.

And AI can’t replicate voice and personality — for now, at least.

Kara Baskin can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @kcbaskin .