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2.11: The Functions of the Mass Media

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    The mass media serve several general and many specific functions.3 As you read through the functions below, reflect on whether new forms of media, such as social media, also perform some of these functions in your own life. In most cases, new media do perform similar functions. Journalists also have other specific functions. In general, the mass media serve the following functions: information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion.

    • Information function. We have a need for information to satisfy curiosity, reduce uncertainty, and better understand how we fit into the world. The amount and availability of information are now overwhelming compared to 40 years ago when a few television networks, local radio stations and newspapers competed to keep us informed. The media saturation has led to increased competition to provide information, which creates the potential for news media outlets, for example, to report information prematurely, inaccurately, or partially.
    • Interpretation function. Media outlets interpret messages in more or less explicit and ethical ways. Newspaper editorials have long been explicit interpretations of current events, and now cable television and radio personalities offer social, cultural, and political commentary that is full of subjective interpretations. Although some of them operate in ethical grey areas because they use formats that make them seem like traditional news programmes, most are open about their motives.
    • Instructive function. Some media outlets exist to cultivate knowledge by teaching instead of just relaying information. The SABC, for example, broadcast many educational programmes for students and learners during the coronavirus pandemic when schools and universities were closed.
    • Bonding function. Media outlets can bring people closer together, which serves the bonding function. For example, people who share common values and interests can gather on online forums, and masses of people can be brought together while watching coverage of large events like a storm or an election. (This is one function that social media performs very well; people often bond together in Facebook groups, or as followers of certain influencers.)
    • Diversion function. We all use the media to escape our day-to-day lives, to distract us from our upcoming exam, or to help us relax. When we are being distracted, amused, or relaxed, the media is performing the diversion function. (This function, again, is performed very well by social media; it can be very entertaining.)

    Reference

    1. This section is inspired by and adapted from Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies, 2016, by University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, which was adapted from an original work in 2013 by a publisher who requested that it does not be named. Available at: https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/ [June 30, 2021], CC BY-NC-SA.

    This page titled 2.11: The Functions of the Mass Media is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.