mass communications entrance exams - important practice questions part 2.pdf

7/29/2019 Mass Communications Entrance Exams - Important Practice Questions Part 2.PDF

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Important Practice Questions- Mass ComA guide for aspirants of Entrance Tests of B.A. Mass Communications/Media Studies

Written & Published by:- Miss Neelanjana T.

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..Contd from Part 1

11.Whatare the basic functions and roles of mass communication?

The roles of the mass communication can be broadly categorized into the followingaspects:

i. To Inform: The main role of the mass communication is to inform the peopleof and make them aware by imparting information.

ii. To educate: The role of mass communication is not just restricted to impartinformation but to develop values by instructions.

iii. To entertain: To entertain people which one of the major ways in whichmass communication influences culture.

12.What are misleading advertisements and how do they affect the consumers?

Misleading advertisements are a common trend in mass communication. Theymake use of false or misleading statements to promote products and increase profitlines for a company or a brand. Such advertisements use deception to persuadepeople. Such advertisements completely deny the right to know for consumers and arebanned in many countries. Still they have been a trend by finding legal ways to deceivepeople.

Misleading advertisements may have the following effects on consumers:

Confuse consumers.

Deny the right to know for consumers. Deception by the use of false or misleading statement.

In some cases even loss of money.

13.What is the pattern of evolution of mass communication and when did it start?

Mass communication originated from newspaper publishing. The origin datesback to the 19th century with the invention of the telegraph to send long distancemessages. However, with time, mass communication evolved in terms of medium andstyles both. It further evolved to publishing of magazines with which also came theconcept of advertising. This was followed by films, radio, television and then internet.

14.What is grapevine communication and how can it effect mass communication?

Grapevine communication is a form of communication channel used forcommunicating gossips. It bypasses the formal structure of communication and thus isan informal form of communication. These days such communication channels can benoticed easily on social networking sites and other mediums. The major disadvantage ofgrapevine communication is that it cannot be filtered and when on a large scale it isimpossible to identify the source. Thus this form communication mostly misleads ordeceives the end consumer by false news or rumors.15.In what ways does newspaper effect the development of a nation?

Newspaper is the most instrumental form of mass communication. It influencesthe culture, mentality and the view of its readers in many ways. Today newspaper itselffalls into many categories. From regional to national, newspapers have been evolvingfast according to the needs of its readers. The local news comes up with depthinformation reports with local happenings for regional readers and the business papers


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feed to the ones wanting an edge in the market. Newspapers thus play a very importantrole in shaping the community by informing and educating the people of a country.

16.What are the current characteristics of news?

The characteristics and trends and news change with time and the intendedaudience. The characteristics of news are influenced by human interest, proximity,current trends, consequences, intelligence, and current affairs. The currentcharacteristics of news are majorly based on entertainment to target a bigger audience.To increase the appeal of the news various trends are being followed to make the newsmore interesting and gain more attention from the readers. News which are based ondisasters, scams, crimes, war, violence and drama are the one which are rated high bynews firms as they get more audience.

17.What is promotion strategy used in mass communication?

Mass communication helps in reaching out to the masses to promote variousproducts. Promotional strategies generally used are as follows:

Sponsorship: Many channels of mass communication are sponsored bycompanies and make good money to promote their products in return. This is avery general trend followed by marketing experts these days.

Advertisement: Advertising is another promotional strategy used in masscommunication to promote products and generate money.

Public relations: Mass communication uses this strategy to build positiverelation with public to favor the growth and demand of product or features. Thiscan be also done other way round by increasing negative attention in order togain publicity.

18.Which are the most dominating companies in the field of mass communication?

The mass communication sector is dominated by five major companies. Thesecompanies contribute to a total of 95% of the market in the mass communication sector.

Time Warner

VIACOM

Vivendi Universal

Walt Disney

News Corp

19. How does social media affect youth?

The youth is affected by social media. They buy, look and like what they see ontelevision. Teenagers look forward to be dressed as what their favorite celebrity isdressed like. The social media thus has a very major effect on the dressing culture ofthe youth. On the negative side, drug abuse and adulteration at a young age can becounted as major ill effects. While on the positive side youth may be influenced tobecome an athlete or play a sport that is gaining popularity. Thus social media haspositive as well as negative implication for the youth.

20.How does mass media act as a link between the government and the people?

The mass media affects the view of politics in people s mind by its news, reports,analysis and presentations. On the other side it informs the government about theneeds and the problems faced by the general public via different surveys conducted bythe news channels or papers. Reports of injustice, abuse and exploitation sometimescatches the eye of the government via these channel of communication. Mass media


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also informs the society and gives them an insight of the government, politics and theofficials running them. Thus the media acts as a government watchdog and also keepsthe public aware of the politics and maintains a link between both.

21.What is mass media law and how is it involved in mass communication?

Mass media law is designed to set limits and guard mass media from wrong use.It encompasses a variety of communication industries which involve newspapers,magazines other forms of print media, films, Internet and other forms of electronicmedia. As mass media reaches out to a very large number of people it has the ability toaffect these masses too in a variety of ways. The main laws involved in the mass medialaw are copyright laws which are designed to protect the creativity and the defamationlaw which is further divided into slander and libel and are related to inappropriate oroffending statements or visuals which can create a negative impact on reputation of anindividual or an entity.

22.What is sociology of media and what are its basic roles?

Sociology of media is a study of the mass media communication ie. the study ofmass communication and different trends followed by it. It is a sub field of sociology andconcerns to how mass media relates to features like transmission of information and theaccessibility of information to groups of people. It focuses on how digital or masscommunication is different from face to face communication and how does it influencethe people via various concepts involved such as advertising, entertainment, educationand information. Sociology of media includes the study of different forms of masscommunication and media and the different structures of mass communication.

Measuring of impact, case studies and neutrality of media are also issues coveredunder this subject.

23.What is cultural globalization? How does mass communication promote it?

Cultural globalization is the unifying of culture across the globe. It is aboutbringing cultures together and creating a unified culture across the globe. Mass mediaand communication are key promoters of cultural globalization and unification. As wesee today many channels run globally such as CNN global news, which report whichreport news and events occurring across the world, even the most remote locations.This globalization of news interconnects people and helps bringing exposure to

countries about foreign ideas, practices and lifestyle.

24. What is the concept of imperialism in media?

It relates to loss of identity on account of dominating media from powerfulcountries. Developing nations with under-developed media may be overpowered byforeign media. This theory can be better understood by the example of small communityshops being over taken by mall or shopping complexes which have a large scaleproduction and influence. The imperialism of media causes the media of developingcountries to be smothered by influential media of powerful nations. This causes the lossof identity for the suffering countrys media as well as identity.

25.How does democracy relates to mass communication and consolidation ofmass media?

Democracy in mass communication refers to the freedom of speech and the rightto know. Both these rights enable people to evolve and share an independent view pointon any socio-politico-economical issue and related interaction within a society. The right


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to information allows the media to publish or inform the public about the viewpoints oncurrent issues. These rights are practicable till they do not offend or go against thesociety. This requires the tool of media consolidation to combine peoples view point orthere take on the societal affairs.

26.Give a brief on Shannon weaver model.

Shannon weaver model is considered as an important model of communicationvia which had led to development of other models. It focuses on the key roles ofdifferent components of the communication process such as the sender, the receiver,the medium via which communication is established, the message and the noisechannel. This model is not much useful in todays time as it does not focus on the issueand the right of accessibility to the issue and to the fact as to who shall be handling it.

27.What is Press council and how does it help the current scenario of media?

The body that governs the conduct of the print media in the country is calledpress council. It is very important as it has the highest power with respect to ensuringthe democracy of media covering the right to speech and the right to information.

Another role of the council is to maintain a limit on the print media through media lawsso as to ensure that cultural or religious sentiments of people are not hurt or infringed.The Press council regulates the current scenario of media as infinite freedom of speechoften leads to cases of defamation charges.

28.What is the role of an editor of a newspaper?

The role of a newspaper editor is related to the language and the grammar of thecontents published in a newspaper. The editor has to make sure that there are no errorsof punctuations or spellings in the content and he/she reviews the article so that itmakes sense. At higher levels the newspaper editor also helps in smooth operation ofnewspaper publishing and provides editorial direction to it.

29.What is dependency theory in mass communication and how does it differfrom modernization theory?

The dependency theory was developed in response to the modernization theoryon mass communication. The theory states how the rich countries grow richer and thepoor countries turn poorer as the later are not integrated to the world and become avictim of the influence of wealthy nations. Dependency theory is against the view that allsocieties develop through same stages. It stresses upon the difference andbackwardness of the underdeveloped countries with respect to world economy leadingto their present state.

30.What is the bullet theory?

Bullet theory is also known as magic bullet or hypodermic needle theory of

mass communication. It talks about reception of message by the receiver or theintended audience as a whole. Under this theory the media is taken as a gun and themessage sent out by media as a bullet which is supposed to be directed at the targetedaudience.

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mass communications entrance exams - important practice questions part 2.pdf

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