Broadcast, that is, the transfer of knowledge at the same time to a large part of people, is mass information. This is information, the essence of which is not all knowledge of humanity, but the part used for orientation, management or active action for the development, improvement and preservation of the specificity of all communication systems. In social subsystems, there is a circulation of social information, which consists of messages, knowledge and information about this social system.
Differences between specialized and mass media
The levels of consciousness are divided according to their interaction with practice: functioning directly - mass, and requiring abstract thinking - specialized. There are also two levels in the information plan - specialized and mass information. This is information for widespread use, one might say - disseminated to the masses. It requires detailed consideration, because it certainly has value as a central category, for example, in journalism, radio and television broadcasting.
It is supposed to use it in the form of source material in order to form mass consciousness. This is what happens, although by all laws the consciousness of the masses is formed with the help of information content, that is, phenomena of social life itself, which only reflects mass information. This information is of fundamental importance for the awakening of civic activity, which in no way refers to specialized.
About freedom of the press
Freedom of the press, that is, the independent functioning of the media, must have constitutional guarantees in every country. Freedom of the media is a somewhat broader concept, which is interpreted by the same political right of all citizens to establish means for the distribution of absolutely any information product.
This is the first constitutional personal right of a person as a part of common law, which is freedom of the media. For the first time these human rights were proclaimed in 1789 and enshrined in the French Declaration. The development of the media has led to the adoption of appropriate laws in democratic countries.
Media Law in the Russian Federation
The primary importance of the adoption of the Media Law is the abolition of censorship, that is, officials do not have the right to require preliminary approval of materials from the editors. This state of affairs in the twentieth century existed only from 1917 to 1922, and the next Law of the Russian Federation on the media came out only after 68 years - in 1991.
Amendments to the current law came into force in September 2012: they are talking about a warning against information that is harmful to the health and development of children. Moreover, the Law of the Russian Federation on Mass Media in Article 25 acquired a new paragraph on the prosecution of mass media in cases of violation of this resolution, and Article 27 is supplemented by information on age restrictions that mass media are required to report when showing film programs.
New restrictions
In February 2016, the mass media law restricts the participation of foreign individuals and legal entities (with dual citizenship of Russians, too) in the capital of the Russian media, and now they cannot directly or indirectly control or own more than 20 percent of shares or shares. Previously, there was also a limit - up to 50 percent, but only for radio and television companies. This innovation is explained by the information war against the Russian Federation, as well as by the deoffshorization of its economy.
The media market estimated the number of media affected by this innovation as 35% of the total amount of funds used by Russian mass information. This is information obtained on average from different estimates. The adoption of such a document is most likely related to Forbes magazine and the Vedomosti newspaper, which almost entirely existed on foreign capital, wrote a lot on socio-political and economic topics and editorial policies independently of the Russian authorities, which does not exclude dependence on investors.
Types of media
Mass media are bodies whose prerogative is the public transfer of information using appropriate technical means to collect, process and subsequently distribute messages to a mass audience.
Here you can name according to the legal documents of the Russian Federation:
- periodicals ;
- online publications;
- TV channels
- radio channels;
- TV shows;
- radio programs;
- video programs;
- newsreel programs;
- any other forms of periodically distributed mass media that have a permanent name.
All this is called the media - the media that received this term in the 70s of the last century.
Media Distribution Territory
The regions in which the media are distributed may depend on the administrative-territorial division of a particular state. The main indicator of classification is the way in which the media in the society is distributed , this is the territory served, and not the place of publication. Thus, a number of subclasses can be distinguished:
- transnational media (international scale, that is, in several countries);
- national media (operating throughout the state or most of it);
- regional media (the service area of which is a separate administrative unit of the country or its historically developed part, with characteristic particular features - Altai, the South Urals or Western Siberia);
- local media (district, city, corporate and so on).
In most cases, the audience prefers regional media to everything else, and this is mainly due to the fact that the local editorial office usually takes into account the main demands of the population, and their pricing policy is more democratic.
The procedure for the establishment of the media
The media are sources available in the institution to both legal entities and individuals, and the restrictions on this do not have a wide range.
In Russia, the procedure for establishing a mass media organization is registration, it differs from the permissive one in that it is less strict, administrative authorities simply confirm the application for the creation of a print organ and register this authority. Audiovisual media plus this requires a broadcast license.
Media audience
The distribution of mass media can take place depending on the direction: specialized ones have a specific theme and are targeted at a certain part of the audience, while general-purpose mass media can be spread more widely. If the target audience is clearly defined, then the goals of entrepreneurship will be achieved, and the development of the media will receive some stability.
Sociological studies determine that in many cases, even the journalists themselves do not have a sufficiently adequate idea of the audience they serve, do not understand who these publications are intended for. Therefore, materials are very often anonymized, averaged, and the media themselves - the media - become similar to each other.
Legality of the media
The relationship between the current legislation and the media can be different depending on the role of the media in each case. Thus, there are media that are permitted by law, registered and received admission to broadcasting or publishing. These media are legal. But there is also quasilegal mass information - this information is not forbidden and not allowed by the law of the country. The third type of media is illegal, that is, prohibited by law, but continuing to operate.
The transfer to the category of illegal occurs through the cancellation of broadcast licenses, registration certificates and the like. The reasons can be very different. For example, some media outlets literally abuse information freedom, not only misleading the audience, but they do not disdain slander or open sabotage to the state in whose territory they exist. There is also a fourth type of media regarding legality: a periodical publication with a circulation of less than a thousand copies does not need to be registered.
Media quality
There are two varieties: the press of opinions and the press of news. These characteristics of the media receive in connection with a number of factors: here, and the specifics of design and style, audience and issues, distribution and replication. The quality of the media in this regard is determined by the presence of verification of the facts presented in order to exclude unreliable information, the desire for calm balance and analyticity of all assessments and opinions expressed, intonation itself plays a huge role in the publication.
Mass information is most often focused on the entertainment of messages, where sensational materials are preferable, and quite a lot of attention is paid to purely visual or expressive means (to lie more beautifully). The quality of the publication is determined primarily by the professional skill of the journalists, which is now very rare. In the mass media all the more, standards are rarely very high both in our country and abroad, a mixed format of publications prevails, where sometimes you can see really high-quality material against the background of mediocre, faceless or frankly cheap.
Online media
Traditional media are gradually giving way to virtual ones since the advent and wider spread of the Internet. Within its framework, almost immediately all traditional types of mass communication media began to operate, they gained immense popularity and every day they are gaining more and more audience. Almost all print media have their own websites on the Internet; Internet television and Internet radio are developing rapidly. In this regard, the number of readers of paper editions is inevitably decreasing; circulation is decreasing.
International satellite technology provides communications in a split second, and therefore the severity of the media has grown tremendously. In Washington, it is called the CNN effect, and it doesn’t sound a compliment, it’s just that the broadcast is already full of ominous messages from this news channel. In principle, which media do not seek to cause the audience the most profound emotional reaction? Some media outlets succeed to the point that people immediately start acting, forgetting justice, and it’s not even so important whether they act legitimately or not.