Editing Mass media (section)

=== Characteristics ===

Five characteristics of mass communication have been identified by sociologist [[John Thompson (sociologist)|John Thompson]] of [[Cambridge University]]:<ref name="thompson">{{cite book|author=Thompson, John|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iXHzjIwQae4C |title=The Media and Modernity|pages=26–28, 74|isbn= 978-0-8047-2679-5 |year= 1995 | publisher=Stanford University Press }}</ref>
* "Comprises both technical and institutional methods of production and distribution" – This is evident throughout the history of mass media, from print to the Internet, each suitable for commercial utility
* Involves the "[[commodification]] of symbolic forms" – as the production of materials relies on its ability to manufacture and sell large quantities of the work; as radio stations rely on their time sold to advertisements, so too newspapers rely on their space for the same reasons
* "Separate contexts between the production and reception of information"
* Its "reach to those 'far removed' in time and space, in comparison to the producers"
* "Information distribution" – a "one to many" form of communication, whereby products are [[mass production|mass-produced]] and disseminated to a great quantity of audiences