Role of Mass Media in Communicating Information

Introduction

Mass communication is an important intervention that is considered by the individuals, businesses and social institutions to reach out to a larger number of audience while making the same aware of the different aspects of a message, including media dissertation help. The recent outbreak of the Covid19 situation has significantly encountered the use of Mass media channels with the purpose of improving awareness among the people and the prevention techniques that might be adopted by the audience (O’Sullivan and Carr 2018). The use of the mass media channels supported the government in UK to keep the people updated on the restrictions, the problems and the emergency services that must be availed by the people in case of any adverse situation. The wider use of the mass media vehicles has supported the governments and organizations in delivering important messages to the people while making the same aware of the next steps.

The current discussion would focus towards identifying the role of mass media and the manner in which it supports in reaching out to larger number of audience. Particularly the research would elaborate on the means through which the use of mass media channels has supported the UK government in reaching out to the common people and making the same aware of the different specific preventive measures and interventions in the scenario of the pandemic. The research would also focus on identifying the different challenges that were faced while utilizing the mass media channels and suggested recommendations through which the mass media utilization might be improved.

The role of mass media in communication of events and keeping the audience updated

Information is one of the major aspects that is being considered in the digitalized era. Transmission of important information and reaching out to the target audience are critical factors that has significantly empowered the scope of mass communication through the utilization of varied range of media vehicles. Swire and Ecker (2018) stated that mass media plays an important role in communicating important information and updates to the common people while ensuring the sender of the updates are capable of reaching out to large number of people. In this connection, it has been observed that the use of mass media channels is integral towards conveying data on public health issues, social research or specific government and politics based updates.

Diverse range of mass media instruments, tools and vehicles are used with the purpose of widening the reach of the message while making larger number of people aware of the different aspects. The emergence of different technologies and tools has significantly supported the businesses and the organizations in improving their scope of sharing important messages to the general audience. Transmission of information among huge numbers of people is facilitated through the utilization of the mass media platforms (McDevitt et al. 2018). In different events and activities, the institutes, government and organizations utilize the mass media platforms with the purpose of making their target audience aware and keep the updated for empowering maximized engagement.

Moreover, Kolomiets (2017) opined that mass media acts a tool for shaping the behaviour and the psychology of the people and guiding the same towards the favourable outcomes. However, it might be stated that mass media channels are limited by certain misconceptions or misunderstandings which might affect the capability of the sender in influencing the decisions or the thought process of the audience. Misinterpretation of the message might result to rumours which might limit the scope of communication or the rationale for conveying the information to the target audience. Internet and other emerging technologies and platforms have improved the scope of mass media, which has increased the chances of transmitting information to huge number of people at one go. However, the misinterpretation of the message that is being conveyed through the mass media platforms might affect the capability of the senders in influencing the favourable outcomes (Simonson et al. 2019). Therefore, it must be noted that the use of the mass media platforms and vehicles might be carefully used with the purpose of influencing the audience and creating awareness among the same.

Public reviews and thoughts on UK mass media covering the Covid19 situation

Reviews and public opinions play an important role in determining the success factors of a mass media campaign. It has been observed through the research made by Heinzel and Liese (2021) that the opinion and reviews of the people or the target audience to which a mass media campaign is being made, supports in identifying the flaws or shortcomings in the process, resulting to future improvements. The people in UK hold a mixed feeling towards the mass media campaigns that are driven by the UK government at the wake of the sudden pandemic situation. Around 59% of the people in UK believed that their government has tried all means to make the same aware of the outbreak and educated them on the preventive measures that must be followed through the utilization of wider range of mass media channels (Hameleers, van der Meer and Brosius 2020).

However, some 32% of the people in UK complained that the UK government did not take adequate steps or measures to utilize a range of digital and social media channels in order to keep them informed (Loomba et al. 2021). The rest of the people in UK hold a neutral feeling towards the initiatives that are taken by the government in making the same aware of the concern and the preventive measures. In terms of communicating through a varied range of channels, the UK government did prioritize the use of newspapers, television and radio as their mass media channels in order to keep the people updated. However, it was observed that the government missed out to create the haul in the most of the social and digital media channels, which resulted to lower levels of awareness among the millennial population.

On the other hand, it was observed that around 18% of the population in UK believed that the government failed to check on the contents before publicizing them on the mass media channels leading to the transference of misleading and fake information (Lucas and Landman 2020). Misleading or fake information being transmitted among the public might create rumours and panic in a pandemic situation. Some of the people opined that the government failed to consult with different health agencies and organizations before rolling out the mass media campaign which might be the cause behind the misleading content.

However, around 48% of the people in UK has agreed upon the fact that the news agencies were helpful towards providing the same with authentic Covid19 coverage and updates (McBride et al. 2020). Therefore, it might be stated that the mixed feelings of the people and the vulnerabilities that are indicated through their opinions and responses must be considered with the purpose of improving the mass media campaign that was conducted by the UK government in order to make the people aware and educate the same.

Role of mass media in the sudden outbreak of the pandemic situation

The sudden outbreak of the pandemic situation has affected the interests of the people all around the world. Mass media channels acted as a means of conveying the different government and public updates that are issued by the governments. It has been observed that along with the governments, different healthcare organizations including WHO (World Health Organization) made use of the mass media channels with the purpose of making the people aware of the different important updates on the virus while educating the people on the preventive measures. Loomba et al. (2021) stated that the identification of the preventive measures like wearing a mask, adhering to the social distancing norm and identifying the quarantine zones are actually attributed to the mass media channels, as they supported immensely in spreading the updates among huge groups of people. Again, Heinzel and Liese (2021) opined that the mass media educated the people on different dates of lockdown, the emergency interventions and the preventive actions which supported the governments in controlling the outspread of the infection among the people.

The faster distribution of data was ensured through the utilization of YouTube and Twitter as the most favoured platforms with the purpose of reaching out to the people. According to an analytics outcome, around one of the four videos that were searched in YouTube at the time of the pandemic was related to the preventive measures and one out of six videos searched was on the symptoms of the infection (McBride et al. 2020). It was observed that UK mass media designed an info- graphic tool with the purpose of making the people aware of the patients who were suspected with the infection and the data was shared to the people through twitter for prevention.

The increased dissemination rates of the information or updates in various channels have significantly supported the government and the healthcare organizations in keeping the people educated and aware of the situation. Therefore, it might be stated that the mass media channels acts as a means of increasing awareness among huge groups of people and keeping the same informed on different government instructions while educating the same on updates and activities which might be followed in adverse situations.

Problems that are being faced while utilizing mass communication

Public perception and differences in the mentality of perceiving information:

a diverse population with different perceptions and mentality among the people. The differences in the perception of the people in UK might limit the capability of the mass media channels in reaching out to the target audience. Moreover, Martin and Fabos (2019) stated that the people with different cultural backgrounds and races perceive a .common message differently which might create misunderstanding and misconceptions. Stereotyping and biases are again an important point of concern that is being faced by the mass media channels while broadcasting the updates and different information while reaching out to a variety of people. The incapability of the mass media channels in creating diversified contents and broadcasting the same as per the interests and priorities of the people has been affecting the scope and objectives of communication.

Inadequacy of authentic information or content being broadcasted on the media channels:

Authentic information is an integral part of mass media campaigns which is focused towards keeping the audience updated and educating the same on different healthcare and social factors. Broadcasting fake or falsified information in the mass media platforms might act as an obstruction or challenge towards fulfilling the objective of making the people aware. The falsified claims, opinions or updates might mislead the actions of the target audience while increasing the scope of awareness among the people. From the above case, it has been observed that most of the people in UK believed that the government failed to provide authentic information to the people, which have misled their activities relating to the preventive actions required for preventing the infection. Therefore, it might be stated that the inadequacy of utilizing authentic contexts in the mass media channels heavily affects the capability of individuals and organizations in improving the scope of awareness among the people related to the preventive aspects in the Covid19 situation.

inority exclusion: Minority exclusion is a major problem that is being faced by the mass media channels even in the modern societies. The biases and social categorization on the basis of the earnings has been affecting the capability of the mass media channels in maintaining inclusionary approach and maximize the rate of involvement of the people to the campaign. Stojanovska-Stefanova, Atanasoski and Chachorovski (2017) observed that the mass media campaigns are mostly focused towards improving the degree of engagement of the people in the different operational aspects. The inadequacy of inclusionary approach and the insufficiency of engagement of the mass people affect the objectives and limit the capability of the mass media in empowering changes in the operations. Therefore, it might be stated that minority exclusion poses a possible threat towards encouraging the mass engagement of the people towards the campaign while limiting the scope of mass media in developing capabilities of growth and positivism.

Recommendations

The most suggested recommended solutions that might be considered by the institutions and the individuals while utilizing the mass media platforms are being identified in this section of the research.

Developing capabilities on identifying and broadcasting authentic information:

Journalists and the people utilizing the mass media channels must take the initiative of developing their capabilities of authenticating the data or information that is to be broadcasted and aired through the media channels. It has been witnessed that the insufficiency of authentic data, falsified or fake claims or information might limit the scope or objectives of the mass media campaigns while failing to achieve the favourable outcomes from the same. The mass media campaigns are used with the purpose of making huge number of people aware while educating the same on the consistent changes that have been affecting the environment or the societies. The falsified information and claims might act as misleading content which might limit the scope of the success factors for any mass media campaign. Misleading activities and rumours might harm the social aspects while creating an adverse effect on the people and their motives. Therefore, the people utilizing the mass media channels must be careful in authenticating the information and source of the data before broadcasting the same on the different channels with the purpose of reaching out to the general public with authentic information.

Improving the scope for minority inclusion and rejecting social biases:

minority inclusion is one of the major aspects that might be considered by the journalists and the mass media users in the context of a diverse population. In this connection, the mass media users must take the initiative of identifying their target audience and develop contents that are suitable and keep their target audience interested in the same. Developing inappropriate contents that are targeted towards the majority of people in a social strata might result to exclusion of the minors and result to lower levels of engagement from the same. AS per the case of the UK’s mass media use in the context of Covid19, the minority exclusion aspect has affected the complete indulgence and engagement of the people in the societies towards the awareness campaigns. It reduced the scope of the government in improving the outcome from the campaign. Moreover, the mass media users must take the initiative of reducing the biases as per the social strata. It would be beneficial towards advocating minority inclusion aspects in a mass media campaign that is devised by the institutions or the government. The development of appropriate content structure would also support the mass media users in reducing the instances of perceptual differences while increasing the scope of engagement of the people from different strata of the society.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the above assessment it might be stated that mass media utilization is supportive towards educating and creating awareness among huge groups of people in the society. The research identified the context of UK’s mass media coverage on Covid19 outbreak where most people in UK believed that the government failed to provide the same with authentic and valuable information and lacked the capability of utilizing a wider range of mass media vehicles. The discussion also identified different concerns that are being encountered by the mass media users and suggested a set of recommended activities with the purpose of resolving the concerns.

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