About Lesson
Functions of Mass Communication for Society
- Surveillance: the news and information role of the media*. The media as sentinels and lookouts. On any given day, about 60 million Americans are exposed to mass- communicated news
- Beware surveillance: when the news/information media warn the public about something. i.e. weather alerts, terrorism warnings, global warming, production information
- Instrumental surveillance: information that is useful in an everyday manner. e.g. stock prices, movie listings, “lifestyle” articles