Mass media
media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication
Mass media refers to the forms of media that reach large audiences via mass communication. It includes broadcast media, digital media, print media, social media, streaming media, advertising, and events.
Mass media encompasses news, advocacy, entertainment, and public service announcements, and intersects with the study of marketing, propaganda, public relations, political communication, journalism, art, drama, computing, and technology. The influence of mass media on individuals and groups has also been analysed from the standpoint of anthropology, economics, history, law, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.
Mass media is often controlled by media conglomerates, which may include mass media organisations, companies, and networks, and may be susceptible to media capture.
Definition
In the late 20th century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries: books, the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, recordings, and television. The explosion of digital communication technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries challenged this classification. By the early 2000s, a classification called the "seven mass media" came into use, comprising:
Print (books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, posters, etc.) – late 15th century
Recordings (gramophone records, magnetic tapes, cassettes, cartridges, CDs, and DVDs) – late 19th century
Cinema – c. 1900
Radio – c. 1910
Television – c.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Mass media” as media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11033. The Library of Congress control number is sh85081863. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1900 and 1910.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Mass media”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Mass media primary sources, Mass media archive and Mass research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mass media”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Mass media” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.