Concept
mass communication
A form of communication in which messages reach a dispersed audience through technical means, publicly, indirectly and one-way; the communicator is usually an institution.
Mass communication does not simply mean “reaching many people”. According to the often-cited definition by the German researcher Gerhard Maletzke (1963), in this form of communication messages are given publicly (the recipients are neither limited nor individually defined), by technical means of dissemination, indirectly (there is spatial or temporal distance between communicator and recipient) and one-sidedly (communicator and recipient do not swap roles) to a dispersed audience.
In Maletzke’s scheme, mass communication goes through an institutionalized and professional intermediary structure rather than being communication between individuals. The recipient’s reaction does not reach the communicator directly; letters from readers are among Maletzke’s examples of poor feedback.
These criteria set mass communication apart from face-to-face talk. Which of them still hold in the age of social media is a separate debate.
Example
The evening news bulletin: public, prepared by a broadcasting organization, with no way for viewers to answer back, and with viewers scattered in their homes.