Mass Communication vs Journalism- Are they similar or different?

27 April,2020 | By Brainwonders

Imagine in this pandemic situation or for any case when a situation becomes alarming, what will happen if we do not get any updates from the news or the newspaper or any social media platform? I am sure that visualizing this somewhat horrifying picture will give you an idea about how vital mass communication and journalism are in our lives.

If professionals in these fields weren’t spontaneous, responsive, and zealous enough, it’s difficult to imagine how we people have gotten access to gathered information or simply survived, for that matter.

Are you trying to form a career within the field of media? However, with the never-ending range of courses available, you’re most likely to be confused regarding which one to travel for. Well, worry not for you’re not the sole student stuck during this dilemma. And most face this confusion between the two very trending courses particularly ‘journalism’ and ‘mass communication.’ Truth be told, each of them is quite interlinked and they create totally different careers. And, before you select one, you must first need to grasp that which among these two has a higher match with your career interests.

Having said that, most people still don’t have a deep understanding of each of these areas. Many people out there talk about how Mass Communication and Journalism are the same, failing to grasp that the two, whereas closely connected, don’t seem to be similar.

If you too have puzzled your brains regarding the distinction between Mass Communication and Journalism, here it is brought up the key variations between mass communication and journalism on the basis of all possible fundamental parameters like Course structure, Colleges, Degrees, and Career opportunities.

Let’s dive right in!

Mass Communication, even as the name implies, impacts plenty of domains. Starting from radio, TV, news, magazines to the web, social media, films; any platform that is sharing opinions, news, and information to the plenty (a massive cluster of people) comes within the compass of Mass Communication. It is a broad field and includes a fusion of photography, filmmaking, journalism, promotional material, publicity, content writing, etc.

Journalism, on the other hand, revolves broadcasting the news to folks, be it any strata – politics, economics, business, science, sports, or diversion news. It is gathering information or news, writing or editing it, and checking it with facts and pictures. It then involves broadcasting it to the masses through each print and online media. The various mediums used in Journalism includes newspapers and magazines, and electronic media that includes TV, Radio, and currently, even the web.

Mass Communication and Journalism are two totally different aspects of a similar issue, to quite an extent. Let’s take an analogy to grasp better: If Mass Communication is an Italian cuisine consisting of Pizzas, Pasta, Lasagne, then Journalism is considered as one of the dishes in Italian cuisines.

In a nutshell, mass communication covers a broad space of media whereas journalism focuses solely on news. Or simply put, Mass Communication is an umbrella term that has several fields like Advertising, Event Management, publicity, etc., one in every of that is Journalism.

Well, there you go! Now that the distinction between Mass Communication and Journalism is crystal clear to you- it is advised to take up a career guidance session with tests and counselling to know where your strengths lie. Which among these two you should go for depends on what you would like to try in life and wherever you would like to finish up and a counselling session will help you make the most of the chosen field.