1) Usually produced by formal and complex organizations ("professional communicators")

2) Organizations have multiple gatekeepers

3) Need a great deal of money to operate

4) Exist to make a profit

5) Have a great deal of competition

3) Operating Expenses

Due to the size of the organization and the expense of operating channels, it takes a lot of money to be in the mass communication business

This will be a major factor in the "concentration of ownership" we'll study later.

In 1996, the average Hollywood film cost $53 million dollars to make and market. By 2001, the cost had risen to $79 million dollars. By 2003, it was over $100 million dollars, doubling in just seven years.

In 2009, the average cost of creating a "AAA" video game was over $15 million dollars. A multiplayer, on-line game costs twice as much to create.

This Super Bowl commercial cost about 2 million dollars.

4) Companies Exist to Keep Existing

Most mass communications organizations exist to make money

Even the non-profit ones intend to stay in existence.

As a result, over time, decisions are ultimately based on the concept of generating income

"Sometimes, in an effort to meet the increasing demands of clients, publishers have engaged in tactics that leave some in the industry wagging a finger and readers scratching their heads over what separates editorial content from advertising. Editorial executives say they are seeing more blurring of that line than ever."

Click here to read "To Sell the Ads, Eager Magazines Write the Copy".

"While the magazine industry is doing well as a whole, Time and its rival news weeklies are struggling to stay afloat. Gutted by staff cuts and suffering from sluggish circulation, they're trying to figure out how to avoid the grim future facing the newspaper industry."

More than 95% of recording artists loose money on their recordings. With a standard industry contract, a new artist can sell over 500,000 CDs and still not receive any profit.

5) It's A Mass Communications Jungle Out There

Intense competition exists between mass communication organizations. The competition helps fuel "Concentration of Ownership", which we'll study in Part 5 of Module 3.

6 record companies produce over 80% of all American CDs and cassettes.

The 5 largest US magazine groups publish over 50 different magazines.

8 of 10 new TV shows are canceled their first year.