NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Sociology Chapter 7: Mass Media and Communications

These Class 12 Sociology Chapter 7 solutions cover Mass Media and Communications from the textbook Social Change and Development in India (Book II), updated for the NCERT 2026–27 session. The chapter studies the mass media — newspapers, radio, television, films, the Internet and mobile telephony — as a social institution whose structure and content are shaped by economic, political and socio-cultural forces. It traces the press in colonial India, the developmental role of media in independent India, and the dramatic changes brought by globalisation and the communication revolution after 1990. Below you get step-by-step answers to all end-of-chapter Questions, plus key concepts, extra practice, MCQs, Assertion–Reason and FAQs.

Class: 12 Subject: Sociology Book: Social Change and Development in India Chapter: 7 Title: Mass Media and Communications Session: 2026–27
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Class 12 Sociology Chapter 7 – Overview

Chapter 7, Mass Media and Communications, explains why media like television, newspapers, films, radio and the Internet are called ‘mass’ media — because they reach very large audiences. It treats the media as a social institution whose structure and content are shaped by the changing economic, political and socio-cultural context, and shows that the relationship between media and society is dialectical — each influences the other. The chapter follows three phases: the role of the press in colonial India, where the nationalist press (Kesari, Amrita Bazar Patrika, Mathrubhumi) fought censorship; the developmental approach of the early decades after independence, when Nehru called the media the ‘watchdog of democracy’ and All India Radio, Doordarshan and the Films Division promoted self-reliance and national development; and the era of globalisation after 1990, when the market became central, private satellite channels and FM radio multiplied, the Indian-language newspaper revolution took off, and new technologies fused once-distinct media. It also notes that mass communication needs a formal organisation to meet large-scale capital and management demands, and that a digital divide separates those who can easily use the media from those who cannot.

Key Concepts & Terms

Mass media: forms of communication — television, newspapers, films, magazines, radio, advertisements, video games, CDs and the Internet — that reach very large (‘mass’) audiences; also called mass communications.

Mass communication vs other communication: mass communication is different because it needs a formal structural organisation with large-scale capital, production and management; this is why the state and/or the market play a major role in how media works.

Dialectical relationship: media and society influence each other — society shapes the nature and role of the media, while the media in turn has a far-reaching influence on society.

Imagined community: Benedict Anderson’s idea that print media (people across a country reading the same news) created a sense of togetherness and helped the growth of nationalism — a nation as a community imagined by people who will never meet.

Nationalist press: newspapers such as Kesari (Marathi), Mathrubhumi (Malayalam) and Amrita Bazar Patrika (English) that nurtured anti-colonial opinion and faced censorship by the colonial state.

Watchdog of democracy: Nehru’s vision of the media in independent India — spreading self-reliance and national development, fighting oppressive social practices, and promoting a rational, scientific outlook.

Developmental role of media: the Films Division’s newsreels and documentaries, AIR’s programmes on the Green Revolution, and Doordarshan’s SITE experiment and soap operas like Hum Log used the media to inform people about development.

Entertainment-education: deliberately placing educational and social messages (gender equality, small families, national integration) inside entertainment, as in Hum Log (1984–85).

Indian-language newspaper revolution: the rapid growth of vernacular dailies (Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil) through local editions, simpler language and aggressive marketing — e.g. Eenadu, Malayala Manorama, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar.

Infotainment: a combination of information and entertainment that newspapers adopt to keep readers with segmented interests; production becomes a consumer product driven by numbers and advertising.

Localisation by transnational channels: foreign satellite channels (STAR Plus, MTV, Sony) introduced Hindi and regional-language programming — STAR Plus’s ‘Aapki Boli. Aapka Plus Point’ — to reach diverse Indian audiences.

Digital divide: the sharp difference between sections of people who can easily access and use mass media (and the Internet) and those who cannot.

NCERT “Questions” — Full Solutions

All questions below are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT textbook’s end-of-chapter Questions section. Answers are original, written in CBSE exam-ready style.

1. Trace out the changes that have been occurring in the newspaper industry. What is your opinion on these changes?

ANSWER Far from declining with the rise of television and the Internet, the Indian newspaper industry has actually expanded, and the most striking change has been the Indian-language (vernacular) newspaper revolution. Hindi, Telugu and Kannada have recorded the highest growth, and Indian-language dailies as a whole grew from about 191 million readers to 425 million, while English-daily readership stagnated at around 31 million. Why this growth happened: (i) a rise in the number of literate people migrating to cities — for example, the Hindi daily Hindustan’s Delhi edition jumped from 64,000 copies in 2003 to 425,000 in 2005; (ii) the needs of readers in small towns and villages differed from city readers, so papers like Malayala Manorama and Eenadu launched district and block editions in local language; and Dina Thanthi used simplified, colloquial Tamil. Changes in technology and content: from the late 1980s newspapers became fully automated — networked PCs and news-making software replaced the reporter’s shorthand notebook and typewriter with laptops, digital recorders and modems, raising the speed of news and the number of editions. Papers also added supplements, pull-outs and niche booklets, used aggressive marketing (door-to-door surveys by the Dainik Bhaskar group), and increasingly depended on advertisers, who gained a larger say in content — giving rise to infotainment, a mix of information and entertainment. My opinion: the growth of language newspapers is a positive sign that democratises information, gives a voice to rural and small-town India, and creates employment. However, growing dependence on advertising and the shift of newspapers into a pure ‘consumer product’ — where ‘as long as numbers are big, everything is up for sale’ — can dilute serious reporting and the older public-service ideals of journalism. The challenge is to keep credibility and depth alive while expanding reach.

2. Is radio as a medium of mass communication dying out? Discuss the potential that FM stations have in post-liberalisation India.

ANSWER No, radio is not dying out. It remains one of the most widespread and accessible media in India. By 2000, AIR’s programmes could be heard in about two-thirds of all Indian households, in 24 languages and 146 dialects, over some 120 million radio sets; AIR operates a three-tiered national, regional and local service covering almost the entire population. The cheap, battery-powered transistor still reaches remote and power-short areas, as the example of Raghav Mahato’s village FM station in Bihar shows. The boost from FM: the advent of privately owned FM radio stations in 2002 gave a fresh push to entertainment radio. To attract listeners, these stations specialise in particular kinds of popular music; one channel even claims it broadcasts ‘All hits all day!’. FM is especially popular among young urban professionals and students. Many channels belong to media conglomerates — Radio Mirchi (Times of India group), Red FM (Living Media) and Radio City (Star Network). Potential of FM in post-liberalisation India: (i) the potential is enormous — further privatisation and the spread of community-owned radio can multiply the number of stations; (ii) there is a growing demand for local news and local culture, and the trend worldwide (and in India) is of networks being replaced by local radio; (iii) FM can carry public-interest messages (on health, polio, HIV, missing children) cheaply and in local languages. A limitation is that private FM channels are not permitted to broadcast political news bulletins, and India still lacks strong independent public-service stations like the BBC or NPR. Overall, radio is being reinvented rather than dying out.

3. Trace the changes that have been happening in the medium of television. Discuss.

ANSWER Beginnings (developmental phase): television was introduced experimentally in 1959 to promote rural development. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) broadcast directly to community sets in rural areas of six states in 1975–76. By 1975 Doordarshan stations were set up in four cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar, Amritsar), with each centre carrying a mix of news, children’s, women’s, farmers’ and entertainment programmes. Commercialisation in the 1980s: once programmes were allowed to carry advertisements, the target audience shifted towards the urban consuming class. Colour broadcasting arrived with the 1982 Asian Games, and indigenous soap operas like Hum Log (1984–85) and Buniyaad (1986–87) and the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata drew huge audiences and advertising revenue, accelerating commercialisation. Globalisation and satellite television: in 1991 there was a single state-controlled channel, Doordarshan; by 1998 there were nearly 70 channels, and by 2020 about 900 private television networks. The Gulf War of 1991 (which popularised CNN) and the launch of STAR-TV and Zee TV signalled the arrival of private satellite channels. The cable industry mushroomed — cable operators rose from 100 in 1984 to about 60,000 in 1999. Localisation and content today: transnational channels initially feared for Indian cultural identity, but soon used ‘the familiar’ — STAR Plus turned into a Hindi channel (‘Aapki Boli. Aapka Plus Point’), MTV India and others added Hindi and regional programming, and channels launched in Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi and Gujarati. Most channels now run 24×7 with lively, informal, immediate news; there is a flood of news channels, reality shows (Kaun Banega Crorepati, Indian Idol, Bigg Boss), talk shows and family soaps, many modelled on western formats. Discussion: television has made news more immediate, democratic and intimate and has fostered public debate, but intense competition for viewership can lead to sensationalism and intrusion into private lives (as in the Prince rescue coverage), raising the question of whether serious political and economic issues are being neglected.

Extra Practice Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why are these media called ‘mass’ media?

ANSWERTelevision, newspapers, films, radio, magazines and the Internet are called ‘mass’ media because they reach mass audiences — very large numbers of people at the same time. For this reason they are also referred to as mass communications.

Q2. How is mass communication different from other means of communication?

ANSWERMass communication requires a formal structural organisation to meet large-scale capital, production and management demands. It works through very large organisations with major investments and large numbers of employees, which is why the state and/or the market play a major role in its functioning — unlike face-to-face or personal communication.

Q3. What did Benedict Anderson mean by the nation as an ‘imagined community’?

ANSWERAnderson argued that when people in different corners of a country read or heard the same news through print media, they began to feel connected and developed a ‘we feeling’. This sense of togetherness among people who would never actually meet helped the growth of nationalism, so the nation could be thought of as an imagined community.

Q4. What role did the nationalist press play in colonial India?

ANSWERThe nationalist press nurtured and channelised anti-colonial public opinion and was vocal against the oppressive measures of the colonial state. Newspapers such as Kesari (Marathi), Mathrubhumi (Malayalam) and Amrita Bazar Patrika (English) suffered censorship and the displeasure of the Raj, yet continued to advocate the nationalist cause and demand an end to colonial rule.

Q5. What is the ‘digital divide’ in the context of mass media?

ANSWERThe digital divide refers to the sharp differences in how easily different sections of people can access and use mass media, especially newer technologies like the Internet. Some groups can use these media readily, while others — often the poor and rural population — cannot, creating inequality in access to information.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. Explain the developmental role given to mass media in the first decades after independence.

ANSWERIn independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru called upon the media to act as the watchdog of democracy and to spread the spirit of self-reliance and national development. The media was expected to inform people about developmental efforts and to fight oppressive social practices like untouchability, child marriage, ostracism of widows, witchcraft and faith healing, while promoting a rational, scientific outlook for a modern industrial society. The Films Division produced newsreels and documentaries shown before films in cinemas. All India Radio, seen as an active partner in development, broadcast news, current affairs and development discussions — famously running a sustained countryside campaign on Green Revolution high-yielding crops from 1967. Television began experimentally in 1959 for rural development, and the SITE experiment (1975–76) broadcast instructional programmes to rural community sets. The print media too continued as a partner in nation building by taking up developmental issues. Thus, in this phase the state and its vision of development strongly shaped the media.

Q2. How has globalisation transformed the mass media in India? Discuss with reference to print, television and radio.

ANSWERAfter the 1990s, globalisation and the communication revolution made the market central to the media, national markets gave way to a fluid global market, and new technologies fused once-distinct media. In print, instead of declining, newspapers expanded through the Indian-language revolution — vernacular dailies grew rapidly with district and block editions, simpler language, supplements and aggressive marketing, while growing dependence on advertising encouraged infotainment. In television, a single Doordarshan channel in 1991 gave way to nearly 70 channels by 1998 and hundreds of private satellite networks; transnational channels (STAR, Zee, MTV, Sony) localised content into Hindi and regional languages, and 24×7 news, reality shows and soaps multiplied. In radio, privately owned FM stations from 2002 boosted entertainment radio, specialising in popular music and catering to young urban audiences, with growing scope for community radio and local news. Overall, the media became more diverse, commercial and consumer-driven, raising debates about its role in a democracy.

Q3. “The relationship between mass media and society is dialectical.” Explain this statement.

ANSWERA dialectical relationship means that mass media and society influence each other. On one side, the nature and role of the media is shaped by the society in which it is located — like any social institution, the structure and content of mass media changes with the economic, political and socio-cultural context. For example, the colonial state monitored and censored the press; in the first decades after independence the state’s vision of development dominated the media; and in the post-1990 period of globalisation the market took the leading role, shifting media towards commercialisation and infotainment. On the other side, the media has a far-reaching influence on society: print helped create a sense of nationalism and an ‘imagined community’; AIR’s campaigns supported the Green Revolution; Doordarshan soap operas like Hum Log promoted gender equality and small families; and television has made news immediate and democratic while also shaping consumption and public opinion. Because each continuously shapes the other, the relationship is rightly called dialectical.

MCQs & Assertion–Reason

1. Mass media are called ‘mass’ media because they:

(a) are expensive    (b) reach very large audiences    (c) are owned by the state    (d) use heavy machinery

2. The concept of the nation as an ‘imagined community’ is associated with:

(a) Johann Gutenberg    (b) Benedict Anderson    (c) Jawaharlal Nehru    (d) Ramoji Rao

3. Which of the following was a nationalist newspaper in colonial India?

(a) The Times of India    (b) The Pioneer    (c) Kesari    (d) The Statesman

4. Jawaharlal Nehru called upon the media to function as the:

(a) watchdog of democracy    (b) voice of the market    (c) arm of the government    (d) tool of advertisers

5. The SITE experiment (1975–76) was associated with the medium of:

(a) radio    (b) newspapers    (c) television    (d) films

6. Hum Log (1984–85), India’s first long-running soap opera, used the strategy of:

(a) infotainment    (b) entertainment-education    (c) censorship    (d) propaganda only

7. Privately owned FM radio stations were introduced in India in:

(a) 1991    (b) 1995    (c) 2000    (d) 2002

8. The founder of the Telugu newspaper Eenadu was:

(a) Raghav Mahato    (b) Ramoji Rao    (c) Raja Rammohun Roy    (d) Fardoonji Murzban

9. The combination of information and entertainment adopted by newspapers is called:

(a) infotainment    (b) localisation    (c) parasocial interaction    (d) digital divide

10. The radio station ‘Radio Mirchi’ belongs to the:

(a) Living Media group    (b) Star Network    (c) Times of India group    (d) Zee group

Answer key: 1-(b), 2-(b), 3-(c), 4-(a), 5-(c), 6-(b), 7-(d), 8-(b), 9-(a), 10-(c).

For each Assertion–Reason question, choose: (A) Both true and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion; (B) Both true but the Reason is not the correct explanation; (C) Assertion true, Reason false; (D) Assertion false, Reason true.

A-R 1. Assertion: The relationship between mass media and society is dialectical.

Reason: Society shapes the media, and the media in turn has a far-reaching influence on society.

A-R 2. Assertion: Despite the growth of television and the Internet, the circulation of newspapers in India has grown.

Reason: New technologies and the Indian-language newspaper revolution boosted production and readership.

A-R 3. Assertion: Radio is a dying medium in India with no future.

Reason: AIR reaches about two-thirds of Indian households, and FM stations introduced in 2002 boosted entertainment radio.

A-R 4. Assertion: In the first decades after independence the state strongly shaped the content of mass media.

Reason: The media was used to spread self-reliance and national development and to fight oppressive social practices.

A-R 5. Assertion: Mass communication requires a formal structural organisation.

Reason: It must meet large-scale capital, production and management demands and works through very large organisations.

Answer key: 1-(A), 2-(A), 3-(D), 4-(A), 5-(A).

Exam Tips & Common Mistakes

How to score full marks in this chapter

Organise long answers around the three phases — colonial India, the developmental decades after independence, and globalisation after 1990 — and quote the textbook’s own examples for each: the nationalist press (Kesari, Amrita Bazar Patrika), AIR and the Green Revolution campaign, the SITE experiment, Hum Log, the Indian-language newspaper revolution (Eenadu, Dainik Jagran), STAR Plus localisation and FM radio (Radio Mirchi). Always link your points to the chapter’s big ideas — media as a social institution, the dialectical media–society relationship, the role of the state vs the market, and the digital divide. For the three NCERT ‘trace the changes’ questions, give a clear chronological sequence and end with your own balanced opinion.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Saying radio or print media is “dying” — the chapter shows both have actually expanded.
  • Confusing infotainment (information + entertainment in newspapers) with entertainment-education (social messages inside entertainment, as in Hum Log).
  • Forgetting to mention the shift from state to market as the key change brought by globalisation.
  • Mixing up the media: SITE and Doordarshan = television; Vividh Bharati and AIR = radio; Eenadu and Dainik Bhaskar = print.
  • Treating the media–society relationship as one-way instead of dialectical (mutual influence).
  • Giving only a narration of facts in ‘What is your opinion?’ questions — always add a reasoned viewpoint.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Chapter 7 of Class 12 Sociology (Social Change and Development in India) about?

Chapter 7, Mass Media and Communications, studies newspapers, radio, television, films and the Internet as a social institution. It traces the press in colonial India, the developmental role of media after independence, and the changes brought by globalisation after 1990, and explains the dialectical relationship between media and society.

How many questions are there in the NCERT exercise of Chapter 7?

The end-of-chapter Questions section of Chapter 7 contains 3 questions — on changes in the newspaper industry, the future of radio and FM stations, and changes in television — all answered step by step on this page.

Why is mass communication different from other forms of communication?

Mass communication needs a formal structural organisation to meet large-scale capital, production and management demands. It works through very large organisations with major investments and many employees, which is why the state and/or the market play a major role in how the mass media functions.

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