CUET 2026 Syllabus Mass Media and Mass Communication (Code 318)

For The Year 2026
Mass Media/ Mass
Communication -
318
Syllabus for
CUET(UG)

1. Communication
(i) Understanding Communication
Levels of communication, models of communication
(ii) Culture and Communication
What is culture? Relationship between culture and mass media; communication in the
cultural context; media as a vehicle of cultural transmission; representation and stereotyping
in Mass Media.
(iii) Communication and Social Change
Social change: meaning; media as a catalyst for social change (with examples of
various social movements).
(iv) Evolution of the Media
History of Newspapers, Radio & Television in India and New Media

2. Journalism
(i) Understanding news
Definition, news values, components of news
(ii) Qualities of a good Journalist.
An understanding of the following: a nose for news, inquisitiveness, language skills,
trustworthiness and empathy,
(iv) Reporting and Editing techniques
Inverted Pyramid, 5W’s &1 H, Headlines, Copy editing
(v) Photo Journalism
Importance of photos, captions, visual depiction, photo essays
(vi) Media Laws & Ethical Issues in Journalism
A brief understanding of each of the following with examples: sensationalism, fake news,
paid news, plagiarism, advertorials, partisan reporting, and sting operations,
defamation, freedom of speech and expression, law and the media

3. Advertising and Public Relations

A. Advertising

(i) Advertising concepts & process,
(ii) Functions of Advertising,
(iii) Types of Advertising (Cross promotions, Merchandise, Convert Advertising),
(iv) Forms of Advertising
(v) Advertising campaigns

B. Public Relations

(i) Understanding PR and media management
(ii) Building Brand Image a
(iii) Tools and Steps in PR; PR campaigns
(iv) Crisis Management
(v) Responsibility of a PRO

4. TV Production Process and Programmes

(i) Pre-production, Production, Post-production Stage.
(ii) Programs, Formats, Audiences

5. Radio
(i) Writing for Radio
Characteristics of a Radio Script: conversational language, active voice, simple sentences,
avoidance of technical jargons, and capability of creating imageries
(ii) Radio Recording
Brief understanding of the radio studio and transmission equipment: types of microphones;
amplifier, sound mixer, speakers; audio recording.
6. Cinema
(i) History of Cinema
A brief understanding of the early experiments done by the following: Lumiere Brothers,
John Grierson, Robert Flaharty and Dada Saheb Phalke.
(ii) Production process and Cinema Genres
Production process and stages in films and documentary making.
Defining genre theory; an understanding of the various types of genres (with suitable
examples): action, westerns, comedy, crime, drama, fantasy/sci-fi, historical, animation,
romance and musical.
(iii) Cinema and Social Change
Parallel Cinema movement in India: Issues depicted and low budget production process
(with reference to examples such as Shyam Benegal’s Manthan).

7. Social Media
a. Definition of social media.
b. Types of social media platforms---social networking, blogging, photo and video sharing
c. Role of social media in a democracy.
Role of social media in creating collective identities with reference to sharing of information;
cyber activism (with suitable examples)
d. Cyber Crime.
An understanding of online bullying; stalking; trolling; online frauds.
e. Netiquettes.
Meaning and importance of netiquettes; an understanding of netiquettes such as:
identification of oneself; respect for others’ privacy, use of appropriate language and
imagery; do not spam.

8. New Media

a. Internet as the meeting point of all the mass media.
b. Broadcasting
c. Mass communication model of a few transmitting to a vast number of receivers.
d. Gigantic organization.
e. Huge technical infra-structure
f. Large scale revenue
g. The changed paradigm due to the Internet.
h. Empowering an individual to post data on the Internet
i. Information, message in one medium triggering off activity in the others
j. Many sources of the same information.
k. Distribution of the information between individuals on an unprecedented global scale.
l. Rapidity of opinion generation on a local, national and global scale
m. The socio-political implications of the new information order.
n. The Strengthening of democracy.
o. Emerging trends in Mass Communication
p. Media convergence