Mass communication is the study of how people and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time. It is usually understood to relate newspaper, magazine, and book publishing, as well as radio, television and film, even via internet as these mediums are used for disseminating information, news and advertising. Mass communication differs from the studies of other forms of communication, such as interpersonal communication or organizational communication, in that it focuses on a single source transmitting information to a large number of receivers. The study of mass communication is chiefly concerned with how the content of mass communication persuades or otherwise affects the behavior, attitude, opinion, or emotion of the person or people receiving the information.

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The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a professional degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program.[1] In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead confer a Bachelor of Arts, Journalism (B.A.J.), Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication (B.A.J.M.C.)[2] or Bachelor of Science, Journalism (BSJ) that is often part of or in conjunction with a course of study in mass communication. Yet another epithetological version of the degree, conferred by The Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, is the A.B.J. degree, the Latin equivalent of the B.J./B.A.J.