Mass Media is divided into two major types which are:

1. Print Media: Newspaper and magazines 

2. Electronic Media: Radio, Television, Internet and Social Networking Sites.

1. Print Media: The Beginning of Print Media There are many Kannada language newspapers that has served the media industry significantly and also have earned significant recognition. Some of the leading Kannada language newspapers include. Prajavani, Kannada Prabha, Samyukta Karnataka, Vijaya Karnataka, Hosa Digantha, Sanje Vani, Udaya Vani, Andolan, Esanje etc.

2. Electronic Media:

a. Radio: Radio broadcasting which commenced in India through amateur ‘HAM’ Broadcasting Clubs in Kolkata and Chennai in the 1920s, matured into a public broadcasting system in the 1940s during World War II when it became a major instrument of propaganda for Allied forces in South East Asia.

At the time of independence, there was only 6 radio station located in the major cities catering primarily to an urban audience. A Radio Transmission center called Akashavani was started by Dr. M.V. Gopalaswamy, at Mysore University in 1935 through private effort.

The station was later taken over by the state Government in January 1941 and it was shifted to Bangalore in November 1955. The first AIR station in the North Karnataka Region started functioning at Dharwad, on 8^th November 1950. In 1964, Vividh Bharathi (CBS) was added to the Dharwad unit. Auxiliary stations at Bhadravathi and Gulbarga were started in 1965 and 1966 respectively.

Apart from AH India Radio (AIR), there is Vividh Bharati, a channel for entertainment that was primarily broadcasting film songs on listeners’ requests. Vividh Bharati, which soon began to carry sponsored programs and advertisements, grew to become a money-spinning channel for AIR.

Akasha Vani (Kannada version of AIR) headquarters is at Bangalore and there are regional centers at Mysore, Bhadravathi, Dharwad, and Gulbarga covering broadcasting news, entertainment, sponsored programs, and commercial programs, etc.

FM Radio (Frequency Modulator Radio): The advent of privately owned FM radio stations in 2002, provided a boost to entertainment programs over the radio. In order to attract audiences, these radio stations provide entertainment. They specialize in ‘particular’ kinds of popular music to retain their audiences.

Most of the FM channels which are popular among urbanites and students often belong to media conglomerates. ‘Radio Mirchi’ belong to Times of India group, Red FM is owned by Living Media and Radio City by the Star Network.

b. Television (T.V.): television programming was introduced experimentally in India to promote rural development in early 1959. ‘Krishi Darshan’ was the first program telecast on Door darshan. Later, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was broadcasting directly to community viewers in the rural areas of six states between August 1975 and July 1976.

These instructional broadcasts to 2,400 TV sets directly were for 4 hours daily. Meanwhile, Television stations were set up 1 under Doordarshan in 4 cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar and Amritsar) by 1975. The advent of colour broadcasting during the year 1982 Asian Games in Delhi and the rapid expansion of the national network led to the rapid commercialization of T.V. broadcasting.

Gulbarga was the first center in Karnataka to have a relay center, it was inaugurated on 3-9-1977 and at the outset within a radius of 40 km, 240 villages and towns of Raichur and Vijayapura Districts and Gulbarga were benefitted. Community TV sets were maintained and serviced by the Doordarshan Kendra, Gulbarga, Bangalore city was provided with an interim TV Relay centre on 1- 1-1981.

Udaya news was the first private channel to broadcast news in Kannada language. At present, there are 8 Kannada news channels viz., TV-9, Suvarna News, Kasturi 24 × 7, Samaya News, Udaya News, Janashree News and Raj News. ETV News and a few more news channels will also come up short.

c. Internet: Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks consisting of millions of private, public, academic, business networks which are linked with the networking technology. In simple words Internet is a network of networks.

d. Social Networking Sites (SNS): Social Networking Sites are defined as online platforms that focus on building and reflecting social networks or social relations among people who share interests and activities. Further, social networking sites are a type of virtual community that has grown tremendously in popularly.