What is the difference between perception and reality and what is the impact on mass communication?

Perception is how an individual perceives the events.  It’s essentially how they receive the information and the facts.  It’s not about what really happened at all.  It’s about how they received the information and what that person understands to be true to them.

Reality is the true events that transpired.  It can also represent the original message and the intended way it was to be received.

A co-worker being competitive at work may be perceived as a threat.  The reality is that person may just want to do their best and keep up with everybody else.

Mass communications has a job of delivering a message to the masses.  The message must be tailored in a way that most individuals will perceive the message the same way.  Individuals that perceive the message the wrong way may oppose the sender now.

Perception can be impacted by the way a person socializes, their background, education, etc.  This makes it very difficult for the sender of information.  A lot has to be taken into consideration.

In many ways perception is more important than reality.  After all, the main purpose of communication is to send information.  If that information isn’t received properly, then the job of the communicator failed.