Effectiveness of Four Mass Media Channels on the Knowledge Gain of Rural Women

An experimental study of the relative effectiveness of four mass media channels (radio, television, newspaper, and Internet) on knowledge gain was conducted among 144 rural women belonging to self-help groups of three villages in Tamil Nadu, India. The selected technology, rabbit farming, was developed into parallel messages and was delivered through these channels to assess the knowledge gain. All the respondents (100%) had gained 'adequate' knowledge after exposure to television, newspaper and Internet, while 97% of those exposed to radio had gained adequate knowledge after exposure. Traditional media were found to have a slight edge over new media in terms of influencing knowledge gain. Television was found to be the most effective treatment, followed by newspaper, Internet and radio.