Cross-eyed Studio

Lecture: A Brief History of Mass Media, continued

The Roots of Mass Media

Let’s look into what stimulated the creation of this mass media world. Think for a moment about that idea. We may call it mass media or broadcasting, but those names actually leave out the most important element. Which is what? The message!

If necessity is the mother of invention as it has been said, then at some point in history, somebody wanted to spread a message to as many people as they could but do so faster and easier than before. So let’s think of mass media in these terms:

Mass: Getting the message to lots of people by means of...
Media: Some enabling form of technology.

The Bible is actually one of the best historical examples of this. Before it was canonized, its texts were copied by hand. Even after it was assembled into a Book of Books, it was copied and copied and copied by hand for centuries. A monk might spend his entire life copying, only to generate a shelf-full of new copies of the Bible! There had to be a better way, right? That’s where we’re going to pick up the timeline, and touch on the highlights that have brought us to the modern age of mass media.

Timeline

• 1453: Johnannes Gutenberg uses his printing press to print the Bible. Periodical print, such as newspapers would subsequently rise as a means to spread news while it‘s still news.
• 1791: ? We’ll talk about it later.
• 1825: A French inventor makes the first permanant photograph. Capturing a still image paves the way for motion picture.
• 1830: Telegraphy is independently developed in England and the United States, making possible the instant relay of information over long distances.
• 1876: First telephone call made by Alexander Graham Bell.
• 1878: Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph. Recorded sound is born!
• 1897: Guglielmo Marconi patents the wireless telegraph. His discoveries soon make it possible for sound transmission through the invisible radio waves.
• 1920: KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh, United States, becoming the world's first commercial radio station.
• 1939: Regular television broadcasts begin in the US.
• 1957: Sputnik is launched and sends back signals from near earth orbit, preparing the way for advanced wireless communications.
• 1976: JVC introduces VHS videotape. Home theater is now available to the masses.
• 1981: The IBM Personal Computer (PC) is introduced on 12 August, foreshadowing the ability for anyone with a PC to create and access information from around the world.
• 1982: Philips and Sony put the Compact Disc on the Japanese market. It arrives on the US market early the following year.
• 2001: News and images of the 9/11 acts of terrorism were known all over the world within minutes of their happening. Video was available within 24 hours.
  
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