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History of Mass Comunication

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History of Mass Comunication
Its seven a.m. and you are awakened by your alarm. You proceed to turn off the alarm, turn on the television and continue with your typical mundane Monday morning routine, just as a ‘weight-watchers’ commercial commences. Without knowing, you don your Nike shoes, your Calvin Klein sweats, and skip your morning breakfast; only a nutrimax power bar will do, because health seems to be your number one priority today. Mass communication and its facets like television play a vital role in our lives as it affects the way the way we think, the decisions we make, and the things we do. According to Webster’s dictionary mass communication, “is the study of how individuals and entities relay information, through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time.” Due to its influence in our lives it is necessary to understand the history of mass communication as we will be able to better appreciate something that has been weaved in the fabric of our lives.
. The history of mass communication is relatively short in the scope of world history. Despite the fact that newssheets appeared as early as 100 B.C, the mechanical printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg around 1439, and the introduction of the newspapers occur in the early 1600s. The introduction of mass market newspapers, featuring comic strips (yellow journalism), fashion magazines, sport news and women pages were aspects of the renaissance of mass communication; advertising also became quite prevalent during this period.
The dawn of advertising can be traced to the first ever advertisement by the National Biscuit Company which later became Nabisco. Considering that advertising was not so popular among the masses, Nabisco spent an alarming sum of money which amounted to one million dollars on an advertising campaign. This influenced other stake holders such as; Heinz, Campbell Soups, and Quaker Oats to follow suit. (Digital Media) (University Of Florida). The sister of advertising can be



Bibliography: Burns, Diana. Scribd. 06 Decemeber 2009. 15 January 2014. Defleur, Melvine L., Ball Rokeach, Sandra. Theories of Mass Communication. New York: Longman Inc., 1989. Digital Media. "The Rise of Mass Communication." Digital Media. 14 January 2014 . University Of Florida. College of Journalism and Communication. 15 January 2014 . Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 14 January 2014 . WMDFMF. "HQRHUO." WKDRWM. 14 January 2014.

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