Mass Communication History
Mass communication is the study of how we get information to the greatest number of people as quickly and effectively as possible. This broad-based area of study has evolved from print and broadcast journalism to today’s Internet-connected social media community. As opportunities to communicate to larger audiences grew, universities started offering programs to help students learn how to best communicate with the masses. Basic to the study of mass communications is examining the important and memorable events that emerged along the way
Communication to an Immediate Audience
People and societies have been communicating with each other since the time of cave drawings and drums. Ancient cultures, such as the Chinese and Romans, communicated through plays and art works. The beginnings of print media were seen in China where movable clay type was invented in 1041. Monks and holy men copied the Bible by hand, but mass media really took off around 1439 whenJohannes Gutenberg‘s invention of movable type allowed the mass production and distribution of books. Although newspapers began in the early 1600s, many American colonists still relied on the town crier as their sole source of information.
Communication Spreads to the Masses
Digital History focuses on the period from 1880 -1920 as leading the rise of mass communication, with the introduction of the mass market newspapers featuring comic strips, fashion pages, sports news, and women’s pages. National mass circulation magazines, such as Ladies’ Home Journal, also began to appear at that time. Frank Doubleday started organizing book tours to make and promote bestsellers. Thomas Edison introduced us to the wonders of music with his phonograph.
Advertising became popular in the late 1800s when the National Biscuit Company, which later became Nabisco, spent the unheard-of sum of one million dollars on a national advertising campaign. Others (like Campbell Soups, Heinz, and Quaker Oats) quickly followed suit in
Communication to an Immediate Audience
People and societies have been communicating with each other since the time of cave drawings and drums. Ancient cultures, such as the Chinese and Romans, communicated through plays and art works. The beginnings of print media were seen in China where movable clay type was invented in 1041. Monks and holy men copied the Bible by hand, but mass media really took off around 1439 whenJohannes Gutenberg‘s invention of movable type allowed the mass production and distribution of books. Although newspapers began in the early 1600s, many American colonists still relied on the town crier as their sole source of information.
Communication Spreads to the Masses
Digital History focuses on the period from 1880 -1920 as leading the rise of mass communication, with the introduction of the mass market newspapers featuring comic strips, fashion pages, sports news, and women’s pages. National mass circulation magazines, such as Ladies’ Home Journal, also began to appear at that time. Frank Doubleday started organizing book tours to make and promote bestsellers. Thomas Edison introduced us to the wonders of music with his phonograph.
Advertising became popular in the late 1800s when the National Biscuit Company, which later became Nabisco, spent the unheard-of sum of one million dollars on a national advertising campaign. Others (like Campbell Soups, Heinz, and Quaker Oats) quickly followed suit in