{"id":1630,"date":"2011-08-01T14:27:29","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T14:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/media\/"},"modified":"2023-09-20T10:45:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T10:45:02","slug":"media","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1098\/media","title":{"rendered":"Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Does Media Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Media, the plural of medium, broadly describes all channels of communication, including everything from printed paper to digital data<\/a>. Media comprises news, art, educational content, and any form of information that can reach or influence people, including television, radio, books, magazines, and the internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mass media refers to the news and information that reaches a large number of people, while local media, e.g., newspapers, and regional television\/radio stations, serves the needs of the communities or urban areas in which they are located.<\/p>\n

The Importance of Understanding Media in Today’s World<\/span><\/h2>\n

Media plays a key role in people’s everyday lives as it helps educate them and enables them to keep track of the day-to-day news, both local and global. Media is the best platform for people to get information about what’s happening worldwide and down the street.<\/p>\n

By analyzing the information they receive, people can develop their own opinions about various concepts and topics, while (in the best of all worlds) respecting the opinions of people who don’t agree with them. The media is also extremely important in terms of education, as it helps children and teenagers develop critical thinking by teaching them to consider more than one point of view. The media also acts as a watchdog, investigating and reporting on government misconduct.<\/p>\n

In his book, “Understanding Media: Extensions of Man”<\/a> published in 1964, Marshall McLuhan, who was a media theorist at the University of Toronto, coined the phrase “the medium is the message.” The concept behind the phrase is that the way society sends and receives information is more important than the actual information. In other words, McLuhan’s premise is that the form of the message, i.e., visual, print, musical, etc., influences how society perceives that message.<\/p>\n

The Evolution of Media Through History<\/span><\/h2>\n

Early Forms of Media<\/span><\/h3>\n

Media has existed in various forms for thousands of years. In fact, cave paintings are the most well-known primitive forms of media. Humans first created cave paintings around 62,000 B.C.E<\/a>. The paintings typically depicted animals. Although the purpose of these cave paintings is unclear, one theory is that humans used these depictions to send messages to others as to what animals were safe to eat without using words.<\/p>\n

And ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphs, a mix of picture and sound symbols, to communicate stories. These people used Egyptian hieroglyphic script as a writing system to represent their language. Experts believe that the ancient Egyptians created hieroglyphs as a way to accurately and reliably document and communicate information connected with religion and government.<\/p>\n

Storytelling then shifted to oral tradition, a form of communication where knowledge, art, ideas, and cultural information were transmitted from one generation to another by word of mouth. This could happen through speech, including folktales, poetry, or prose, or through song, including chants or ballads. This made it possible for different cultures to transmit history, literature, law, and other knowledge orally across generations. Eventually, these stories and songs were written down and published.<\/p>\n

While the transition from oral to written communication likely overlapped, historians have suggested that the oldest surviving written work in the Greek language that stemmed from oral tradition is “The Iliad” by Homer.<\/p>\n

The Invention of the Printing Press<\/span><\/h3>\n

The next breakthrough in the history of communication is mass printing, a process that made it easier for people to get their news and other information and also increased literacy.<\/p>\n

Until Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th<\/sup> century, individuals wrote every book by hand, and, as such, each copy was unique. Gutenberg’s printing press, however, enabled print media to be mass-produced.<\/p>\n

The printing press increased the speed of communication and, consequently, the spread of knowledge as it took significantly less time to produce 50 printed books than it took to produce 50 handwritten books. And by the 1930s, many printing presses could produce 3,000 pages every 60 minutes.<\/p>\n

Before the printing press, only the upper classes were really able to access books. However, since mass-producing books made them less expensive, the middle classes were also able to access and enjoy them. This led to an increase in public literacy.<\/p>\n

Evolution of Mass Media<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Adoption of Newspapers<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Oxford Gazette was founded in Oxford, England in 1665 as a government newsbook and is recognized as the first English newspaper. It was moved to London in 1666 and renamed the London Gazette. The Gazette was printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper. However, the Gazette was not printed and sold to the general public, rather it was sent to subscribers by mail. Britain’s first daily newspaper was The Daily Courant, published in 1702. The Halifax Gazette, published in 1752, was Canada’s first newspaper.<\/p>\n

The first multi-page newspaper published monthly in British colonial America was titled \u201cPublick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick.” it was published Boston in 1690. This publication focused on news, such as the Western Expedition against Canada, and events, such as the Native Americans establishing a day of Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

James Franklin, Benjamin Franklin’s older brother, published America’s first independent newspaper, The New-England Courant, in 1721. The country’s first daily newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, was launched in 1784.<\/p>\n

Newspapers became much more common in the late 19th<\/sup> century, and at the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century, newspapers were read in nearly every American home. And without competition from radio and television, newspapers were very successful.<\/p>\n

The Radio Takes Off<\/span><\/h3>\n

In 1895, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi successfully used radio waves to send a message via Morse Code over a distance of one kilometer. In 1897, Marconi received a patent in England for his \u201cwireless telegraph\u201d machine (later known as the radio).<\/p>\n

In the years leading up to World War I, a number of communications companies began advancing Marconi\u2019s invention so they could transmit more than just Morse Code. By 1914, Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian inventor, developed a machine that could sustain a radio wave and was powerful enough to broadcast music and voices over thousands of miles.<\/p>\n

The first radio news program to hit the airwaves occurred in Detroit, Michigan in 1920. Then concerts and sporting events were publicly broadcast. However, not very many people had access to radios at that time. The first mobile two-way radio that could transmit and receive radio waves was invented in Australia in 1923.<\/p>\n

There were more than 500 radio stations broadcasting news, sports, variety shows, music, and everything in between by the middle of the 1920s. And by the 1930s, most homes in Europe and the US had radios. But not long after World War II ended, television overtook the radio as the most important electronic mass medium in the world.<\/p>\n

The Move to Television<\/span><\/h3>\n

The precursor to today’s television began in the 1920s when Russian Vladimir Zworykin developed the kinescope, a device that recorded images on motion picture film. Then in 1926, John Logie Baird demonstrated a television system to the public in London. Two years later, television sets were first commercially produced in the US and shown to the public in September 1928. However, it wasn’t until 1938 that black and white electronic television sets were commercially available in the US.<\/p>\n

In the late 1940s, as black and white televisions made their way into more American homes, manufacturers were refining their color television sets. Also in the 1940s, US television stations first broadcast professional sports and the ABC television network was formed. Meet the Press, which debuted in 1947, went on to become television’s longest-running show.<\/p>\n

NBC’s Today show debuted in 1952, revolutionizing the idea of morning television. I Love Lucy launched in 1951 and Elvis Presley made his network television debut on a program called Stage Show in 1956.<\/p>\n

In 1960, politics took center stage with the split-screen televised presidential debate between Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Then just a few years later, in November 1963, the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas forever changed the way breaking news was covered. Earlier in 1963, news coverage of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech influenced the federal government to take more actions to bring about racial equality. And by watching man walk on the moon at the end of the decade, people’s thinking about what was possible also changed forever.<\/p>\n

In 1970, the Public Broadcasting Service was launched, creating a market for nonprofit educational programming. And in 1972, cable television station HBO burst onto the scene, offering original programming, including movies and live sports, such as boxing. In 1977, the first VHS-based VCR was rolled out in the US.<\/p>\n

In December 1980, during a Monday Night Football broadcast Howell Cosell announced the murder of John Lennon, the first of several times when national news was announced during professional sporting events. Other examples include NBC switching from an NBA finals game to broadcast the O.J. Simpson slow speed car chase in 1994 and ESPN announcing news of the death of Osama bin Laden during a national televised baseball game.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, sitcom television, such as Frasier, Seinfeld, and Friends, were huge hits. On the other hand, the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona were not quite as successful. Also in this decade, manufacturers rolled out TIVO and DVR technology, which eventually made VCRs obsolete.<\/p>\n

TV viewers were mad for Reality TV in the 2000s and they tuned into such shows as American Idol, The Amazing Race, and Survivor. In 2007, Netflix began offering a streaming option for its TV shows and movies. And flatscreen TVs begin to replace the larger, cathode-ray tube TVs.<\/p>\n

In the 2010s and 2020s, streaming services became even more popular. In fact, HBO and NBC, among other stations, developed monthly subscription services. More households in the US had smart TVs, enabling television viewers to browse through YouTube, stream music, and watch their favorite shows on one device. And now numerous TVs include such services as Hulu and Netflix.<\/p>\n

The Digital Revolution<\/span><\/h3>\n

Sometimes called the Third Industrial Revolution, the digital revolution<\/a>, refers to the move from mechanical and analog electronic devices to digital technology. The era started to emerge in the 1980s and continues today. The digital revolution, which was the beginning of the Information Age, started with one fundamental concept: the internet.<\/p>\n

The Internet<\/span><\/h3>\n

The invention of the internet and the World Wide Web in the 1960s and 1970s and their subsequent commercialization transformed information sharing and international communication. Although people use the terms internet and World Wide Web<\/a> interchangeably, they are not really the same. The internet refers to the global communication system, including hardware and infrastructure, while the web is one of the services communicated over the internet. The Internet allows the transfer of data, information, and communication worldwide, connecting organizations, devices, and people in a decentralized and distributed manner.<\/p>\n

Social Media<\/span><\/h3>\n

Social media<\/a> includes sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat, which let their users interact with each other via text, videos, and pictures. These social media sites enable individuals to leave comments and “likes” to create conversations around a variety of topics, including news, sports, politics, and users’ day-to-day lives. In addition, businesses use social media for internal communications as well as marketing. Social media has significantly influenced the way individuals interact with one another, and it has played a major role in the move to a digital world.<\/p>\n

Streaming Services<\/span><\/h3>\n

Over the past decade, streaming services<\/a> have changed the way people watch television shows and movies and listen to music. No more taking a trip to the local video store or waiting an entire week to see the next episode of a favorite television program as on-demand subscription streaming services now allow consumers to stream video and audio anytime day or night from wherever they are on any internet-connected device.<\/p>\n

The Differences Between Traditional Media and New Media<\/span><\/h2>\n

Today when people think of the world of media, they think of online channels as it has become the easiest way to connect with others and share messages. While people still use traditional media for information sharing, the way they get their media has changed, and it will continue to evolve with the development of new technologies.<\/p>\n

Traditional media comprises print media and broadcast media while new media consists of digital media, social media, multimedia<\/a>, and user-generated content.<\/p>\n

Traditional media is well-established and reaches larger audiences than new media, and it is usually more credible than new media, as people consider it more trustworthy and less biased than new media. However, it costs a lot to produce and distribute traditional media. In addition, it’s not easy for traditional media to target specific users.<\/p>\n

New media, on the other hand, is more affordable, easier to produce and distribute, and more accessible, as individuals can access it from any location on any device with an internet connection. New media engages users more than traditional media because it encourages them to actively participate and interact with each other. Yet new media is often viewed as less credible than traditional media because anyone can create and distribute it.<\/p>\n

Other differences between traditional and new media include:<\/p>\n