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Media And Democracy Essay, Research Paper

Media is used to provide information to large audience, such as the general public. These forms of media include newspapers, magazines, motion pictures, radio, television and new media.

From the mankind s earliest days, humans have tried to transmit ideas to one another in a clear and easy way. First such an exchange took place in the form of inter-personal communication. One person told another person something. While this was good for small groups such as families and small villages or tribes, the growth of human population made it necessary to change the structure. The difference that the mankind chooses was the mass communication. The transfer of one idea to many people, started way before 3500BC, however the beginning of mass communication and journalism is with the Sumerians.

In the first 5000 years of journalistic history, innovation came slowly. However, the discovery of paper by the Chinese and the improvements in literature by the Greeks allowed for better innovations later. A printing press can not exist without something to be printed, and without something to be printed upon .

In the 250 years after the innovation of the printing press, western printers began to grow and expend their influence. Gutenberg with his press began a printing revolution. Also in Germany, over 1590 years after Gutenberg, a regularly printed newspaper appeared for the first time. In 22 years, one form of mass communication was born on the pages of a French newspaper.

This fact clearly shows how many people look for information and news. In addition, the beginning of printing press gave way to advertising to have an important place as it now enjoys; its origins start on the pages of a French newspaper 400 years ago.

In 1639, the first printing press came to colonies, and within 100 years the colonies had many newspapers. The desire for information was stronger in colonies, than Europe, simply because people in the colonies lacked information in all kinds. In addition to number of newspapers, the colonies also faced a growth in book publishing in a degree that was never experienced in any European state. But the most significant development was the establishment of a public library in Charleston, South Carolina at the beginning of the 18th century.

In the first half of the 18th century, newspapers began spreading all over the colonies. They began by reporting, but later became a source of information and critique. This critique helped notions of freedom and independence to spread among colonies. American Revolution, which took place in the final quarter of the 18th century, is evidence to this fact.

One of the most important American traditions, the political cartoons found a place in these newspapers, used to affect change of opinion. The first political cartoon was Franklin s join or die cajoling colonists to join against the French in 1754. The importance of Benjamin Franklin can not be neglected. He was America s first Renaissance man. In his youth, he succeeded in using mass communication as a tool of propaganda for his ideas on revolution. His works produced in this period were profound, however he was successful in using the materials provided by the early innovations.

Printing exploded in this time period, but so did other media.

Until the 19th century mass communication heavily depended on transportation. A message could only be sent by a ship or train, on horse back or even in the memory of human courier, until the invention of the telegraph, the first instantaneous system of information movement, in 1837 in the United States by inventor, Samuel F.B. Morse.

The first public telegraph line, completed in 1844, ran about 64km from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland. Over the next half-century wires were strung across much of the world, even under the Atlantic Ocean by undersea cable (about 1866) connecting Europe and North America.

Despite its achievements, telegraphic communication was limited. It too much depended on the building and maintenance of a complex system of receiving stations wired to each other along a fixed route. The telephone, patented by American inventor Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, required an even more complex system. The two great long distance communications were of no use to ships at sea and very little help to poor nations that could not afford the building of lines. The printed word remained the only medium by which large numbers of people could be addressed simultaneously.

Scientists worked to develop a device that could overcome these limitations of telegraph. In 1895 Italian inventor Guglielma Marconi transmitted a message in Morse Code that was picked about 3km away by a receiving that had no wired connection to Marconi s transmitting device. The invention was cold radiotelegraph (later shortened to radio) . The age of broadcasting had begun.

Broadcasting is a crucial instrument of modern social and political organization. At its peak of influence in the mid20th century, because of its capacity to reach large numbers of people, it was recognized as a significant means of communication.

Within 10 years, radio became a basic tool of the world maritime industry. In spite of all this commercial activity, little attention had been given to consumers in the general public. Instead, experimenters and hobbyists dominated non-maritime broadcasting. These people build their own transmitters and used them to make speeches, pass along information, recite poems, play live or recorded music, or otherwise entertain their fellow amateurs.

With the outbreak of World War I in Europe, wireless transmission became a valuable military tool on land, sea and air. Impressed by its strategic importance and uncertain of its potential as an instrument of mass propaganda, American President Woodrow

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