The communications audience has been viewed by some commentators as forming a mass society with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of modern mass-media techniques such as advertising and propaganda. The term "MSM" or "mainstream media" has been widely used in the blogosphere in discussion of the mass media and media bias.
History
Types of drama in numerous cultures were probably the first mass-media, going back into the Ancient World. The first dated printed book known is the "Diamond Sutra", printed in China in 868 AD, although it is clear that books were printed earlier. Movable clay type was invented in 1041 in China. However, due to the slow spread of literacy to the masses in China, and the relatively high cost of paper there, the earliest printed mass-medium was probably European popular prints from about 1400. Although these were produced in huge numbers, very few early examples survive, and even most known to be printed before about 1600 have not survived. Johannes Gutenberg printed the first book on a printing press with movable type in 1453. This invention transformed the way the world received printed materials, although books remained too expensive really to be called a mass-medium for at least a century after that.
Newspapers developed around from 1612, with the first example in English in 1620 [2] ; but they took until the nineteenth century to reach a mass-audience directly.
During the 20th century, the growth of mass media was driven by technology that allowed the massive duplication of material. Physical duplication technologies such as printing, record pressing and film duplication allowed the duplication of books, newspapers and movies at low prices to huge audiences. Radio and television allowed the electronic duplication of information for the first time.
Mass media had the economics of linear replication: a single work could make money proportional to the number of copies sold, and as volumes went up, units costs went down, increasing profit margins further. Vast fortunes were to be made in mass media. In a democratic society, independent media serve to educate the public/electorate about issues regarding government and corporate entities (see Media influence). Some consider the concentration of media ownership to be a grave threat to democracy.
[edit] Timeline
c1400: Appearance of European popular prints.
1453: Johnannes Gutenberg uses his printing press to print the Bible, making books freely accessible to many people during the Renaissance.
1620: First newspaper (or coranto) in English.
1825: Nicéphore Niépce takes the first permanent photograph.
1830: Telegraphy is independently developed in England and the United States.
1876: First telephone call made by Alexander Graham Bell.
1878: Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph.
1890: First juke box in San Francisco's Palais Royal Saloon.
1890: Telephone wires are installed in Manhattan.
1894: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope, which were invented in his laboratories by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson.
1895: Cinematograph invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere, based on Edison's patented Kinetograph.
1896: Hollerith founds the Tabulating Machine Co. It will become IBM in 1924.
1897: Guglielmo Marconi patents the wireless telegraph.
1898: Loudspeaker is invented.
1902: Daily Nation is started in Kenya.
1906: The Story of the Kelly Gang from Australia is world's first feature length film.
1909: RMS Republic, a palatial White Star passenger liner, uses the Marconi Wireless for a distress at sea. She had been in a collision. This is the first "breaking news" mass media event.
1912: Air mail begins.
1913: Edison transfers from cylinder recordings to more easily reproducible discs.
1913: The portable phonograph is manufactured.
1915: Radiotelephone carries voice from Virginia to the Eiffel Tower.
1916: Tunable radios invented.
1919: Short-wave radio is invented.
1920: KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh, United States, becoming the world's first commercial radio station.
1922: BBC is formed and broadcasting to London.
1924: KDKA created a short-wave radio transmitter.
1925: BBC broadcasting to the majority of the UK.
1926: NBC is formed.
1927: The Jazz Singer: The first motion picture with sounds debuts.
1927: Philo Jason Farnsworth debuts the first electronic television system.
1928: The Teletype was introduced.
1933: Edward Armstrong invents FM Radio.
1935: First telephone call made around the world.
1936: BBC opened world's first regular (then defined as at least 200 lines) high definition television service.
1938: The War of the Worlds is broadcast on October 30, causing mass hysteria.
1939: Western Union introduces coast-to-coast fax service.
1939: Regular electronic television broadcasts begin in the US.
1939: The wire recorder is invented in the US.
1940: The first commercial television station, WNBT (now WNBC-TV)/New York signs on the air.
1948: Cable television becomes available in the US.
1951: The first color televisions go on sale.
1957: Sputnik is launched and sends back signals from near earth orbit.
1959: Xerox makes the first copier.
1960: Echo I, a US balloon in orbit, reflects radio signals to Earth.
1962: Telstar satellite transmits an image across the Atlantic.
1963: Audio cassette is invented in the Netherlands by Philips for use as a dictation machine media.
1963: Martin Luther King gives "I have a dream" speech.
1965: Vietnam War becomes first war to be televised.
1967: Newspapers, magazines start to digitize production.
1968: The Philips C-Cassette is introduced as a music recording cassette
1969: Man's first landing on the moon is broadcast to 600 million people around the globe.
1970s: ARPANET, progenitor to the internet developed.
1971: Intel debuts the microprocessor.
1972: Pong becomes the first video game to win widespread popularity.
1973: The first home video cassette recorder is introduced by Philips in Europe.
1975: The MITS Altair 8800 becomes the first pre-assembled desktop computer available on the market.
1976: JVC introduces VHS videotape - becomes the standard consumer format in the 1980s & 1990s.
1979: First mobile phone service is commercially launched by NTT in Japan
1980: CNN launches in the USA.
1980: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones put news database online.
1981: The IBM PC is introduced on 12 August. MTV launches in the USA
1982: Philips and Sony put the Compact Disc on the Japanese market. It arrives on the US market early the following year.
1984: Apple Macintosh is introduced.
1985: CD-ROMs begin to be sold. First laptop computer introduced by Toshiba in Japan. Pay-per-view channels open for business.
1987: Japanese Digital Audio Tape technology arrives both in the United States and in Western Europe.
1991: World Wide Web (WWW) publicly released by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN.
1993: CERN announces that the WWW will be free for anyone to use. First advertisements appear on the internet
1994: Mosaic became the first popular World Wide Web browser because of the graphical interface.
1996: First DVD players and discs are available in Japan. Twister is the first film on DVD.
1997: The Nokia Communicator smartphone is launched in Finland, is world's first fully internet capable mobile phone and offers full email on a phone
1998: First downloadable content for mobile phones appears in Finland with advent of ringing tone.
1999: Napster contributes to the popularization of MP3. First mobile internet service provider NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode launches in Japan.
2000: First advertising appears on mobile phones in Finland. First cameraphones launced by J-Phone in Japan.
2001: The news coverage of 9/11 shown all around the world live broadcasting to many. The Blackberry launches in Canada. First video content for mobile launches with MainosTV3 news in Finland.
2004: Howard Dean is the first Presidential candidate to create a blog. Citizen Journalism invented in South Korea by Ohmy News.
2005: Media forms begin to converge. First mobile broadcast TV service goes live on TU Media in South Korea. First news ticker feed appears on mobile phone idle screen in Japan.
2006: Public meeting to help define "natural" label.
[edit] Purposes
Mass media can be used for various purposes:
Advocacy, both for business and social concerns. This can include advertising, marketing, propaganda, public relations, and political communication.
Enrichment and education.
Entertainment, traditionally through performances of acting, music, and sports, along with light reading; since the late 20th century also through video and computer games.
Public service announcements.
[edit] Claimed negative characteristics of mass media
Another description of Mass Media is central media which implies:
An inability to transmit tacit knowledge (or perhaps it can only transfer bad tacit). Corporate propaganda.
The manipulation of large groups of people through media outlets, for the benefit of a particular political party and/or group of people.
Marshall McLuhan, one of the biggest critics in media's history, brought up the idea that "the medium is the message."
Bias, political or otherwise, towards favoring a certain individual, outcome or resolution of an event
This view of central media can be contrasted with lateral media, such as email networks, where messages are all slightly different and spread by a process of lateral diffusion.
[edit] Journalism
Journalism is a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting information regarding current events, trends, issues and people. Those who practice journalism are known as journalists.
News-oriented journalism is sometimes described as the "first rough draft of history" (attributed to Phil Graham), because journalists often record important events, producing news articles on short deadlines. While under pressure to be first with their stories, news media organizations usually edit and proofread their reports prior to publication, adhering to each organization's standards of accuracy, quality and style. Many news organizations claim proud traditions of holding government officials and institutions accountable to the public, while media critics have raised questions about holding the press itself accountable.
[edit] Public relations
Public relations is the art and science of managing communication between an organization and its key publics to build, manage and sustain its positive image. Examples include:
Corporations use marketing public relations (MPR) to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short and long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation's branding for a strong, ongoing market.
Corporations also use public-relations as a vehicle to reach legislators and other politicians, seeking favorable tax, regulatory, and other treatment, and they may use public relations to portray themselves as enlightened employers, in support of human-resources recruiting programs.
Non-profit organizations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies, use public relations in support of awareness programs, fund-raising programs, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services.
Politicians use public relations to attract votes and raise money, and, when successful at the ballot box, to promote and defend their service in office, with an eye to the next election or, at career’s end, to their legacy.
[edit] Citizen Journalism
In 2004 in South Korea citizen journalism was invented, with the launch of Ohmy News online daily newspaper. Today Ohmy News gets over 90% of its content from citizen journalists, has over 51,000 registered citizens as journalists, and has become one of South Korea's best read and most trusted news sources. Citizen Journalism news services have been introduced in over a dozen other countries.
[edit] Forms
Electronic media and print media include:
Broadcasting, in the narrow sense, for radio and television.
Various types of discs or tapes. In the 20th century, these were mainly used for music. Video and computer uses followed.
Film, most often used for entertainment, but also for documentaries.
Internet, which has many uses and presents both opportunities and challenges. Blogs and podcasts, such as news, music, pre-recorded speech and video)
Publishing, in the narrow sense, meaning on paper, mainly via books, magazines, and newspapers.
Video games, which have developed into a mass form of media since cutting-edge devices such as the PlayStation 3, XBox 360, and Wii broadened their use.
Mobile phones, often called the 7th Mass Media, used for rapid breaking news, short clips of entertainment like jokes, horoscopes, alerts, games, music, and advertising
字數超限了。。。