Evolution of Mass Media

During the last century there were several major developments in the evolution of mass media. These developments are the evolution of the print, electronic, and digital eras which now encompass modern day media. These three eras have significantly affected American culture and economics, while ushering in a new standard of mass communications. While paper printing can be traced back to China as early as 100 c.e, modern printing did not emerge until the mid-fifteenth century. At that time, the printing press was introduced. The printing press was a conglomerate of machine duplication, rapid duplication, and faster production. These three elements were necessary for mass-market innovation. Information and ideas could now be spread faster and farther than ever before. With the evolution of the printing press, production of mass quantities at lower costs per unit became essential in mass production of other goods. This led to the Industrial Revolution, modern capitalism, and the consumer culture of the twentieth century. “With the revolution in industry came the rise of the middle class and an elite business class of owners and managers who acquired the kind of influence formerly held only by the nobility or the clergy. Print media became key tools that commercial and political leaders used to distribute information and maintain social order”. (Campbell, R., Martin, C., & Fabos, B. (2012). Media and culture: An introduction to mass communications (8th ed. Ch1 Pg 8). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s). This development influence American culture because it fed t5he idea of individualism. People became likely to rely less on their local community and their commercial, religious, and political leaders for guidance in an effort to feed their new hunger of self-knowledge, freedom of expression, and individuality. Media convergence is best termed as a phenomenon that describes all the technology and business changes currently occurring in media content and within media companies. From a technology viewpoint, media convergence has affected everyday life by making content from more original media channels, such as, magazine articles, radio programs, music, television shows, and movies, available through the internet. Now, the internet can be accessed by laptops, smart phones, and iPads making such media more easily attainable. Oral communication has also been affected by the convergence of email and social media. From a business standpoint, various media holdings have been consolidated under one corporate umbrella. This cross platform now permits a single media company to use fewer employees to generate multiple versions of the same story for each of its media channels.