Intro to Mass Communication

Summary

This video script explores the evolution of mass communication from the printing press to the internet, emphasizing its profound impact on society. It discusses the commercial roots of mass communication, the industrialization of media, and the rise of electronic communication through telegraph, telephone, and radio. The script also covers the fragmentation of audiences due to new technologies like cable TV and the internet, leading to niche targeting and media convergence. It concludes by highlighting the importance of understanding media's role in shaping our world.

Takeaways

• 📚 The history of communication is marked by technological advancements that have accelerated the duplication and distribution of information, from the printing press to the internet.
• 🌐 The evolution of communication has been tied to societal development, with each era's technology reflecting the needs and progress of the time.
• 🔠 The discovery of the alphabet and writing systems was a pivotal moment, transitioning society from rich oral cultures to more permanent forms of record-keeping.
• 📰 The printing press revolutionized communication by enabling the mass production of exact message copies, diminishing the importance of oratory and scribes.
• 💼 The origins of mass communication are linked to commerce, with early newspapers focusing on business news and catering to the needs of merchants and shippers.
• 📡 The telegraph was a significant step in communication history, separating the need for physical transportation by allowing messages to travel electronically.
• 📞 Alexander Graham Bell's telephone introduced point-to-point communication, which evolved into broadcasting systems that could reach many recipients simultaneously.
• 📺 Television became the dominant mass communication medium in the 20th century, with a rapid adoption rate that transformed home entertainment.
• 📹 The rise of cable TV and satellite broadcasting in the late 20th century led to an explosion of channels, fragmenting the mass audience and giving rise to niche programming.
• 🌐 The internet has further transformed media, leading to a convergence of traditional and new media, and enabling global communication and content access.
• 🔮 Future media trends suggest a continued convergence of media forms, with individuals having unprecedented control over the content they consume and create.

Q & A

What is the significance of the printing press in the history of communication?

The printing press was pivotal as it allowed for the mass reproduction of exact copies of a message, significantly increasing the capacity for one speaker to reach many listeners. It also initiated a commercial drive associated with mass communication, as the first newspapers were primarily about business news.

How did the telegraph revolutionize communication?

The telegraph revolutionized communication by separating transportation from communication, allowing messages to move at speeds previously unheard of, which was a significant shift from the limitations imposed by horse-based transportation.

What was the initial perception and potential use of the telegraph?

Initially, the telegraph was perceived as a device to improve public morality and education, and to uplift society by enabling instantaneous communication among the greatest minds in the country.

How did the telephone contribute to the development of mass communication?

The telephone introduced point-to-point communication and paved the way for one-to-many voice communication, which eventually led to the development of radio as a mass communication medium.

What was the impact of television on mass communication in the 1950s?

In the 1950s, television became the dominant medium of mass communication, quickly becoming widely available and creating a national cultural experience through a homogenized mass audience.

How did the advent of cable television change the media landscape?

Cable television introduced a broader spectrum capacity, allowing for more television and radio stations, which led to the fragmentation of the mass audience and the rise of niche services catering to specific demographics.

What is the concept of fractionalization in the context of media?

Fractionalization refers to the increase in the number of media channels offered to consumers, leading to a more diverse and targeted range of content, as opposed to a homogenized mass audience.

How has globalization affected the media industry?

Globalization has made media a global phenomenon, with media conglomerates operating on an international scale and foreign markets becoming increasingly important for revenue generation.

What is the concept of conglomeration in the media industry?

Conglomeration in the media industry refers to the blurring of boundaries between different sectors such as movies, television, computers, and telephone, with media companies moving their material across these media boundaries.

How does understanding media history help us comprehend its impact on society?

Understanding media history allows us to recognize how each new communication medium has transformed society and culture, and it enables us to be more aware of the constructed environment of symbols that media presents to us.

What is the future outlook for media as described in the script?

The future outlook for media includes continued merging and growth, with profound impacts on culture, potentially leading to a world where all forms of information and entertainment are accessible through a single channel, allowing for personalized and on-demand content consumption.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Evolution of Communication and Media History

This paragraph delves into the historical evolution of communication, emphasizing how new technologies have consistently transformed the way information and entertainment are disseminated. From the advent of the printing press to the rise of electronic media, each technological leap has had a profound impact on society. The paragraph also touches on the commercial aspects of mass communication, highlighting how early newspapers were driven by business news rather than politics or religion. The discussion concludes with the transformative effect of the printing press, which enabled the mass reproduction of messages and the commercialization of information.

05:00

🏭 The Industrialization of Mass Communication

The second paragraph explores the concept of mass communication as it emerged with the industrial revolution, built upon centralized mass production models. It discusses the transition from the printing press to steam and high-speed presses, enhancing the capacity for rapid information duplication. The paragraph also covers the telegraph's role in separating communication from transportation, significantly increasing the speed at which messages could travel. The commercial uses of the telegraph and its impact on public morality, education, and commerce are also examined, as well as its influence on the development of wire services and the homogenization of news across different regions.

10:01

📡 The Emergence of Electronic Communication

This section discusses the shift towards electronic communication, beginning with the telephone and the development of radio. It explains how radio initially served as a wireless telegraph but evolved into a medium for mass communication. The paragraph also touches on the commercialization of radio, with large corporations like AT&T viewing it as a means to sell access to an audience. The narrative then moves to the rapid proliferation of television in American homes during the 1950s, becoming the dominant medium for mass communication and creating a national cultural experience.

15:02

📺 Fragmentation of Mass Audience and the Rise of Cable TV

The fourth paragraph addresses the fragmentation of the mass audience due to the introduction of new communication technologies like the VCR, video games, and independent stations. It discusses how cable television expanded the spectrum capacity, leading to an increase in the number of channels and the emergence of niche services. The paragraph highlights the shift from broadcast to narrowcast, targeting specific demographic groups, and the competition among networks to carve out market segments. It also reflects on the content of television and the impact of the growing number of channels on audience viewing habits.

20:04

🌐 Globalization and Convergence in the Media Landscape

This paragraph focuses on the globalization and conglomeration of media, noting the increasing importance of foreign markets for media revenues. It discusses the convergence of traditional and new media,预见着一个信息和娱乐的多渠道世界的到来。 The paragraph emphasizes the potential for individuals to access a vast array of information and entertainment on demand, anytime, anywhere. It also touches on the impact of these changes on the lives of individuals and traditional mass media corporations, suggesting that media will continue to merge and grow, profoundly impacting culture.

25:07

🌟 Understanding Media's Impact on Society

The final paragraph underscores the importance of understanding the history of mass media to grasp its influence on our lives and society. It discusses the role of media in constructing our environment of symbols and the need for individuals to be aware of how their world is created by media. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the significance of media literacy in navigating a world increasingly shaped by media conglomerates and their influence on our perceptions and daily discourse.

Keywords

💡Mass Communication

Mass communication refers to the process of disseminating information, ideas, or messages to a large audience through various channels. In the video, this concept is central as it discusses the evolution of communication technologies and their impact on society. The script mentions the shift from oral culture to written communication and the subsequent development of the printing press, which significantly amplified the reach of a single message to many receivers.

💡Printing Press

The printing press is a key technological innovation that revolutionized mass communication by enabling the mass production of printed materials. The video script highlights how the printing press made it possible to reproduce exact copies of a message, which was a laborious task before its invention. This technology not only changed the way information was disseminated but also had profound effects on commerce and the spread of ideas.

💡Telegraph

The telegraph is an electronic communication system that transmitted messages over wire, laying the groundwork for modern telecommunications. In the video, the telegraph is noted as a significant step in separating transportation from communication, allowing messages to travel at speeds previously unheard of. It transformed the way business was conducted and news was reported, contributing to a faster-paced and more interconnected society.

💡Electronic Media

Electronic media encompasses communication technologies that use electronic methods to transmit information, such as radio, television, and the internet. The video discusses the progression from print to electronic media, emphasizing how these technologies have accelerated the speed of communication and expanded the reach of mass communication, leading to a more informed and connected global society.

💡Industrialization

Industrialization is the period of social and economic change that followed the development of the steam engine and other power machines, leading to a shift from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power, and the development of machine tools. The video connects industrialization with the mass production of communication materials, such as newspapers and books, which helped to standardize and homogenize mass communication.

💡Cable Television

Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to paying subscribers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables or optical fibers. The video script discusses how cable television expanded the capacity for channels and content, leading to a more fragmented and niche-oriented media landscape. This development allowed for a broader range of specialized content, catering to diverse audience interests.

💡Conglomeration

Conglomeration in the context of media refers to the merging of different media industries into large corporations that own multiple media outlets. The video explains how conglomeration has led to the blurring of boundaries between sectors like film, television, and telecommunications. This has resulted in media companies having a more significant influence on the content and nature of the information that reaches the public.

💡Globalization

Globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. In the video, globalization is discussed as a significant trend in the media industry, where media conglomerates are no longer confined to national markets but have a global reach. This has implications for the content and cultural impact of media, as it can lead to the spread of certain cultural products and values worldwide.

💡Fragmentation

Media fragmentation refers to the division of the mass audience into smaller, more specialized groups due to the proliferation of media channels and platforms. The video script describes how the increase in the number of television channels and the advent of the internet have led to a more fragmented media landscape. This has resulted in a shift from a one-size-fits-all approach to communication, allowing for more targeted and niche programming.

💡Narrowcasting

Narrowcasting is the practice of broadcasting content aimed at a specific, smaller segment of the audience rather than a broad general audience. The video mentions narrowcasting as a strategy employed by media outlets like specialized cable channels to cater to the interests of particular demographic groups. This approach contrasts with the traditional broadcasting model, which aimed to appeal to a wide and diverse audience.

💡New Media

New media refers to digital and internet-based forms of communication, in contrast to traditional media such as print, television, and radio. The video discusses the convergence of traditional media with new media, suggesting that the internet and digital technologies are transforming the way information is consumed and shared. This convergence is creating new opportunities for interaction and content creation, changing the dynamics of mass communication.

Highlights

Communication technologies have accelerated the duplication and distribution of information and entertainment.

The evolution of communication is tied to societal development from nomadic tribes to urban dwellers.

The discovery of the alphabet and printing press marked significant revolutions in communication history.

Before writing, oral culture with storytellers and traveling minstrels was the primary form of mass communication.

The printing press enabled the amplification of messages and reproduction of exact copies for mass distribution.

The commercial drive was a key factor in the early development of mass communication.

The telegraph revolutionized communication by separating it from physical transportation.

The telephone introduced point-to-point communication, paving the way for one-to-many voice communication.

Radio initially developed as a wireless telegraph, later evolving into a mass communication medium.

Television became the dominant mass communication medium of the 20th century, reaching nearly every household.

Cable television and satellites expanded the spectrum capacity, leading to an explosion of niche channels.

The rise of VCRs, video games, and independent stations challenged the dominance of network television.

Media conglomerates are increasingly global entities, with foreign markets playing a significant role in revenues.

The media industry is experiencing fractionalization, globalization, and conglomeration, changing the media landscape.

The internet and digital technologies are merging traditional media with new media, creating an expanding universe of communication.

Understanding media history is crucial for comprehending how media impacts our lives and transforms society.

Media conglomerates construct our environment of symbols, influencing our perceptions and understanding of the world.

Transcripts

[Music]

communication mass

communication from the centralized

creation and control of the message to

its consumption by large audiences at

every turn from the printing press to

the present we have found ways to

accelerate the duplication and

distribution of information and

entertainment in every era new

Communications technologies have had

profound and lasting effects on

individuals and

society that new Communications tech

technologies will change society as

predictable but to even begin to

understand how we must first understand

media

history as we have moved grown from

nomadic tribes to Farms to Urban

dwellers our means of communication have

advanced along with us over the years

how we communicate has been an important

measure of our development into a

complex society

knowledge TV retro brought to you by

Jones International University the first

fully online accredited University

change your life for the better on your

schedule 8we classes begin next month

visit

j.edu to find out more if you go back

through the history of communication you

can trace some of these revolutions for

example the discovery of an alphabet the

discovery of writing the discovery of

the printing press the discovery of

electronic media before writing we have

a rich Heritage of oral culture we have

storytellers creators and we have

traveling minstrels the kind of mass

communication that you had

before uh writing became WID spread and

uh uh uh that really doesn't occur until

after printing um

took the form of somebody standing up

and speaking as loudly as possible so

the art of oratory that was so very

important in the medieval period or In

classical times begins to diminish in

importance after printing what the

printing press did um was make the

possibility of the amplification of the

message larger and by amplification I

mean the capacity for one speaker to

reach many listeners or receivers

because it makes what it did was make

possible the reproduction of exact

copies of a message for distribution to

many people what was difficult before

the printing press was the the

production of many copies of that

message um certainly they did copy

messages you know the scribes um monks

who who produced copies of manuscripts

but it was very laborious very timec

consuming um it was very difficult to

make very many copies and it was

practically impossible to make exact

duplicates because in the process of

transcribing we know now from looking at

that

history the message changed there was

always a process of interpretation that

went on there so that over time a text

would not remain

identical the printing press makes

identical copies multiple identical

copies possible something else was going

on however as well that is tied almost

from day one back at the the rise of the

Gutenberg newspapers or the corantos of

the 16th and 17th century that carries

on into the industrial period which was

there was a very strong Commercial Drive

associated with with the printing press

as well some of the first um one sheet

uh newspapers really weren't about

politics or even religion at all they

were about business news they were the

uh shippers in antp wanting to know when

the boats were coming in from London and

and what what the Manifest the cargo

manifests held what the prices were for

particular Goods in in different ports

around around Europe so it's very very

interesting that the mass communication

the origins of mass communication are

very much tied

to a fundamental kind of commercial

process as well and people would

actually pay for this information

because it was very valuable to their to

their

Enterprises through the mass production

of print materials to reach broad

audiences the concept of mass

communication arose and took on

definition first through printing

presses then steam then high-speed

presses we increased our ability to

rapidly create identical copies of

information in the United States the

mass communication concept was built on

the 19th century industrial factory

model centralized mass production for

large General

audiences the notion that this new

industrialized form of communication

whether it was print or whether it was

film or ultimately radio and television

could be thought of as a product to be

bought and sold and that was very much I

think a major change in the Notions of

communication that the industrialized

period made possible again not not a new

idea entirely it was there from the

early days back in the the 15th and 16th

century at least but it became more

saling it became a bigger portion of it

so it's a broad sweep of changes that

takes place both in the technology and

in the social and cultural interactions

with them and those changes emerge over

a period of time they aren't overnight

[Applause]

with the Industrial Age as manufacturing

brought mass production and distribution

technology added more mass to the

concept of mass communication starting

with a simple device that did no more

than convey electrical impulses over a

copper

wire the telegraph is is the beginning

of what we think of as sort of the

electronic electrification of

communication

and what it did was

separate transportation from

communication because before the

telegraph while we had the capacity to

mass reproduce a message with the

printing press the movement of that

information was restricted to whatever

Technologies existed to move people and

goods across the land across geography

so that the pace the uh the speed at

which messages could travel were

dependent on what were the existing

states of the Technologies of

Transportation the importance of

telegraphy was enormous and we think of

ourselves as living in a society that

changes very rapidly but consider what

it was like to live in a society that

before telegraphy the upper ceiling on

the speed of the movement of any message

or any person was the horse uh

telegraphy changed this totally and made

it possible to move messages in ways

that were previously unheard of which

seemed utterly magic so telegraphy

represented a real important shift in

people's um sense of the size of the

world and and uh who could be talked to

and who they could talk to and so on

when the telegraph was first invented it

was looked upon as a device to improve

public morality and public education and

to uplift the entire American continent

all of a sudden the greatest Minds in

the country could talk to each other

instantaneously over a wire think of the

benefits of that if you brought together

the the best scholars in the nation and

hook them up to the telegraph imagine

the tremendous things they could invent

and discuss and come up with well that's

phase one phase two is when the medium

doesn't exactly live up to its

tremendous potential with regard to the

telegraph it eventually became a means

of Commerce uh keeping the trains

running on time sending stock quotations

back and forth the telegraph also made

it possible for newspapers to pull

resources and begin to exchange

information enhance the development of

the wire Services um so that you didn't

have to have reporters stationed all

over the place you could rely on

newspapers in another city to give you

information about what's going on there

via the telegraph in exchange for your

doing the same thing that

effort uh made it much more possible for

people simultaneously to be getting more

or less uh the same uh the same

information uh in in in quite dispersed

uh places and that may have been one of

the most important developments uh that

in that occurred in in creating this

kind of notion of a mass uh

communication

capacity once information traveled

around the globe almost

instantaneously it was only a matter of

time before human speech would follow in

the United States Alexander Graham

Bell's telephone ushered in

point-to-point

communication but also helped pave the

way for one to many voice

communication with the development of

the technical capacity to transmit voice

and that comes out of the development of

the telephone we begin to think okay

we've got the telephone we've got the

telegraph now these two things together

why not put those together and send

voice across Airways so that radio is

conceived as a wireless Telegraph with

this point to-point

use and the um and get getting rid of

the problem of the wires that have to be

maintained that you have to put

underneath the ocean and so on um radio

begins that way and it only later

develops into what we think of as radio

being used as mass communication a

message produced in you know centrally

produced someplace and then transmitted

to many people at once we're of it

straws in the

wind I shall leave you two to talk this

off

I'm sorry Mrs black there's no use

talking you must give him up you dare to

talk to me like that you love

Thief one of the the large corporations

involved with the development of radio

um AT&T American Telephone and Telegraph

was also thinking about this new medium

and because of the prior uses of the

telephone and the telegraph conceived as

these point to point forms of

communication is it's called toll the

toll notion t o which is we provide only

the means of communication we don't care

what the message is we will sell you

access to the means of communication and

you decide what you want to send hence

the idea of people wishing to sell

something a service a product buying the

means of access to and an audience ask

for McTavish in the giant economy tin at

your favorite Grocers tonight or

tomorrow sure remember the name

McTavish and now friends for our

[Music]

next long before radio became so

pervasive most people left their homes

several times per week to go to the

movies for

entertainment and they

2 in the 1950s however a new source of

visual entertainment invaded American

Homes this is NBC The National

Broadcasting

Company within a decade television was

the dominant medium of mass

communication television then

becomes more widely available to the

populace on what we would call almost a

demand basis very very quickly I mean

you the television is not widely

available in the mid1 1940s by 1960 in

the United States it's an 80 to 85% of

the households maybe pushing 90% uh by

the mid 1960s so it it takes us over

very very quickly the the difference

between it and the movies at that point

uh as a uh as a as a uh basic technology

of course is that you and I can have it

in the household relatively we don't

have to go anywhere uh to participate in

it in the early days of television and

actually for the first um two or three

decades of

television it was definitely what we

would think of as a mass medium it is an

oligopoly of three networks with no

Challengers I mean we have educational

television which is this distant distant

marginalized

alternative those three networks

basically are all looking for the same

thing which is this notion of the

homogenized Mass audience the bigger the

better ABC didn't sound a lot different

than CBS or NBC just on the news value

alone similarly on the entertainment and

the storytelling uh you know um action

adventure cop shows westerns whatever

the uh the entertainment that were they

were really quite common across the

networks as well that it created a kind

of a national cultural experience but

within a fairly limited range of

possibilities from a solid

infrastructure in the early years

television networks saw their revenues

and market share erode as new

Communications Technologies successfully

competed for the time and attention of

diminishing Mass

audiences keep in mind back in the 1970s

the the VCR the video cassette record

quarter um actually spread to households

about as fast as television set spread

back during the 1950s it was a

tremendous success and with that came of

course your own handheld mini cam that

you could go out and shoot the family on

the weekends you could watch those tapes

in there that took away from Network

viewing you could go down to the local

video store r a movie or something that

took away from Network viewing uh

Nintendo came out with video games and

the kids of course played the video

games over the television set that took

away from Network viewing you also had

your independent

stations putting some stuff on the air

that uh was popular once on the networks

and still had some popularity so the

networks were in effect competing

against themselves as some of their

reruns on the independent stations took

away some of their own audience so there

were a number of factors that uh chewed

away at the network audience

size perhaps by more than anything

Network tele was undermined not by some

other communication media but by more

television arriving first by copper wies

strung over mountaintops then to the

suburbs and later by satellite to

everyone

everywhere cable raises the issue of a

broader Spectrum capacity it starts to

do that in the late 60s and the early

70s when it begins to Dawn on people

that if you had something like a coaxial

cable or ultimately a fiber optic

distribution system you wouldn't be

limited to as few frequencies as we are

in what we call erroneously over theair

uh broadcasting so the notion that you

could have more television or radio

stations I mean vastly uh more of them

uh becomes a new idea with the launching

of uh satellites in the mid 70s and the

use of them by HBO and Ted Turner with

with

wtbs uh we have a very cheap and

efficient way of Distributing

information

nationally and thus it's at that point

when that technology is in place that we

have the explosion of the mtvs ESPN CNN

all all of these basically launching in

the late '70s early

80s this radically Alters the

communication environment because people

are no longer tied to broadc television

which is designed to appeal to as many

people as possible and we develop Niche

services such as

MTV which appeal to only a narrow

demographic audience and now we're on

into things like the Golf Channel The

History Channel Etc which are not

broadcast in the sense of reaching a

broad audience they are narrowcast

they're intended for narrow audiences

and this really Alters the way in which

we think about cable and the way in

which we think about broadcast

television so there's a lot of

competition and increasingly that you

see this kind of organization around

around carving out pieces of that mass

audience well we will you know this

network will say well we're interested

in Fox for example develops organized

around carving out a piece of the mass

audience young people who seem to be

underserved by The Big Three networks we

will produce programming to attract them

siphon off from these other two then the

other two start trying to other three

try to start differentiating themselves

in terms of um well um how do we carve

out around a particular gender or

particular racial or ethnic group um you

know so you get one network on Monday

night has got you know ABC has football

all right we're we're going for the men

the other network says okay let's

counter program let's go for the women

let's have Murphy Brown let's have the

series of the the women Orient sitcoms

so there's this kind of um fragmentation

of the Mass audience everybody's looking

to carve out a piece the thing I think

we need to remember is that even when

you carve out a chunk we're still

talking about audiences in enormous

numbers enormous

numbers despite the fact that more and

more media are reaching narrower and

narrower audiences they may be serving

the same basic functions that they

always have I'm not sure that the rapid

growth in the number of television

channels particularly in cable

television um is having any substantive

effect on what we watch it is clearly

fragmenting audiences uh you can now

watch news 24 hours a day if you want

but if you actually look at the news

it's not much different than the news

you see on CBS for half an hour you just

see it all day long so the content of

television has not changed much more has

changed much it's just that you can get

any one piece of it a lot more so

there's more of it but it's not sub

substantially changed Bruce Springstein

said 54 channels and nothing on there's

something to

that cable television in the 1980s and

direct a home satellites in the 1990s

opened up a multi-channel world of

information and entertainment on

desktops the worldwide web connected the

world and put a new kind of

communication power in the hands of

groups and individuals

now traditional media are converging

with New Media to create an ever

expanding Universe of communication if

you think of the television screen as

something that is married now to the

computer as well and has the same

sources of information available to it

that we can now get on the

internet combine those two things and

you begin to see a world of information

the likes of which nobody has ever had

access to before and we're just begin

beginning to play with that potential so

that um I think what you need to do is

get your head around the notion that

where we had discrete forms of the

transmission of entertainment

information movies what have you we are

now slowly but surely coming into a

system where it's all going to come

through one channel and those of us

sitting wherever we're sitting in the

workplace at home probably walking along

with the earphones on and watching

something that kind of thing we can have

have any piece of information any piece

of entertainment we want anywhere in the

world anytime we want to get it that's a

that's a wild notion but it's a real

notion in terms of the kind of

Technology we have available to deliver

that to us now and what that means is

you will be able to log onto the

internet or whatever we call it and

access video programs television

programs as well as textual sources of

information at that point you will begin

putting together your own television

program programs own sequences if you

want to see what a filmmaker in Sweden

has to say about something you simply

dial his web page you're not dependent

on saying at 7:00 what's on you can find

anything you want at any time but beyond

that uh people will be able to

communicate with video back to you

almost like a video telephone system for

filmmakers and television

producers if and when we get to that

stage

um what I watch

will be completely different than what

you may watch because I'm making

different

choices the profusion of media

alternatives are changing not just the

lives of individuals but of traditional

mass media

corporations we're in a enormous period

of transition uh in the mass media uh

system um for in in a number of

different ways first I would say that

we're going through a period of

fractionalization

which is since the late

1970s uh uh over the last decade and a

half and more we've going through a

period of fractionalization in which

more and more media channels are being

offered to people in the United States

and also around the world so

fractionalization is a big thing the

second big change is

globalization the media are increasingly

a global phenomenon and media

conglomerates are increasingly Global

entities and not just American entities

um and so today anyone who works in an

upper level position within the media

has to understand that companies make

their revenues not just within the

United States but particularly in the

audiovisual media like television and

movies foreign markets are incredibly

important so we have fractionalization

we have

globalization and we also have

conglomeration conglomeration is a a

phenomenon that has been building steam

over the last several decades but media

conglomerates uh more and more in the

last 1520 years uh have become very

interested in moving their material

across media boundaries it used to be

that each part of what is now the giant

Communications or telecommunications

industry was a discrete industry so that

you had the movie industry the

television industry the computer

industry the telephone industry all of

them were separate they tended to be

dealt with by Regulators who dealt with

them each on their

own what's happened now is that the

boundaries between sectors have eroded

Executives in the media particularly at

the higher levels know that the

boundaries between media Industries are

blurring for a person who's not

interested in going into media it's

still terribly important to understand

Med Industries because these are the

organizations that create an environment

of symbols that surround us most of what

we talk about every day most of what we

see about the world every day is

filtered through media it's filtered

through companies that that basically

construct worlds for us it's not like

these worlds are not true but the worlds

are constructed because of um

constraints because of rewards that

companies get because of cons concerns

that they have that are out there and

that we have to know we have to

understand in order to be able to say

hey we're we're not going to totally be

Pawns of a of a world we don't we know

nothing about um being an educated

individual means being aware of how your

environment gets created and the media

are such an important part of that

environment I can't imagine someone not

wanting to know how the media world gets

created in the near future it appears

that media will continue to merge and

grow and profoundly impact culture just

as each new Communications medium has in

the

past by knowing the history of mass

media we are better able to understand

how media impacts our lives and

transforms Society

a

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