History of Mass Media

Paper

100 BCE

Invention of writing, people had been trying to come up with something easier to write on than papyrus or parchment, and also something easier and cheaper to make. Paper was invented around 100 BC. In China. In 105 AD, under the Han Dynasty emperor Ho-Ti, a government official in China named Ts’ai Lun was the first to start a paper-making industry.

Printing press

1455

Gutenberg invents the printing press. A device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium, there by transferring the ink.

First newspaper

1605

Johann Carolus was a German publisher of the first newspaper, called the Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien (Account of all distinguished and commemorable news). The Relation is recognized by the World Association of Newspaper, as well as many authors, as the world’s first newspaper.

Photography

1814

Joseph Niepce achieves first photographic image using an early device for projecting real life imagery called a camera obscura. However, the image required eight hours of light exposure and later faded.

Telephone

1876

Alexander Graham Bell invents the Telephone. No longer needed to be in the same room or town to talk with someone. A device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are far apart to be heard directly.

Lumiére Brothers first film

1895

Auguste Lumiére And his brother Louis Lumiére created the film lworkers leaving the Lumiére Factory” which is considered the first motion picture in 1895. Antoine urged Auguste and Louis to work on a way to project film onto a screen, where many people could view it at the same time.

1st radio broadcast

1920

First commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh, which went on air in the evening of Nov. 2, 1920. It happened on an election night. Leo Rosenberg, radio’s first announcer, relayed the new to about 1,000 listeners that Warren Harding had beaten James Cox in the race for the White House.

Television

1950

At the end of World War II, the television was a toy for only a few thousand wealthy American. Just 10 years later, nearly two-thirds of American households had a television. Television struggled to become a national mass media in the 1950s, and became a cultural force for better or worse.

1st Apple computer

1976

Apple 1 is a desktop computer released by the Apple computer company in 1976. It was designed and hand built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The Apple 1 went on sale at a price of US$666.66.

The internet

1990

Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web: an internet that was not simply a way to send files from one place to another but was itself a “web” of information that anyone on the internet could retrieve. Berners-Lee created the first browser and the internet that we know today.