Effects of Mass Media

During the last century, there have been a lot of things that have changed. One of the most major things that changed was mass media, and how it evolved within the last century. The evolution of mass media involved the introduction of the television, radio, newspapers, and communications via satellite such as satellite television.

With the development of mass media came technological breakthroughs. In the beginning of the century media consisted mainly of newspapers and various periodicals. Newspapers and magazines dominated the media in the second decade of the 20th century. Prior to the introduction of the printing press, books, and newspapers were made by hand and took a long time to produce. With the printing press, publishers were able to print more pages per hour which then meant that newspapers would be widely available for consumers to purchase. In the 1900's there were no televisions or radios, therefore newspapers dominated the media market and virtually had no competitors.

In the 1940's, during and after World War II, the radio was introduced and immediately became the dominant form of media. With radios, information on the war, and other news related topics could be delivered much faster than it would if it were to be printed in a newspaper. The radio satisfied Americans that had the desire to have current news of the war, especially if they had loved ones serving overseas. Although radio was the most dominant form of media at the time, newspapers were still produced and were supplied daily with information and advertisements.

When the 1950's came around inventors thought it was time to create and introduce another technological breakthrough, the television. The televisions debut was huge and it then became the dominant source of media in the industry. This meant for newspapers and radio, they now had to compete against something that gave the best of both media: picture and sound. Radio production companies and newspaper publishers were left no choice but to rethink their approach towards their listeners and readers, as well as their approach to deliver news and entertainment. Now that the television was available in the majority of households, there then came satellite communications in 1962. Telstar I satellite in space, was one of the first, and then came others. This gave television viewers the ability to subscribe to satellite television and receive news reports and other channels from around the world that were transmitted directly in real time.

After the first five decades of the century and the developments that had happened during those years, many consumers were left wanting more but they did not know what to expect. Once we were into the mid 1990's, 98% of all American households had a television set and 63% were subscribed to cable television. According to a Newsweek article on June 7 1999, the United States is the largest exporter of television programs and American