Few things are cemented into the fabric of everyday life, quite like the media is. Virtually every interaction you have each day involves the media. From the paper that you read to the news, you watch on tv to the apps you browse on your smartphone, each of these interactions is an example of how we consume media.
But why is the media important? What are the functions of the media, and what purpose does it serve in our lives? Today, we’re going to take a closer look at everything you need to know about the media and why it plays such a crucial role in our lives.
What is Media?
Media is an umbrella term that refers to all of the different tools and outlets that deliver and store information and data. Media is a catch-all for the mass communications industry, and it includes the print media, news media, cinema, radio and television, photography, and advertising.
Shortly after the development of the first writing utensils and receptacles, societies began to develop long-distance ways to communicate. First, there was the mail, which was employed by the Persian and Roman empires, and most scholars believe this is the first known example of media in society.
Around 59 B.C., the first-ever newspaper, Acta Diurna, was published in Rome. Of course, this predates the printing press and other forms of mass production by well over 1,000 years. As you’d imagine, while Acta Diurna offered a framework for the earliest vehicle to disseminate news, this “newspaper” was far from what we’re used to.
The first-ever printed newspaper was produced in 1605 in Antwerp by Johan Carolus. The paper was called Relation aller Furnemmen und gedenckwurdigen Historie, which translated to “the Collection of all Distinguished and Commemorable News.” Of course, we’ve since shortened the name to “The Relation.” This paper is recognized by the World Association of Newspapers as the first-ever published paper.
While humans have been using media to communicate for centuries, it wasn’t until the mid-1950s that the coin was first termed by Marshall McLuhan. The term media had spread throughout North America and the U.K., and it’s been used as a catch-all term for mass communications since then.
Why is the Media so Important?
Since the media touches on virtually every aspect of our lives, it’s easy to see why it’s so important. From our favorite songs, movies, and television shows to the newspapers and news stations we use to stay informed to our social media profiles and the internet as large, media touches on every aspect of humanity.
In the 21st century, the importance of media has grown exponentially. So much of what we see, hear, do, and experience is media in one form or another, and many of the ways that we entertain ourselves are also related to the media. Without media, we would have no way to stay informed of current events or history, and we certainly wouldn’t be able to entertain ourselves in the manner we’re used to.
In past generations, the institutions of media were far more centralized. Throughout most of the 20th century, people relied on the media to deliver news through the radio, in print, and later, television.
While it was just as easy to find opinion coverage and news with a partisan tilt during the 20th century, the media industry made a serious commitment to ensuring that the content they reported on was fair, unbiased, and provided the public with all the information they needed to make their own educated judgments based upon the facts that were presented.
But, with the advent of the internet, the media became less centralized and more splintered. This phenomenon started with websites but quickly moved to social media as platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram established themselves as fixtures in the media landscape.
These days, it’s easier than ever before to find and consume information, and many of the barriers of entry that prevented people from publishing news and accounts in the past have been removed, thanks to the rise of social media. These days, all you need is a Twitter account, and you can begin reporting the news as you see it.
While the internet and social media have been major forces for good in the world, there are some negatives associated with these platforms as well. When anyone can report the news, who is really a reporter?
As the media becomes more decentralized and more legitimate news outlets operate with a partisan slant, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to parse through media reporting to find objective facts. This phenomenon results in a general public that is less informed on critical issues, and more likely to believe news and media coverage that isn’t objectively true.
Compounding this matter is the fact that as humans, we tend to seek out like-minded individuals who tend to reinforce our beliefs and opinions. Rather than seek out dissenting opinions to promote thoughtful discourse and a more well-rounded perspective, many people would prefer to instead converse with people who share a nearly identical worldview.
Given this situation, media literacy becomes especially important. People now bear at least some responsibility for the media they consume and their opinion of the facts.
The Media and Democracy
Nothing underscores the importance of the media like the role that it plays in democracy. Since it’s impossible for us to receive all our news on a first-hand basis, we rely on reporters and news networks to aggregate and deliver the most important news of the day.
Media coverage molds American perception, and what’s most important to the people. This is an incredibly crucial democratic responsibility.
The first function of the media is to report the news. The public at large entrusts the media to accurately report the most important news of the day. Citizens that are accurately informed are crucial to a functioning democracy, and most journalists subscribe to the idea that it’s best to report the hard facts of a situation, leaving it up to their audience to decide their position.
While many media outlets are accused of being partisan these days, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that the media began to report objectively. In fact, many early American newspapers were run by political parties, and their purpose was to give the party a voice in public. Or, they practiced yellow journalism, which pursued shock and awe stories akin to the tabloids of today.
Objective reporting only became popular around the 20th century, and it remains the gold standard of media reporting. Instead of coloring stories with embellishments or opinion, objective reporting seeks to provide only the facts of a particular story.
Both then and now, the media has been a middle man between the people and the government. News organizations can mold the national discussion by choosing what to report on and which issues are most important. In this capacity, the media is almost like a fourth branch of the federal government.
Today, media bias is one of the most common political talking points, but any respectable news organization tends to restrict instances of bias to their opinion and editorial sections. In general, the mainstream media does an excellent job of offering factual reporting that provides a foundation for the reader to base their opinion upon.
Of course, that’s not to say that every news outlet reports stories down the middle. There are plenty of examples of reporting that is purposefully partisan, and entire news networks dedicated to reporting stories through the lens of a particular political party. For example, CNN is typically looked at as a liberal news network, while Fox is considered conservative.
Besides reporting, the media can sometimes take on the role of public advocacy, holding politicians and other representatives accountable through their investigative journalism and reporting. There have been many examples of watchdog journalism in recent history, such as the Watergate scandal, Iran-Contra Affair, and the Clinton impeachment investigation.
The democratic role that’s played by the media further underscores the overall importance of the press.
Different Types of Media
Within the overall media landscape, there are three primary forms of media. However, one could argue that the proliferation of social media constitutes it as a fourth type of media. Below, we’ll discuss each type in greater detail.
Print Media
Long before the other forms of media were invented, print media was king. Print media refers to newspapers, journals, newsletters, magazines, and any other material that appears in print.
The prominence of print media has declined over the last several decades, due in part to the popularity of other forms of media. But, many people still rely on print media to deliver news, opinions, and entertainment.
While it’s popularity has declined, the print media is still the most prestigious form of media, and those who rely on print media as their primary form of news tend to be more politically active than those who are dependent on the radio or television for their media consumption.
The History of Print
The advent of print media took centuries to come to fruition. Chinese official Ts’ai Lun invented paper in the year A.D. 105. Following this invention, Pi Sheng developed the original movable type. It took over a century for the concept of printing to reach Europe. It wasn’t until the late 1400s that Johannes Gutenburg would create an efficient method for producing print media using his Gutenburg press.
What followed was a period of refinement in the printing industry. Famed inventors like Nicolas Jenson and Claude Garamond created new typefaces, which made the printed word easier to read. Garamond opened the world’s first type foundry in 1530, and after his death, his typefaces were sold throughout Europe, where they grew in popularity. Garamond remains a popular typeface to this day.
With the Industrial Revolution came further developments within the printing industry. The first cast-iron printing press, invented by Lord Stanhope, doubled the print space of a page and cut the need for manual labor in half.
The late 19th century was an especially revolutionary period for the media industry, as it marked the development of the halftone print process. As the name entails, this development allowed things to be printed in a range of tones beyond just black, which paved the way for photos to be printed, which added an entirely new dimension to print media.
This development helped to launch many modern media phenomena, such as the concept of celebrity and sensationalist gossip tabloids. As print media entered the 20th century, style movements like Art Nouveau began to take over and influence the way newspapers and other periodicals were produced.
This time also marked the rise of the media baron. Massive publishing companies were turning a profit in journalism, and fierce competition arose between printers and publications. This competition only seemed to stoke the public’s voracious appetite for news and entertainment.
Another invention helped to further revolutionize the print media industry when it arrived on the scene in 1935: the typewriter. This device made it easier than ever for reporters and journalists to draft stories, and get them to their editors more quickly than ever before.
Then came the computer, which has proved to be the most groundbreaking invention in print media since the advent of the printing press. Computers enabled journalists to work quicker than they could on a typewriter, and they also provided powerful new tools for graphic designers, who would use computers and software to revolutionize print advertising.
Over time, new technology has enabled the print media industry to expand and provide more detailed coverage. Thanks to inventions like the personal computer, journalists are able to report in near real-time, which keeps the public informed at a rate that wasn’t possible in years past.
These emerging technologies also paved the way for the other forms of media: broadcast media and the internet.
Broadcast Media
Broadcast media is the most popular way people consume media and news. This type of media involves the dissemination of video or audio content from a single source to many people.
While modern broadcasts have roots in telephone and radio technology, the fact that it can be broadcast to a mass audience differentiates this kind of media from others. This difference is also what makes broadcast media so well suited for mass consumption.
Radio Broadcasting
In the 18th century, mankind discovered the existence of electromagnetic radiation. This discovery paved the way for broadcast media. From humble beginnings, broadcast media has become the most popular way to consume media in the world.
After seeing the application of the telegraph, inventors like Reginald Fessenden began to experiment with the idea of sending a voice over the air. He quickly realized that a continuous radio wave was necessary for transmission, and he developed an alternator that would provide a continuous wave while working as a technician at General Electric.
On Christmas Eve, 1906, Fessenden successfully completed the first radio broadcast. He spoke briefly, played a bit of violin music, and read a few passages from the Bible before signing off. Little did he know at the time, but this humble broadcast would solidify the framework for the broadcasting industry as we know it today.
In the early days, the crystal radio was the preferred method of consumption for this new brand of media. While crystal radios were affordable and easy to make, they didn’t amplify the radio waves very much, and broadcasts were difficult to hear. It became clear that we needed a way to boost the radio signal to enjoy the broadcast clearly and at an adequate volume.
Lee DeForest invented a device to do just that. He called his invention The Audion, which would later evolve into the vacuum tube, which was capable of boosting the weak radio wave signal millions of times over.
Vacuum tube radios were still fairly affordable, and they provided the public at large with an easy way to consume media in their homes. By the 1920s, around half of all homes in the United States had a radio, and there were thousands of radio stations throughout the country.
Hundreds of stations cropped up throughout the country, and these stations were in need of programming to justify their existence. These stations would broadcast news and current affairs, variety shows, talk shows, and play music.
With a captive public audience came lucrative advertising opportunities as well, and the advertising model is the primary revenue source for most radio and television companies to this day.
Popular and political figures began to harness the power of this new form of communication to reach people. One of the most famous examples of this is the Fireside Chats held by President Roosevelt throughout his presidency.
This new form of media provided Roosevelt with a direct outlet into the homes of the American people, and this unparalleled level of communication helped to make him arguably the most popular American president of all time.
Television Broadcasting
As radio was taking the world by storm in the early part of the 20th century, the seeds were planted for the technologies that would become modern television.
At the 1939 World’s Fair, the RCA Company showed off their prototype for the early television. This technology was capable of dissecting images into tiny electronic pieces, transmitting them, and reassembling them for an audience somewhere else.
At first, the public wasn’t enthused. Television sets were expensive, there was very little to watch, and the radio already provided a perfect way to stay abreast of news and current events. After World War II, new technologies breathed life into the dying concept of broadcast television, and factories once tasked with wartime manufacturing began assembling television sets.
By 1955, 35 million homes and counting had television sets in their homes. As television became more popular, more networks sprang up, and television began to occupy the space that was once dominated by radio. By the beginning of the 1960s, 95% of Americans had a television set.
Television provided the public with the most immersive form of media yet. While news broadcasts were the most popular programming available, entertainment programming began to explode. Despite the emergence of the internet and social media, television remains one of the most popular ways for the public to consume media.
The Internet
The newest and most exciting example of media is the internet, which has revolutionized the way that people around the world communicate and receive the news.
Following the invention of the first personal computer in 1971, the internet began to take shape. Born from research commissioned by the United States Defense Department in the 1960s, the internet has grown into the preferred communication method for many Americans, and billions of people use the internet for media consumption today.
Simply put, the internet is a global computer network that offers many different ways to consume or publish information and communicate with others. This technology has revolutionized the way we consume media and how quickly we’re able to consume it.
By the early 1990s, the framework of the World Wide Web was in place, and by 1995, the internet was ready for public consumption. In the years that followed, new technologies emerged at a breakneck pace. In 1998, the internet broke its first news story before broadcast media was able to, and the rest, as they say, is history.
At the dawn of the 21st century, most American households had a home computer with internet access, and people began using the web as a preferred way to communicate, shop, and take in the news of the day.
With news especially, the internet introduced revolutionary concepts into the media lexicon, like RSS feeds, which allow users to curate the news to their liking and the ability to share your thoughts and opinions with other users who were reacting to the same content.
The internet has provided a new medium for established national and local news networks, and it’s also provided a platform for independent news networks and special interest publications as well.
The internet makes it easier than ever for people to pick and choose the stories they want to read about, and the type of reporting that resonates with them. As the media has become more decentralized, the people are now more responsible for ensuring that they’re properly informed and that the information that they’re receiving is based on fact and not opinion.
Social Media
Since the early 2000s, social media has dramatically changed the general media landscape and the way that we communicate with others and receive information.
One of the foundational aspects of the internet is community, so it makes sense that as the internet grew, new applications were invented that helped to foster that sense of community. These platforms bring people together based on common bonds or interests, and they enable anybody to create or share content with the world.
What started as a way to stay in touch with family and friends throughout the world has evolved into a new form of media that is especially vital in communities where there isn’t adequate representation from mainstream media.
Social media has given a platform to civic journalists throughout the world to document the news as they see it within their communities. These communities often deal with issues that aren’t being focused on a national or world level, and social platforms have been critical to getting this information to the people.
Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have also made it easier for people from anywhere to connect and come together around shared beliefs, and many political and social movements have taken hold on social platforms. Movements for social justice and women’s rights, in particular, have been unified and strengthened by the social media community.
While there has been plenty of good born from social media, there are also instances where the communal nature of social media fosters disinformation, fake news, and hatred.
Just as social media has made it easier to connect with others and discuss important topics, it also has the power to foster division. Plus, since people are able to choose who they hear from and what they hear about, social media can create an echo chamber of sorts where you’re only exposed to thoughts and opinions that are aligned with what you believe.
Final Word
The existence of some form of media is nearly as old as humankind. The media connects us with the most important news and affairs of the day, and it also plays an integral role in politics, both domestically and abroad.
The importance of media cannot be understated in the 21st century. Technological developments like the internet and social media have carved out massive social, cultural, and political positions within our society, and the roles these technological institutions play will continue to evolve into the future.
In a changing media landscape, it’s more important than ever to critically examine the media coverage you consume, and ensure that your understanding of the issues is based on fact and isn’t colored by opinion or favor.