Individual Assignment

By: Wesley B. Hurt

COMM/225

06-13-2013

Palmer Pellham

Intro Since the early 1900’s, media has played a vital role in our society. Media has influenced generations of Americans from the record player, Morse code, and radio. Our society has experienced a phenomenal rise of mass media since the beginning stages of the television in the 1940’s. Since then, media has been responsible to bringing live reports on national emergencies, increased the number of voters, and even helped assist in the resignation of a President (Richard Nixon). Digital technology has literally changed the way media is distributed, produced (special effects), and delivered. The Print Press About mid1440, a tinkerer by the name of Johannes Gutenberg thought of a concept of creating letters out of metal while melting alloys. According to Vivian, J. (2011), “The growing quantity of printed materials fueled literacy and, slowly, a standardization in written languages. What Gutenberg begat can be called the Age of Mass Communication, but his innovation also spurred Western civilization into the ongoing Age of Science and Age of Reason. Civilization hasn’t been the same since.” Since the 1800’s, the print press has helped us deliver messages of importance like pamphlets of anti-slavery propaganda to help deter slavery in the Deep Old South, help religion by producing mass scripts (like the Bible) for circulation, and even has helped the casual citizen stay informed on current events with daily newspapers. Photography & Print Visual The half tone visual pioneered by Frederick Ives in 1870 would later revolutionize how the world would see the information conveyed to them. According to Vivian, J. (2011), “The 1727 discovery that light causes silver nitrate to darken was a breakthrough in mass communication. Scientists dabbled with the chemical for the next century. Then in 1826 Joseph Níepce found a way to capture and preserve an image on light sensitive material.” Joseph Niepce paved the way for trendsetters like Mathew Brady whom captured the horrific reality of war with his gruesome photos of Civil War battlefield. Since then, photos have taken the masses places we wouldn’t normally be able to go and see. In today’s culture we have digital imagery that helps us map the galaxies, make memories last longer, help us capture atrocities in other continental regions. Accprding to Vivian, J. (2011), “Halftone. The halftone process, invented by Frederick Ives, uses variously sized dots to transfer ink to paper. The dots are invisible except under close examination. At a reading distance, however, the bigger dots leave darker impressions, the smaller dots a lighter impression. The effect looks like the Frederick Ives varying tones in a photograph.” Impact of Television In 1888, Thomas Edison invented the movie camera and projector. Since then there have been many milestones made in the motion picture industry. Forty years later, the first color motion picture was introduced to the masses in a screen play called Black Pirate (1927). The industry grew so fast that the government would step in and create the FCC or Federal Communications Commission to regulate and write the standards for television viewing in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission is also responsible for broadcasting any emergency events on a nationwide scale. Examples of these emergency broadcasts can be seen and heard randomly between your favorite television sitcoms. Another example of how the FCC distributes emergency messages can be observed during the September 9/11 attacks. During that time, no radio music nor television shows were aired, the FCC only allowed emergency broadcast and security updates for almost two days. Governments have been able to shed light on atrocities happening from overseas like human rights being abused in Croatia-Serbian conflict in the 1990’s. In today’s world, the television industry is a multi-billion dollar business that influences our culture in many ways. Television has been used to fuel wars too. The most recent example of this can be found when George W. Bush claimed to have intelligence that Iraq was housing weapons of mass destruction. Bush Jr. used television to build up his own coalition and invade Iraq without the sanctions of the United Nations. Overall the invention of the television has help man to bridge the gap between worlds (societies), help distribute intricate information, as well as help raise us through the influences of television networks.