Evolution of Media

By Bscrub1
  • First 'True" Alphabet 800 BCE
    100

    First 'True" Alphabet 800 BCE

    By at least the 8th century BCE the Greeks borrowed the Phoenician alphabet and adapted it to their own language, creating in the process the first "true" alphabet, in which vowels were accorded equal status with consonants.
  • Sumerian Stamp Seals 4000 BCE
    100

    Sumerian Stamp Seals 4000 BCE

  • Sumerian “writing” system on clay tablets 3100 BCE
    100

    Sumerian “writing” system on clay tablets 3100 BCE

  • Public library in Athens 540 BCE
    100

    Public library in Athens 540 BCE

  • Egyptian papyrus scrolls 600 BCE
    100

    Egyptian papyrus scrolls 600 BCE

  • Semitic alphabet in Egypt 1900-1800 BCE
    100

    Semitic alphabet in Egypt 1900-1800 BCE

  • Invention of Paper
    105

    Invention of Paper

    This was the point in time that in china, paper was created. This was a huge step foward in media as a whole, but it was barely used until many years later. Also took centries to arrive in other countries.
  • Gutenberg press (leads to Protestant Revolution, among other things)
    Jan 1, 1450

    Gutenberg press (leads to Protestant Revolution, among other things)

  • Period: Jan 1, 1500 to

    Italian gazettes

  • Martin Luther nails “Ninety Five Theses” to church door in Wittenberg, Germany
    Jan 1, 1517

    Martin Luther nails “Ninety Five Theses” to church door in Wittenberg, Germany

  • first press in America (Spanish America)
    Jan 1, 1534

    first press in America (Spanish America)

  • Dutch Coranto (printed in English in 1620)

    Dutch Coranto (printed in English in 1620)

  • First press in what would become U.S. (Harvard College)

  • John Milton denounces licensing of the press in Areopagitica

    John Milton denounces licensing of the press in Areopagitica

  • Oxford Gazette (first English-language newspaper) in England

  • First American newspaper: Publick Occurrences (lasts one issue)

  • First successful American newspaper: The Boston News-Letter

  • John Peter Zenger trial

  • First American magazines

  • 1783-1833 Rise of Party Press

  • Bill of Rights (including First Amendment) ratified

  • Alien and Sedition Acts passed

  • Saturday Evening Post founded

  • First African-American newspaper in U.S.: Freedom’s Journal

  • First Native American newspaper in U.S.: Cherokee Phoenix

  • Noah Webster publishes first dictionary

  • 1833's New York Sun begins publication; rise of the Penny Press

  • Samuel Morse granted patent for telegraph. First message, May 24: “What hath God wrought?” Second message: “Have you any news?”

  • Associated Press founded

  • 1860-1865 Civil War brings home “necessity” of news

  • Thomas Edison invents the “talking machine”

  • Edison lab develops movie camera

  • George Eastman introduces the Kodak camera

  • Heinrich Hertz transmits wireless sound waves

  • Linotype machine introduced at newspapers

  • 1890s first “New Journalism” period; “Yellow Journalism”

  • Period: to

    Edison develops mass market phonograph

  • Period: to

    first “New Journalism” period; “Yellow Journalism”

  • Edison patents Kinetoscope – first parlor opens 1894 in New York

  • Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World starts daily women’s page

  • “Stunt girl” Nellie Bly circles the world

  • Period: to

    Muckraking magazines

  • Guglielmo Marconi sends and receives radio message across the Atlantic (Morse code, point to point)

  • Period: to

    “Jazz Journalism” tabloids

  • Period: to

    “Golden Age of Movies”

  • Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” broadcast

  • First FM radio station started in New Jersey

  • TV is a hit at the World’s Fair

  • Welles’s Citizen Kane released; sometimes called the best movie of all time

  • First TV commercial advertises a Bulova clock

  • John H. Johnson starts Negro Digest; would later found Ebony and Jet

  • Red Scare leads to congressional investigation of Hollywood

  • Supreme Court hands down Paramount Decision

  • Red Channels: The Communist Influence in Radio and Television ruins careers

  • Period: to

    “Golden Age of Television”

  • “I Love Lucy” debuts; uses film and three cameras

  • FCC lifts “the Freeze” imposed in 1948

  • Eisenhower runs 20-second campaign spot

  • TV Guide magazine debuts; Lucille Ball and her newborn son on first cover

  • Playboy magazine introduced; Marilyn Monroe is first centerfold

  • Playboy magazine introduced; Marilyn Monroe is first centerfold

  • TV Guide magazine debuts; Lucille Ball and her newborn son on first cover

  • Edward R. Murrow’s “See It Now” focuses on Joseph McCarthy

  • Edward R. Murrow’s “See It Now” focuses on Joseph McCarthy

  • Elvis Presley discovered by Sam Phillips of Sun Records

  • Videotape Introduced

  • Quiz show scandal rocks television industry

  • Quiz show scandal rocks television industry

  • Kennedy-Nixon debate

  • Network news expands from 15 minutes to 30 minutes

  • Betty Friedan writes The Feminine Mystique

  • New York Times v. Sullivan gives press new right to criticize public officials

  • The Beatles first tour America

  • Period: to

    Internet formed for exchange of ideas, not available to general public

  • Period: to

    Second “New Journalism” period; literary journalism; underground newspapers

  • Congress passes Public Broadcasting Act; PBS formed

  • ABC introduces made-for-TV movies

  • Neal Armstrong walks on moon; we see it on TV

  • Feminists stage sit-in at Ladies Home Journal

  • Ms. magazine launched

  • Life magazine died; came back as monthly from 1978 to 2000

  • Boylan v. New York Times sex discrimination lawsuit filed

  • Boylan v. New York Times sex discrimination lawsuit filed

  • Cigarette advertising banned from TV

  • My Mother's Birth

  • Richard Nixon resigns, a result of Watergate coverage

  • People magazine introduced

  • Home Box Office (formed by Time, Inc. in 1972) begins satellite distribution of TV; Ted Turner starts first “superstation”

  • Sony Betamax home videocassette recorder introduced

  • Matsushita introduces VHS

  • laser disc player introduced; largely a failure, but opened door for CDs

  • Sony Walkman appears in Japan

  • Iranian hostage crisis leads to “Nightline” and loss by Jimmy Carter to a former radio broadcaster and movie actor

  • “Who Shot J.R.?” on “Dallas” is first TV season-ending cliff-hanger

  • MTV (Music Television) first airs; first video is “Video Killed the Radio Star”

  • Home shopping network debuts

  • USA Today begins publication

  • Sony introduces CD player

  • Period: to

    Internet access opened to general public; changes everything

  • Telecommunications Act of 1996 brings V-chip, deregulation, and dramatic increase in mergers and takeovers