History of Mass Media

By LJT1229
  • 100 BCE

    Paper is invented in China

    Stories and historical records can be stored.
  • 1455

    Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press

    Literacy begins to spread throughout Europe.

  • Photography!

    Actual visual records of people and events exist now!
    In September 1862, “The Dead of Antietam” appeared outside Matthew Brady’s studio in New York. This was the first time people witnessed images of the violence of war.
  • Period: to

    Different types of communication break distance barriers through the inventions of Morse code, the telegraph and the telephone.

  • First publicly shown film

    The Lumiere Brothers’ “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat” frightened some viewers,

  • First radio broadcast in US

    This event marks the birth of modern mass media.
    The 1920s were also the golden age of film.
  • Period: to

    Television enters the home.

    Commercials invade

  • First home computers sold by Apple.

    Some people mocked the idea of a home computer, saying no one would want it.
  • Period: to

    The internet!

    The internet revolutionizes how people get information.
  • Period: to

    Web 2.0.

    The invention of social media, among other things, makes media much more participatory. User-generated content begins to grow and in 2006 Times magazine named “you” as person of the year.