Historical Perspectives on Communication Technology

An Overview

Types of Technology

• Print• Telephone• Motion Pictures• Audio Recording• Radio• Television

• Cable Television• Direct Broadcast

Satellite• Home Video• Personal Computers• Internet• Video Games

PRINT MEDIA

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg

•Newspapers•Periodicals•Books

• U.S. Printing industry is largest in the printing countries of the world

• First Newspaper in U.S. was in 1690: Public occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick

• In U.S. 10 largest newspaper owners account for 44% of industry circulation

• Currently, newspaper circulation is in a downward trend

Newspaper Growth

• Newspapers grew in size and number during the 19th century– Lower newspaper prices– Practice of deriving revenue from advertisers– Higher literacy rates

• Worldwide Newspapers continue to grow– But in U.S. circulation is on the decline

• First English magazine published in London in 1704 by Daniel Defoe

• First magazines published in Philadelphia in 1741

• Saturday Evening Post was first successful and longest running magazine in U.S. history–Targeted Women and a

national audience–1821 – 1969 (and occasionally

since then)

Magazine Audiences• Magazines have a high mortality rate• Most readers are subscribers– Subscriptions account for 87% of sales and 68% of

revenues• Current trend is for a decline in subscriptions• Online distribution is the new thing but it is

too new to make any bold statements

First Books

• First book printed in English was printed in France in 1475

• First book in the “New World” was printed in Mexico in 1539

• First book printed in the American colonies was in 1640

• Today there are 87,000 book publishers in the United States

American Trends

• Number of books sold continues to rise• Americans spend more money on books than

any other mass medium except cable tv• Average American spends about $104 per year

buying books• Amazon reported getting more orders for e-

books than paper versions in 2009

END OF DISCUSSION OF PRINT