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
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