HUM/186
April 21, 2014
The Influence of Mass Media in America
Since the dawn of man, the need for and the use of media has existed. From handprints on cave walls to smoke signals, telegraphs to, the weekly radio broadcasts of the 1920’s, media has served the same purpose for thousands and thousands of years. Once a message is established, one selects the process of media needed to distribute that message and the message is delivered; plain and simple.
Throughout the last century, however, media has grown from the advanced for its time but contemporarily simple, telepath into what is now referred to as mass media. When reaching a dozen no longer serves its purpose and the scale of recipients …show more content…
Vladimir K. Zworykin, a technology consultant at Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and Chairman of the Board at RCA David Sarnoff introduced all electronic television to the masses unveiling images only held in the imagination until their contributions. In 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first televised President of the United States after his speech at the opening of the New York World 's Fair (Stephens, YYYY). Television held a firm grip on mass media production and delivery for decades, broadcasting iconic and historic moments like the first televised offering of the 1960 Olympic Games in, the report of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, and Neil Armstrong’s walk on the Moon in 1969. Things were about to change for the mass media giant. The introduction of the World Wide Web was not far off.
While the history and development of the Internet, the original Internet’s earliest days can be traced back to the early 1960’s. The modern Internet as many know it today was finally and internationally available in 1989 (Computer History Museum, 2004). By 1992, the World Wide Web had been established and mass media had an entirely new, light speed process for delivering information. Any person who had access to a computer connected to the internet could access the website. This and the introduction of electronic mail (e-mail) (1974) made mass media …show more content…
When someone has decided that a particular source is credible, the desire to challenge that credibility can decreases over time. Additionally, if someone has no guidance as to what is pertinent and what is not, the inundation of all the information, advertisements, news articles, and pleads for political allegiance can quickly become overwhelming. The issue with a lack of media literacy in the case is the user will either attempt to avoid the messages and miss important and useful information, or make poor decisions based on misinformation. Affiliations can be established based solely on the biggest and best production with little regard for