The article is devoted to history of the emergence and development of mass media.
Many generations of our ancestors used only one way of collecting, storing and transmitting information — oral speech. But the emergence of truly mass media is associated with the beginning of using paper and the printing press. The first printed paper newspaper was created in China in 911. It was called the «Capital Gazette» («King Pao»). It contained imperial decrees, trade news, philosophical and religious statements, and information that influenced the public consciousness. It took ten centuries for paper to appear in Europe, where its widespread economic application began only in the late 14th century.
The first mention in Russia of the handwritten periodical «Vesti-Kuranty» dates back to 1600. «Vesti-kuranty» contained a retelling of reports from European newspapers with comments from diplomats. The publication was prepared by the embassy order with a circulation of several copies, since its readership was small — the head of the royal family and his closest advisers.
The first mass Russian newspaper was published on January 2, 1703 by the decree of Peter the Great. All government agencies were required to be information providers. The second decree, issued the next day, defined the purpose of the newspaper publication: to report «on military and all sorts of matters that are subject to the announcement of the Moscow and surrounding states to the people». The circulation of the first newspaper was a thousand copies.
In 1728, the Academy of Sciences created a new newspaper «The St. Petersburg Vedomosti». It contained a lot of government information, as in the «Vedomosti», but the publishers paid more attention to the news section. Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711–1765) became the first publisher and editor of the St. Petersburg News.
The banker Konstantin Vasilyevich Trubnikov created the first telegraph bureau (with his newspaper «Birzhevye Vedomosti») in 1862. It was specializing on the transmission of commercial and political news. Moscow entrepreneur Metzel opened the «office of announcements» in 1878. It was the first advertising agency in Russia.
The name «gazette», which is found in most languages of the world, comes from the first French newspaper La Gazette published on May 30, 1631 by the publisher Theophraste Renaudot. The idea belongs to the famous Cardinal Richelieu, who saw it primarily as a means of information struggle against the opponents of absolutism.
The invention of the newspaper is the creation of a fundamentally new form of communication, on the basis of which the mass communication media emerged; journalism appeared, and the production and dissemination of spiritual values became possible.
In 1877, the Frenchman Charles Cross invented the «paleophone» — the prototype of modern recording systems. Then there was a magnetic tape, the production of tape recorders began. In 1895, the Lumiere brothers surprised the audience with a steam locomotive moving on the screen, which was shown in a movie theater. The information could be recorded on film. Modern video players allow you to play a «moving picture» at home. In parallel with the evolution of methods of recording and storing information, the process of its transmission developed.
It is known that tom-toms still serve some African tribes to spread messages over relatively long distances. The American Indians used the whistling or smoke of bonfires for this purpose. In many parts of the world, «pigeon mail» is still used.
The first mail coach, which began to be used in England in 1784, was certainly a step forward. But the advent of the telegraph in 1840 produced a real revolution in the field of information dissemination. The first telegraph agencies were established, and the number of newspapers and magazines increased dramatically.
It is difficult to imagine everyday life without a telephone, although the telephone, invented in 1870, seemed an unnecessary luxury a hundred years ago. The same can be said about the radio, which appeared thanks to the inventions of the Italian radio technician Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi and the Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov.
In the 20th century, discoveries in the field of information transmission and dissemination were intensively developed. Wireless telegraphy, black-and-white, color, cable and satellite television, teletype and fax communication, communication satellites were the great inventions of the century.
The production of computers, the emergence of modem communication, and information networks influenced the structural change in productive forces and industrial relations. With the help of a personal computer, for example, it became possible to perform work at home, transmitting the results of work over a modem.
Nowadays, the communication and information industry is gaining such economic importance in some countries that in many countries it is becoming the main element that replaces heavy and manufacturing industries in the process of creating a national product.
References:
- Сиберт, Ф. С. Четыре теории прессы: Представления о том, какой должна быть пресса и чем ей следует заниматься в авторитар. и либертариан. теориях и в концепциях соц. ответственности и совет. коммунизма: [Пер. с англ.]. / Ф. С. Сиберт, У. Шрамм, Т. Питерсон. — Москва: Вагриус, 1998. — 223 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
- Засурский, Я. Н. Система средств массовой информации России. Учебное пособие для вузов / Я. Н. Засурский, М. И. Алексеева, Л. Д. Болотова. — Москва: Аспект Пресс, 2003. — 259 c. — Текст: непосредственный.
