Etiquetas

There are three broad stages in the development of media: the first is the physical medium, the second is from the invention of the printing press to the electronic medium, and the third is the network medium. The development of media facilitated the spread of knowledge, which in turn is inextricably linked to power.

Before paper was invented, the early ancient Egyptians would record knowledge by carving words into stone or through architecture, which made it difficult for knowledge to be disseminated, and the monopoly of knowledge by a few led to the concentration of power in the hands of a few. By the mid-15th century, the German Gutenberg developed movable type printing which made mass printing possible. The public were able to read the Bible directly, which broke the Church’s monopoly on doctrinal interpretation, and the Church’s power was gradually weakened.

The advent of electronic media made it easier to disseminate knowledge and the world began to no longer be dominated and ruled only by white men. As Marshall McLuhan writes in Understanding Media, ‘As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village. electric speed in bringing Electric speed in bringing all social and political functions together in a sudden implosion has heightened human awareness of responsibility to an intense degree. It is this implosive factor that alters the position of the Negro, the teen-ager, and some other groups. They are now involved in our lives, as we in theirs, thanks to the electric media (1994).”

The development of the media will not stop here, and more new media will emerge in the future, but no matter how the media develops, the trend of power transfer from the minority to the majority will not change.

Bibliography:

McLuhan M., 1994, Understanding Media: The Extension of Man, The MIT Press