Jesse L. Fitch

Effects of Mass Media Worksheet

Write brief 250-to 300-word answers to each of the following:

|Questions |Answers |
|What were the major developments in the |The 20th century has thus far seen the fastest growth in mass media compared to any other |
|evolution of mass media during the 20th |century. Before the 20th century the most used form of media was printed in large scale |
|century? |thanks to the invention of the printing press that became very efficient in producing up |
| |too 500 pages an hour. By the start of the evolution of mass media in the 20th century, |
| |most printing presses could produce up to 3,000 pages an hour. The media age may have been|
| |very well started by the telegraph in 1837, but the mass media age did not boom till the |
| |radio was found in homes across the country in the 1920’s. Radios were easily obtainable |
| |by most Americans and were even less expensive than phones at the time. Radios were so |
| |largely popular at the time that a broad cast could reach the ears of more than 20 million|
| |listeners. The radio was the most popular form of mass media until the mid 1950’s. The |
| |next big jump in the evolution of mass media was the television. Televisions were rare in |
| |the late 1940’s. Only 17000 on average could be found in America, but then by the mid |
| |1950’s, they could be found in two thirds of American homes. This was largely due to the |
| |booming consumer based economy that had a doubling gross national product in the 50’s then|
| |again in the 60’s. Broadcast television was the widest and most used form of mass media |
| |and was vastly controlled by three networks. The next big jump was the availability of |
| |cable for your television. Cable then offered much more variety of information and |
| |entertainment that was more person to person specific. |
|How did each development influence |The radio was the first non printed form of mass media in the 20th century. The radio |
|American culture? |could be used to spread information like never before. Unlike the news paper, information |
| |from a radio did not have to go through a long process of printed packaging and |
| |distribution. People in any given area were able to listen to the same story at the same |
| |time. This seemed to affect many areas differences. A sense of one American culture |
| |evolved from this new way to spread information to the masses at a lighting speed. The |
| |radio also drove the American culture towards a more consumer based lifestyle by offering |
| |producers to be able to advertise products to a vast audience with a simple broadcast. The|
| |next big thing to have was the television which became the very prominent way for |
| |consumers to receive information from the mass media. This new form of receiving mass |
| |media gave the American a visual guide to what a “normal” lifestyle should look like for |
| |an American. This in turn, also fueled a wide spread view of a counter cultural life style|
| |with the broad casts of protesters and the events of the Vietnam police action. The next |
| |thing to happen included the television. Broadcast television was now not the only |
| |available way to receive information. Cable was now available and it offered much variety |
| |compared to the former broadcast. Where broadcast controlled 93% by 3 large corporations, |
| |cable was was only controlled by 28.4% for the same corporations. This gave the American |
| |people much more variety in the opinions on events that were taking place as well as a |
| |variety in entertainment. |