FOUR ERAS OF MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

THROUGH HISTORY

Media existed only in tribal or feudal communities and in agriculture

economies.
Oral and Written era – Information and knowledge first circulated slowly through oral (spoken)
1000BCE – mid traditions passed on by poets, teachers and tribal storytellers. When
alphabed and written word emerged, a manuscript (written) culture
fifteenth century developed and eventually overshadowed oral communication

Print era – mid The invention of the printing press in Germany by Johannes Gutenberg.
Printing press and the publications they produced spread rapidly across
fifteenth century - Europe in the late 1400s and early 1500s. Before the invention of the
1400 printing press, books were copied by hand in a labor – intensive process.

The rise of the telegraph, radio and television ( a medium that powerfully
reshaped American life. Beginning in the 1920, radios and then televisions
The electronic era sets- encased in decorative wood and sold as stylish furniture – occupied a
central place in many american homes.
1840-1920-1950

With the arrival of cutting – edge communication gadgetry- ever smaller

personal computers, cable tv, email, dvd-s, DVRs, direct broadcast satellites,
The digital era smartphones – the electronic era gave way to the digital era. New
technologies developed so quickly during the digital era that traditional
communication leaders lost of their control over information.