Second information

revolution
printing
Before Printing
• the dark ages of Europe lasted for almost a thousand years ( from the 5th to
the 14th century).
• A little ice age reduced crops and left the population prey to starvation and
disease .
• Bubonic plague which started in China and India swept into Europe and
killed an estimated 20 million people in Europe
• Shortage of food
• Survivors fell into economic and social turbulence
• The bubonic plague was born by rats , but the survivors look for explanations.
• The devil was blamed and unfortunately , the Jews were also and massacres
happened.
• Europe embarked on the 100 years crusade and more deaths.
• Food was short and the money economy was replacing the old
feudal system , which worsened the economic conditions.
• Across France and Italy , lawless bands of knights spread terror.
• A decade after the first wave of the bubonic plague , another
wave followed , less deadly but no less dreadful.
• A sense of doom pervades Europe , while a third wave of plague
began in 1373.
• There was confusion and schism in the Roman papacy.
• The Vatican was weakened by corruption that reached from the
papacy to the monasteries with a reputation for promiscuity.
• The licentious behavior of priests and nuns led to the closingof
convents in England.
• This was also the century of the Flagellants, the Peasant revolt in
England and many more…
• Everything seems to be falling apart.
Before printing
• Sources of news
– News from far came at 3rd and 4th hand from itinerant monks, soldiers,
peddlers , couriers and pardoners ( who travelled from town to town
selling absolute pardon from sin )
– Most do not really care about is what happening outside of their world.
– Literacy was minimal –but there was not much to read.
– Literacy was held in low regard, with medieval bishops encouraging civil
illiteracy .
– The Bible could not be translated into the vernacular , and only the clergy
possess copies in Latin.
– Yet, the ranks of those with some measure of education expanded.
• Most information came through the ears – gossip, morality plays,
sermons, narrative ballads and tales
• But technology was kicking in and bringing changes.
• Cheap, locally produced paper was replacing papyrus .
• The invention of spectacles aided old and weary eyes to read
more.
• By the end of the century, literacy was being considered a test
for intelligence.
• Although limited, the mass of writing had multiplied considerably.
• In addition to the bible , there were books on various arts and
science, plus romances and other topics.
• By the 14th century, the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople
at the same time that Gutenberg was printing the 42 line Bible.
• It is also at this time, that Dante wrote The Divine Comedy.
• The changes of the century became fertile ground for the
Reformation and
for rebirth , the Renaissance sparked the discovery of classical
Greek and Roman manuscripts.
By the 15th century, the ingenious system devised by the German
goldsmith , Gutenberg, acted as a catalyst for forces that
staggered the world.
Printing revolutionized the world.
From papyrus to paper

• Paper – most common but it

– Dispersed the Renaissance
– Fueled reformation and counter reformation and every religious ,political
and social upheaval
– Handmaid of literacy
• Of the 210 printed copes of the first Gutenberg Bible, 30 were on
parchment , 180 on paper.
• Each parchment copy required ,it was estimated , the skins of
300 sheep.
• Not surprisingly ,parchment for printing did not survive to any
extent beyond the 1500s.
• As for the 180 copies printed on paper, the quality was so good
compared to today’s bleached and treated paper that 500
years from now a Gutenberg bible , made in 1455 will probably
look better than a bible manufactured in 1997.
Paper – gift from China
• The Chinese are credited with giving the world some of the best ,
life changing inventions
– Compass
– Paper making
– Gunpowder
– Printing technology
From papyrus to paper
• From china - recorded messages on jade tablets, ivory ,
bamboo ,silk
• Camel’s hair for brush and ash for ink
• Invented paper – from rags and later linen , hemp, even fish nets
and tree barks
• Paper craft moved to Japan and Korea and later Europe
Paper – gift from China
• The Chinese language
remains the oldest written
language still in use today
• Pictographic
• Ideographic
Paper – gift from China
• Paper
– Helped established
Confucianism in Chinese
literature ;
– Used by Buddhist monks to
propagate faith
– Use to make shoes, hats, belts,
wallpaper , napkins, curtains
and even military armor
– Printed paper money This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed
under CC BY-SA
Printing
• books were printed in the vernacular and language of clerics
and scholars fell into disuse (Latin, Hebrew)
• Vernacular printing gave rise to standards of spellings, and rules
of syntax
• Change in mental attitudes and habits, even for those in the low
rung of society
The availability of cheap paper
• Shifted the center of
intellectual life from the
church / monasteries to the
universities
• There was clamor for classical
Greek literature
• Books become liquid assets
sought by the landed and
the nobility as they can be This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

sold at high value

Paper and the movable type of
Gutenberg
• The bible was translated into
the vernacular, so that the
ordinary man is able to
interpret and read and
pray… in contrast to the time
that only the priests are
allowed to read the bible an
interpret it.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under

This Photo by CC
Unknown
BY-SA Author is licensed under CC
BY-SA
The vernacular bible
• Led to the disuse of the Latin
language
• Rise of vernacular language
• Standardized spelling and
rules of syntax
• Discovery that reading can
be enjoyable
• Commoner steeped in book
learning can now sit in high
councils of the government
• Aristocrats and the royalty
begin to treat the written
word with respect
• Gave rise to nationalism as
those who write and read in
the vernacular identify
themselves with the
language
Paper and printing technology
• Fueled literacy
• Gave rise to the reformation,
renaissance and the growth
of mercantilism
• The printed word spurred the
desire for literacy and vice This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed

versa under CC BY-SA

The reformation
• Questioned the authority of
the catholic church
• Led to the Protestant
reformation
• Spurred the quest for new
lands, leading to the
discovery of North America

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The renaissance
• Liberal ideas supplanted the
teachings of the Catholic
church ;
• Growth of universities
• Interest in the classics like
literature , visual arts
• Produced such great artists,
and great philosophers

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Censorship
• Traditional authorities (
church and state ) tried to
control the press , resulting to
censorship…
• Some leading to arrest,
torture and even death

This Photo by Unknown Author is

licensed under CC BY-NC
Censorship
• Publishing lay fully under the thumb of the authority .
• Printers feared originality by authors, for it could cost printers
their lives in the usual horrible ways devised by Church and State.
• Governments were quick to discover that printing is easier to
control than speech, for presses can be taxed ad seized , paper
can be rationed, newspapers can be censored and books can
be burned.
• The church was particularly wary of printing in any language but
Latin.
• A papal bill of 1502 ordered the burning of all books that
questioned the authority of the Church .
• In 1516, the Fifth Lateran Council set forth De Impressione
liborum, forbidding any printing that lacked church approval.
Printing
• Printing spread literacy and literacy spread printing .
• Together they created the modern world.
• From Latin in Europe, which is the international language then
and even the language of diplomacy, the vernacular took over .
• Less than 50 years after the Gutenberg bible, some 10 million
copies had been printed in Europe .
• By the end of the century , between 150-200 million copies have
been published.
• The diffusion of printing across the world like the diffusion of so
many other tools of communication, led to the equalizing effects
of an increased number of producers delivering information of
ever greater variety to a widening pool of users.
• Led to a decentralizing of authority and influence.
• In inventing the printing press, Gutenberg had also invented
industrial repetition.
2nd information revolution
• One implication of printing is that the ordinary man is able to
read and know what is happening around them.
• Many were able to form opinions and became vocal of what is
happening .
• Censorship was resorted to in many occasions to control the
press.
 Third information
Revolution
z
Mass Media
z
MASS MEDIA

▪ Print Media

Typewriter

Copiers
z
Mass media
▪ Radio

▪ Telegraph

▪ telephone

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 Mass media
z

▪ Movies

▪ Photography

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licensed under CC BY
z
The industrial Revolution

▪ The turn of the century ( 1800s to the 1900s) ushered the

Industrial Revolution.

▪ Centered in England, it coincided approximately with the French

Revolution which is political and the American revolution , which
saw the emergence of a new force in modern history: America ,
the colony that broke free to become a nation.
z
The industrial revolution – mass society

▪ Shift to cities – as the

economy shifted from
agricultural to industrial

▪ Working class given the

chance to break free from
poverty and given access to
opportunities to wealth and
social advancement
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z
Industrial revolution – mass media

▪ Cash economy

▪ Universal compulsory
education – public school
system in the USA

▪ Free public library

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z
However, the Industrial Revolution
brought
▪ Longer working hours

▪ Break up of families

▪ Machinery accidents

▪ Job insecurity

▪ Employers who cared for machines and not workers

▪ Sudden spurt in food prices

▪ No cushion for illness or aging

z
And also during the industrial revolution

▪ Life became temporal and transitory ( including family life)

▪ No more arranged marriage

▪ Nuclear families replace extended families

▪ An emerging middle class

▪ Interdependence – nobody is self sufficient anymore

z
Improved printing technology

▪ Rapid change in printing

technology was brought by
▪ Religion urged men and
women to read

▪ Encouraged literacy

▪ Involved people in public

affairs

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

z
Cheap raw material and improved
technology
▪ Cheap paper

▪ Improved technology
▪ Linotype

▪ Letterpress

▪ Lithography

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

z
The Industrial Revolution

▪ Put print into unaccustomed hands ( people who have not a

chance to read before)

▪ It created books and magazines , which it placed in city libraries

▪ It trained minds to read and think.

▪ It printed newspapers for everyone and filled them the kind of

news and advertising to which everyone could respond.
z
newspapers

▪ There were two sets of newspapers: the commercial paper was

about trade and business and the party press which promoted a
set of views together with the candidates who adhered to them.

▪ The cost of a newspaper is expensive, and the ordinary man

could not afford to buy them .
z

▪ A third type of newspaper appeared : the penny press.

▪ For a penny, the popular press is sold along with the apples and
small cakes for the ordinary man .

▪ The New York Sun was hawked on street corners as early as 1833
and the results are astonishing .

▪ Readership doubled and even fourfold .

▪ Income came from sales and from advertising .

▪ Human interest stories peppered the pages of the penny press ,

such as scandals, and crime.
z
Penny press

▪ Affordable newspapers

▪ Tabloid style

▪ Sensationalized news

▪ Human interest stories

▪ Led to a news reading public

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CC BY-SA
z
developments

▪ Joseph Pulitzer –established ▪ News paper companies

the first newspaper art became family owned and
department for the operated … many going into
family chains
New York World in the 1860s

▪ Generous use of pictures- led

to increase in circulation
z
Muckrakers…………….

▪ By the 1900s, photographs have been incorporated in the

newspaper and this signals the birth of photojournalism.

▪ A new type of magazine came with muckraking articles.

Popularly known today as investigative journalism, muckrakers
appear regularly in popular magazines,
z
muckrakers

▪ exposing and awakening the

nation on

▪ government corruption,

▪ the greed of industrialists

and the

▪ need for pure food laws

▪ and child labor laws This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
z
The birth of advertising

▪ Outdoor advertising can be traced to posted notices on papyrus

in ancient Egypt , for runaway slaves. Instead of something for
sale, these posted notices offered reward .

▪ The antiquity of advertising can also be traced to the town crier

of Greece who can be found shouting his wares to a non literate
public in an oral age,
z

▪ Shortly after the invention of the movable type in Europe, printed

notices began to appear .

▪ News notes carry advertising , such as an ad for a book on the

medicinal values of a mysterious herb.

▪ By the 17th century, tradesmen distributed handbills with only

printed words but with woodcut illustrations.

▪ A French Journal of Public Notices , a medium for want ads, was

published in 1612 ; now called Little Notices . It is still a carrier of
want ads and legal services . It holds the distinction of being the
world’s oldest , continuous periodical .
z

▪ Printed advertising , at this time, was often for the sale of books ,
auctions, houses for rent , spices for sale and other
merchandise.

▪ Also offered are rewards for runaway horses or runaway

apprentices.

▪ Requests for the return of lost articles were also posted.

z

▪ By the mid 19th century, advertisers found a new means of

distributing their circulars– the postal system, supported by the
postage revenue. This direct mail allowed advertisers to use
large display type and woodcut illustrations .

▪ The direct mail catalog provided another means of advertising

goods.

▪ Brand names , if they existed hardly mattered until massive

national advertising campaigns made a household words of
such products such as Gold Medal flour, Kellog’s cornflakes ,
Carnation condensed milk .
z
Advertisements

▪ Created public demand for

goods and services

▪ Growth of brand loyalty

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC

BY-SA
z
Radio

▪ Radio became the advertising medium by 1922, and led to an

explosive growth of the radio industry.

▪ Television followed with more energy, effort and cash coming for
television advertising than for television programs.
z
▪ Unites nations- exert
government leadership ;
▪ Spread national culture
▪ Use of a common language
▪ Source of information
Radio
▪ However, radio also pulls
people apart … as
announcers appear to be
talking one on one to
listeners instead to a mass
audience
z
Radio

▪ Marconi had taken wireless

communication out of the
laboratory and into the world
of commerce

▪ Radio was used in WW2 for

communication

▪ Titanic

▪ hobbyists
z
The typewriter………………………

▪ The invention of the typewriter brought the women out of their

homes into the offices, and free them from financial dependence
on the husbands.

▪ The typewriter relieved the dreary work of writing everything by

hand . It would also replace illegible handwriting . But because it
was frustrating for find young men ,young women were finally
able to break the barrier of women working in the offices.

▪ Lady typists made a revolution in the garment industry. Every

female ,even daughters of farmers wanted to wear what the lady
typists are wearing.
z
Typewriters

▪ The development of
typewriters free women from
financial dependence

▪ Feminization of the clerical

force
z
movies

▪ Together with photography

and later sound technology,
movies were born

▪ Most powerful weapon in the

world according to Spielberg

▪ An excellent medium for

▪ Storytelling
▪ Entertainment This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC
BY-NC

▪ Influence
z
REFERENCES

Fang, I. (1997). A history of mass

communication. In Routledge eBooks.