Page 20 - All About History - Issue 18-14

Mass Media

Media across history

Read all
about it!
A NEW CHAPTER
CHINA 200 BCE ENGLAND 1665
Although papyrus had been Although not the first
used in Egypt as far back newspaper (that honour goes
as the fourth millennium toaGermantitlefrom1605)
BCE, the earliest form of the Oxford Gazette was a
paper as we know it was hugely influential newspaper
developed in China during printedinEngland.ItsDutch-
the Han Dynasty. Writing inspired two-column, titled
was previously displayed on and dated format came to
tablets made from bamboo definethelookofnewspapers.
or silk, which were heavy The Times, published in
and costly, but the creation 1785, continued to set the
of paper from wood and rags standard for newspapers
provided an inexpensive worldwide, popularising the
alternative that rose to Times Roman typeface and
worldwide popularity and featured articles written by
was quickly used for a host of Paper was commonly used for the major figures in literature,
protection of delicate items before
uses, most notably for pages arts, science and politics, The Times’ headquarters as they
it became a base for writing
in books. influencing public opinion. looked in 1870
Mass media timeline O The printing The first Across the
airwaves
advertisement
revolution
Johannes The first English Guglielmo Marconi
Easy as ABC The early newspaper Gutenberg creates advertisement is printed becomes the first
The Semitic people The Acta Diurna are first a movable type by William Caxton. It person to achieve
who live near Egypt carved on stone and printing press, offers the sale of ‘pyes’, a successful radio
develop the first metal, then displayed which will go on to or clerical rules. Caxton transmission. He goes
known alphabet. All on public notice boards revolutionise the isthoughttobethefirst on to receive the
subsequent alphabets in Ancient Rome. These world of printing person to introduce the Nobel Prize in 1909
descend in one form official notices were by industrialising printing press to England. The first phone call from New for his contribution to
or other from this akindofdailynews the process. 1468 York City to Chicago radio sciences.
first script. service. 1450 1895
1850 BCE 131 BCE A depiction of a scribe
writing a manuscript
0 1000 1400 1900
1850 BCE
O The royal library O Manuscript culture O The birth of O Your call is important O Edison’s phonograph
Although libraries Monk scribes write printing to us Thomas Edison invents
have existed before, handwritten copies Movable-type Alexander Graham Bell his phonograph, one of
the Great Library of of bibles and books. printing using invents the first practical the first devices capable
Alexandria is one of Manuscripts become porcelain is telephone. The first words of reproducing recorded
the largest and most themainwayof invented in China are from him to Thomas sound. It is important in
significant of the storing and spreading by the commoner Watson, when Bell says: thedevelopmentofthe
ancient world. Famous thinkers such as Archimedes, information. Bi Sheng during the “Mr Watson, come here, I radioasamediadevice.
300 BCE Herophilus and Hipparchus studied 10th century Song Dynasty. want to see you.” 1877 Thomas Edison by his
in the Great Library 1041 1876 phonograph
Connecting Pressgoesyellow
the nation UNITED STATES 1890S
GREAT BRITAIN 1838 When Joseph Pulitzer’s New York
The first commercial telegraph line World and William Randolph
in the world was set up by William Hearst’s New York Journal battled for
Fothergill Cooke and Charles readership in the late-19th century
Wheatstone on the Great Western they created a type of journalism
Railway from Paddington Station that would define newspapers
to West Drayton. A large number of for generations. Dubbed ‘yellow
telegraph lines were built across the journalism’, many unaccredited and
railways, followed by post offices often false news pieces were topped
around the country. As messages were with attention-grabbing headlines
relayed instantly over great distances at rock-bottom prices, a technique
Some early telegraph systems for the first time, the era of mass This Puck cartoon shows little printer’s that drives some newspaper and
remained in operation in the 1930s personal communication began. devils emerging from a printing press magazine sales to this day.

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