media

Types of drama in numerous cultures were probably the first mass-media, going back into the Ancient World. The first dated printed book known is the "Diamond Sutra", printed in China in 868 AD, although it is clear that books were printed earlier. Movable clay type was invented in 1041 in China. However, due to the slow spread to the masses of literacy in China, and the relatively high cost of paper there, the earliest printed mass-medium was probably European popular prints from about 1400. Although these were produced in huge numbers, very few early examples survive, and even most known to be printed before about 1600 have not survived. Johannes Gutenberg printed the first book on a printing press with movable type in 1453. This invention transformed the way the world received printed materials, although books remained too expensive really to be called a mass-medium for at least a century after that.
Newspapers developed around from 1605, with the first example in English in 1620 [3] ; but they took until the nineteenth century to reach a mass-audience directly.
During the 20th century, the growth of mass media was driven by technology that allowed the massive duplication of material. Physical duplication technologies such as printing, record pressing and film duplication allowed the duplication of books, newspapers and movies at low prices to huge audiences. Radio and television allowed the electronic duplication of information for the first time.
Mass media had the economics of linear replication: a single work could make money proportional to the number of copies sold, and as volumes went up, units costs went down, increasing profit margins further. Vast fortunes were to be made in mass media. In a democratic society, independent media serve to educate the public/electorate about issues regarding government and corporate entities (see Media influence). Some consider the concentration of media ownership to be a grave threat to democracy.

[edit] Timeline
c1400: Appearance of European popular prints.
1453: Johnannes Gutenberg uses his printing press to print the bible, making books freely acceptable to many people during the Renaissance.
1620: First newspaper (or coranto) in English.
1825: Nicéphore Niépce takes the first permanent photograph.
1830: Telegraphy is independently developed in England and the United States.
1876: First telephone call made by Alexander Graham Bell.
1878: Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph.
1890: First juke box in San Francisco's Palais Royal Saloon.
1890: Telephone wires are installed in Manhattan.
1895: Cinematograph invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere.
1896: Hollerith founds the Tabulating Machine Co. It will become IBM in 1924.
1897: Guglielmo Marconi patents the wireless telegraph.
1898: Loudspeaker is invented.
1902: Daily Nation is started in Kenya.
1906: The Story of the Kelly Gang from Australia is world's first feature length film.
1909: RMS Republic, a palatial White Star passenger liner, uses the Marconi Wireless for a distress at sea. She had been in a collision. This is the first "breaking news" mass media event.
1912: Air mail begins.
1913: Edison transfers from cylinder recordings to more easily reproducible discs.
1913: The portable phonograph is manufactured.
1915: Radiotelephone carries voice from Virginia to the Eiffel Tower.
1916: Tunable radios invented.
1919: Short-wave radio is invented.
1920: KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh, United States, becoming the world's first commercial radio station.
1922: BBC is formed and broadcasting to London.
1924: KDKA created a short-wave radio transmitter.
1925: BBC broadcasting to the majority of the UK.
1926: NBC is formed.
1927: The Jazz Singer: The first motion picture with sounds debuts.
1927: Philo Taylor Farnsworth debuts the first electronic television system.
1928: The Teletype was introduced.
1933: Edwin Armstrong invents FM Radio.
1935: First telephone call made around the world.
1936: BBC opened world's first regular (then defined as at least 200 lines) high definition television service.
1938: The War of the Worlds is broadcast on October 30, causing mass hysteria.
1939: Western Union introduces coast-to-coast fax service.
1939: Regular electronic television broadcasts begin in the US.
1939: The wire recorder is invented in the US.
1940: The first commercial television station, WNBT (now WNBC-TV)/New York signs on the air.
1948: Cable television becomes available in the US.
1951: The first color televisions go on sale.
1957: Sputnik is launched and sends back signals from near earth orbit.
1959: Xerox makes the first copier.
1960: Echo I, a US balloon in orbit, reflects radio signals to Earth.
1962: Telstar satellite transmits an image across the Atlantic.
1963: Audio cassette is invented in the Netherlands.
1963: Martin Luther King gives "I have a dream" speech.
1965: Vietnam War becomes first war to be televised.
1967: Newspapers, magazines start to digitize production.
1969: Man's first landing on the moon is broadcast to 600 million people around the globe.
1970s: ARPANET, progenitor to the internet developed.
1971: Intel debuts the microprocessor.
1972: Pong becomes the first video game to win widespread popularity.
1975: The MITS Altair 8800 becomes the first pre-assembled desktop computer available on the market.
1976: JVC introduces VHS videotape - becomes the standard consumer format in the 1980s & 1990s.
1980: CNN launches.
1980: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones put news database online.
1981: The IBM PC is introduced on 12 August.
1982: Philips and Sony put the Compact Disc on the Japanese market. It arrives on the US market early the following year.
1983: Cellular phones begin to appear.
1984: Apple Macintosh is introduced.
1985: CD-ROMs begin to be sold.
1985: Pay-per-view channels open for business.
1991: World Wide Web (WWW) publicly released by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN.
1993: CERN announces that the WWW will be free for anyone to use.
1996: First DVD players and discs are available in Japan. Twister is the first film on DVD.
1999: Napster contributes to the popularization of MP3.
2005: Media forms began to converge. The Palm Pilot and the BlackBerry became popular. E-mail accounts were now accessible via telephones.