media

Texts

2022

We explain what they are and what the means of communication are. Also, how the media came about and how they are classified.

The mass media inform and communicate to the population.

What are the media?

A communication medium is a technical system used to carry out any type of communication. This term normally refers to those media that are of a massive nature, that is, those that provide information or content to the masses, such as television or radio.

However, there are means of communication that are not massive but interpersonal. Interpersonal media are those that facilitate communication betweenpersons, for example: the telephone.

Individuals andcommunities access the different mass media to have informative material that describes, explains and analyzesdata and events of various types (political, economic, social or cultural) at the local or global level. In turn, individuals access interpersonal means to communicate between individuals or groups.

It can serve you:Masive means of comunication

How did the media come about?

The media are born from the need of the human being to interact.

For many centuries, the speech oral was the source of transmission of myths Y fables that were used as a way of affirming certain social values and ideas that were transmitted from generation to generation. In many societies, the figure of the "town crier" was important, who was dedicated to orally announcing the main news of a town or town.

Oral communication and written transmission through manuscripts, symbols or paintings they were predominant in society until the appearance of the printing press in the 15th century. Invented by the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg, theprinting It is considered the massive start of the media. This invention is the historical fact that gave rise to the circulation of the first pamphlets and newspapers.

In the 19th century, a series of inventions (the cable telegraph, the wireless telegraph, and the telephone) marked the development of interpersonal communication systems.

Over the years, different types of communication media developed, both massive and interpersonal:

Rise of television

The graphic media were for many centuries the main means of mass communication, until the appearance of television at the beginning of the 20th century. This device has evolved to achieve the characteristics it has today.

The first public television broadcast was made by the BBC in the UK in 1927 through mechanical systems. In 1937 electronic transmissions began in France and the United Kingdom. These emissions were possible thanks to the development of cathode ray tubes and the iconoscope (electronic pick-up). In 1952 the first transmission of TV in color.

Rise of radio

The German physicist, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, laid the foundation for radio signals by discovering that electromagnetic waves travel at a speed similar to that of the light. Starting in 1894, Guglielmo Marconi built the first complete wireless telegraphy system based on Hertzian waves, which was first applied in military communications.

In 1901 Marconi achieved the first transatlantic radio communication and in 1906 Reginald Aubrey Fessenden transmitted the first audio broadcast in world history from Massachusetts, United States.

Rise of the Internet and the digital age

Originally, Internet arose from the need to interconnect computers. ARPANET was the first network of computers and was created by the United States Department of Defense. Its purpose was to be able to establish communication between the different institutions that made it up.

This idea was replicated throughout the world until the creation of the great global network that we know today as the Internet. The development of the Internet was given by the contributions of various scientists and engineers who were developing different technologies and systems.

In the 90s the appearance of the web (WWW) invented by scientist Tim Berners-Lee was a milestone in access to information available on the web. This invention was the one that allowed the popularization of the internet, since it guaranteed and facilitated access to it by the general public.

The web created a global access to information and communication. Its peak began in 1993 with the appearance of the first search engine within the web.

Importance of the media

The mass media have had a preponderant role within the human development and of societies. His main objective it has been to offer itself as a channel through which people communicate or obtain information.

On the one hand, interpersonal communication media have allowed people to communicate with each other overcoming distances. Over the years and thanks to technological developments, the media managed to put people from different parts of the world in contact, not only through voice but also with image. Modern communication media allow communication across the planet in record time.

For its part, the mass media have a wide variety of functions: to inform, entertain, form opinions, educate. They are channels through which certain information is transmitted that the public seeks to know.

In recent times, immediacy has emerged as the main quality of the media. This allows consumers know immediately the news and relevant events from many parts of the world. Technology allowed the media to gain massiveness and instantaneity.

The mass media form a general opinion at any given time about theknowledge and the judgments on thereality what surrounds. In addition, the mass media serve as a source of advertising or promotion for organizations, foundations, ventures Y Business; generate educational and general interest content and allow the purchase and sale of goods and services.

How is the media classified?

The radio is based exclusively on information transmitted in sound format.

The media can be classified according to their scope in:

  • Interpersonal communication media. They are those means or channels through which an exchange of information takes place within the private sphere. For example: the telephone, the fax.
  • Social media or mass media. They are those media that reach a large number of the population and transmit public information. In turn, they are classified according to the medium or medium used to transmit the information.

The mass media are classified as:

  • Audiovisual media. They are those media whose messages can be simultaneously seen and heard. They are based on technological devices that emit images andsounds in order to transmit information, such as: television and themovie theater. Television had its appearance in the 1930s and is the medium with the highest audience share worldwide. Viewers around the world receive the signal from this information tool in real time, live or delayed. Almost any world event can be broadcast with image and sound to all parts of the world.
  • Radio media. It is a medium that is based exclusively on information transmitted undersound format. Requires aprocess much simpler than television production. The main limitation has to do with the range of the wave, since geographical distance makes transmission impossible or affects sound quality. In recent decades, there has been a development of online radio and audio content such as podcasts whose production process is radiophonic and then distributed digitally.
  • Printed media. It is made up of all those publications that contain information to be transmitted such as magazines, newspapers, magazines,brochures and pamphlets. At present, due to the high cost of production and the interference of the Internet, these media are in decline. Today the public obtains more immediate means to inform themselves and many publications adapt to the new digital age by offering their content on the web.
  • Digital media. Emerging in the 1980s, these “new technologies” have managed to expand massively. Through the Internet, information reaches a large percentage of the world's population in a simple and immediate way. Digital media use personal computers, cell phones, tablets and other types of mobile devices as support, through which information is transmitted with a speed that is superior to any other mass media. Information reaches thousands of people in seconds. Digital media fulfill the function of informing and entertaining. Some traditional media have been adapting to the digital reality of this century, so it is possible to find television and radio content online.

Old media

Since man has inhabited the world, he has found different ways of communicating and for this he used different means and channels for the exchange of information.

Cave paintings and all forms of artistic and oral communication are usually understood as the first means or systems of communication between members of a community. Civilizations used the stone as a support to transmit written messages. Drawings, signs and symbols were captured on it.

Later, the development of writing and the appearance of papyrus gave way to manuscripts. Papyrus was the medium used to transmit written messages. One of the most widespread written means was letters, these functioned as the basis of communication for many ancient civilizations.

In addition, the societies used some methods and means or channels to transmit messages:

  • The ringing of the bells. It functioned as a way of giving notice and transmitting a message.
  • Bugle or horn. This instrument was used to call attention, to warn of some danger or to call someone.
  • Messengers. This was the name given to those people who received a message and had to personally communicate it to another or other people.
  • Messenger pigeon. These types of pigeons travel long distances and carry a message with them. They fly to deliver it to the receiver.

Technological development brought with it other means of communication, many of them are already out of date and were replaced by more efficient or more far-reaching ones. Some such as the telegraph, black and white television and the fax were replaced by more modern and efficient systems.

!-- GDPR -->