The growth of information technology and the increase

in demand for information

The mass media we are familiar with today, such as radio, cinema, television,
magazines and the Internet are very recent developments which are the result of
the technological revolution of the twentieth century. Historically, transmitting
information was quite difficult. The invention and development of the printing
press in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is credited with revolutionising
book production and the spread of knowledge, but books were still too expensive
for many people. Newspapers and political pamphlets began to appear in the
middle of the seventeenth century, with a golden age of newspapers between
1890 and 1920. However, it is worth remembering that, before the introduction
of universal free education in the nineteenth century, literacy rates were quite
low.
Even though books, newspapers and other printed material were more freely
available, many people would not have been able to read them. More recently,
the huge demand for information and entertainment has been met by newer
forms of media, and new ways to deliver it, such as digital radio, 3-D cinema,
cable and digital television and the Internet. Book publishing now includes
electronic versions that can be downloaded onto small electronic devices that
can hold many books at a time.

The media and technology change and evolve at an extraordinary rate.

The development of television Television did not become a dominant force in the
media industry until the 1950s and 1960s. The development of television
actually dates back to the nineteenth century and originally there were two
separate forms of development:
mechanical television projected a picture using rotating disks or rods
electronic television was based on cathode ray tube technology, which was
proven to work better than its mechanical counterparts.
Eventually electronic television became the starting point for the television we
know today. The development of television is based around the work of many
scientists, including Karl Braun who invented the cathode ray tube, Vladimir

Zworykin who improved on the cathode ray tube and Louis Parker who invented
television receiving equipment. However, John Logie Baird, a Scottish engineer, is
generally credited as producing the worlds first television system in 1923.
Terrestrial television
The 1920s saw ongoing developments to improve the first television system by
scientists, such as those listed above. It became clear very quickly that television
had huge mass appeal and could become commercially viable. However, there
were difficulties in developing television cameras which could capture images of
a high enough quality to be transmitted. Both this and the onset of the Second
World War in 1939 delayed the development of a television network which could
broadcast to the public. Only after the Second World War did the television
system we are familiar with today develop. It is called terrestrial television
because it uses ground-based transmitters to pass the signal to your home,
where it is picked up by your television aerial and appears on your TV as the
programme you are watching.
Satellite television
Terrestrial television is not without problems. In order to gain a clear picture you
have to be located fairly near to a transmitter and even then there is sometimes
distortion and interference to the picture. The solution to this problem was the
development of satellite television. Satellites are located high in the Earths orbit,
meaning a lot more customers are in its line of sight. Unlike terrestrial TV,
satellite TV is entirely digital so you receive a far better picture and sound
quality. In the UK it also had the advantage of offering a much wider range of TV
stations and programmes than the terrestrial service can offer.
Cable television
Cable television is another way to overcome the restrictions of terrestrial
television. It works by running fibre optic cables from the transmitter directly to
peoples homes. Cable television has been incredibly popular in the USA: by the
mid 1990s over half of US homes had it. However, cable has taken time to make
its mark in the UK, and there are still many areas in the UK which do not have
access to cable TV at all.
The influence of the Internet
Although television remains the most popular form of mass media, newspapers
and radio are still read and listened to by millions of people each day. However,
the supremacy of television is now being challenged by online media including
websites, newsfeeds and social networking. Over the last ten years, access to
news and information via the Internet has become increasingly commonplace.
This has been facilitated by the increased availability and decreased price of
home computers, computers in the workplace and the increased use of mobile
phones. News on the Internet is up-to-date and interactive, giving it distinct
advantages over other forms of media.