Media Timeline: Key Events

Cindy Royal, Ph.D

Associate Professor
Texas State University
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
croyal@txstate.edu
www.cindyroyal.com
www.onthatnote.com
cindytech.wordpress.com
twitter.com/cindyroyal
facebook.com/cindyroyal

Media Timeline
Media and tech tightly tied to trade (china - silk
production), production, math, calendars, astronomy,
science, art, law; highly influenced by economic,
political and social events
International influences - Asia, Europe
New technology has often reflected/disrupted shifts in
power over time - from the few to the many

1600-1900

1605: First regularly published weekly newspaper appears in

Antwerp.

1650: Leipzig publishes the first daily newspaper.

1690: After one issue Publick Occurrences, first colonial

newspaper, is suppressed.

1702: The first daily newspaper in the English language,

the Daily Courant.

1783: Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first daily newspaper

in America.

1794: Nearly flat rate U.S. postal law mails most newspapers for a penny stamp.

1797: In England, a heavy tax is levied on newspapers to limit the radical press.

1801: Joseph-Marie Jacquard loom uses punch cards, anticipates computers.

1827: First African-American newspaper, Freedoms Journal.

1828: First Native American newspaper, Cherokee Phoenix.

1833: A penny buys a newspaper, the New York Sun, opening a mass market.

1834: Babbage conceives the analytical engine, forerunner of the computer.

1870: More than 5,000 newspapers are published in the U.S.

1843: Byrons daughter, Ada Lovelace, explains concept of computer programming.

1898: Newspapers, led by Hearst and Pulitzer, help push U.S. into war with Spain.

1900-1950

1900: U.S. has 2,150 daily newspapers, 478 tri- or semi-weeklies, 14,717 weeklies.

1900: Total newspaper circulation in U.S. passes 15 million daily.

1900: 562 cities in U.S. have more than one daily newspaper; New York City has 29.

1914: 1,300 journals, 140 daily newspapers in U.S. targeted to ethnic populations.

1930: Lowell Thomas begins first regular U.S. network newscast.

1930: BBC transmits a play by television, 240 lines/sec of resolution.

1930: Vannevar Bushs partly electronic computer can solve differential equations.

1933: U.S. newspapers pressure AP to cut service to radio, start Press-Radio War.

1933: FDR begins radio Fireside Chats, bypasses hostile newspapers.

1936: BBC starts worlds first regular television service, three hours a day.

1938: CBS World News Roundup ushers in modern newscasting.

1941: Radio networks on 24/7; heavy on news.

1942: Atanasoff and Berry in Iowa build the first electronic digital computer.

1944: NBC presents first U.S. televised network newscast, a curiosity.

1944: Harvards Mark I, first digital computer to be put in service.

1946: University of Pennsylvanias ENIAC heralds the modern electronic computer.

1948: CBS and NBC begin nightly 15-minute television newscasts.

1948: WFIL-FM, owned by Philadelphia newspaper, transmits fax editions twice a day.

1949: Hollywood studios begin to produce television programs.

1949: The United States has 98 television stations.

1950-1970

1950: Nielsens Audimeter tracks television audiences.

1951: Color television sets go on sale.

1951: Univac I is the first mass-produced computer.

1952: Television sets in about 19 million U.S. homes.

1954: 54% of American homes have television sets.

1957: Many television programs switch to color.

1958: The microchip; it will enable the computer revolution.

1959: Television sets in more than 46 million U.S. homes.

1960: 90% of American homes have television sets.

1961: The time-sharing computer is developed.

1961: FCC Chairman Newton Minow calls television a vast wasteland..

1963: TV is now principal source of news in U.S., according to Roper Poll.

1963: Douglas Engelbart gets a patent for the computer mouse.

1963: TV news comes of age in reporting JFK assassination.

1963: Julia Child cooks on television as The French Chef.

1967: Newspapers, magazines start to digitize production/computers in operation

1968: 60 Minutes starts ticking, proves than news on TV can be profitable.

1965: FCC rules bring structure to cable television.

1969: UCLA computer sends data to Stanford computer, foreshadowing Internet.

1970-1990

1972: Philadelphia Inquirer builds a computer database for a news story.

1972: The Xerox Alto, first computer with mouse and graphical interface.

1974: U.S. newspapers start to replace reporters typewriters with terminals.

1975: On television, Saturday Night Live.

1975: In Los Angeles, the first computer store; it sells assembled computers.

1975: Microsoft founded

1976: Apple Computer founded

1976: Barbara Walters becomes first woman to anchor a U.S. TV nightly network newscast.

1979: News groups arrive on the Internet.

1980: A 25 lb. portable computer is favorite of reporters who send news from field. RS TRS- 80

1980: CNN, 24-hour news channel, begins reports.

1981: The laptop computer is introduced by Tandy.

1982: USA Today is a newspaper influenced by television news style.

1983: Time names the computer as "Man" of the Year for 1982.

1983: Apple's Lisa, the first microcomputer with a graphical user interface.

1984: Apple Macintosh and IBM PC AT are introduced.

1983: Computer chip holds 288,000 bits of memory.

1983: TCP/IP becomes standard for Internet communication between computers.

1983: Internet domains get names instead of hard-to-remember numbers.

1985: America Online founded as Quantum Computer Services.

The '90s

1991: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) written; helps create the World Wide Web.

1992: Number of newspapers offering online news rises to 150.

1993: Graphical user interface, Mosaic, is developed for the World Wide Web.

1994: Two million computers connected to the Internet.

1994: Almost 1/3 of all American homes have a computer.

1994: Radio HK, a 24-hour Internet-only radio station.

1995: U.S. population continues to increase, but newspaper readership declines.

1995: 30 million Internet users worldwide.

1995: Amazon.com starts selling books online, will become Webs hottest retailer.

1996: From Microsoft: Hotmail.com, a Web-based email site.

1996: 45 million Internet users, including 30 million in U.S.

1996: More than 100,000 Web sites, and growing fast.

1996: Computer makers sell flat-panel displays.

1996: A pocket telephone/computer comes on the market.

1996: Several large newspapers offer Web access to archives.

1997: Streaming audio and video are available on the Web.

The '90s, continued

1997: 2,600 U.S. newspapers have Internet sites or dial-up connections.

1997: 43% of U.S. homes have computers.

1998: Drudge Report, an online website, breaks news of Clinton-Lewinsky affair.

1998: 3,250 newspapers, 1,280 TV stations now have online websites.

1998: Google

1998: 150 million Internet users estimated at years end, half in the U.S.

1998: Estimated number of World Wide Web pages: 300 million.

1998: Estimated number of Web pages added each day: 1.5 million.

1998: Apple unveils the colorful iMac computer.

1999: Number of U.S. daily newspapers drops to 1,483; total 56 million circulation.

1999: Nielsen, Arbitron start World Wide Web rating service.

1999: 150 million Internet users can access more than 800 million web pages.

2000s

2002: Google News, an automated service without human editors.

2000: Seventy million computers connected to the Internet.

2002: Friendster sets up Internet social contact network.

2002: On the Web, creators of online journals, or "web logs," now "blog on."

2003: 239 million computer games are sold.

2003: From Apple Computer: the browser Safari.

2003: Cell phones add computer and Internet capabilities.

2004: Facebook

2006: TV networks place their most popular programs on the Web.

2006: Battle in Congress over "net neutrality" regarding website access.

2009: Major U.S. newspapers face bankruptcy as readers, income erode.

2007: iPhone surfs Web, emails, plays videos, iTunes, makes phone calls, takes pictures.

2007: Twitter

2010: iPad brings multi-touch email, books, movies, maps, apps.

2012

Gowalla RIP
Founder Jerry Yang leaves Yahoo
SOPA protests work
What's next?

Milestones in New Media

Pre-1995
Wired Magazine - 1993
NY Times on AOL - 1994
Nando -1994

2001
DotCom Bust
9/11 Tributes
Wikipedia launched

2007VA Tech Shooting

Twitter tips at SXSW
Invention of the Year - iPhone
CNN/ YouTube Debates

2002
2008
1995
Google News
CBS acquires CNET
Craigslist launched
Candidates embrace social media
Slate, Salon, USA Today, Houston
2003
EveryBlock.com
Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer
RSS
1996
2009
Google Buys Blogger
Washington Post
Hudson Plane Crash photo
MySpace launched
Wall Street Journal
Iran elections
Chicago Tribune
Politifact wins Pulitzer
2004
LA Times
MSNBC purchases Everyblock
Jon Stewart on Crossfire
MSNBC
Foursquare & Gowalla
Rathergate
Press Credentials to Bloggers
1997
2010
WikiNews,
Facebook,
Digg
Blackhawk Down
iPad released
Wikileaks
1998
2005
Facebook -500M Users;
Drudge Report
YouTube
Zuckerberg Person of the
Google
News Corporation buys
Year; The Social Network
MySpace
1999
2011
Blogger
2006
Egyptian Protests
IndyMedia
Macaca
Coupon sites
Invention
of
the
Year
-YouTube
2000
AOL/HuffPo merger
Person
of
the
Year
You
AOL/Time Warner merger
MySpace sold to Specifi
Google Buys YouTube $1.65B
Media
Death of Steve Jobs

From Pencils to Pixels

Humanists not considered in tech loop

Stages of Literacy Technology

Restricted communication function; small number of initiates

Adapted to familiar functions associated with an older technology

Decreased costs improves spread of new technology; better able

to mimic ordinary forms of communication

New literacy; technology creates original forms of communication

Ultimately effects older technologies

Pencil originally used for marking measurements

Earliest forms of writing were to record business transactions, not

transcribe speech

Writing was considered cumbersome, expensive

Written documents not considered interactive

Validity questioned

From Pencils to Pixels

Do you agree with the authors contention that
the computer is simply the latest step in a
long line of writing technologies?