Media Making Chapter 2

Society has gone from a culture that relied on oral communication to that of one that is dependent on electronics for media and communication. Throughout this history it is arguable that the printing press was man’s greatest mass media achievement although the text focuses more on the inception of the telegraph. The telegraph truly was the onset of electronic media and changed forever the perception of time and space for anyone who was exposed to it.
As radio waves began to pierce the air rather than strings of wires, governments began to discover just how beneficial disseminating there message to a mass population could be. On the other hand, this new media was increasingly difficult to regulate. It makes one think of current issues of censorship, information hacking, identify theft and FCC regulations.
Different cultures tend to come up with their own media. High culture reads old books like Shakespeare and listens to old music like Beethoven. They treasure art as a form of media, not just wall hangings. Folk culture keeps it local such as folk music, blue-grass roots and values communication on a community level. Popular culture is really anything that appeals to the masses and is not limited or regulated by the strict confines of traditional and formal education.