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Mass media are those media reaching large numbers of the public via radio, television, movies, magazines, newspapers and the World Wide Web. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines.

During the 20th century, the advent of mass media was driven by technology that allowed the massive duplication of material at a low cost. 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. Television and radio allowed the electronic duplication of content 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.

Noteable persons and corporations

William Randolph Hearst, Rupert Murdoch, Silvio Berlusconi etc.

Hearst Corporation, News Corporation, AOL Time Warner, Hachette Filipacchi Media, etc.

Social implications and cultural imperialism

See: Media Imperialism

The Internet and mass media

During the last decade of the 20th century, the advent of the World Wide Web marked the first era in which an any individual could have a means of exposure on the scale of mass media. For the first time, anyone with a web site can address a global audience, although serving high levels of web traffic is still expensive. It is possible that the rise of peer-to-peer technologies may have begun the process of making the cost of bandwidth manageable.

See also: Information, Metcalfe's law, Media literacy

External link

• Content is Not King, by Andrew Odlyzko