The Media Revolution of the 19th Century

Grant Tabler
Jerry Chomyn
AHSS 2190
29 October 2010

The Media Revolution of the 19^th Century

Information is a commodity that we never seem to have enough of. We are inundated with so much information that it becomes increasingly difficult to find information that is useful to us. This is a symptom of something Neil Postman called “the curse of this information age” (Postman 5). Though we have not always had this information overload, it was not so long ago that technology was developed to combat information scarcity. In one century however, humanity invented the technologies that could not only help solve information scarcity, but also help bring about this information overload. In the 19^th century, spurred by the rapid growth of the industrial revolution, humanity brought forth technologies that are more significant to media than the inventions of any century that preceded it; this paper will highlight some of these inventions, and show how they laid the ground work for the modern information age.

“Beginning in the 19th century humanity creatively addressed the problem of how to eliminate information scarcity, how to overcome the limitations of space, time, and form. And we did this in spectacular fashion, especially in the 19th century.” (Postman 1) The industrial revolution was a time of change. People were working to improve their society, and modernize the way they did things. Like humanity throughout history people sought information and communication. The 19th century saw the creation of technologies with this exact aim. One of such technologies was the telegraph. The telegraph was a method of communication using wires which could transmit an electrical current from one point to another, invented by Samuel Morse. This produced a sound which, when arranged in patterns, formed the basis for relatively quick long distance communications. The telegraph allowed for citizens to send short messages to people over long distances when previously only some form of postal service would be an option.

The telegraph is often compared to the internet because of its rate of expansion and adoption. “In the six years between 1846 and 1852, the network had grown 600-fold.”(Crowley, and Heyer 105)  This network of communication grew so fast that any report of network size became out dated almost immediately due to the constant expansion, similar parallels can be drawn with the internet. The telegraph, like most technologies was a medium which grew in applications as time passed. The telegraph quickly changed from being a medium of personal or business related messages, to being a method of journalism. With journalists deployed to far away areas, the telegraph was the best option for relaying news as fast as possible. “Dispatches were then relayed by horse, pigeon, or even chartered boat to Boston or New York, so that editors could scoop the competition.” (Baron 218)  Due to the battle amongst reporters to transmit first, since telegraphs could only send one message at a time, “the first collective newsgathering consortium— what was to become the Associated Press—was formed to break the logjam and enable hundreds of newspapers to receive the same stories at the same time.” (Baron 218)

The telegraph went on to shut down the pony express with its transcontinental cable system. (Crowley, and Heyer 106) And with the creation of the transatlantic cable, telegraphs were able to transmit across the ocean, allowing message transfer with Europe. The communicative capacities that the telegraph allowed certainly laid the ground work for a society based in information. Like many powerful media, it was able to overtake all other methods of communication as the quickest and one of the most widespread means of long distance communication in history. Though its difficulty in usage and access by average consumers made it less than advantageous for private social communication, another 19^th century invention, the telephone, would fill that niche.

The telephone was an invention from Alexander Graham Bell. “Bell’s telephone was originally envisioned as a harmonic version of the telegraph. His initial goal had been to send multiple signals—at different frequencies—along the same telegraphic line.” (Baron 219) Bell, though originally improving upon the telegraph, saw his invention evolve into a means transmitting voices and not just Morse code. Due to early difficulties in sustaining clear two-way conversation, Bell had early incarnations of the telephone to be used, “as a one-way device for broadcasting lectures and musical performances.” (Baron 221) Though the applications of the technology became more and more broad, and innovations over the following century helped change the telephone into what it is today. The telephone system became a network of connections, allowing for people to call others in the area, eventually expanding this to include Europe with the laying of the transatlantic telephone cable. This 19^th century invention, which was later honed by 20^th century adjustments, has become a driving force for information transfer, and is still a primary means of person to person communication today.

However, telephones were certainly not the only other method of information dissemination for the masses of 19^th century culture. Another such invention was based around furthering journalism, the rotary press invented by Richard March Hoe. “The mass press emerged in the 19th Century from the improvement of papermaking machinery and the invention of the rotary press, but also from the spread of literacy and the expansion of leisure.” (Bogart 3) The rotary press allowed for printing to occur on a much more massive scale, than any printing technology before it. This was possible because the rotary press was automatic and steam powered, rather than the earlier hand operated printing. This allowed for publishing to a mass audience, one which grew out of the increased leisure time of the 19^th century brought about by innovation of machinery in the industrial revolution. (Bogart 3)

The rotary press caused an explosion in newspaper production, allowing for expanded coverage, and new providers. This also gave rise to a new kind of newspaper called the penny press. “The independent-voice model was born in the 1830s after Benjamin Day discovered that he could achieve mass circulation, contribute to a broad sense of community, and create an effective advertising medium by selling the New York Sun for 1 cent when all the others cost 6 cents.” (Meyer 31) This cheaper newspaper quickly became available to a large audience that otherwise would not have got this news. However, due to the low cost of the paper, the penny press papers were funded by advertising, unlike the subscription model of traditional newspapers of the time. (Nerone 505) The penny press allowed for a broad audience of the poorer class, which may otherwise be without this news, to become educated. This increased media literacy was only possible through the 19^th century invention of the rotary press. The rotary press has since become more sophisticated, evolving to be used in industries to this day, “Many of these large presses not only print as many as four colours but cut and fold and even bind in a cover—in one continuous automatic process. … large presses can print up to 60,000 copies of 128 standard-size pages in an hour.” (“Rotary Press”)

Inventions like the telegraph, the telephone, and the rotary press, helped to evolve the media industry and allow for much easier dissemination of knowledge to much larger groups. Each of these media is an evolution of some other form of technology. The rotary printing press is an automated version of a hand operated printing press, the telephone is based on the telegraph and Morse’s electric telegraph was based on a less sophisticated French invention. What makes these all these inventions innovative is the same thing that makes any invention innovative. Innovative technologies have the ability to take the designs and structures of others, with their pit falls and triumphs, and find a better way of doing things. The inventions of the industrial revolution were able to accomplish so much so quickly because the society was in an advantageous state of change. These inventors were able to stand on the shoulders of giants and in doing so become giants of media themselves. They were in a society conducive to innovation, they harnessed their intelligence, evolved the technologies of previous centuries, and helped to forever change the media landscape into that of the modern information age.

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                                                                                    Works Cited

Bogart, Leo. "Newspaper of the future: Our look at the next century.." Newspaper Research Journal 14.2 (1993): 2-10. Web. 28 Oct 2010.

Baron, Naomi. "Chapter 8: Language at a Distance.." Alphabet to Email (2001): 216-46. Web. 29 Oct 2010.

Crowley, David, and Paul Heyer. Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2007. 105-07. Print.

Meyer, Philip. "Moral Confusion." Quill 82.9 (1994): 31. Web. 27 Oct 2010.

Nerone, John. "Penny Press." Mass Media in the United States (1998): 503-505. Web. 25 Oct 2010.

Postman, Neil. "The Information Age: A Blessing or a Curse?." Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 9.2 (2004): 3-10. Web. 25 Oct 2010.

"Rotary Press." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 28 Oct. 2010