Introduction to Print Media

Print Media and Communication

The ancient Greeks had great orators like Demosthenes who spoke to large publics consisting of hundreds or even thousands of people who would assemble in the amphitheatres. Obviously there  was no microphone in those days. Oratory was an art developed by the Greeks and the Romans.

Emperor Ashoka’s rock edicts and pillar inscriptions in the third century BC are examples of rulers’ attempts to communicate with a large number of their literate subjects and through them to  the illiterates by word of mouth. The Roman rulers form Julius Caesar’s time (BC 100-44) used wall postings containing imperial dicta to inform the public on a daily basis about what the public had to know or do. These ‘’ all- news bulletins” were called Acta Diurnal (Daily Acts). Some historians consider them the first newspapers, but it is doubtful if they reached many Roman subjects directly. Perhaps their contents were orally transmitted to the general public by those who were able to read them or by the town criers appointed for the purpose.

From hand written bulletins evolved handwritten newsletters and later lithographed newsletters and bulletins. Lithography (stone writing or printing from images of letters cut in stone) was a stepping stone to other forms of printing. The latter evolved several centuries later. When mechanical printing came into existence in the early year of mechanical inventions. It was part of what later historians called the Industrial Revolution. When Marco Polo returned to Europe after his long tour of the Orient in the 13^th century, he brought with him information about the art of printing form moveable types. This kind of printing was prevalent in Korea too, but it fell into disuse for some reason.

It was Johann Gutenberg who revived and popularized the art of printing from movable types in Mainz, Germany around 1450. This was indeed a revolutionary step in communication, perhaps the second revolution, the first being the invention of the art of Writing.

Quicker and cheaper printing of books had a big impact on the course of socioeconomic and political communication in subsequent centuries. First, printing of secular books started. Until then the bulk of books printed consisted of religious texts. Even in the third quarter of the 15 the century, most of the books printed in Europe were religious ones; the Bible, prayer books, catechisms etc. But when Secular books began to be printed, production and dissemination of information moved out of the compounds of religious institutions into the midst of common people.

See Also :

Print Media and Communication	Freedom of Press - The right to Publish and Privacy
Communication and Print media	Council Guides to Journalistic Ethics
Introduction to Print Media	Censorship in the Press and Media
Developments in Print Media	Media Laws
Contribution of News Papers	Press Ownership and Monopoly
Contribution of Magazines	Media Organisations and News Agencies
Press Commissions and Councils	The Mass Media
The Power of Press	Functions of Mass Media
History of Indian Journalism	Theories of the Press or Media
Press Censorship under the Emergency	Code of Ethics for Journalists
News Values in Journalism	Readership and Popularity of Magazine
Magazine genres-Types of Magazine