Mass Media and Communications — Sociology STD 12 Humanities — Question
CBSE BoardEnglish MediumSTD 12 HumanitiesSociologyMass Media and Communications6 Marks
Question
Discuss the beginnings of modern mass media.
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Answer
The first modern mass media institution began with the development of the printing press. This technique was first developed by Johann Gutenberg in 1440.
With the industrial revolution, the print industry also grew.
The first products of the press were restricted to an audience of literate elites.
It was only in the mid 19th century, with further development in technologies, transportation and literacy that newspapers began to reach out to a mass audience.
Need for the printing press was realized in the western controls.
People living in different corners of the country found themselves reading or hearing the same news.
This was in many ways responsible for people across a country to feel connected and develop a sense of belonging or 'we' feeling'.
According to Benedict Anderson, a well known scholar,“This helped the growth of nationalism, the feeling that people who did not even know of each other's existence feel like members of a family. It gave people who would never meet each other a sense of togetherness. We could think of the nation as an 'imagined community".
Importance of press was realized in India in the 19th and 20th century.
The 19th century social reformers often wrote and debated in newspapers and journals.
The growth of Indian nationalism was closely linked to its struggle against colonialism.
It emerged in the wake of the institutional changes brought about by British rule in India.
Anti colonial public opinion was nurtured and channelized by the nationalist press, which was its opposition to the oppressive measures of the colonial state.
Association with the national movement led some of the nationalist newspapers like Kesari (Marathi), Mathrubhumi (Malayalam, Amrita Bazar Patrika (English) to suffer the displeasure of the colonial state. It did not prevent them from advocating the nationalist cause and demand an end to colonial rule.
Some important newspapers:
Raja Rammohan Roy's Sambad-Kaumudi in Bengali published in 1821, and Mirat Ul-Akbar in Persian published in 1822.
Fardoonji Murzban started the Bombay Samachar as a daily in 1822.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasager started the Shome Prakash in Bengali in 1858.
The Times of India was founded in Bombay in 1861. The pioneer in Allahabad in 1865.
The Madras Mail in 1868.
The Statesman in Calcutta in 1875.
The Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore in 1876.
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