The TV Era
The 20th century marked the beginning of a new era - 'the modern age.'; Some of the greatest minds the human race has ever witnessed lived and worked during the last several decades. These 'fathers of technology';, who arrived well ahead of their time, created the world as people know it. Car, airplane, rocket, are only few of the inventions that prepared mankind for the 180 turn. Some of the inventions found their usage in every day's life, such as: radio, toaster, washing machine…and finally, TV. The TV industry started its development with the invention of the first TV set, somewhere in the early 1950's, and has never stopped growing since.
Discussion whether or not television is a positive part of modern life, might seem arguable from several different viewpoints. Positively or not, the television has affected the life of almost every human being on the Earth…
First of all, people who lived before 'the television era'; could not hear the latest news at any time. The only source of news was the papers. However, without any significant technology involved, the newspapers could only report on the local events. On the top of that, usually such news offered information not accurate enough and too old to interest greater percentage of the population. All the people lived at the slower pace, by not knowing what was going on around them. For instance, a trading person who worked in the United States could hardly find out how British economy did. In the early presidential elections, the newspapers didn't inform enough those who worked on the farms. Therefore, they did not have credibility to vote. Nowadays, the TV campaigns allow us to know about every candidate's move and his beliefs and opinions towards foreign and domestic politics. More important than anything, with the television, ordinary people have a chance to keep track of world affairs. Today, an average person can come home from work, take off his shoes, lean back in the chair and turn on the TV. Then, he has the access to information about Bosnia and the children starving in Central Africa, both taking place thousands of miles away. On the other hand, the same guy maybe just wishes to watch The World Cup soccer match, or his favorite soap opera. The possibilities go to infinity. And how do we get the picture on the TV sets as the final product?
How many people today watch family sitcoms to imitate or compare values with their own? Probably not as many as there were in the 1950s. In Stephanie Coontz's "What We Really Miss about the 1950s", she discusses why people feel more nostalgic towards growing up in the 1950s, and how she disagrees that 1950s wasn't the decade that we really should like or remember best. Apart from economic stability, family values played an important part then. Through television sitcoms, such as "Leave it to Beaver", "Father knows Best", families watched them to make sure they were living correctly. It was like guidance and somewhat reassurance. However, values of families have changed, and this is shown on sitcoms today. We watch sitcoms today for entertainment, and sometimes we can relate to them because the setting is realistic. In the modern sitcom, "Gilmore Girls" characters and plot are used to demonstrate family values such as gender roles, children roles, economic status, morals, ethics and general organization of a family that differ from the values shown in the 1950s sitcoms.
Technology in the 1950s started with many great innovations that shape the way we live now. Probably the most important innovation of television was the introduction of cable T.V., television broadcasting, sitcoms and talk shows. Television went though many changes in its younger years. The way T.V. Developed in the early years is the foundation for what we watched now days. Transitory radios became very popular in the fact that Music could be heard in any location because it was now portable. Still T.V. Innovations were what the 1950s were all about from a technology and the birth of the T.V. show.
Life in the 1950’s was a time of prosperity for the United States of America. This was the time of baby boomers, many civil rights movements, the terrifying cold war, as well as a much improved economy due to the outcomes of World War II. An incredible innovation was introduced in 1951, the color television;
With improvements to broadcasting technologies and greater access by more families, television was now in more homes in the 1960’s, bringing news, advertising, and family comedy shows to the nation. Moreover, the influence on social aspects of people’s live was apparent when it came to depicting women and their gender roles through acting. Consequently, television played another role regarding social dynamics thus, showing the realities of civil rights and the horrors of war. Additionally, television brought the political candidates to the forefront and had a strong influence on the American people’s political ideologies, as the first ever presidential debate aired on television. Finally, television aided the economy by waging advertising campaigns that convinced consumers to purchase their products. Coupled with consumer’s extra income contributing to a strong economy, despite the slightly high unemployment rates. As can be seen, television played a key role in the social, political, and economic culture in the 1950’s and
The ‘Golden Age of Television’ is what many refer to as the period between the 1950s and 60s when the television began to establish itself as a prevalent medium in the United States. In 1947, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and the Du Mont Network were the four main television networks that ran stations with regular programming taking place. (Television, 2003) While regular television programming was a new innovation, the television itself had been commercially available for over twenty years prior to the 50s. It was conceived by many worldly innovators and went through several testing stages before it was finally completed in the late twenties. The three main innovators were Niplow - who first developed a rotating disk with small holes arranged in a spiral pattern in 1884, Zworykin - who developed the Iconoscope which could scan pictures and break them into electronic signals (a primitive form of the Cathode Ray Tube) in 1923, and lastly Fansworth - who demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to transmit an electrical image in 1927. (Rollo, 2011) However, one of the many reasons why this medium was successful in the 50s was due to the fact that it became more accessible to the public. Television sets were more affordable to middle class citizens which created further interest in the new technology. Through an historical account of the medium, the spread of television across America throughout this particular decade will be examined.
The aim of this paper is to look at the relationship between the mass media, specifically television, and presidential elections. This paper will focus on the function of television in presidential elections through three main areas: exit polls, presidential debates, and spots. The focus is on television for three reasons. First, television reaches more voters than any other medium. Second, television attracts the greatest part of presidential campaign budgets. Third, television provides the candidates a good opportunity to contact the people directly. A second main theme of this paper is the role of television in presidential elections in terms of representative democracy in the United States.
Television has affected every aspect of life in society, radically changing the way individuals live and interact with the world. However, change is not always for the better, especially the influence of television on political campaigns towards presidency. Since the 1960s, presidential elections in the United States were greatly impacted by television, yet the impact has not been positive. Television allowed the public to have more access to information and gained reassurance to which candidate they chose to vote for. However, the media failed to recognize the importance of elections. Candidates became image based rather than issue based using a “celebrity system” to concern the public with subjects regarding debates (Hart and Trice). Due to “hyperfamiliarity” television turned numerous people away from being interested in debates between candidates (Hart and Trice). Although television had the ability to reach a greater number of people than it did before the Nixon/Kennedy debate, it shortened the attention span of the public, which made the overall process of elections unfair, due to the emphasis on image rather than issue.
The radio industry thrived during this time period, resulting in a growth from a few hundred thousand radio sets in 1921 to nearly 10 million in 1928 (King). Families relied on radios to provide entertainment through music and stories as well as information that was important in terms of politics and war. This reliance on the radio did not only affect the radio industry in the 1920s, but also changed the radio industry for future generations. Without the Radio Renaissance, radios very well could have been a lost technology and a lost industry. While the radio industry boomed, the television was just in its infancy during the 1920s. The television was invented in 1927, but it did not see a rise in popularity until years later (Cooley). At that time, the idea that television would take over the entertainment industry did not cross the minds of many people, but it would later overshadow the influence of radio and become one of America’s main transportations of media and information. These new ways to spread information created a new, smaller world because people around the country and the earth could now participate in the same television and radio shows, giving them a sense of interconnectedness. As new technology flooded into American homes, it continued to evolve and progress, making the lives of housewives much easier and their housework less time
One effect TV has had on how we view things is in the area of advertisement. A few weeks ago in English, my class had quite a discussion on the subject of commercials. A person can tell what type of society they live in by simply watching the commercials during any TV program. One example, in America, is the numerous ads for various types of medication. From this, it is easy to see that our society cares a lot about health care and making sure that they feel healthy.
From scientific breakthroughs that revolutionized our understanding of the world to practical inventions that changed the way we live, scientific and technological developments in the 20th century have profoundly altered nearly every aspect of our lives. We usually think of these changes as wholly positive, but when you look at the destruction caused after the first two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945, this view tends to be distorted. As we can see from this horrific event, technology can be used to improve lives, but also destroy them. If you ask someone what the greatest technological breakthrough of the twentieth century was, you are sure to get mixed responses. Some will say the television, others will say modern medicine, and young people will almost certainly say the internet.
The main aim of this report is to analyze the impacts of changes in the media concerning the societal and individual view of politics and politicians. The report also describes significant milestones in mass media since the year 1960 and examines the impact of mass media on how people think politically. The report then considers the effect of technological advancements in mass media and the effect on the results of elections. The use of mass media has increased over the last fifty years in that it is a primary medium through which supporters of various campaigners share their ideas and views concerning politicians and different political parties. Through social media, behaviors and performance of several activists have brought
The current role of mass media in politics has definitely played a significant role in how view and react to certain events and issues of the nation. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are some of the ways information is passed onto many of the citizens. The World Wide Web is also an information superhighway, but not all of the sources on the Internet are credible. Therefore, I will only focus on the main three types of media: written, viewed, and audible, and how they affect whether or not democracy is being upheld in the land of the free. The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues. The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped,
Prior, Markus. "News vs. Entertainment: How Increasing Media Choice Widens Gaps in Political Knowledge and Turnout." American Journal of Political Science. 49.3 (2005): 577-592. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
This century has been one of many changes and incredible inventions. If a person was to think about it, this century has taken us from horseback to fuel-injected horsepower, from gaslights to sodium-vapor streetlights, from crystal radios to digital television, from compasses to GPS navigation systems, from wood burning stoves to microwave ovens, from Victrolas to DVD players and of course from hot air balloons to jet propulsion aircraft.