Advertising and the Development of Twentieth-Century Communications Media

This chapter traces the emergence of mass communication, from print (newspapers and magazines) to broadcasting (radio and television), and attempts to foster a proper appreciation of these media as institutional actors. Advertising, quite literally, requires a medium through which to reach consumers. As such, commercial media are important to examine as a precondition for—and critical component of—the system of advertising. Considerable attention is paid to the history and commercialization of newspapers, as well as the corporate and policy contexts that shaped the introduction of broadcasting into an advertiser-funded model.