Abstract
Most textbooks used in introduction to mass media courses devote separate chapters to sound recording, radio, television, the Internet. etc. The telephone and the telegraph are barely mentioned along the way. While these texts do a good job of explaining the development of each medium, they fail to show how the developments of these technologies are intertwined. Often, technologies were developed for one purpose but employed for a purpose that was quite different. These changes frequently led to unintended consequences that stretched the technologies beyond their limits and created the need for still greater technological solutions. However, when technological innovation was not able to keep up with commercial avarice, entrepreneurs turned to social and political solutions in the short term. The unintended consequences of regulation have had profound and long lasting effects across the media and these consequences continue to affect media today.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
37
Issue
2
First Page
161
Last Page
177
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Johns, Mark D.
(2005)
"The Amazing First Century of Electronic Media,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 37:
No.
2, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol37/iss2/7
Copyright
©2005 Iowa Communication Association
