Media

Theory of Media Evolution

According to McLuhan, it’s not technological abnormality that demands our attention, since it’s hard not to notice the new and different. Instead, we need to focus on our everyday experience of technology.

There are different theories of media evolution.
1. The Tribal Age - Acoustic Era

• The primary medium was oral communication
• Dependent on auditory senses

2. The Age of Literacy - Visual Era

• Words are created with dualism between sight and sound
• Both writer and reader could be detached from the text
• Eyes were the key organ

3. The Print Age - Visual Era

• Prototype of Industrial revolution
• Print age was dated to the invention of the movable type mechanical printing press by Johannes Gutenberg

4. The Electronic Age - Era of Instant Communication

• Instant communication has returned men to a pre-alphabetic oral tradition
• People became a single tribe - a global village

5 . The Digital Age: Rewiring the Global Village

•   magazine on digital culture was launched in 1992,
•  digital technology doesn’t pull the plug on the electronic age, because, quite frankly, it still needs its power source. The digital age is wholly electronic. 

6. Ethical Reflection: Faustian Bargain

• McLuhan’s probes stimulated others to ponder whether specific media environments were beneficial or destructive for those immersed in them.
• According to Postman, a new technology always presents us with a Faustian bargain – a potential deal with the devil.

Print Media History

The Philippine press was born and nurtured amidst a climate of political reform. The early Philippine newspapers played critical role in the nation’s quest for freedom and independence. Thus, the pantheon of our national heroes include such journalists as Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce, Antonio Luna, to name a few. Their writings inspired the Philippine revolution against Spain, the first challenge by an Asian people against western colonials.

This nationalistic fervor is to be ingrained in the spirit of succeeding Filipino journalists throughout our nation’s history. Perhaps equally dramatic as the Propaganda Movement during the Spanish regime was the struggle of the so-called alternative press during the Marcos regime, whose collective vision saw fulfillment in the EDSA Poeple Power Revolution in 1986. The politicization or conscientization of the Filipinos were fired up by journalists, many of whom were women, who like their noble predecessors, risked their lives for freedom and democracy.

Advantages of print media

• Flashy magazines are always popular among consumers and are often read by them for a particular period of time in a month. The monthly magazines are the best way to bring attention to any advertisements.

• Print media is an easy medium to spread awareness or advertise to any particular geographical area. Like, a local newspaper is the best way to spread the news about any local event of the place.

• Some forms of the print media have huge and trusted followers. This is definitely a great boost to attract readership.

Disadvantages of print media

• If you are targeting the global audience, then this is not the medium you should go for. Instead, the internet has a much wider reach than print media in this.

• Placing an advertisement in print media requires a lot of planning and time. In this case, you are faced with flexibility problem, particularly when you work in tight deadlines.

• In fact, there are many limitations when it comes to targeting your audience as the particular newspaper may not be available to the audience all the time. On the other hand, a person can get access to the internet from anywhere and everywhere.

Broadcast Media History

                In 1922, a Mrs. Redgrave, an American, began test broadcasting from Nichols air field with a five-watt transmitter. This would put her ahead of Henry Hermann who began test broadcasts from three stations in June 1922. Lent's (1978) collection of histories of broadcasting in Asia shows that Philippine radio was probably the earliest in Asia, ahead of Chinese radio by at least six months and at least as early as, if not earlier than, New Zealand radio.
Hermann, owner of the Manila-based Electrical Supply Company, wanted to broadcast music to a number of radio receiving set owners, and test the business potential of broadcasting. The manuals as well as Lent indicated that Hermann went on the air armed with a temporary permit, but neither writer identified exactly whom or which institution gave Hermann this permit to operate experimental radio stations. Two years into the experiment Hermann replaced the experimental stations with a 100-watt station with the call letters KZKZ. However, Hermann soon after gave up on the commercial potential of radio. On October 4, 1924, with KZKZ but a few months old, he sold it to the Radio Corporation of the Philippines (RCP)
Lent (1973) traces the appearance of the first radio station outside of Manila to 1929 when RCP put up KZRC (Radio Cebu), a one-kilowatt experimental station in Cebu City.
Much of the programming was patterned after American broadcasting and was indeed run by Americans. At first, sponsors did not directly advertise their products but mentioned only their names as sponsor of particular shows, or titled the shows after their product, for example Klim Musical Quiz or The Listerine Amateur Hour.
Among the early pioneers, Francisco "Koko" Trinidad is regarded by broadcasters and broadcast teachers and students of the past three decades as the father of Philippine broadcasting,

Television reached the Philippines in October 1953. A well researched history of Philippine television can be found here, written and posted by Ellen Joy Anastacio and Janine Natalie Badiola.

Film Media History

    The cinema of the Philippines (Filipino: Pelikulang Pilipino or Sine Pilipino) began with the introduction of the first moving picturesto the country on January 1, 1897 at the Salón de Pertierra in Manila. The following year, local scenes were shot on film for the first time by a Spaniard, Antonio Ramos, using the Lumiere Cinematograph. Early filmmakers and producers in the country were mostly wealthy enterprising foreigners and expatriates, but by September 12, 1919, a silent feature film broke the grounds for Filipino filmmakers. Dalagang Bukid (Country Maiden), a movie based on a popular musical play, was the first movie made and shown by Filipino filmmaker José Nepomuceno. Dubbed as the "Father of Philippine Cinema", his work marked the start of cinema as an art form in the Philippines.

Advantages of film advertising:

1. It facilities direct & personal appeal.
2. It is economical.
3. It acts as a good supplement to other advertising media.
4. Its impact is more lasting.
5. By using local language film publicity becomes agreeable.

Disadvantages of film advertising:

1. Limited coverage.
2. Importance of advertising is being reduced.
3. Impact of film advertisement is limited.
4. It has very short life.
5. It is treated as nuisance by film audience.

  

New Media History

      While the internet history can be traced back to the 1960s, the origins of the World Wide Web, or simply the web, are much more recent. It first came to light via a scientific paper entitled “Information Management: A Proposal”, written by Tim Berners-Lee in March 1989. Working from CERN (translated as European Laboratory for Particle Physics), Geneva, BernersLee proposed to do away with the arcane computer commands, which were then needed to access the newly established Internet. “The World Wide Web”, said Berners-lee, “is conceived as a seamless world in which all information, from any source, can be accessed in a consistent and simple way”.

            Internet service improved significantly in the country when PLDT launched the Philippine Internet Exchange (PhIX) in July 1997. This provided a network access point that interconnected local ISPs, allowing them to route local traffic among themselves. The first five (5) ISPs that joined PhIX were Infocom, Mosaic Communications, IPhil Communications, Virtual Link, and WorldTel Philippines. SH1708 02 Handout 1 *Property of STI Page 9 of 9 In 1998 the Philippine Network Foundation put up a second Internet exchanged to enable ISPs that have leased lines from non-PLDT carriers to interconnect with other providers. Meanwhile, PHNet connected to Japan’s Advanced Pacific Network (APAN) backbone to provide faster Internet communications between the Philippines and other countries in the region. Filipinos entered the social networking scene with the coming up of Friendster in 2004, shifting to Facebook three (3) years later. In 2013 the Philippines was dubbed as the “social capital media of the world” because of the percentage of Facebook users among Internet users.