Print based media

Print media, however, is one of the oldest forms of advertising. It also remains to be one of the
most popular forms because it can reach a wider target audience. There are various types of
print media which help advertisers to target a particular segment of consumers.

Media and technology have been interwoven from the earliest days of human communication.
The printing press, the telegraph, and the Internet are all examples of their intersection. Mass
media have allowed for more shared social experiences, but new media now create a seemingly
endless amount of airtime for any and every voice that wants to be heard. Advertising has also
changed with technology. New media allow consumers to bypass traditional advertising venues
and cause companies to be more innovative and intrusive as they try to gain our attention.

Hand techniques and technology

INTRODUCTION
Media and technology have evolved hand in hand, from early print to modern publications, from
radio to television to film. New media emerge constantly, such as we see in the online world.

Print Newspaper

Early forms of print media, found in ancient Rome, were hand-copied onto boards and carried
around to keep the citizenry informed. With the invention of the printing press, the way that
people shared ideas changed, as information could be mass produced and stored. For the first
time, there was a way to spread knowledge and information more efficiently; many credit this
development as leading to the Renaissance and ultimately the Age of Enlightenment. This is not
to say that newspapers of old were more trustworthy than the Weekly World News and National
Enquirer are today. Sensationalism abounded, as did censorship that forbade any subjects that
would incite the populace.
The invention of the telegraph, in the mid-1800s, changed print media almost as much as the
printing press. Suddenly information could be transmitted in minutes. As the nineteenth century
became the twentieth, U.S. publishers such as Hearst redefined the world of print media and
wielded an enormous amount of power to socially construct national and world events. Of
course, even as the media empires of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were
growing, print media also allowed for the dissemination of countercultural or revolutionary
materials. Internationally, Vladimir Lenin’s Irksa (The Spark) newspaper was published in 1900
and played a role in Russia’s growing communist movement (World Association of Newspapers
2004).With the invention and widespread use of television in the mid-twentieth century,
newspaper circulation steadily dropped off, and in the 21st century, circulation has dropped
further as more people turn to internet news sites and other forms of new media to stay
informed. According to the Pew Research Center, 2009 saw an unprecedented drop in
newspaper circulation––down 10.6 percent from the year before (Pew 2010).
This shift away from newspapers as a source of information has profound effects on societies.
When the news is given to a large diverse conglomerate of people, it must maintain some level
of broad-based reporting and balance in order to appeal to a broad audience and keep them
subscribing. As newspapers decline, news sources become more fractured, so each segment of
the audience can choose specifically what it wants to hear and what it wants to avoid.
Increasingly, newspapers are shifting online in an attempt to remain relevant. It is hard to tell
what impact new media platforms will have on the way we receive and process information.

Increasingly, newspapers are shifting online in an attempt to remain relevant. It is hard to tell
what impact new media platforms will have on the way we receive and process information. The
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (2013) reported that audiences for
all the major news magazines declined in 2012, though digital ad revenue increased. The same
report suggested that, while newspaper circulation is holding steady at around $10 billion after
years of decline, it is digital pay plans that allow newspapers to keep their heads above water,
and the digital ad revenue that is increasing for news magazines is not enough to compensate
for print revenue loss in newspapers.

A 2014 report suggested that U.S. adults read a median of five books per year in 2013, which is
about average. But are they reading traditional print or e-books? About 69 percent of people
said they had read at least one printed book in the past year, versus 28 percent who said they’d
read an e-book (DeSilver 2014). Is print more effective at conveying information? In recent
study, Mangen, Walgermo, and Bronnick (2013) found that students who read on paper
performed slightly better than those who read an e-book on an open-book reading
comprehension exam of multiple-choice and short-answer questions. While a meta-analysis of
research by Andrews (1992) seemed to confirm that people read more slowly and comprehend
less when reading from screens, a meta-analysis of more recent research on this topic does not
show anything definite (Noyes and Garland 2008).

Television and Radio

Radio programming obviously preceded television, but both shaped people’s lives in much the
same way. In both cases, information (and entertainment) could be enjoyed at home, with a kind
of immediacy and community that newspapers could not offer. For instance, many people in the
United States might remember when they saw on television or heard on the radio that the Twin
Towers in New York City had been attacked in 2001. Even though people were in their own
homes, media allowed them to share these moments in real time. This same kind of separate-
but-communal approach occurred with entertainment too. School-aged children and office
workers gathered to discuss the previous night’s installment of a serial television or radio show.
Right up through the 1970s, U.S. television was dominated by three major networks (ABC, CBS,
and NBC) that competed for ratings and advertising dollars. The networks also exerted a lot of
control over what people watched. Public television, in contrast, offered an educational nonprofit
alternative to the sensationalization of news spurred by the network competition for viewers and
advertising dollars. Those sources—PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), the BBC (British
Broadcasting Company), and CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company)—garnered a worldwide
reputation for high-quality programming and a global perspective. Al Jazeera, the Arabic
independent news station, has joined this group as a similar media force that broadcasts to
people worldwide.
The impact of television on U.S. society is hard to overstate. By the late 1990s, 98 percent of
U.S. homes had at least one television set, and the average person watched between two and a
half and five hours of television daily. All this television has a powerful socializing effect,
providing reference groups while reinforcing social norms, values, and beliefs.

Film

The film industry took off in the 1930s, when color and sound were first integrated into feature
films. Like television, early films were unifying for society: as people gathered in theaters to
watch new releases, they would laugh, cry, and be scared together. Movies also act as time
capsules or cultural touchstones for society. From Westerns starring the tough-talking Clint
Eastwood to the biopic of Facebook founder and Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg, movies
illustrate society’s dreams, fears, and experiences. While many consider Hollywood the
epicenter of moviemaking, India’s Bollywood actually produces more films per year, speaking to
the cultural aspirations and norms of Indian society. Increasingly, people are watching films
online via Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and other streaming services. While most streaming video
companies keep their user data secret, Nielsen estimated that 38 percent of U.S. citizens
accessed Netflix in 2013. In 2013, Google, Inc. reported that YouTube served 1 billion unique
viewers every month—an impressive number, considering that it amounts to one-third of the
estimated 3 billion accessing the Internet every month (Reuters 2013; International
Telecommunication Union 2014).

New Media

New media encompasses all interactive forms of information exchange. These include social
networking sites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, and virtual worlds. Clearly, the list grows almost daily.
However, there is no guarantee that the information offered is accurate. In fact, the immediacy
of new media coupled with the lack of oversight means we must be more careful than ever to
ensure our news is coming from accurate sources.

Product Advertising
Companies use advertising to sell to us, but the way they reach us is changing. Naomi Klein
identified the destructive impact of corporate branding her 1999 text, No Logo, an
antiglobalization treatise that focused on sweatshops, corporate power, and anticonsumerist
social movements. In the post-millennial society, synergistic advertising practices ensure you
are receiving the same message from a variety of sources and on a variety of platforms. For
example, you may see billboards for Miller beer on your way to a stadium, sit down to watch a
game preceded by a Miller commercial on the big screen, and watch a halftime ad in which
people are shown holding up the trademark bottles. Chances are you can guess which brand of
beer is for sale at the concession stand.
Advertising has changed, as technology and media have allowed consumers to bypass
traditional advertising venues. From the invention of the remote control, which allows us to skip
television advertising without leaving our seats, to recording devices that let us watch programs
but skip the ads, conventional television advertising is on the wane. And print media is no
different. Advertising revenue in newspapers and on television fell significantly in 2009, which
shows that companies need new ways of getting their messages to consumers.
One model companies are considering to address this advertising downturn uses the same
philosophy as celebrity endorsements, just on a different scale. Companies are hiring college
students to be their on-campus representatives, and they are looking for popular students
engaged in high-profile activities like sports, fraternities, and music. The marketing team is
betting that if we buy perfume because Beyoncé tells us to, we’ll also choose our cell phone or
smoothie brand if a popular student encourages that choice. According to an article in the New
York Times, fall semester 2011 saw an estimated 10,000 U.S. college students working on
campus as brand ambassadors for products from Red Bull energy drinks to Hewlett-Packard
computers (Singer 2011). As the companies figure it, college students will trust one source of
information above all: other students.

Homogenization and Fragmentation

Despite the variety of media at hand, the mainstream news and entertainment you enjoy are
increasingly homogenized. Research by McManus (1995) suggests that different news outlets
all tell the same stories, using the same sources, resulting in the same message, presented with
only slight variations. So whether you are reading the New York Times or the CNN’s web site,
the coverage of national events like a major court case or political issue will likely be the same.
Simultaneously with this homogenization among the major news outlets, the opposite process is
occurring in the newer media streams. With so many choices, people increasingly customize
their news experience, minimizing their opportunity to encounter information that does not jive
with their worldview (Prior 2005). For instance, those who are staunchly Republican can avoid
centrist or liberal-leaning cable news shows and web sites that would show Democrats in a
favorable light. They know to seek out Fox News over MSNBC, just as Democrats know to do
the opposite. Further, people who want to avoid politics completely can choose to visit web sites
that deal only with entertainment or that will keep them up to date on sports scores. They have
an easy way to avoid information they do not wish to hear.