Mass communication is the process of disseminating information in a one-to-many model through the use of a technological channel. The technology used to convey information to large numbers of people is known as mass media. Examples of mass media are television, radio, newspapers and the Internet. Mass communication has characteristics that it is associated with. These characteristics are the mass medium which is the technological channel of transmission, the presence of gatekeepers who examine and criticize the disseminated information, delayed feedback, limited sensory channels and impersonal communication compared to personal communication. (Campbell, Martin, & Fabos, 2017) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayIt is quite clear that without mass media there can be no mass communication. Mass media has gone through a series of changes since its inception. More recently there has been media convergence. It is the union of all components of the mass media, i.e. radio, television and print, under a single common digital medium, for example the Internet. However, before media convergence occurred, mass media underwent a series of transformations. The mass media are mainly divided into press, radio and television; each of these has undergone its own development paths. Even before printing itself was developed, in most primitive societies, information and knowledge circulated slowly through oral traditions. According to Campbell, Martin, and Fabos, what we recognize as modern printing did not exist until the mid-15th century. On the other hand, paper and block printing developed around 100 AD and 1045 respectively. It was around this time in Germany that Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable metal type and the printing press ushered in the era of modern printing. (Campbell, Martin, & Fabos, 2017) In relation to the book by Dominick, Messere & Sherman, radio is the wireless transmission and reception of electrical pulses or signals using electromagnetic waves. The basis of radio was formed by the Theory of Invisible Waves published by Clarks Maxwell in 1855. It was in the late 19th century that physicists such as James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic radiation; these are basically waves of energy traveling through space. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 2012) These authors go on to explain the process through which radio developed. Guglielmo Marconi had seen a demonstration of the mysterious radio waves while still in college, and this inspired him to begin experimenting with radio transmitters and receivers. He eventually managed to send a radio signal more than a mile away. He was granted a patent for his wireless telegraphy system by the British in 1896 and founded his own company (The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company) to produce and sell his new device. He worked hard to strengthen his signals and in December 1901 he finally managed to transmit a wireless signal across the Atlantic, although only in Morse code which is in the form of dots and dashes. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 2012) The authors state that no one had yet succeeded in sending the human voice via radio waves but Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian engineer, tried to do it. He built a high-speed alternator and tested it in 1906. Wireless operators on ships up and down the East Coast of the United States were able to hear his voice through headphones as he explained to them what was happening and were amazed. He then wished his audience a Happy New YearChristmas and gave his permission making this officially the first radio broadcast, thus ushering in a new era for radio. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 2012) According to this book, in 1910 the most popular way of receiving radio signals was through a set of crystals that was cheap and easy to assemble but had one major flaw: it could not amplify weak signals in input.signals. It was clear that if radio was to become a means of mass communication, it needed a receiver that increased the level of weak signals making it easier to listen to the radio. During his experiments with something called a flaming valve, Lee De Forest found a solution. The flaming valve was a device that looked like a light bulb. It consisted of a plate and a thin wire and was used to detect radio waves. He discovered that when a small metal grid was inserted between the plate and the wire, it acted as an amplifier that amplified weak radio signals until they were easily detected. Putting two or three of these devices together could amplify signals millions of times better. He called this device the audion and recorded in his diary that he had "discovered an invisible empire of the air". The audion brought radio into the electronic age and contributed greatly to the improvement of transmission and reception. It was later transformed into the vacuum tube that formed the basis for all radio transmissions until the 1950s, when it was replaced by transistors and solid-state electronics. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 2012) Television is described as the transmission of visual images via radio waves. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 2012) According to Dominick, Messere & Sherman, the foundation of TV dates back to 1817, with the discovery of selenium by Jacob Berzelius. In 1845, the American physicist Michael Faraday and Kerr in 1877 had demonstrated the effect of a magnetic field on polarized light. Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone led in the late 19th century to the development of the "magic mirror of fantasy" (as TV was then called) through which distant events could be glimpsed. In 1879, The Punch, a British magazine published an image by artist and writer George Du Maurier depicting a couple watching a tennis match remotely via a screen above the fireplace using Edison's telephonescope. This was the beginning of a new era for television. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 2012) The book tells us that in 1884, a German, Paul Nipkow, invented his famous scanning disk, the Nipkow Disk. It was a round disk with perforations arranged in a spiral. As the disk rotated, a beam of light passing through the perforations caused pinpricks of light to perform a rapid scanning motion across an opposing surface similar to the back-and-forth movements of the human eye, across a printed page. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 2012) According to Dominick, Messere & Sherman, this is how television finally made its debut: In 1923, John Baird in Great Britain and Charles Jenkins in America were both busy conducting experiments using mechanical methods of scanning that led to shadow transmission in 1925. By 1926, real images were transmitted over short distances, and in 1927 the American T&T Company demonstrated image transmission via cable over a distance of 250 miles, and then repeated via wireless. A step forward was made in 1929 with the arrival of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). By 1946, RCA (Radio Corporation of America) was already selling (black and white) televisions in the United States. Bars, inns, taverns, etc. they all installed televisions and managed to attract large crowds. The year 1947 saw for the.