Chapter 3: Books and Magazines

A brief history of print communication Print media show a repeating cycle of: Technological innovation Competition Increased demand Social effects of media Government regulation

Books: from elite access to mass media Books have an ancient history Books originally took from oral traditions Stories, ballads, and other pre-media forms of culture Transmitted from one generation to the next

Who are the elite? Better educated More affluent Literacy More affluent Favored literacy Higher status audiences Have earlier, wider access to media

Key developments in book diffusion Printing using wooden blocks Printing using moveable metal type Gutenberg Bible Books in the vernacular Latin and the Catholic church

The Gutenberg Revolution 1455: printing press Reduced printing costs to 20% of manuscript costs Popular titles Bible, prayer books, and hymnals Chapbooks-Early paperbacks Stories from the oral tradition turned into novels

US print media - 18th century Revolutionary politics, cultural independence Subscription libraries - Benjamin Franklin Copyright Act of 1790 Early American political magazines

US print media - 19th century Popularization trends Saturday Evening Post Illustrated news weeklies The US Civil War Magazines Dime novels

US print media - 20th century Increased segmentation Magazines versus Newspapers Muckraking magazines Mass audience magazines Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal

US print media - 20th century, continued Newsmagazines Specialized magazines and ‘zines Chain book stores Paperbacks

Technology trends in books and magazines The rotary press, ca. 1846 Linotype, ca. 1868 Lithography, ca. 1865 Offset printing, ca. 1946

Contemporary publishing technologies Computerization Digitizing text and images Desktop publishing Custom publishing

Electronic commerce and the Internet Do-it-yourself publishing Online publishers Salon, Slate Hypertext

Print genres and forms Book publishing Trade books Professional books School textbooks Mass market paperbacks Book clubs, mail order, audiovisual

Print genres and forms, continued Magazine genres and segmentation Newspapers, newspaper inserts Increased use of direct marketing

Industry organization Consolidation: a reduction in the number of media outlets and a concentration of total media ownership Magazine distribution and mailing lists Concentration of ownership in book publishing houses Chain book stores, online book sellers

Audiences for books and magazines Mass audience still exists for print media Fragmentation in magazine readership Popular fiction most popular category of books Illiteracy

Policy issues for print media Consolidation Creates conglomerates, or companies made up of diverse parts, usually across several media industries Concentration of ownership Occurs when media are owned by a small number of individuals, government agencies, or corporations

Intellectual property The product of intellectual or creative work, owned by an individual, institution, or company

Copyright A legal privilege to sell, use, or license intellectual property, such as a book or a film The Sonny Bono Copyright Act Increased copyright life to 70 years beyond an author’s death Fair Use Copyright in the digital age?

Censorship, freedom of speech, and the First Amendment The First Amendment grants freedom from interference by government with speech or expression Censorship is control over media content by those in higher authority in a society 1928: Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence 1951: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 1992: Sex by Madonna McCarthyism

Internet censorship at public libraries and schools Freedom of access Filtering software