The Big Picture

Research in mass communication has been around since the invention of writing.

• Of course!

• No naman, mga 30 years after.

• 30 years?! How about 150 years?

• Hello?! After the Industrial revolution pa yan nag-start!

Answer explanation

Sustained research in the field of mass communication and media studies developed in the US from the 1930s onwards, some 40 years after the birth of modern media with the birth of mass circulation newspapers, the rapid rise of cinema, and the development of radio.

Before formal research on mass communication, there were zero efforts to explain what was happening during the formative years of mass media.

• Yes, totally true.

• A bit true.

• No formal research, yes, but there were some perspectives that formal researchers worked on later.

• There were efforts, but they were not discovered until later.

Answer explanation

During these formative years, the mass media existed without mass communications research we know today. But, there were prevailing concerns & perspectives during this period that shaped how we think about the media. 

According to Marshall McLuhan, for a media to be considered revolutionary, this media has to become a part of a changing society, either one that caused it or helped in its change.

• Not necessarily.

• Very wrong.

• Sa true ka jan.

Answer explanation

According to Irving Fang, a revolution often implies sudden and often violent change, but revolutions can be more subtle, evolving over decades even centuries.

Marshall McLuhan and Irving Fang have different starting points in their discussion of media history.

• Same lang, 'teh.

• True.

• Same same but different.

• They have different perspectives and so they start from different points.

Between Marshall McLuhan and Irving Fang, who started their media history earlier?

What invention ended what Marshall McLuhan calls the Tribal Age and started what Irving Fang calls the 1st Information Revolution?

According to McLuhan, pre-writing people led richer and more complex lives. True or false?

Answer explanation

McLuhan - “primitive people” led richer and more complex lives than their literate descendants because the ear encourages a more holistic sense of the world deeper feeling of community.

What invention led to the shift of the dominant sense receptor from the ear to the eyes?

Who invented the tool that would start mass communication?

What invention would trigger the start of nationalism for by providing a fix for national languages?