CMAF 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Rabble.Ca, Areopagitica, Social Responsibility
27 Jun 2018
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Mass Communication in Canada, Eight Edition
© Oxford University Press Canada, 2016
Chapter Overview
The evolution of the modern mass media began in the mid-fifteenth century with Gutenberg’s de-
velopment of printing by means of movable type. Printing with movable type facilitated a social
movement that saw the eclipse of feudalism and the dawning of the Renaissance, followed by the
Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution. The divine right of rulers was re-
placed with the notion of the consent of the governed and the rise of humanism. The printing press
served an important social role from the fifteenth century onward in gathering information and in-
forming citizens.
In making their contribution, the press and, subsequently, other communication media have been
structured by a larger set of social circumstances and events. The rise of industrial society, along with
urbanization, increased literacy, and the eight-hour workday, provided the context within which con-
temporary media took their form and function. In Canada, the development of modern media was
further shaped by basic social realities such as our vast, sparsely populated, bilingual, multicultural,
and regional country, which lies next to the United States—the world’s largest economy and most
aggressive exporter of entertainment and information products. Finding ways to protect and grow
Canadian culture remains a challenge that is exacerbated by new media and the consumption of for-
eign media products.
While the role of the media in society can be conceived from various ideological perspectives—the
fourth estate, liberal, Marxist—in Canadian society the press and the electronic mass media have de-
veloped, to a large part, under market principles. By examining four of the main theories on the rela-
tionship between media and society (libertarian, social responsibility theory, the mass society thesis
and critical political economy), the ways in which people understand society and how media repre-
sents it becomes more apparent.
In Canada, the relationship between its government and the media is more nuanced than it seems
when it comes to social responsibility, free press, and the “fourth estate.” The media’s engagement
with public policy, the role played by individual politicians, government advertising, and new media
all create an environment of constant negotiation and change within this relationship.
Related Websites
“Access to Information and Privacy,” Government of Canada
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/hgw-cgf/oversight-surveillance/atip-aiprp/index-eng.asp
Canada’s Privacy Act
https://www.priv.gc.ca/leg_c/r_o_a_e.asp
3
Media: History and the
Canadian Context
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The evolution of the modern mass media began in the mid-fifteenth century with gutenberg"s de- velopment of printing by means of movable type. Printing with movable type facilitated a social movement that saw the eclipse of feudalism and the dawning of the renaissance, followed by the. The divine right of rulers was re- placed with the notion of the consent of the governed and the rise of humanism. The printing press served an important social role from the fifteenth century onward in gathering information and in- forming citizens. In making their contribution, the press and, subsequently, other communication media have been structured by a larger set of social circumstances and events. The rise of industrial society, along with urbanization, increased literacy, and the eight-hour workday, provided the context within which con- temporary media took their form and function. Canadian culture remains a challenge that is exacerbated by new media and the consumption of for- eign media products.
