9781422272688

A HISTORY OF MASS MEDIA IN THE WORLD The advent of mass media actually begins with the invention of paper in China in about 100 BCE by a man known as Cai Lun. Scholars do not know the exact year in which paper was created, but its invention was certainly an improvement over earlier products like dried clay tablets or plant-based papyrus , which had been used by the Egyptians. Eventually, a need for multiple people to possess the same text emerged. Chinese monks developed a method called “block printing,” which enabled them to produce documents more quickly and accurately than handwritten

German printing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg and his assistants check a printed page. The development ofthe printing press in Europe during the fifteenth century led to widespread distribution of published materials such as books, newspapers, and pamphlets.

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Contemporary Issues: Media Bias