“The Revolutionary Evolution of the Media”: How the Steam Engine Contributed to Media Developments

This is a book in progress Go here to read the previous chaptersUp until the 1700s only two amp8220newamp8221 technologies made much of an impact on media First the arrival of the printing press and moveable type shook things up by making media available to the masses and mightily annoying existing power structures consequently losing control over information until they could grab it back Somewhat later the development of better roads with real centralized postal services boosted both the efficiency and speed of getting news and information to wider publics But it wasnamp8217t until the advent of a truly usable steam engine for marine and land movement that change in media kicked into high gear as the Industrial Revolution swept across the globeOf course steam had been around for centuries It actually dates back to the famous Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria and his aeolipile a rudimentary pumping engine Development lagged until a Spanish soldier named Jeramp243nimo de Ayanz y Beaumont filed for 50 patents in 1606 for steampowered inventions like a water pump for draining inundated mines The first commercial steampowered engine was a water pump invented in 1698 by Thomas Savery Cheap and easy to operate this water pump was still in use in 1820But it took Thomas Newcomen working on making Saveryamp8217s and otheramp8217s improvements to build a truly useful engine capable of generating power and transmitting it to a machine Newcomenamp8217s engines pumped water from mines and powered waterwheels alongside streams beginning in 1712The next big breakthrough would come in 1775 when James Watt made significant modifications allowing rotary steam engines that could be located away from water sources It was just nine year later when Scotsman William Murdoch built a working steam amp8220road locomotiveamp8221 Around the same time Richard Trevithick built the first fullscale working railway steam locomotive which hauled ironworks along a tramway in Wales After that innovation in locomotion exploded as tracks began being laid almost everywhere At the same time marine transportation gained speed with the advent of steam turbine powerSo what did all this have to do with media Think of it as an explosion of both reach and penetration as newspapers pamphlets and books sped across the landscape reaching previously untouched areasSo what was there to spread While inventors were improving the steam engine magazines had appeared in 1741 Shortly after that the first novel was written and printed amp8211 The History of Tom Jones a Foundling by Henry Fielding amp8211 on February 22 1749 in England The book was popular and set off a number of different manners of eating at table oh wait that wasnamp8217t until the movie in 1963Meanwhile the American Revolution was brewing as Colonialists chafed under Great Britainamp8217s demand for taxes The Boston Tea Party became a news sensation throughout the Colonies England retaliated with the Coercive Acts on Massachusetts to pay for the tea but the other Colonies rallied around Massachusetts That eventually resulted in armed rebellionThe revolution created an explosion of political discourse Pamphlets produced by men such as Thomas Paine the the Federalist Papers gained significant distribution Paineamp8217s Common Sense Addressed to the Inhabitants of America on the Following Interesting Subjects was said to have sold the highest percentage of copies compared to the US population at any time perhaps except the Bible It stayed that way at least until 2006 according to Harvey J Kaye in a book about Paine The book was so popular that General George Washington had the book read to his troops while holed up in Boston surrounded by the BritishBy September 1787 the Federal Convention sent the proposed Constitution of the United States to the states for ratification Shortly thereafter articles by amp8220Catoamp8221 and amp8220Brutusamp8221 appeared in New York City newspapers criticizing the Constitution and the growing centralization of the nation The articles became known as the amp8220AntiFederalist Papersamp8221Alexander Hamilton decided they needed a counterpoint and began writing in three New York newspapers The Independent Journal the NewYork Packet and the Daily Advertiser beginning on October 27 1787 along with John Jay and James Madison creating what became the amp8220Federalist Papersamp8221 All wrote with pseudonyms though The arguments from both sides were reprinted in many other cities Local writers often weighed in on both sides of the issuesThe Constitution was ratified and in 1791 the Bill of Rights amp8211 with of course the 1st Amendment amp8211 was ratified And in the US the Post Office was created with Benjamin Franklin in chargeSteam was on its way across the US and the pond shared with Europe The Industrial Revolution hits its stride in the next 20 yearsNext week Chapter 8 Part 3 amp8211 Telegraphing the FutureIn an almost 50year career writing and reporting on media Paul S Maxwell started andor ran some 45plus publications ranging from CATV Newsweekly to Colorado Magazine to CableVision to Multichannel News to CableFAX and The BRIDGE Suite of daily newsletters and research publications In between publishing stints Maxwell served as an advisor andor consultant to a number of major media companies and media startups including running a unit of MCI and managing a partnership of TCI and McGrawHillSend any and all criticisms suggestions rants threats corrections etc to him at cablemaxmaccom He has a new Web site coming soonamp160Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response 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“The Revolutionary Evolution of the Media”: How the Steam Engine Contributed to Media Developments

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