Mass communication professionals have been a critical function of society since the advent of the printing press. The Age of Enlightenment was spurred on by the availability and affordability of reading materials and by the increasingly common literacy among lower classes (Sámelová, 2021). Print media continued to develop and refine for centuries, eventually followed by the introduction of radio and television media. The 20th century brought new technologies that forced communicators to shift their practices to take advantage of audiences hungry to experience these new and exciting inventions. Radio broadcasters could no longer rely solely on their words to convey a message, they now had to consider tone, delivery, and speed. Likewise, television required everyone from news anchors to talk show hosts to be both informative and entertaining, giving birth to the concept of “infotainment” (Sámelová, 2021, p.25).
The dawn of the new millennium ushered in the age of online technology, where audiences saw a radical change in the amount of information available and the ease at which one could access it. Social media created a virtual town square where any user could share a message with potentially huge audiences. The availability of the technology created casual content creators where print media, radio, and television all required specialized equipment, years of training, and technological knowledge. Today, communications professionals require very little technical training unless they are pursuing a niche expertise like photography or graphic design. User-friendly technology allows content creators to easily publish their work, and online promotions help disseminate messages to the world. Technology has certainly come a long way since the days of the printing press, and the methods for communicating effectively have evolved as well. Who knows where the field will be in another hundred years?
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