Media: History and the

3 Canadian Context

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

Mass Communication in Canada, Eight Edition

© Oxford University Press Canada, 2016
 Media History in Canada
www.mediahistory.ca

 Department of Canadian Heritage

www.pch.gc.ca

 John Locke
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Locke/locke.html

 Milton’s Areopagitica (1644)

https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/739/areopagitica.pdf?sequen
ce=1

 Rabble.ca
www.rabble.ca

 Institute for Alternative Journalism

www.alternet.org

 History of Communication
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa93

Study Questions

1. What is the essence of the Enlightenment?

2. How are the mass media connected to Enlightenment values?

3. Explain how the telegraph and the photograph emerged in response to changes brought about
by industrialization.

4. How did newspapers change once they came under the control of business people, rather than
wealthy partisans?

5. Identify the four different sites where the power of media ownership and control can be located
in society.

6. Identify and explain three different perspectives on the role of the press in society. Which one
do you find most compelling?

7. What are some of the indirect measures the government can use to control the media?

8. What is the perspective of the United Nations on the ability of a country to regulate cultural
production and consumption?

Mass Communication in Canada, Eight Edition

© Oxford University Press Canada, 2016
9. Compare and contrast the theories of libertarianism and social responsibility theory. What are
the main problems with libertarianism?

10. Explain the six distinctive characteristics of the Canadian state that have shaped the develop-
ment of its communication systems.

11. Provide a description of some of the main highlights in Canada’s communication history.

12. Explain some of the challenges faced by journalists and Canadian media when trying to exercise
their freedom of expression. How does the complex relationship between the media and gov-
ernment relate to this issue?

13. Identify and explain key factors in the rise of humanism in the Renaissance through to the In-
dustrial Revolution. Include the roles of key communications developments as part of your an-
swer.

Mass Communication in Canada, Eight Edition

© Oxford University Press Canada, 2016