Global Communication, 5th Edition

8European Media

The nature of European media is, to a remarkable extent, the product of the interplay of various forces – political, technological, and social – which have worked together over time to produce one of the world's most vibrant media environments. Because of the varied nature of European nations, European media forms are varied as well, yet some commonalities tend to dominate. A logical starting point for understanding European media is to consider its historical context.

Historical Context

Some of the most historically significant innovations in the history of media have been conceived by European media entities. By about the 1770s to the 1780s, newspapers around the world were regularly reporting international news, especially matters of importance in the areas of business and politics. The Times of London, destined to become one of the world's most significant papers, began in 1785 as The Daily Universal Register.

Pioneer news agency Reuters began in 1851 in Britain and quickly became dependent on emerging telegraph systems. Largely because of concerns about the crossing of national borders by telegraphy, the International Telecommunication Union was formed in Paris in 1865. Fledgling broadcasting operations emerged by the early 1920s in Europe and in the United States. Some of these pioneering European radio endeavors were commercial in nature, but this would generally quickly change.

The majority of the population in Russia lived in the European part of ...