Social, cultural and historical events have played a major role in television advertising and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

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Media are channels through which information is transmitted. The media includes: television, radio, films, videos, computers, books, and magazines.Janowitz (1968) states that: "mass communications comprise the institutions and techniques by which specialized groups employ technological devices (press, radio, television, radio, films, etc.) to disseminate symbolic content to large, heterogenous, and widely dispersed audiences." Mass communications are uniquely a feature of modern society; their development has accompanied an increase in the scale and complexity of societal activities and arrangements, rapid social change, technological innovation, rising personal income and standard of life, the decline of some traditional forms of control and authority. There is an association between the development of mass media and social change, although the degree and direction of this association is still unknown. Many of the consequences, either harmful or beneficial, which have been attributed to mass communications are almost certainly due to other tendencies in society. Few sociologists would deny the importance of mass communication as a major factor in the production and distribution of social knowledge and social imagery in modern societies. Whether television or radio has had a decisive influence on everyday life has been questioned by sociologists, psychologists and many other professions.

The mass media provide an instrument for influencing people both more powerful and more flexible than any previously existing. Therefore, controls are placed on those operating mass communications, to ensure that laws and social norms are abided by. Technological determinists argue that the media play an important part in modern society, whereas empiricists or pluralists believe that social pressures overrule any independent effect.

"Propaganda, propaganda, propaganda," Hitler said after the unsuccessful Munich putsch in 1923. "All that matters is propaganda." The Nazis were fascinated with the improvements in technology and mass communication in the USA and Britain. They saw radio as a means of demagogy. When Hitler came to power in 1933, a group of 'Frankfurt School' writers argued that the roots of the fascist or 'authoritarian' personality were to be found in the the nature of the family. However, in explaining what made a population potentially fascist, or why there was no revolt before the Nazis regime began to use widespread force, they also saw the press, radio, films, and even comics and popular music as reinforcing these early influences. The new mass media strengthened the habits and attitudes which made people susceptible to fascist arguments.

By the 1920's a generation of reformers who had been civil servants during the war were experienced in organising the centralised distribution of resources. For a brief period after the war the government accepted a more interventionist role. The BBC was formed in 1922. John Reith, the Director General of the BBC was tested during the General Strike in 1926. He knew that the survival of the Corporation depended on its conduct during the crisis. The strike created a national audience for broadcasting, and although there were only two million license holders these represented a far greater number of listeners, and the 'communal listening' was a feature of the crisis as people gathered in halls and outside shops to hear the news. This shows that the public's everyday life had already been affected by the increased use of radios. During the General Strike the radio had a strong influnce on the general public due to the government's intervention of the issues transmitted on the radio. In 1935 it was supposed to include talks by a communist and a fascist - Harry Pollitt and Sir Oswald Mosley, in a series on the British constitution. The Foreign Office protested, arguing that Pollitt could not be allowed to broadcast as he had recently made a speech supporting armed revolution. The BBC responded by referring the matter to the Governors, who declared that, "More harm than good could be done if a policy were adopted of muzzling speeches." A BBC official told the Foreign Office, "We can't chuck Pollitt unless, under our charter, we are given instruction from the government that he is not to broadcast." Eventually, the Postmaster General wrote to Reith pointing out that as the Corporation licence was due for renewal, it would be wiser to comply with government demands. The BBC was not even allowed to state why the interview was cancelled. The information that the public received from the radio was therefore biased towards the government, and the "whole picture" was not heard by the listeners.

John Reith also tried to use his control of broadcasting technology to wield great moral power over the nation. Being a Scottish Calvinist engineer, he wanted programmes to elevate and educate listeners, and this moral influence was directed especially at the family as a cohesive social form. Previously, solitary men sat with their headphones on, listening to the wireless. The BBC transformed these listening habits, and the radio became the focal point of family life, with the entire family listening to it most nights. The BBC gained the reputation as an essential institution of state.

The influence of the BBC declind in 1931, when the listeners became tired of Reith's pious and patronizing programmes. The listeners tuned into Radio Luxembourg and Radio Normandie for light music and soap operas. Therefore the power (or influence) of BBC radio weakened and the public made the decision to tune to another station. This suggests that although the BBC tried to wield power through technology, people are clearly able to resist this social power. Around all technologies there is generally some battle going on for power, and in the everyday life of the media, there is a dominant class which was the government in the case of the BBC. They used the radio to extend their power over the audience.

Between 1939-1945, the new Director General, Frederick Ogilvie, saw a need for BBC broadcasts to meet diverse audiences. This led to the transmission of light music e.g. Vera Lynn, and a "Forces" service. Therefore, the public were no longer being influenced so greatly by the radio, due to the increased choice of radio stations. (BBC Radio 2, 3, and 4 were introduced in 1967). The media audience wants to resist being controlled, and use the media as a tool for personal empowerment. The listener chooses which radio station to listen to, which will only reinforce the views and inclinations that they already have.

The radio declined when the television boomed after the 1953 Coronation. During the late 1950's and 1960's, radio became more background technology, even with the invention of cheap, portable radios from the USA and Japan. The influence of the television has been studied intensively ever since.

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The television is viewed as the most important media technology in the U.K., U.S. and Japan, offering entertainment, news, information etc. There are also more recent extended applications such as videos and cable satellites. Technological determinists believe that the television has altered the world, and it is an "evil thing that rots the minds of youth."

The television evolved from a combination of the radio and the cinema. Early television had the problem of synchronizing sounds and pictures, which was solved in 1927, leading to "talkies" and newsreels. Primarily, John Reith (Director General) was not enthusiastic about the television, ...

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