“Lightning Lines” and the Birth of Modern Communication By Daniel J. Czitrom

Elise ChisholmCOM 546University of WashingtonApril 26, 2011

The Annihilator of Space and TimeWhat impact might the telegraph have on thought, politics, commerce, the press, and the moral life?

A Global Village

“…A knowledge of all that is occurring throughout the land; making, in fact, one neighborhood of the whole country.”

Impact on the Press

Though the press and commercial interests made the telegraph economically viable, the telegraph itself dramatically transformed the press.

The Rise of a Monopoly

Pubic outcry against WU-AP collusion formed part of the broad antimonopoly sentiments central to late 19th century radical and reform politics.

Associated Press timelineWestern Union timeline

Newer Media: The Motion PictureMotion pictures, a medium with a far more direct effect upon the everyday lives of people, would challenge the established definitions of culture itself.

Play video

ReferencesText

Associated Press (2011). Company website. Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.ap.org/pages/about/history/history_first.html.

Czitrom, D. (1982). “Lightning lines” and the birth of modern communication. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

PastFinderLTD (2008, March 30). First motion picture horse, 1878. Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs.

Western Union (2011). Company website. Retrieved April 2011 from http://corporate.westernunion.com/history.html.

Imagery

Harris, P. (2006, February 5). Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarchi/95908040/.

Lu, K. (2007, August 14). Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/toasty/1125019024/.

Mortensen, M. (2008, July 30). Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/-mic-/2715470682/.

Renlund, M. (2008, January 26). Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/deltamike/2222492536/.

Schaefer, M.T. (2006, June 18). Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/gastev/360505392/.

Warby, W (2008, May 2). Retrieved April 2011 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/2460648191/.