The Pros And Cons Of The Printing Revolution

1. Before the printing revolution, communities were linked through “individual and small group communication within oral and manuscript culture” (Kovarik 17). The aspect of writing was ridiculed by many people when there was a transition from oral culture. The same happened when printing was first introduced by being called a “knock off”. Despite these claims, each progression brought advantages to societies worldwide. The transition from handwritten documents and scribal culture to printing had a massive effect on societies. Printing brought standardization, speed mechanization and the ability to mass produce. The introduction of printing presented a dissemination of power and the resources to spread ideas. Writing in society caused numerous

The standardized way of printing provided all books to be identical and so, the “wide distribution of identical bits of information provided an impersonal link between people who were unknown to each other” (Eisenstein 102). The messages were identical so there was no need to collectively gather to receive a given message; therefore, a sense of individuality was created within communities. Another benefit for the reasonable pricing that the printing press brought is that it successfully breaking the class monopoly of literacy and “provided the common man with a means of gaining access to the culture of the world” (Mumford 94). Providing the common man with means to have access to news disseminates the concentration of news in the upper class. Leaflet and posters were valuable sources of information that contained news varying from military encounters to natural disasters and other “current and distant events” (Thompson

Then came the industrialization of cities and with it came the steam press. The steam press worked with speed and required less physical labor. The steam press could produce four times the paper than the hand press leading to “the cost of production to come down, and due to mass circulation, the potential for advertising support goes up” (Kovarik 68). Penny press editors realized that they could decrease the price of paper to one or two cents effectively losing money on circulation, but regaining revenue from advertisements. News would focus on the lives of ordinary citizens: “a new spirit arose in the common man, who was encouraged to believe that his life, his voice, his vote were of some importance” (69). Before the penny press, there were partisan papers which were supported by a certain political paper. After the introduction of the penny press, may papers became more nonpartisan and turned more journalistic than editorial. With the penny press the voice of the people were better represented as well as the events of the community being properly