Discussion: Controlling the Communication

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Throughout history, the issue of controlling the communication has always been a controversial one. Controlling the media and the message is one of the most powerful tools. The three actors of this competition are the government, the business sector, and the individual users of the communication technologies. These three forces also determine the evolution of the communication. The government can put regulations related to the functions, ownership, distribution, usage of the media but at the same time, the government itself uses the media, which creates a conflict. The business sector can develop the media with the economic power, but the same risque of monopoly destroys the objectivity of the media. The individual users can create chaos on the communication patterns when there is no system at all. Moreover, electronic communication is one of the most important national security issues since World War I. Therefore, communication technologies change over the centuries but the question remains the same: Do we need a controlling system over the media? If so, who should be in charge managing this extremely important responsibility?

Electronic communication devices sector -from wireless telegraphy to personal computers- is one of the technological systems that have dominated twentieth-century history. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, telegraphy had become a feature of modern industrial life requiring government regulation. Therefore, controlling the power of communication was an important issue. Cowan, in her book “A Social History of American Technology” provides a comprehensive history of American technology. In the chapter 12 “Communications Technologies and Social Control” the author argues the same question “Who should be in charge of all the various technologies of communication?” (Cowan, 1997)

A historical approach lends itself to a clearer understanding of the evolution of the media. Twentieth century staged big social events in the United States. The Titanic Disaster was one of the big incidents in the history of wireless communication technologies, which made a turning point from a free-for-all industry to a government-regulated system. The Titanic disaster led a chaos of wireless communication. Journalists began demanding government regulation of wireless communication and Congress began taking testimony. Such as the Titanic Disaster, World War I and II made great impact on the development of communication technologies due to their military usage. The Godfather of the Internet Vannevar Bush had also a leading role in the development of the atomic bomb.(Vannevar Bush, 2009)

The final radiotelegraph transmissions from the Titanic. This recording is in all likelihood a simulation, but its exact origin is not known. Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snkwsU98QlQ

Even though many individuals and organizations tried to dominate the media in the twentieth century, none of them could remain long in control of the business of communication. According to Cowan, there were three main reasons of this lack of control: Amateurs innovating; government weakening monopolies; and free market economy. The technologies change but these actors remain the same. The names change; ham operators in the past, hackers in the present. (Cowan, 1997)

The issue of controlling the communication was controversial in the past, and it will be in the future, too. The charm of the ‘controlling the minds’ will never get old. The three main forces of this competition are the government, the business sector, and the individual users of the communication technologies. While they are competing to get in charge of the communication, they also determine the evolution of the new technologies. There is an incredible balance of this system in the United States, where the influence and interaction among these actors make the system sustainable and somehow independent from the absolute control of one. Therefore, there is no one straight answer to the question of controlling the communication. The mechanism works by keeping the questioning attitude. According to Cowan “Every technological change has profound social and ethical consequences, and we cannot rely on experts to make wise decisions about those consequences for us.” (Katzman, 1999)  

 

Sources:

Bush, V. (July 1945). As We May Think. The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush

Cowan, R. S. (1997).  A Social History of American Technology. (pp. 273-300) New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from https://eres.lib.washington.edu/eres/docs/145925/social_history_technology_ch12.tif.pdf

Czitrom, D. (1982). Media and the American Mind: From Morse to McLuhan. (pp. 3-29) Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from https://eres.lib.washington.edu/eres/docs/145926/media_american_mind_ch01.pdf

Hargittai, E. (1998). Reinventing Universal Broadcasting: Parallels Between Radio’s Early Years and the Internet’s Emergence. All About Internet Society. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.isoc.org/inet98/proceedings/2f/2f_1.htm

Howeth, L.S. (1963). History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy. (pp 153-165) . Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://earlyradiohistory.us/1963hw12.htm

Katzman, S. (August, 1999). Slippery Technic: Beyond Control. H-USA, Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Retrieved January 31, 2009, from http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=3328

Thompson, P.B. (2000). Book review. Agriculture and Human Values 17: (pp 409–410). Retrieved January 31, 2009, from http://www.springerlink.com/content/m6h7267xu7tnv114/fulltext.pdf

Vannevar Bush. (2009, January 5).In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 1, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush