Mass media in Canada

In The Gutenberg Galaxy, Marshall McLuhan writes that:

if a new technology extends one or more of our senses outside us into the social world, then new ratios among all of our senses will occur in that particular culture. It is comparable to what happens when a new note is added to a melody. And when the sense ratios alter in any culture then what had appeared lucid before may suddenly become opaque, and what had been vague or opaque will become translucent.

He gives great importance to the introduction of electronic media into the realm of people's everyday lives. According to McLuhan, the introduction of electronic media was one of the main media revolutions.[22] He claims that technology evoked an emotional response from audiences although it technically had no moral bias. Technology in the electronic age shapes an individual's (as well as a society's) self-realization. In other words, McLuhan writes about three major revolutions in his various works and gives great importance to the electronic one. Electronic mass media clearly have a large impact on Canadian society and affect audiences in a variety of ways.

The history of television in Canada begins in Montreal and Toronto, where the first television stations were started in 1952. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired its first broadcast on September 6, 1952 from Montreal's station, CBFT. The program was bilingual.[23] As mentioned by Irving, and supported by Arthur Siegel, modern media such as television and radio have become agents of denationalization because of the spillover of U.S. influence and fragmentation of media within Canada.[24] Siegel implies that because of this, the state of television in Canada (i.e. whether it is healthy or dying) depends on the state of television in the United States.

Television was welcomed when it was first introduced into society. It brought about a change from communication which was previously limited to only audio. If one wanted to view something on a screen, one would have to visit the cinema; the television provided a way of sitting at home and having visual communication as well as entertainment.[25] Nowadays, however, with the introduction of smartphones and the Internet, television is headed towards obsolescence according to Rabab Khan. He writes that because smartphones and computers allow one do what a television and radio combined allow, the need for the latter two media is declining.[25] However, he writes that television allows for a shared experience which computers and smartphones do not allow. Henry Blodget also addresses this issue and claims that because revenue and profits of the television industry are still steadily coming in, people are in denial about its inevitable failure.[26] He states that like the newspaper industry, television is beginning to migrate to the web and investing in digital platforms.[26]

The first radio broadcast station in Canadian history was WXA in Montreal, later called CINW. The first broadcast was on May 20, 1920.[27] Canada's first national radio network was established by a railway; the national radio was a product of the CNR, a state agency. Through this national radio, its creators saw a way of fostering and promoting immigration, enhancing the image of radio, and supporting the nation through communication with large groups of listeners.[28]

The consensus about radio in Canada as well as in most parts of the world is that it is a dying medium.[29] With innovations such as television and the Internet, which have allowed for audio communication paired with visual, there has been less need for radio. Furthermore, the introduction of personalized and portable listening devices (namely mp3 players) have replaced bulkier radios for many. Whereas Internet advertising revenues have steadily increased over recent years, advertising revenue for radio only increased by about 1.5 percent from 2006 to 2007, and this rate is likely to be even smaller now.[29] However, it is not fair to assume that radio is going to become obsolete in the near future; new forms, including online and satellite radio, have been introduced which provide new benefits for listeners. The fact that the radio industry has been able to hold its ground for so many years after the introduction of television is a testament to its longevity.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia:

The first Canadian films were produced in the fall of 1897, a year after the first public exhibition of motion pictures on 27 June 1896 in Montréal. They were made by James Freer, a Manitoba farmer, and depicted life on the Prairies. In 1898-99, the Canadian Pacific Railway showed them throughout the UK to promote immigration. They were so successful that the federal government sponsored a second tour by Freer in 1902 and the CPR began directly financing production of immigration films.[30]

According to an article in the Toronto Star, the Canadian film industry has always had problems with creating a popular culture because of the shadow of the United States' film industry. For this reason, Canadian films have failed due to a lack of an export market. Canadian actors frequently relocate to Hollywood to further their careers. Also, unlike radio and television, there is no protection for Canadian content in movie theatres.[31] It is clear that Hollywood movies are a lot more popular in Canada than Canadian-made movies. As a whole, the film industry (Hollywood) continues to make substantial profits in Canada as well as around the world; it can, therefore, be said that the medium is not dying.

In the 1950s and 1960s, with the creation of computers, is where the history of the Internet begins. In 1969 came the invention of ARPANET, the first network to run on packet-switching technology. These were the first hosts on what would one day become the Internet. The concept of email was first created by Ray Tomlinson in 1971, and this innovation was followed by Project Gutenberg and eBooks.[32] Tim Berners-Lee is considered the inventor of the World Wide Web; he implemented the first successful communication between a HyperText Transfer Protocol client and a server.[33]

Because the Internet allowed users ease of access to information about practically any topic, the medium has seen immense popularity ever since its inception. There has never been a point in its relatively short history (it has only been around for about 40 years) when it has declined in popularity. Of all mass media discussed, it seems to be the least threatened. There are various reasons for this: firstly, the Internet provides for its audiences a compilation of almost everything that other electronic media provide, in one convenient medium (a computer). For example, one can watch television shows, films, and listen to the radio online. There is little need for separate devices when everything is available in one. Secondly, the Internet allows for portability and accessibility of information. One no longer has to go to the library for information or go to a theatre in order to watch a film. Thirdly, most content on the Internet is available for free, which makes it more convenient for users. The foremost priority for the Internet has always been to better communication, and it does provide easy and fast communication through email, chat rooms, and online communities; it is also interactive in these ways. There are, however, disadvantages of this medium which do not exist in other electronic media: potential theft of personal information, spamming, and unwanted explicit content. However, as all of these disadvantages can be blocked through the use of protection software, they are not enough to override its advantages.[34] For this reason, the Internet seems to be a healthy and thriving medium to this day in Canada as well as around the world.

According to McLuhan's dichotomies of hot and cool media, print media occupy mostly a visual space, rather than other senses such as that of hearing (which is involved in media like television). He writes that this makes print media a hot medium, as it provides the reader with complete involvement without considerable stimulus.[35] Because print media are hot media, they involve relatively little interaction from users. McLuhan discussed three main media revolutions, one of them coming about with the invention of the printing press. He explained that with texts being mass-produced there was a new level of immediacy, accessibility, and a subsequent rise in literacy; in manuscript culture, access to texts was limited to a privileged few, whereas in print culture, literature increasingly became a commodity.[36] For this reason, print media was revolutionary at the time. However, with the more recent electronic revolution, the importance of print began to decline, as discussed below.

The first period of Canadian journalism spanned from 1752–1807; the second period spanned from 1807–1858; the third period spanned from 1858–1900; the fourth period spans from the beginning of the twentieth century to current day.[37] The first period consisted of newspapers brought and inserted into Canadian society by colonies in New England. The first was the Halifax Gazette, issued on March 23, 1752. The second period began as settlers arrived from Britain and the United States; newspapers began to gain popularity in the Maritime regions. During the third period, the discovery of gold brought settlers to the Pacific Coast region, and there was a growing interest in domestic affairs. Finally, the twentieth century saw a substantial change in Canadian newspapers. After the two world wars, as well as the industrial developments that followed these wars, the circulation of French and English newspapers in Canada increased to more than 5.7 million in 1989. By the mid-1980s, there were 110 daily newspapers. Nowadays, there are 105.[37]

Although online readership has been on the rise, studies by NADbank show that print readership is "business as usual." Nearly 8 in 10 Canadians read a daily newspaper each week, and print readership continues to grow at about 2 percent each year.[38] However, website readership is growing faster, at a rate of 4 percent. Although print readership is currently larger, website readership is growing at a faster rate, suggesting that a takeover is possible in the future. The baby boomer generation, who are over 50 years old, continue to prefer print to online journalism, while younger adults are more likely to read online newspapers due to easier access and limits on time. Furthermore, paid daily newspapers dominate the market but free dailies are gaining popularity in recent times. Advertisers continue to rely on print newspapers to reach Canadians in their home or work environments. For these reasons, print newspapers as a mass medium do not seem to be dying in Canada. They might not be as healthy as they were without any competition from online sources, but they are holding their own ground, according to Statistics Canada.[39]

As mentioned above, the first incident of printing in Canada came in 1752 with the Halifax Gazette. The history of the printed book is slightly different. In 1761, Anton Heinrich took over John Bushell's printing shop in Halifax. James Rivingston, a member of a family involved with bookselling and stationery in London, advertised a large stock of books and stationery for sale in Halifax. The first printing shop was established in 1764 by William Brown and Thomas Gilmore in Quebec. The earliest recorded almanac published in Canada was L'almanac de cabinet, printed by Brown and Gilmore in 1765.[40]

There are many who think that with the introduction of the Internet and e-reading, the printed book is on the decline for reasons of practicality; e-readers (such as the Kindle and Kobo) allow one to carry many books at once, are as portable as printed books, and provide instantaneous access to books (as opposed to having to search for printed books in a store). They can also be interactive, containing audio and image components and allowing readers to change font styles to suit their own preference.[41]

Certain people think that despite the introduction of e-books, the printed book is not a dying medium. The death of the book was predicted with the advent of radio, then film, then with television, and more recently with the Internet. Because of its history of perseverance, some people have hope that it will survive despite the e-book's various advantages. More people around the world have access to books in printed form than to computers. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that reading off of a screen for long periods of time is less comfortable in the long run than reading print off of a page.[42] For these reasons, whether or not the printed book is a dying medium in Canada can be debated either way; however, for now it seems that they are surviving and adapting (for example, through the use of more attractive graphics) despite such competition.

The first Canadian periodicals were established in Nova Scotia by people from New England. The first Canadian magazine was called Nova Scotia Magazine and Comprehensive Review of Literature, Politics, and News. It was edited by William Cochran and printed by John Howe. Publication began in 1789 and lasted three years. This magazine dealt mostly with affairs concerning the British public, despite its being published at a time of colonization in Canada.[43] After this first publication, most magazines over the next fifty years in Canada only lasted a few years, often only a few months. The first ever bilingual magazine, published in 1792, was entitled Le Magasin de Québec; it was published by Samuel Neilson.[44] Journalist and historian Michel Bibaud published La Bibliothèque Canadienne from 1825 to 1830, and John Lovell published the Literary Garland from 1838 to 1851. These were the most well-known exceptions to the rule that magazines lasted only a few years.[45] In the second half of the nineteenth century, the pace of magazine publishing in Canada picked up significantly. George Desbarats launched Canadian Illustrated News in 1869 and it lasted until 1883. Canadian Illustrated News was closely identified with a new emerging sense of Canadian nationalism, like other magazines of the time. Through the use of many pictures, Desbarats felt that the magazine would instill a sense of pride in readers for their Canadian name and society.[46]

According to David Renard, "Over the next 10 years, the magazine industry will experience deep-rooted change from primarily a print-oriented business to one where digital products will represent the largest share of a smaller periodical industry. We expect digital to be the primary source of revenue for magazines past the 2016-2017 time frame."[47] He claims that although print is not dead, the magazine industry might become obsolete. Although he is referring to periodicals in the United States, similar patterns exist in Canada, since over ninety percent of the most popular periodicals sold in Canada are American. Some say that magazines are evolving rather than dying; they are adapting to new technology by creating online versions. For example, iPad versions of magazines have been created recently.[48] However, this still implies that the printed medium of periodicals is dying while online versions are gaining popularity.