Relative displacement of media

During the 1980s the future of the book was endlessly debated in publishing circles. Before the widespread use of PCs or the invention of the Internet the threats were seen as TV and, later, CD-ROMs. The same concerns are still being voiced. One approach is to see what we can learn from history. This has lead to the development of a theory of the relative displacement of media.

Reflection on what happens when a new medium is invented has lead me to conclude that new media do not so much replace existing media as displace them. As far as I can work out every medium ever invented still exists. However, their respective contribution to human intercourse has altered considerably and often in unexpected ways.

For example we still have live theatre, carved tombstones and calligraphic scrolls. The first of these is even more accessible than when Burbage built England's first custom-built venue for plays in 1576. And in as much as type has replaced calligraphy the scrivener's output is unimaginably increased. So too, more recent media - all of whose demise was trumpeted when a new one appeared - are still with us. Think music hall (now in the form of live concerts), records, radio and cinema.

Each of these was doomed, according to many commentators in their day. Yet each is stronger now than in their so-called heyday. Of course each is a bit different in shape, scope, technology and content. But not so much that their roots or core skills are not evident. What is true is that each went through a period of uncertainty, retrenchment and decline before finding its new form.

So, what happens is that each new medium displaces every other medium, not only in relation to itself but also relative to all other existing media. Sometimes we find that new media create opportunities for existing media to evolve or sell themselves anew. Simply by offering increased opportunity for the public to hear music the radio increased rather than reduced record sales. Similarly, movies could be promoted better by TV (a visual medium) than they could by earlier alternatives. Incidentally, notice that movie posters are still with us!

But new media also influence the content of old media. So movies are now edited more tightly with lots of fast cuts as a result of the immediacy which TV brought, and magazine articles have declined in average length to reflect the sort of time segments and attention spans people are learning from TV. Radio has found a renewed niche as a more immediate and in-depth medium exploiting the greater mobility of reporters and correspondents with cellphones (another example of a new medium transforming an old).

References
1. Excerpted from an article by Gerard Reid on the future of the book in a newsletter issued by Egan-Reid Ltd (New Zealand) 2 July 2001

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu