Media cannot exist without the presence of an audience. As long as there have been audiences, there has been an arena for media to exist, and in a significant way. Currently, technology has enabled the media to infiltrate several facets of daily life, which allows these media forms to come into contact with an audience on a regular basis, whether that be via radio, television, newsprint, the Internet and several other components of the industry.
The most notable early forms of modern mediation of information took place in the 1920's and 1930's, through the use of mass propaganda by Nazi Germany via radio, film and newspaper (Pope,2004).
With the invention of television in 1947 came a new media format by which audiences could receive both information and entertainment (Pope, 2004). Soon, as televisions became a staple in nearly every household in North America, few could deny that the content shown on a television set within the home had some impact and influence on the viewers who were watching.
However, despite attempts to manipulate audiences through the media,either by politicians or those who run the industry,audience members have become more and more sophisticated in their behaviour everyday, as the more mediated information they are exposed to, the better chance they have of picking out what they chose to accept and that which they reject.
How Audiences Use the Media
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