Media Make History
From Gutenberg’s printing press
to digital TV: stages in German media history
1454
A far-reaching invention: Johannes Gutenberg casts moveable
letters in metal, inserts them in a press - and at the pull of a lever eight pages have
been printed. The mass production of books begins
1609
The world’s first newspapers: the "Aviso" from
Wolfenbüttel and the Strassburg "Relationen" publish eight pages a week News
1797
Printing progress: Alois Senefelder paints with fatty ink on
sanded, deacified limestone slabs and uses the water-repellent technique to invent
lithography, the forerunner of offset printing
1884
"Linotype" sets 6,000 letters an hour: the first
type-setting machine invented by German-American Ottmar Mergenthaler ends the old
handicraft, increases copies and the number of pages of newspapers
1923
"Attention please! We are briefly announcing that the
Berlin broadcasting station is beginning its radio entertainment transmissions." This
marks the birth of Germany’s first radio service, privately organized but steered by
the state. Its task: to entertain, inform and enlighten
1936
One year after Germany launched the world’s first
regular television program, the 1936 Olympic Games are broadcast live with three cameras -
but only within Berlin in 28 public TV rooms
1941
The birth of the computer: in Berlin civil engineer Konrad
Zuse presents his "Z3," the world’s first fully operational,
program-driven, electro-mechanical calculator. A revolutionary invention and the beginning
of the digital age
1945
The Allies issue press licences, and a free, diverse press
develops in western Germany with 169 newspapers and at times up to 250 magazines.
Particularly popular: "Der Spiegel" (1947). In 1949 the freedom of the press is
written into the Basic Law of the Federal Republic
1950
World literature published on newsprint. The Rowohlt
publishing house starts the first paperback series with Hans Fallada’s "Kleiner
Mann, was nun?" In Germany’s post-war years of hardship the rotary press makes
literature affordable. The book becomes a mass medium
1954
In 1950 the new broadcasting services in the various western
Länder combine to form the national radio and television network in Germany (ARD) and
begin broadcasting "German television" throughout the Federal Republic. Nine
years later the "Zweite Deutsche Fernsehen" (ZDF) is launched, now Europe’s
largest television station
1990er
Germany clicks and surfs: in the 1990s the Internet
revolutionizes work and private life. The number of Internet connections soars rapidly.
Today 54 percent of Germans use the web, especially young people: 92 percent of
14-19year-olds are online. World news tops the hit list
2002
No flickering, no hissing: in 2002 "universal
television" is launched in Berlin and enables people to use free digital television
via an aerial - in the car, the garden, everywhere. Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T)
enables interactive viewing via the TV screen. By 2010 the whole German TV network will be
digitalized.
(Deutschland Magazine. Embassy of Germany, Ktm) |
