These are some of the most important names and concepts to remember in American mass media history. This list does not include every name or concept that may be discussed in class or included on a test, but it does cover many of the important ones. Use it as a starting point for your review of the material.
 

PART ONE: 1600-1865

Pre-colonial foundations

The development of the printing press 
Licensing in England 
John Milton and freedom of expression 

Colonial America

The colonial setting - culture and lifestyles 
The nature of colonial publishing and colonial newspapers 
News and opinion before the revolution 
Colonial press freedom and censorship 
Key figures in the period: 
Benjamin Harris 
John Campbell 
James Franklin 
Ben Franklin 
The Bradford family 
John Peter Zenger 
Andrew Hamilton 
Thomas Paine 
Isaiah Thomas 
Benj. Edes/John Gill 
James Rivington 
Rising tensions: the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, the 
Boston Tea Party, etc. 
The press, the Revolutionary War and its aftermath 

The early national period

Federalists: John Fenno, William Cobbett, Noah Webster, 
Alexander Hamilton 
The Federalist Papers (Hamilton, Madison and Jay) 
Alien and Sedition Acts Anti-Federalists: Thomas Jefferson, Philip Freneau, B.F. Bache 
Croswell libel trial and "Hamilton Doctrine" 
The mercantile press era: James Watson Webb, 
William Coleman, William Cullen Bryant 
Newsboat races/New York Harbor Association 
Early Washington journalism: The National Intelligencer, 
The Washington Globe 

The penny press era

New developments in printing technology 
Urbanization and growing literacy 
The first mass media 
The press and the Mexican War 
The growth of the news function 
The telegraph and the Associated Press 
Early magazine journalism 
    Godey's Lady's Book 
    Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper 
    Harper's Weekly 
    Atlantic Monthly 
Rising north-south tensions 
Compromise of 1850 
Kansas-Nebraska Act 
Jayhawk War 
Dred Scott Decision 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 
Southern journalism and the Press Association of the C.S.A. 
Copperheads and Civil War censorship 
Trends in news style: inverted pyramid, objectivity, brevity, bylined correspondents, elimination of ads on page one 
Key figures of the period: 
Benjamin Day 
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. 
Horace Greeley 
Henry J. Raymond/George Jones 
Robert Barnwell Rhett 
Frederick Douglass 
William Lloyd Garrison 
Elijah Lovejoy 
Matthew Brady 
Wilbur Storey 
 

PART TWO: 1865-Present

Northern, southern and western publishers after the Civil War

Key figures of the period: 
Charles A. Dana 
Henry Grady 
"Marse Henry" Watterson 
William Rockhill Nelson 
James Gordon Bennett, Jr. 

The "new journalism," yellow journalism and muckraking

Technology: stereotyping, the linotype machine, halftone engraving, telephones, typewriters, etc. 
Trends in American society: Great cities, immigration, growth of the secondary education system, etc. 
Key figures of the period: 
Joseph Pulitzer 
William Randolph Hearst 
Adolph Ochs 
Carr Van Anda 
E.W. Scripps 
Harry Tammen and Fred Bonfils 
William Allen White 
Frank Munsey 
Ida Tarbell 
Lincoln Steffens 
S.S. McClure 

Print journalism in the 20th century

Tabloid journalism (also Lord Northcliffe) 
The growth of chain or group ownership 
Standardization: syndicates and wire services 
Competing with new media: the "magazine concept" 
Trends in newspaper design 
Shoppers and "throw-aways" 
Suburbanization and suburban dailies 
Key figures of the period: 
The Chandlers (Harry, Norman, Otis) 
Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe) 
Robert McCormick 
Joseph M. Patterson 
Bernarr MacFadden 
Roy Howard 
Henry Luce 
Samuel I. Newhouse 
John S. Knight 
Rupert Murdoch 

Journalism and war in a democracy

Censorship and the First Amendment (Oliver Wendell Holmes) 
The Civil War 
The Spanish-American War 
World War I (George Creel, Committee on Public Information) 
World War II (Elmer Davis, Office of War Information) 
The Cold War (Sen. Joseph McCarthy) 
Television wars: Vietnam, Grenada, the Persian Gulf 

The history of advertising and public relations

The growth of agencies 
Relationship of advertising to the press 
Key figures in early advertising history: 
Volney B. Palmer 
N. W. Ayer 
Albert Lasker 
Key figures in early public relations: 
Ivy Ledbetter Lee 
Edward L. Bernays 

The development of the electronic media

Why early "wireless" was not a mass medium 
Key figures in early broadcast history: 
Guglielmo Marconi 
Lee DeForest 
Edwin H. Armstrong 
David Sarnoff 
William S. Paley 
RCA, NBC, CBS: the growth of networks 
1912 Radio Act 
1927 Radio Act 
1934 Communications Act 
Chain Broadcasting Report and early FCC restrictions on networks 
The advent of television 
1948 talent raid 
1948-52 license freeze; 6th Report and Order 
The "blacklist" 
Intermedia competition: radio v. newspapers, TV v. radio, 
TV v. movies, cable v. over-the-air TV, cable v. telcos 
Quiz show and payola scandals 
"Wasteland" speech (Newton Minow) 
Multiplex FM stereo 
1962 All-Channel Receiver Act 
1992 Cable Act and 1996 Telecommunications Act 
Ownership restrictions in broadcasting 
Programming trends in broadcasting 
The broadcast news function 
The growth of cable (Ted Turner) 
New technologies: the Internet, DTV, DBS, etc.