Essay #1 – The Printing Press as an Agent of Change （ class of media history）

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Media Studies 111

2 March 2020

Power on Paper: How Print Changed Colonial Expansion by European States

The advent of print in Europe during the 1400s heightened the quest for European

imperial power in the 15th century and beyond. Since it brought new ways to represent global

authority, printing offered an exciting opportunity for states seeking global domination. As

governments recognized the possibilities of print, their desire and justification for colonial

expansion developed dramatically. The ability to permanently fix cultural superiority, geographic

claims, and national identity as a result of print offered new ways for state powers to legitimize

and represent colonial expansion.

The historical agents tied to colonial expansion were certain European state governments

hoping to extend their power abroad. This essay will draw on the expansionist activities of the

Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, and English states. Many explorers from

these empires were sent by their nation’s rulers to survey and conquer foreign land. For example,

the Spanish Empire sent its first explorers in the late 15th century with the task of imperial

conquest in the Americas. The Portuguese Empire, on the other hand, had its sights set on West

Africa, India, Brazil, Malacca, China, and Japan. The Dutch East India Company, an

international trade organization formed in the Netherlands, was a state-like institution that

pursued colonial ambitions through corporate control of regions abroad. Although colonial

expansion existed before print, scribal culture merely allowed for temporary and easily damaged

delineations of state control. Meanwhile, the advent of print presented new and more lasting

ways to document governance. As “[ajccounts of the early voyages were read and published

around Europe[,]” the “potential of the unknown lands soon began to excite […] Europe’s ruling

powers” (Pettegree 281). All of these states and institutions wanted global domination, and print

would allow that power to be represented on durable and widely disseminated paper.

Specifically, typographical fixity was what gave imperial powers an exciting new avenue

for representing world domination. By typographical fixity, I am referring to the ability of print

to fix languages, interpretations, and representations in place, as opposed to the mutability of

scribal texts. According to Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, who coined the term, “archetypes were

converted into stereotypes” once printing made it possible to maintain certain representations

over long periods of times. (Eisenstein, “Some Features,” 99). Prior to print, evidence of

nation-building could exist only in handwritten works, which were too vulnerable to change,

loss, or destruction to serve as accurate permanent records. Moreover, written works were not

widely available because producing multiple copies was labor intensive. Even when manuscript

texts were replicated, they were too “liable to get corrupted after being copied over the course of

time” (Eisenstein, “The Emergence,” 8). For state governments, typographical fixity allowed

geographic claims, cultural superiority, and national identity to be fixed in place, which

intensified and justified colonial expansion.

Stereotypes about uncivilized native peoples spread through print provided state

governments with justifications for colonial expansion as a civilizing mission. Before empires

acted on imperialist ambitions, they were already informed by printed tropes about

non-European peoples. The 1355 travelogue titled Travels by John de Mandeville included

“exotic [descriptions] of the marvels of the East[,]” featuring fantastic imagery of the

cannibalism and nudity found there (Pettegree 282). Thanks to the advent of print, Mandeville’s

travelogue “remained a steady bestseller” that “went through multiple editions in almost every

European language during the sixteenth century” (Pettegree 282-283). These kinds of sensational

depictions continued and were used by European powers to justify sending explorers to civilize

the natives while gaining colonial territory. The Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci’s travels

were detailed in his 1504 book Mundus novus (Pettegree 282). Vespucci emphasized the

cannibalistic nature of the people he encountered, mentioning that he “met a man who had eaten

300 people” (Pettegree 282). These shocking portrayals of foreign territories were spread in

Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Cologne, with later reprints spreading to France and more parts of

Germany (Pettegree 282). Another example of the stereotypes about colonial regions fixed

through print is in the French explorer Andre Thevet’s depiction of Brazil in Les singularitez de

la France antarctique (Pettegree 283). Although The vet barely experienced the indigenous

people of Brazil, he heavily relied on ancient tropes in describing their “thrillingly exotic and yet

reassuringly familiar” culture (Pettegree 284). All of these travelogues drew on stereotypes about

native peoples and cultures fixed in place by print. As printed depictions of the barbarous natives

and their primitive lifestyles proliferated throughout Europe, state governments were able to

justify their colonial expansion in these “uncivilized” territories.

While printed representations of indigenous culture legitimized European imperialism,

the advent of printed maps also fixed state expansion in place. One cartographer named Ptolemy

published his maps in a collection titled Geography in the 15th century (Pettegree 287). Once

printing grew in popularity, his “revised and reissued” maps were printed throughout the

sixteenth century, fixing his geographic interpretations in place (Pettegree 287). The publication

of his maps initiated a revival of map-making throughout Europe. Aiming to “lay claim to newly

discovered territories,” state governments were eager to encourage cartography (Pettegree 288).

Although the Spanish and Portuguese empires initially utilized manuscript maps to keep their

trade routes confidential, the Dutch East India Company used print to its advantage (Berg 139).

This state-like institution lacked the resources of other empires, but it “had printers, engravers

and cartographers who could disseminate the latest geographical information via maps, globes

and atlases” (Berg 139). These maps soon served as indicators of the company’s imperial

ambitions and success. Specifically, the descriptions of colonial territories in Lucas Janszoon

Waghenaer’s Spieghel der zeevaerdt from 1584 was a “clear indication that the Dutch were

setting sail for ever more distant horizons” (Berg 139). In other words, the use of print by the

Dutch was a way to show off imperial ambitions. Although the Dutch were reluctant “to actually

settle and physically hold the lands they visited[,]” they used printed maps to emphasize their

territorial claims. In addition to geographic advantage, the Dutch also represented their

technological superiority through maps “peppered with no less than nine Dutch ships, including

one flying the colors of the city of Amsterdam” (Weislogel 36). As seen in maps created by the

Dutch, the advent of print generated new ways of depicting state power abroad. Printed maps

became another avenue for state governments to fix territorial claims in place and establish

superiority over competing empires.

Just as print allowed state powers to portray and justify their colonial expansion, it also

made it possible for European governments to strengthen national identities. Since printed travel

accounts spread tropes about the savage peoples in colonial lands, European empires formed

identities based on cultural supremacy. One example is Johannes Boemus’s descriptive

geography work titled Omnium gentium mores, which provides reports about people in Europe,

Africa and Asia (Pettegree 283). Boemus describes the “customs and mores of distant peoples”

only to “contrast them with the cultured and civilised core of Christian Europe” (Pettegree 283).

Several “historio-topographical works of the sixteenth century” use this kind of cultural

nationalism to establish state identities marked by superiority over colonized regions (Pettegree

283). While descriptive maps spread notions of cultural dominance, geographic maps also

created new notions of national identity. The ability to fix state boundaries made it possible for

recognizable national identities on printed maps. In England, cartographers “[working] under the

protection of the English crown” printed atlases that fixed county and state borders in place

(Pettegree 289). One English cartographer published an atlas of county maps in 1579 which

“made a material contribution to consolidating a sense of place in the English county

community” (Pettegree 289). In England and other European states, printing allowed for the

emergence of national identity through borders on maps. Geographic boundaries and cultural

nationalism were two effects of print that made states form national identities. With newly

strengthened and fixed national identities, European governments could legitimize their pursuit

of colonial territory.

Print drastically changed the way state governments conducted colonial expansion. By

fixing stereotypes about colonized territories and peoples in place, print justified territorial

conquest. In addition, the ability to fix geographic claims through printed maps offered states and

state-like institutions a new method of highlighting imperial successes. Finally, state

governments emphasized their nation’s cultural superiority and geographic borders through print,

establishing fixed national identities that drove expansion abroad. In every case, the emergence

of print and its typographical fixity offered European imperial powers new methods of justifying

and depicting colonial expansion. After the advent of print, European powers had the

unprecedented ability and motivation to legitimize and boast their colonial successes.

Works Cited

Berg, Thomas Reinertsen. “Venturing Out” in Theater o f the World: The Maps that made

History, pp. 134-165.

Eisenstein, Elizabeth. “The Emergence of Print Culture in the West” in The Printing Revolution

in Early Modern Europe, pp. 3-12.

Eisenstein, Elizabeth. “Some Features of Print Culture” in The Printing Revolution in Early

Modern Europe, pp. 46-101.

Pettegree, Andrew. “Science and Exploration” in The Book in the Renaissance, pp. 273-296.

Weislogel, Andrew. “Macrocosm/Microcosm: The Dutch Worldview from the Quarterdeck and

the Curiosity Cabinet” in The New and Unknown World, pp. 31-45.

Media Studies 111

2 March, 2020

The Power of the Printed Page: Martin Luther and Religious Protest

Being absolved of sin and escaping indefinite punishment in purgatory only cost a

donation to the Catholic Church and was a privilege encouraged by the arrival of the printing

press—the very innovation that ironically brought said practice of pardoning to its demise

centuries later. Andrew Pettegree’s The Book in the Renaissance examines the historical

developments of print and its capacity to stymie the grasp of dominant institutions over societal

functioning. In the realm of religion, the appearance of Martin Luther and his 95 theses

denouncing the Pope-patroned indulgence trade single-handedly transformed the trajectory of the

Protestant Reformation. Bringing into question the validity of indulgences was an act of high

controversy, as the profitable institution boasted genuine support as a means of funding German

church construction and the war against the Turks, among other local causes aligned with public

interest (Pettegree 93). However, Luther, an esteemed church minister and professor in his time,

was inclined toward heresy, unable to see past the glaring characterization of the Church as a

money-hungry entity disconnected from any true desire to promote atonement among its

subjects. Backed by scholars that resonated with condemnation of the flagrant commercialization

of faith by the Church, Luther’s theses first underwent rapid dissemination in the humanist

learning hubs of Nuremberg and Basel and later in the far reaches of the European continent

(Pettegree 94). The broad reaches of Luther’s influence as a success story of the printing press is

deeply connected to the concepts of profitability and literature of conflict as discussed by

Pettegree. Seeing the profitability of Luther’s heretical works, European printers expanded the

scope of a theological debate amongst academic and clerical circles to engage vernacular

audiences in a literature of conflict between Protestants and Catholics; change in religious protest

was thereby effected through greater inclusion of repressed voices against the domineering

Church.

The printer’s natural inclination toward tasks that guaranteed a steadier flow of income

decisively shifted societal power structures during the Reformation, as the profitability of

Luther’s heretical writings launched unorthodox ideas into public discourse. Particularly risky

because of its demand for “the huge investment in plant, paper and wages”, printing as a budding

enterprise forced its participants to be strategic in deciding what projects to take up (Pettegree

71). For this reason, gauging profitability was crucial to economic success in the

industry.

Initially, simple single-sheet jobbing works like indulgences were equated with profitability.

These receipts were a fair trade between the up-and-coming printers and the Catholic Church: the

former invested little and enjoyed rapid return while the latter cemented its hold on

socially-accepted ideology as people quite literally bought into the Papacy’s claim that it could

absolve sin with a sheet of paper (Pettegree 94). However, once the proliferation of the printing

press reached “international” status across Europe, stimulating public interest and accruing a

wide readership topped the lineup of a printer’s priorities (Pettegree 67). As in the case of

Luther’s 95 theses, controversy sold well for its novelty and capacity to rally the eager, yet

previously voiceless. Additionally, printing works that fulfilled a particular niche market was a

highly profitable endeavor in that monopolizing a specialization proved more stable than

competing against an innumerable count of other generalist printers in an industry mired by

unpredictability (Pettegree 70). Contentious works that challenged established social order are

novelties; this fact presents such works as opportunities to develop a new niche. This specialized

method of conducting business proved beneficial for the handful of printers that Luther entrusted

with his original manuscripts. By employing painter Lucas Cranach to create a visual brand of

Luther as “the visionary young monk” and “Protestant patriarch and father”, Luther was able to

use that brand to command a sort of cult following—a niche of sorts (Pettegree 98). Ultimately,

the ability of the Protestant Reformation to more effectively penetrate Catholic influence across

the European continent was largely dependent on the introduction and rise of the printing press.

Although Luther’s criticism against the Papacy’s indulgence trade was not an unprecedented

argument, his success in reaching distant audiences can be attributed to his fortunate timing: the

printing press, an invention for publication that outsped the hand of any scribe, was at his

disposal (“Jan Hus”). With the help of the press, these heretical works facilitated what Pettegree

deemed a literature of conflict.

The literature of conflict, by its existence alone, evidenced the power of visibility that

unorthodox practitioners were afforded—a power previously inaccessible to them without the

advent of print. Beginning with Luther in Wittenberg, heretical ideas often circulated amongst

the public by word of mouth and led to expanded press engagement in Luther’s works across

Germany as printers sought to profit from this newfound interest. Although his teachings

encountered largely negative reception in countries like Spain and Italy, regions adjacent to

Germany incited their own local iterations of Luther’s movement, as in Switzerland with the

Swiss Reformation (Pettegree 107). Adverse reactions were situated in specific historical and

cultural contexts; in Spain, the Catholic Church was celebrated for its hand in helping the

country seize control over the last Moorish outpost thirty years prior while anti-Italianism

sentiment in Germany encouraged rejection of Luther’s beliefs (Pettegree 116). The increasing

polarization between Catholics and Protestants erupted in a series of “pamphlet wars”, with the

printed page as both the vehicle for discrediting either side and the root of a murderous rage that

ultimately culminated in genocide (Pettegree 204). From literature now made widely accessible

by the printing press, religious conflict found its foundations. Faced with legitimate concerns of

massacre and violence, Protestant practitioners fled in a period of mass migration to seek out

refuge in places where they could worship in accordance with their own beliefs. This form of

self-exile incubated radicalism within those who had been forced abroad, making them the

“eager consumers of the most violent religious polemic” (Pettegree 207). In line with the

profitability argument, Pettegree observes the printers’ immediate adoption of this new market

for a Protestant refugee diaspora, most notably in Geneva (Pettegree 207). It was the sheer

expanse of Luther’s influence that incited conservative jurisdiction across several western

European countries. Spearheaded by the Pope’s Index of Forbidden Books, localized censorship

efforts shifted paradigmatically to regulate the sale—rather than production—of books of heresy.

With this, the volatility of conflict over the printed word entered a new dimension as the stakes

for Portestant expression rose to mean persecution or even execution for those found in “mere

possession of a forbidden text” (Pettegree 206). Yet, in spite of the seeming success of the

Papacy and orthodox clerics in exercising control over religious practice and worship, the

literature of conflict is telling of the printing press’s capacity to bring about challenges to the

ruling institution. The widespread mobilization of Protestants—however small and secretive as

importing metrical psalms to the small evangelical congregations of France—testifies to the way

print effectively engaged the vernacular public in a theological debate that would have otherwise

remained confined to the scholarly sphere.

Motivated nearly entirely by profitability of potential tasks, printers across Europe swore

their allegiance to Luther as long as his popularity ensured steady revenue for their

thousand-copy editions of Protestant teachings—a count that stood as a testament to his status as

a writer who enjoyed unprecedented demand for any printed work. But as much as printing

centers flourished as a result of Luther’s command of language, Luther relied on the printing

press to publish and popularize his ideologies. Existing in a mutually beneficial relationship, the

famed dissenter of the Catholic Church and his trusted entourage of printers fanned the flames of

religious conflict with their own specialized weapon: printed literature. Such a widespread

demonstration of religious protest against the dominant orthodox beliefs of the time would have

been wholly nonexistent had it not been for the efficiency and productivity of the entire print

industry.

Works Cited

“Book Town Wittenberg.” The Book in the Renaissance, by Andrew Pettegree, Yale

University Press, 2010, pp. 91-106.

“Jan Hus.” Reformation 500, Concordia Seminary, 11 June 2014.

“Luther’s Legacy.” The Book in the Renaissance, by Andrew Pettegree, Yale University

Press, 2010, pp. 107-129.

“The Creation of a European Book Market.” The Book in the Renaissance, by Andrew Pettegree,

Yale University Press, 2010, pp. 65-90.

“The Literature of Conflict.” The Book in the Renaissance, by Andrew Pettegree, Yale

University

Press, 2010, pp. 203-225.

Dr. Matthew Berry

Media History

02 March 2020

Eisenstein’s Standardization and American Revolution

In Alexis de Tocqueville’s magnum opus Democracy in America, he attempts to ascertain

the cause of success of the peculiar representative democratic republic. He marveled at the

freedom of press found in the burgeoning country and found that “the power of the periodical

press is only second to that of the people” (de Toqueville, 201). The printer was the essential

agent of change in the American Revolution, although driven primarily by economic interest

rather than patriotic fervor. Utilizing the conception of standardization as described by Elizabeth

Eisenstein in The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, the development of efficient

news networks in colonial America will be analyzed in the context of establishing the conditions

necessary for the American revolution. Then, the conditions including the 1765 Stamp Act that

made supporting Revolutionary ideas economically beneficial for printers will be elucidated, as

well as the moment where printers began to readily produce and circulate revolutionary texts.

Elizabeth Eisenstein’s The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe is a seminal text

in the field of media history and has produced many influential ideas that have inspired

generations of academics. Eisenstein belongs to the same tradition as Marshall McLuhan which

believes that the development of print media has revolutionized the structure of knowledge,

modes of perception, and the organization of society and politics. She discusses in Chapter Three

of her work the importance of standardization in the development of print media. Standardization

refers to a sort of twofold phenomenon in printing. Firstly, standardization refers to the ability

after the advent of the printing press to mass produce identical (to varying degrees in early print

history) copies of print. This includes many typographical innovations as well as a shift in style:

“the very concept of a ‘style’ underwent transformation when the work of hand and ‘stylus’ was

replaced by more standardized impressions made by pieces of type” (Eisenstein 58). As printed

copies of a work were more or less identical, it was now much easier to compare an original

scribal work with its copy and notice the inferiority of the copy. This was another catalyst for the

process of standardization.

The onset of standardization also implies a shift in information across space, as now

librarians and other keepers of printed text in separate locations could organize printed materials

coherently in similar ways. Prior to the development of a printing culture, librarians often

organized their collections arbitrarily, and certainly not in any manner uniform across their trade.

Standardization, not only in the manner texts were printed, but also in their categorization was

seminal in developing a coherent structure across borders: “Thus the competitive commercial

character of the printed book trade when coupled with typographical standardization made more

systematic cataloguing and indexing seem not only feasible but highly desirable as well”

(Eisenstein 72). The organizational shift levied by standardization is essential in understanding

the development of a collective print culture.

While this may imply that notions around printed media and adjacent structures become

more uniform as mass production becomes the industry norm, Eisenstein actually concludes the

opposite. Standardization encourages individualization simply because printers need to

differentiate their works from those of their competitors. As stated, “Concepts pertaining to

uniformity and to diversity – to the typical and to the unique – are interdependent. They

represent two sides of the same coin” (Eisenstein 62). While Eisenstein mostly described the

advent of standardization in the temporal framework of early Modem Europe, it can also be

recontextualized and examined in the pre-colonial American era as an element imperative for

revolution.

Standardization was an essential actor in the printing and spread of revolutionary texts

through colonial America, which garnered enough patriotic fervor among the people to launch a

revolt against the Crown. Firstly, it would be impossible to establish the unique and complex

colonial news nexus required for spreading printed materials without standardization. Printing

technology and the ability to mass produce copies to circulate through the colonies were made

possible by standardization practices. The American newspaper was born from the advent of the

postal service. On John Campbell, American postmaster who compiled one of America’s first

weekly newspapers, Paul Starr says in The Creation o f the Media: Political Origins o f Modern

Communications “He conceived of his rule as that of a functionary, not a journalist, treating the

newspaper as an extension of his work as postmaster” (Starr 55). Early periodicals like

Campbell’s were mostly compilations of the most relevant news coming from Europe, and

steered clear of any potentially sensitive topics. The role of the early American printer is highly

reminiscent of the Eisenstenian conception of early printers simultaneously occupying the role of

the “indexer-abridger-translator-lexicographer-chronicler” (Eisenstein 66). Because of this early

and close tie between print and the post, a standardized organizational structure emerged around

the circulation of news periodicals emerged in America. While a number of cities initially had

only one printer making the business of printing monopolistic, competition soon emerged,

forcing the printers to differentiate in order to survive.

Starr notes two stages of transformation in pre-colonial American printing, the first of

which in 1720 introduced competition to the printing industry: “The emergence of public debate

in the press came with the shift from monopoly to competition in printing and newspapers and

with the more general growth and increasing diversity of colonial societies” (Starr 56). This is

another shift that can be attributed to standardization, namely its inclination to push towards

individualization and differentiation. Competing printers had to make sure that their publications

were sufficiently unique in order to garner loyal readership, and could be more bold in their

editorial choices as they did not have to cater to an entire general audience. The development of

diversity and economic competition creates the need to put out a regular publication in order to

survive in the publication industry. This forges a community of interconnected printers and

publishers, have communications networks and are familiar with reliable communications. This

circulation was key in developing a collective consciousness among colonies who had previously

felt like separate entities. In summary, the driving force of standardization generated a reliable

news nexus in order to circulate news periodicals, which would eventually be utilized to spread

revolutionary texts throughout the colonies.

The second transformation in pre-colonial American described by Starr occurs around

1765, marked by “the active, partisan engagement of newspapers in political conflict” (Starr 57).

The dissemination of revolutionary texts through pamphlets and newspapers was not possible

before the American printer was convinced that support would translate to economic success.

The 1765 Stamp Act passed by the Crown enraged colonial printers and readers alike. It was

equivalent to a 50% sales tax on any printed materials in the colonies, which made the business

of printing very difficult. In light of this incredibly unpopular legislation, printers begin to take

sides. Around two-thirds agree with the Sons of Liberty and begin to publish materials with a

revolutionary stance. It is evident that printers saw themselves as catalysts for change, even if

some historians considered them mostly carried by instead of dictating shifting political

situations. In a piece examining the impact of colonial printers of the American South, Calhoun

Winton concluded “By the time of the American Revolution southern printers at any rate

certainly did not see themselves in this way. They knew their printing press was an agent of

change” (Baron et al. 249).

Historically, printers would ally and print the ideas of whatever side was offering the

greatest growth potential, meaning they would invest in works that attracted attention and

readership. As Pettegree describes in The Book in the Renaissance, printers dating even back to

the reign of Maximillian I in the 13th century “…worked to commission, and under their

instructions. The news content was largely incidental to the primary purpose of raising money,

explaining policy, or rallying support” (Pettegree 132). It is clear that entrepreneurial minded

printers align with causes the majority of the public was sympathetic to in order to maximize

profits. Revolutionary newspapers and pamphlets like those written by Thomas Paine were

accessible, exciting, and incited many colonists to join the separatist cause. Common Sense was

printed in 25 editions and consisted of 150,000 copies. Its wide publication allowed for

Revolutionary ideas to reach far and wide, which was enabled by communications structures

established by standardization. It is clear that printers continued to print and circulate similar

revolutionary texts because it was a great generator of revenues. While there certainly were

limits to this because of constraints applied by various state policies across history, the printer’s

primary pursuit was ultimately that of their bottom line.

The Eisensteinian conception of standardization is incredibly important in understanding

the role of the printer as the main catalyst for change during the American Revolution. Firstly,

innovations in standardization of printed materials allowed for a distinct print culture to emerge

in pre-colonial America that formed a communications network for numerous copies of

periodical materials to circulate throughout the colonies. Secondly, standardization encouraged

differentiation and specialization in the publishing realm, generating the economic competition

that would motivate printers to produce and circulate revolutionary texts. The colonial printer

was in many ways the most fervent patriot and the essential force of change in enabling the

American Revolution.

Works Cited:

Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, et al. Agent o f Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L.

Eisenstein. University of Massachusetts Press, 2007. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/book/4297.

Eisenstein, Elizabeth. The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University

Press, 2012.

Pettegree, Andrew. The Book in the Renaissance, Yale University Press, 2010. ProQuest Ebook

Central,

https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/lib/berkeley-ebooks/detail.action7docI

D=3421019.

https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/lib/berkeley-ebooks/detail.action7docI

Starr, Paul. The Creation o f the Media: Political Origins o f Modern Communications. Basic

Books, 2004.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America.

https://www.gutenberg.0rg/files/815/815-h/815-h.htm#link2HCH0026.

https://www.gutenberg.0rg/files/815/815-h/815-h.htm%23link2HCH0026

Media Studies 111
2 March 2020

An Independence Rooted in Newspapers

Paul Starr’s novel The Creation o f Media: Political Origins o f Modern Communication

identifies the parallels between the development of colonial media and the political uprising

against British imperial rule. Starr highlights a letter written by William Cushing – the colonial

chief justice in 1789 – which attributed the American Revolution to the colonial progressions in

media: “Without the liberty of the press could we have supported our liberties against British

administration?” (Starr, 70). Cushing explicates the essential role the press had in encouraging

the separation from England’s control. From the discovery of the colonies until the declaration of

American sovereignty, significant shifts in the news facilitated an increased sense of nationalism

and openness to political controversy. Starr depicts colonial newspapers as “immense moral and

political engines” to stress that they were instrumental in the ignition of rebellion (70). To fully

comprehend the extent of newspapers’ importance in the revolutionary era we must explore the

evolution from unbiased stories about foreign events to the outbreak of highly-debated political

journalism. Increased localization and competition in the newspaper industry birthed a unified

national identity and fostered political engagement that established the formation of the

American Revolution. Furthermore, the progression of colonial newspapers empowered

Americans to revolt against the limitations of British rule, both in media and politics.

Colonial civilization was shaped to promote the culture depicted in London’s press

because colonial newspapers were structured to mimic British news; thus, preventing Americans

from discovering their own distinct identity. Andrew Pettegree’s chapter “Cry Freedom”

analyzes the influence the news – the medium that information arrives in – has had on political

revolutions. Pettegree explicates that before the mid-1700s the Parliament enforced strict

restrictions on free press, believing that it was “very necessary for all governments that the

people should have a good opinion of it” to stress that controversy to England’s political

dominance resulted in criminalization (Pettegree, 330). Therefore, the colonial news primary role

was to please the Parliament. To do this, the news almost exclusively conveyed foreign affairs.

Petegree exemplifies this through the founding of John Campbell’s newspaper, the Boston News-

Letter, in 1704. Petegree stresses that the paper’s success resulted from Campbell’s mirroring of

London’s press style and avoidance of local or controversial topics. Paul Starr’s chapter “News

Foundations” also explores “the first published paper in the colonies” and suggests that England

permitted the production and distribution of Campbell’s newspaper because it posed no threat to

British superiority and set the precedent for colonial newspapers to be unoriginal and impersonal

(Starr, 55). Starr expresses that because of Campbell’s unbiased approach to publication “most of

what the colonists knew about the world went through an English filter,” until a rapid rise in

request for timely information instigated a shift towards demand for the localization of news

(47). Furthermore, initial colonial publications – like the Boston News-Letter – centered their

news around London to demonstrate their support of the Parliament’s authority. However, the

absence of local reporting forged a gap among colonists that would present a need for change

within the press industry.

Since the colonial news was extremely dependent upon foreign media many challenges

arose that stunted the press’s ability to earn profit, consequently encouraging newspapers to

entertain their audiences with stories of domestic events. Petegree noted that Campbell’s success

declined as colonists realized the press took nearly a year for foreign news to be received from

across the Atlantic Ocean, re-printed within colonial newspapers, and redistributed throughout

the colonies. While awaiting new reports from England, colonial publications used

“advertisements, correspondence, witty and diverting articles” in an attempt to fill the pages

(Petegree, 335). However, with the delayed publication of events, colonists did not want to

purchase outdated newspapers because they believed the stories were irrelevant. Around the

same time of the decline in newspaper consumers, there was also an increase in colonial literacy

– providing an enlarged potential market for American publications. In Starr’s chapter

“Capitalism and Democracy in Print,” he illustrates that “America’s high literacy rate and its

rapidly growing population” during the build-up to the revolution, urged the colonial press to

adapt their approach to news (Starr, 114). Ultimately, the combination of untimely news

reporting and amplified literacy rates generated the need for newspapers to switch from foreign

to local-based news.

The localization of media promoted the expansion of political education and engagement,

enabling the colonists to craft a sense of unified nationalism. Starr mentions that “debates about

policy increasingly spilled over into print” to demonstrate how the localization of news

constructed an intertwined relationship between colonial politics and media (Starr, 56). Starr

notes that the Massachusetts Assembly’s decision to publish the results of debates and votes in

1715 fostered “a more open public sphere” (56). Therefore, Starr claims the rise in the public’s

political interest resulted from the press’s movement away from British media. Starr then

suggests that the colonial newspapers’ rejection of the traditional England-centered framework is

what allowed the American people to “define their new nation in opposition to [British culture]”

(48). George Borchard’s novel, A Narrative History o f the American Press, also explores how

newspapers worked to diminish the ties between the colonies and England. Similar to Starr,

Borchard argues that as colonial newspapers entered the political arena they began to adopt a

powerful national identity. He contends that increased local political involvement led to “the

formation of a unique social consciousness, creating an identity separate from their ancestral

roots” (Borchard, 13). Since many colonists were of British heritage, Borchard indicates that the

growth of colonists’ political awareness and interconnectivity developed a sense of patriotism –

which was external to England’s imposed power – that united the population across colonies.

Furthermore, Starr and Borchard both argue that the popularity of local political debates in the

news generated social and political excitement among colonists, which served as seeds of

American nationalism.

While newspapers had begun to educate colonists about politics, the reports remained

unbiased until the introduction of competition in the press industry. With an increased amount of

newspapers in each city, colonists were now presented with choices. In order to attract a large

readership, publications used opinion-based writing to develop their own voice; thus,

competition between colonial papers shaped the beginning of political journalism. The mid-

1700s entailed a rapid rise in the colonial press industry – in sixteen years Boston went from

having two to five well-known newspapers, including the New-England Courant. The New-

England Courant was started and owned by James Franklin who was the first colonial publisher

to ignite political controversy by embedding his personal opinions into news reports. Franklin’s

opinionated texts forced colonists to question, or create, their own political ideologies. This

insertion of political preferences in the news encouraged colonists to be more comfortable

possessing their own beliefs and discussing them with others. Thus, colonists used political

journalism to serve as a “forum for debate about political issues” (Starr, 58). Borchard analyzes

the extent of printers’ new-found dedication to sharing their opinions by quoting Benjamin

Franklin, younger brother of James and owner of the Pennsylvania Gazette. In a published page

from the Pennsylvania Gazette, entitled “An Apology for Printers,” Benjamin Franklin wrote “if

all printers were determined not to print anything til they were sure it would offend nobody,

there would be very little printed” (Borchard, 16). Borchard selected this piece of Benjamin

Franklin’s text because it communicates that once political opinions became widely immersed in

newspapers, printers no longer feared that they would insult their audience.

Colonial journalism’s pushback against Britain’s increased censorship following the

Seven Years’ War functioned as the final media catalyst towards the American Revolution. As

colonial printers felt more liberated to voice their political opinions, British imperial rule grew

aware of their new, offensive journalistic style and imposed more severe restrictions on the press

industry. After England’s victory in the Seven Years’ War, from 1756 to 1763, they grew

uncertain of the colonists’ loyalty; so, the British increased their military presence and media

censorship in the colonies. Petegree reveals that one way the British hoped to secure their

dominance was “to tax colonial newspapers in the same war that English papers were taxed: by

requiring them to use stamped, that is specially authorized and certified, paper” (Petegree, 334).

This taxation refers to the Stamp Act of 1765. Petegree emphasizes that contrary to the little

backfire from the stamp act enforced in England years prior, Americans voiced their passionate

resistance to the act because the press industry viewed the battle to gain free press as reflective of

a larger battle to gain independence (335). Therefore, printers argued against the Stamp Act by

publishing stories to inspire colonists to rebel against the Parliament’s authority. Borchard

explicates that the colonial printers exercised their voice “increasingly without regard to the

dictators of a British Crown” to show that their fears of the potential consequences from

contradicting the Parliament had been overcome by their desire to circulate news freely

(Borchard, 14). Borchard illustrates this through Samuel Adams’s call for “colonists alike to

defend themselves against the British” in his newspaper, the Boston Gazette, in 1769 (20).

Adams represented one of the colonial revolutionary leaders because “he swayed readers

otherwise ambivalent to oppose British rule” (26). Borchard uses Adam’s passionate call to

action to exemplify the powerful role colonial printers and publishers played in persuading

colonists to strip away their fears and fight for American sovereignty.

The transformations in colonial news, specifically newspapers, propelled colonists’

interest in local politics, increasing their determination to express their political opinions without

the British government’s interference. The colonial newspaper industry originated as bland and

inapplicable reports of foreign news, mostly from London. Then, the move to favor localized

news brought attention to politics, shaping the colonies’ collective interests apart from the British

government. Competitions among newspaper publications enabled political opinions to be

molded and debated more openly. Finally, newspapers’ opposition to the Parliament’s

censorship, specifically the Stamp Act, sponsored a revolutionary mindset across the colonies.

Furthermore, after analyzing the significant influence newspapers held in advancing colonial

political expression, and ultimately rebellion, it is clear that – in the case of the American

Revolution – the press has the power to facilitate political participation within the masses and

promote revolutionary change.

Works Cited

Borchard, Gregory. “Pre-Revolution Print: The Colonial Origins of the American Press.” A

Narrative History o f the American Press. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018, pp. 12 – 26.

Pettegree, Andrew. “Cry Freedom.” The Invention o f News: How the World Came to Know Itself

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014, pp. 326 – 345.

Starr, Paul. “Capitalism and Democracy in Print.” The Creation o f the Media: Political Origins

o f Modern Communication. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2014, pp. 113 – 152.

Starr, Paul. “New Foundation.” The Creation o f Media: Political Origins o f Modern

Communication. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2014, pp. 47 – 82.

MediaStudies 111 – Fall 2020
Essay Assignment #1

The Printing Press: An Agent of Change?
DUE: Monday, October 5th by 11 AM

Upload in PDF format on Bcourses

Format: 1300-1600 words, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, double-spaced, works cited page.

Purpose of Essay #1
To examine the role of the printing press as an agent of change. Drawing on available
course readings, supplementary readings, and other scholarly material, you will define
and evaluate a change brought about by the introduction of the printing press. Your
essay should address at least one term or concept introduced by Elizabeth Eisenstein in
The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (see below for suggestions).

Three prompt options: choose one (1)
1. Rulership, governance, and state power: the introduction of print changed

how rulers and governments conducted their business, in ways both subtle and
obvious. Compose an argument explaining how a specific aspect of governance
or rulership changed as a result of print. You may address any feature or field
typically associated with governance, including public relations, taxation, the
administration of justice, diplomacy, war, colonial expansion, censorship,
regulation, propaganda, and (a perennial favorite) the self-promotion of rulers.

2. Political, religious, or cultural activism: though print enhanced the capacities
of governments to administer and control populations, it also expanded
opportunities for mobilization and action to many groups and individuals
outside the halls of power. Compose an argument explaining how print
enabled a person, organization, or social group to assert themselves politically,
religiously, or culturally. You may address the activities of historical agents
seeking to attract like-minded supporters, organize new institutions, convey
messages critical of ruling elites, combat encroaching government power, or
legitimize a moral position.

3. Science, exploration, and knowledge: print arrived concurrently with
revolutions in the fields of knowledge and information gathering. Compose an
argument explaining how printing influenced the activities of scholars,
scientists, and explorers in a specific field of science or knowledge. You may

consider how these historical agents gathered, recorded, organized, shared,
compared, compiled, synthesized, published, and read about information.

Assignment Requirements (see also Grading Rubric)

1. An introductory paragraph ending with an argument in the form of a thesis
statement explaining how printing led to a specific change in human activity.

2. A brief description of the historical agents or institutions you will examine.
Who were these people? What were they hoping to achieve?

3. An explanation of the concept(s) or term(s) drawn from Elizabeth Eisenstein’s
work that you will use in your essay.

4. Several well-organized body paragraphs proving your claim by drawing on and
assessing available evidence.

5. A concluding paragraph restating your argument in light of the evidence and
analysis you provided.

6. Thorough source citations (MLA or Chicago) and a Works Cited section.
7. At least four published sources. For this assignment, a book chapter will

count as a single source (if you use multiple chapters from the same book, be
sure to cite each separately). See below more information.

Sources
There are three ways to find appropriate sources for this assignment.
You may use:

1. Course readings. Briggs and Burke, Elizabeth Eisenstein, and Andrew
Pettegree are obvious choices.

2. Readings listed and/or linked in the Course Bibliography or provided in
the Supplementary Readings folder on Bcourses.

3. Additional sources you find electronically through the UC Library
system (see below).

What counts as a Published Source?

Counts towards the
four published
source requirement

• any work published by an established academic or
commercial press, whether in hardcopy (paper) or
electronic form

• book chapters
• edited volumes
• journal articles
• reference works

Does NOT count
toward the
published source
requirement, but
can be used and
cited

• Open-source articles (Wikipedia)
• Blog posts and independent webpages
• Student or conference papers (unless included in a

published volume)
• Lectures and lecture slides (for MS 111 or otherwise)
• If you have any questions about whether a source will

count, please ask me by email or via Slack

Finding Outside Sources
For more, please see the Research and Writing Resources Page on Bcourses. I will set
aside 20 minutes in class to review our options for doing research remotely.

1. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ Your one-stop shop for sources of every kind,
including books, journals, articles, newspapers, multimedia sources, and much
more.

2. Oskicat: Provides access to books in the UC Berkeley library system, including
many electronic resources.

3. JSTOR: A fantastic database containing thousands of articles, primary sources,
and now increasingly books as well.

4. Project Muse: An excellent supplement to JSTOR, Project Muse contains many
additional journals and many books.

Overall Suggestions for Essay #1
On Research and Brainstorming

• Before you start writing, you’ll want to do a bit of research. Pick one of the
three prompts, then choose a few readings from the course readings and Course
Bibliography that address that prompt in some way. Andrew Pettegree’s The
Book in the Renaissance and The Invention of News both contain many
interesting chapters on various topics and are excellent, highly readable sources
to start with. There are also several chapters in Elizabeth Eisenstein’s The
Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe that are not in the assigned course
reading, but nevertheless are highly usable for specific topics. Beyond those, the
Course Bibliography contains many other sources, depending on what topic
you’ve chosen.

• If you would like, therefore, to look at the effects of printing outside of Europe,
you are welcome to do so. The Course Bibliography includes sources on the
effects of printing in China and other areas of the world.

• Begin by considering what kind of a change you will focus on. Was the change
primarily social, political, economic, technical, conceptual, or cultural? There
is plenty of room for a creative argument here, so it pays to brainstorm.

• Are you more interested in the intensive effects of print on individual texts (i.e.
how printing changed the format of the book and what this did to human
perception, cognition, or identity)? Or are you more interested in the extensive
effects of print (i.e. how many more texts could be printed and the social or
political results of this rise in production and distribution)?

• How were matters handled prior to the printing press? To prove a change has
taken place, it can be a good idea to consider how things operated before print.

• Do you want to consider the role of individual printers or the printing industry
as a whole? You do not need to, but this could be a useful way to develop an
argument.

On Writing
• I recommend jotting down a provisional (“working”) thesis that you can

change, refine, or accentuate as you continue to research and write. A
provisional thesis will keep your mind focused on a topic, without locking you
into an argument.

• Outlines are excellent writing tool that allow you to organize your claims,
ideas, evidence, and citations. You can also use an outline to quickly and easily
communicate with me or your colleagues about your evolving paper.

• Regardless what you argue, you will need to substantiate your claims with
evidence. Evidence can come in the form of historical examples, documents,
or the arguments of scholars working in the field. You will come across plenty
of potential evidence as you research your topic. Your job is A) to determine
what evidence supports your argument and B) to explain how it does so.

• Some writers prove their arguments by focusing in depth by exploring a few
examples in detail. Others prefer to substantiate their claims using a wider
range of examples, with less attention paid to the details of each. Either
approach can work. Decide which approach works best for you and commit to
it.

• Your final argument should be focused and precise. Essay #1 writers tend to get
into trouble when they start with overly broad claims or try to take on several
different or even unrelated changes. Rather than attempting to present a
comprehensive account of many different changes, you should instead
concentrate on explaining one important way that printing radically affected
human activities. There are plenty of possibilities, but choose one.

• Take care to avoid plagiarism: Whenever you rely on a source, cite it. This
applies to direct quotes, paraphrases, or any idea taken from another author.
Citing Wikipedia or lecture is not recommended, but even that is preferable to
plagiarizing!

• Review the Grading Rubric provided for this assignment below to get a sense
of how each aspect of this assignment is weighted in the overall grade. Apply
your time and energy accordingly.

• The Student Learning Center Writing Program is a wonderful campus resource
that all writers are encouraged to take advantage of. The SLC Writing Program
is designed to provide individualized support to undergraduates of all writing
experiences and disciplines. What’s more, the SLC Writing Program has
expanded its online offerings to ensure all students will be able to access this
wonderful service while studying remotely.

Concepts and terms introduced by Eisenstein Eisenstein
Below you will find a list of concepts and terms Elizabeth Eisenstein uses to

explain the role of the printing press as an agent of change. Some are more broadly
applicable than others. Depending on the complexity of your argument, you may
focus on just one, or you may draw on several. Be sure to carefully define any terms
you use, citing Eisenstein’s explanations and arguments as needed. If you would like
to use another of Eisenstein’s terms or arguments not listed below, you are welcome to
ask me about it.

standardization
individualization
personal publicity

typographical fixity
the preservative powers of print

cross-fertilization
decompartmentalization

dissemination (productivity)
reorganization
rationalization
systematization

vernacularization
a total rationalized view of the past

G
ra

di
ng

R
ub

ric

Category Criteria %

Specific
Components

(50%)

Thesis statement clearly identifies and explains a change
resulting from the introduction of printing

10%

Description of the historical agents involved and the context
within which they operated.

5%

Definition and explanation of term(s) or concept(s)
introduced and use by Elizabeth Eisenstein

10%

Body paragraphs providing and analyzing specific evidence 25%

Evidence (25%)

All claims are substantiated with appropriate evidence drawn
from reliable sources (do you cite sources for your evidence?)

15%

Sources properly cited according to MLA or Chicago style
and included in a Works Cited section following the paper
(do you cite your sources properly?)

10%

Organization
(15%)

Supporting points are presented in a logical sequence that
proves the main argument. Examples and analysis are
organized into coherent paragraphs of appropriate length.
Paper is of an appropriate length and contains all required
components.

15%

Style (10%)
Writing is syntactically and grammatically correct. Paper is
edited and proofread. Paper argument and explanations are
easy to understand.

10%

Media Studies 111: Media History

Fall 2020

Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:10-2:00 PM
Online Format: Lectures accessible via Zoom Link:

https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/96549667054?pwd=MmxoSUNscjlnNTdMU3pvaUtqQ2lWZz09

Instructor: Matthew Berry
Instructor Email: matthewberry@berkeley.edu (please include “MS 111” in the subject line)
Office Hours Zoom Link: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/2721633070
Office Hours: Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 2:30-4:00 PM
Readers:

• Sneha Chowdhary (snehachow@berkeley.edu)
• Brinda Gurusamy (brinda_gurusamy@berkeley.edu)
• Paulina Hartono (hartono@berkeley.edu)
• Vineet Vashist (vineetvashist@berkeley.edu)

Course Overview

This lecture course covers the modern global history of media forms, with a focus on
interactions between new media technologies and emerging modern power structures. We
will examine how and why historical agents responded to, made use of, and tried to regulate
new information technologies such as the printing press, the telephone, the radio, the camera,
the television, and the internet. Lectures will consider the impact of specific media
technologies on the historical development of colonial empires, nationalist revolutions,
ideological movements, and the modern global economy. Special attention will be paid to the
ways emerging media forms affected perceptions of politics, society, and culture.

Learning Objectives
After taking this course, you should be able to:

1. Understand how new media technologies can either reinforce or disrupt modern
power structures in different historical contexts.

2. Think and write critically about how historical agents perceived, capitalized on, and
sought to mitigate the impacts of new media forms.

3. Use historical examples to consider the impact and implications of emerging
information technologies in the present and future.

Course Policies

Academic Honesty

I expect all students in this class to abide by the UC Berkeley Honor Code:
“As a member of the UC Berkeley community, I act with honesty, integrity,
and respect for others.”

The language of the UC Berkeley Honor Code addresses many aspects of
academic conduct, including plagiarism and cheating.

• Plagiarism, or using someone else’s words or ideas without
attribution, is a serious academic offense.

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• Cheating is the use or attempted use of materials that are
prohibited or inappropriate in the context of the academic
assignment in question.

• Assistance other students by providing prohibited or inappropriate
materials is also considered cheating.

• Any proven act of plagiarism or cheating can result in a ZERO for
that assignment or exam. Depending on the severity of the offense,
I may send a report to the Center for Student Conduct as well.

Equity and
Fairness

This course is designed with the needs of all students in mind. The guiding
principle for this course is fairness and equality of opportunity for all
students, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender
identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer
related or genetic characteristics), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual
orientation, citizenship, or service in the uniformed services. If you feel
you have been unfairly treated or discriminated against for reasons related
to any of these protective statuses or any other protected status, I
encourage you to please contact me immediately to convey your concerns
so that we can address them quickly and decisively.

Grading Policy

Grading in Media Studies 111 takes place under the assumption that
students should receive equivalent grades for equivalent answers or work.
The purpose of grading is to assess a student’s work based on how well a
student meets criteria established for a given assignment. Grading shall be
based solely on the instructor or reader’s evaluation of how well a student’s
performance (project, paper, exam question, or student participation)
addresses specific requirements. Assignment criteria will be clearly
established in assignment prompts and rubrics distributed to students at the
time assignments are announced.

Students shall have the opportunity to inquire about their grades or to seek
additional explanation as needed. Readers will cycle through the student
roster upon each new assignment, thereby ensuring that students will be
graded once by each reader, or, alternatively, by the instructor.

Once a graded assignment has been returned to a student and after any
announced “cooling off” periods have elapsed, the student may contact the
reader responsible for grading their work to obtain further feedback if
students have unresolved questions or concerns about the grades or
comments received. Both students and readers are expected to be
respectful and professional in their communication. Any concerns
regarding student-reader communication should be directed to the
instructor. Any changes to a student’s grade must be made following the
MS 111 Grade Dispute policy.

Grade Dispute
Policy

If a student and reader both agree an error or misreading has taken
resulted in an inaccurate grade, they may jointly submit a Request for
Grade Change to the instructor, who holds sole and final authority for all
grade changes.

If a student and reader do not agree to a grade change, the student may
contact the instructor in a timely manner to address their concerns. The

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instructor will make themselves available for individual Zoom sessions after
graded assignments have been returned and students have had sufficient
opportunity to reach out to readers with concerns.

Students have the right to request the instructor grade their work anew.
Any grade determined by the instructor is final and replaces any grades
assigned by a reader, regardless of whether the instructor’s determination
of the student’s grade is higher, lower, or the same as that of a reader who
graded the same work. Students are encouraged to consider this option
carefully prior to requesting the instructor grade an assignment.

If students do not request the instructor grade their work anew, the grade
assigned by readers will be considered final fourteen (14) days after the
graded assignment has been returned to students.

Ability
Accommodations

All students, regardless of ability or impairment, are welcome in MS 111.
The University is available to help students with disabilities (this includes
visible and nonvisible disabilities). Students with disabilities that require
accommodations must make their status known to the University through
consultation with the Disabled Students’ Program:
http://www.dsp.berkeley.edu/. The instructor is unable to provide
accommodations other than those identified in a DSP accommodations
letter, so it is important that students with disabilities requiring
accommodations reach out the Disabled Students’ Program early on to
initiate the accommodations process.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding DSP accommodations,
please let me know via email (matthewberry@berkeley.edu). I will reach
out to all students with DSP accommodations at the beginning of the
semester, prior to major assignments and exams, and as needed during the
semester. I will work closely with students needing DSP accommodations
and, if needed, with DSP specialists, to ensure that disability needs are met.

I understand that the shift to an online only format this semester creates
added challenges for students with disabilities. If you have concerns
related to how DSP accommodations can be met within the online only
format or in regard to other University measures taken in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, please reach out to me by email
(matthewberry@berkeley.edu) so that we may discuss your needs and how
they can be met.

Campus Resources
for COVID-19

Below I provide a list of resources UC Berkeley has made available so that
we may effectively adapt to the realities of the COVID-19 Pandemic

• I recommend that you download the Office of Emergency
Management’s Cal Emergency Preparedness app for your phone.

• COVID-19 Resources and Support
(https://coronavirus.berkeley.edu/)

• Student Technology Equity Program (STEP)
(https://technology.berkeley.edu/STEP)- If you are an
undergraduate or graduate student in need of hardware or internet
access please visit the program’s webpage and complete the
application to be considered.

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• University Health Services (UHS) COVID-19 Information
webpage (https://uhs.berkeley.edu/coronavirus-covid-19-
information)

Communication
Policy

You may contact me via email (matthewberry@berkeley.edu) to address
individual concerns and issues, as well as to ask questions about course
policies, assignments, and content. I will do my best to respond to emails
received by Thursday within 24 hours. For any messages sent on Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday, please anticipate a response by the following
Monday. I expect email communication to be conducted in a respectful,
professional, and direct manner. Any questions or issues of a sensitive
nature are best handled in a private, individual Zoom meeting, as e-mail is
often not the best way to discuss such topics. If you would like to set up an
individual Zoom appointment outside of my regular Zoom office hours,
please provide days and times that you are available.

I will impose a 24-hour email blackout prior to essay deadlines. This
policy is in place to dissuade students from waiting too long to begin
working on their essays. I will respond to emails received during these
blackout periods only if:
A) you have a genuine, documentable emergency.
B) you have a “Yes or No” question I can quickly and easily answer (please
phrase your question so that I can answer “Yes” or “No”).
C) I have previously granted you an extension on your assignment (in
which case the 24-hour email blackout applies instead to your revised
deadline)

Illnesses and
Absences from

Lecture

Good health is essential to effective learning and productive work. This is
especially true now that we are facing an international pandemic. If you
find yourself becoming ill, please reach out to University Health Services
or another suitable health provider to check up on your symptoms.

I provide all students three free absences from lecture. Students are
expected to use these three free absences in the event of minor illnesses.
You are encouraged to use these three free absences wisely as any further
absences beyond the third will impact your attendance and participation
grades (see more in the Attendance and Participation sections below).

In the event you become seriously ill, please reach out to me so that we can
make address your attendance and participation grades as well as any
course material you will miss. If I feel your circumstances warrant excusal
beyond the three free absences, I may offer to excuse additional absences.
Please note that unless I also grant an extension, the deadline for any
assignments due will remain unchanged.

Dealing with
Chronic or Acute

Stress

One of the most important, yet often overlooked aspects of a university
education is learning how to manage stress. Here are some things that
work for me and many of your peers:
• Take breaks from studying and working. If possible, take the

opportunity to engage in physical activity as this relieves stress,
supports general physical and mental well-being, and improves
cognitive function. If your circumstances do not allow for physical
activity, engage in an activity you find relaxing such as reading for
pleasure, meditating, or listening to music.

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• Talk with a friend, a colleague, or an instructor (such as…me!). Many
of us fail to share our feelings of stress because we think we are alone in
experiencing those feelings. However, we are only alone if we choose
to be. By sharing our feelings of stress and anxiety, we can help each
other address those feelings and potentially find solutions to their
underlying causes.

• Reach out to University Counseling and Psychological Services
(CAPS). This is an amazing resource staffed by caring people who
understand stress and want to help you. You can reach CAPS at (510)
642-9494 (business hours) and after-hours (855) 817-5667.

Scheduling
Conflicts

If you have scheduling conflicts that will interfere with the deadlines for
assignments this course, please let me know as soon as possible and no later
than the third week of the semester. I will work with you to arrange an
appropriate alternative, although I cannot guarantee an accommodation in
all cases.

Late Work and
Extensions

An important part of studying at UC Berkeley is learning to manage
deadlines. Please keep track of when assignments are due and make an
effort not to turn in assignments late. Please note that for an assignment to
be considered “submitted,” the complete assignment must be uploaded to
Bcourses. You are responsible for ensuring you successfully upload your
final draft. Please double-check!

If you experience extenuating circumstances that you anticipate will impact
your ability to turn in work in a timely manner, please contact me by email
to discuss the matter. I may offer suggestions to help you meet an
assignment deadline or, if I feel your circumstances warrant, I may offer a
limited extension for a particular assignment. I generally do not offer
extensions longer than three days, except in the event of an extraordinary
emergency.

Paper Drafts,
Rewrites, and

Writing Resources

I encourage you to join Zoom office hours when working on your essays
for this course. I also encourage you to ask me general questions about
researching, organizing, and writing as well as questions pertaining to
specific aspects of your papers.

In the interest of fairness to all students, I am not able to review full rough
drafts, but I will gladly review and offer my thoughts on outlines, thesis
statements, and short sections (roughly 1-2 paragraphs).

I do not offer the option to rewrite papers in this course. It is your
responsibility to adequately prepare your papers, which involves
consultations in office hours, paper planning and drafting, and close
proofreading.

The Writing Program at the Berkeley Student Center is a fantastic
resource available to all UC Berkeley students:
http://slc.berkeley.edu/writing. I encourage you to reach out to the Writing
Program during the earlier stages of essay writing to arrange a Zoom
appointment or to attend a Zoom session.

Study Guides I will provide detailed Study Guides prior to the midterm and final exams. It is your responsibility to carefully review these documents and to ask any

6

questions you may have regarding Study Guide content during review
sessions and in office hours.

iClicker Reef

We will use the remote polling app iClicker Reef in this course to take
attendance, log participation points, and make lecture interactive and fun.
You can purchase a license for iClicker Reef at
https://www.iclicker.com/pricing. Once you have purchased an iClicker
Reef license, please navigate to the iClicker webpage in our Bcourses site
for MS 111 and follow the instructions to register your iClicker on
Bcourses (link here).

Course Grading Criteria

Attendance 10% Weekly iClicker Reef Attendance Points
Participation 15% iClicker Reef Participation Quiz Points
Essay #1 20% Due 11 AM on Monday, October 5, 2020
Mid-term Exam 15% 48 hours provided, distributed 12:10 PM, Wednesday,

October 21, 2020. Due 12:10 PM Friday, October 23,
2020 via Bcourses.

Essay #2 20% Due 11 AM on Monday, November 16, 2020
Final Exam 20% 72 hours provided, distributed 2:30 PM, Tuesday,

December 15, 2020. Due 2:30 PM, Friday, December
18, 2020 via Bcourses.

Attendance (10%): Regular Attendance is a requirement for this synchronous online course.
Attendance will be taken automatically when you participate in an iClicker Reef quiz. You
may voluntarily skip any three (3) classes you wish without penalty. After the third
unexcused absence, however, your attendance grade will be impacted. I encourage you to
save your three free absences for special occasions, minor illnesses, or days you really need a
break. Use your three free absences wisely!

Participation (15%): Participation will be determined by your score on iClicker Reef quizzes
conducted during lecture. Each iClicker Reef quiz will consist of five (5) multiple choice
questions that test your reading comprehension, application of knowledge learned in class,
and critical thinking abilities. Some questions will be easy, some will not. All will draw on
themes and issues found the readings for that day. Most possible choices will contain some
correct information, but only one will count: the most appropriate answer to the question.

On scoring for Participation:

• Participation grades for each lecture are curved according to how well the class does as
a whole that day.

• I will set the “90% (A-) baseline” for each quiz based on the average score for the class
as a whole.

• For harder quizzes, you will need a lower score to reach 90% or above for that day.
• For easier quizzes, you will need a higher score to reach the 90% baseline.
• If you score above the class’s 90% baseline for that day, you will earn the equivalent of

at least an A- for the day.

7

• If you score below the class’s 90% baseline for that day, but you nevertheless answer
all five questions, you will still earn Participation points, scaled relative to the class’s
average for that day.

• Your Participation score will likely fluctuate in the beginning of the semester, however
it will settle as you accrue more Participation points.

• If you are routinely scoring 5/5, you will likely earn extra credit that will apply to your
overall course grade.

• If you are routinely scoring between 3/5 and 4/5, you can generally expect to achieve
around 90% for Participation.

• If you are routinely scoring between 0/5 and 2/5, I encourage you meet with me in
Zoom office hours to discuss effective reading and comprehension strategies.

Please note, that if you do not use your three free absences, then your three lowest iClicker
quiz scores will be dropped instead. On the other hand, if you miss more than three classes
without being excused, both your participation grade and your attendance grade will drop.

It is your responsibility to ensure you are able to operate iClicker Reef during lecture so that
you can earn Attendance and Participation points. If for whatever reason your iClicker Reef
does not work, you have two (2) free opportunities to submit quiz answers by email before I
announce the answers. I will not offer additional opportunities for you to email answers, so
please identify and resolve any issues with your iClicker Reef application right away.

Essay #1 (20%): The Historical Use of Media to Effect Change
For the first essay assignment, you will address the role of the printing press as an agent of
change. I will provide you three possible prompts, pertaining to: (A) governance and state
power, (B) political and religious protest, or (C) science and exploration. Drawing on
available course readings and, if you choose, some supplemental texts, you will examine how
individuals, groups, and institutions used the printing press to achieve their political, social, or
scientific goals.

Essay #2 (20%): Encountering History Through Media
The second essay asks you to research a specific historical agent, movement, or event through
the lens of two or more media forms. You will thus have the opportunity to compare how
different modes of representation affect the meaning or sometimes even the very facts of
history. How, for example, does our understanding of an historical event change when we
read a newspaper from the time period? How does it change again if we happen to watch a
film depicting the event? Whose purposes do these varying representations serve?

Mid-term Exam (15%) and Final Exam (20%)
The Mid-term and Final Exams for MS 111 will contain short answer and essay questions
testing your overall grasp of course content and your ability to apply concepts learned in the
course. Both exams for this course will be offered as open-book “take-home” exams. “Open-
book” means you are allowed to use assigned course readings and your own notes. You will
not, however, be allowed to use outside sources or to discuss the exam with anyone other than
the instructor. For the Mid-term Exam you will be provided 48 hours to work. For the Final
Exam you will be provided 72 hours to work.

8

Course Readings

You are required to purchase one eTextbook for this course. All other required course
readings will be provided in PDF form through Bcourses. Additional readings you may draw
upon for your essay research projects will also be provided in PDF form through Bcourses,
though you are welcome to draw on resources available through the UC Library as well (see
the Bcourse’s page Research and Writing Resources for more on this).

The required course course eTextbook, which is also available to purchase in paperback is:

• Briggs, Asa and Burke, Peter, A Social History of the Media, 4th Ed. Cambridge, UK:
Polity Press, 2020.

You may purchase this book through Amazon (for PC, Mac, and Linux as a Kindle e-book
and in paperback) or through the Apple (as an iBook for Mac, iPad, or iPhone).

9

COURSE SCHEDULE
Lecture Topics Readings and Assignments

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1

In
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on

Wednesday,
August 26, 2020

Introduction to

Course

• Review Course Syllabus.
• Purchase course eTextbook and an iClicker Reef

license
• Register your iClicker Reef license in Bcourses

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2

P
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al
E

ff
ec

ts
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P

ri
nt

Monday,
August 31, 2020

Printing as a

Technology and an
Industry

(1000-1500)

First day iClicker Reef will be used to track
Attendance, ungraded Participation Quiz

• Briggs and Burke, “Introduction” in A Social
History of the Media (hereafter abbreviated
ASHM), pp. 1-22.

• Man, John. “The Secret Revealed” in The
Gutenberg Revolution, pp. 123-140.

Wednesday,
September 2, 2020

Print as a Social

Phenomenon
(1450-1600)

First day iClicker Reef will be used for Participation
quizzes

• Briggs and Burke, “Printing and Its Contexts” in
ASHM, pp. 23-56.

• Eisenstein, Elizabeth. “Some Features of Print
Culture” in The Printing Revolution in Early Modern
Europe, pp. 46-70 (contains many images, 17
pages of text to read).

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3

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, P

ar
t

O
ne

Monday,
September 7, 2020

Labor Day

(No Class)

• Eisenstein, Elizabeth. “Some Features of Print
Culture” in The Printing Revolution in Early Modern
Europe, pp. 70-101.

Wednesday,
September 9, 2020

Thinking After Print:
The Subtle Effects of

Format

• Briggs and Burke, “Printing and Its Contexts” in
ASHM, pp. 56-79.

• Eisenstein, Elizabeth. Selections from “The
Permanent Renaissance” in The Printing Revolution
in Early Modern Europe, pp. 144-163.

10

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Monday,
September 14, 2020

The Priest and the

Printing Press
(1500-1650)

• Pettegree, Andrew. “Brand Luther,” “Printing
the Reformation,” and “Last Battles” in Brand
Luther, pp. 143-163, 267-280, 295-303.

Wednesday,
September 16, 2020

Realizing the World:

Print’s Effects on
Science and
Exploration
(1500-1800)

• Pettegree, Andrew. “Science and Exploration”
in The Book in the Renaissance, pp. 273-296.

• Weislogel, Andrew. “Macrocosm/Microcosm:
The Dutch Worldview from the Quarterdeck
and the Curiosity Cabinet” in The New and
Unknown World, pp. 31-45.

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es
s:

T
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an
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G
lo

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C
ap

it
al

is
m

Monday,
September 21, 2020

New Worlds of

Communication: The
Rise of Public

Spheres

• Briggs and Burke, “The Media and the Public
Sphere in Early Modern Europe” in ASHM, pp.
80-114.

Wednesday,
September 23, 2020

Media and Global
Capitalism (1600-

1920)

• Marks, Steven. “Early modern Europe’s
expanding field of vision: the origins of global
capitalism” in The Information Nexus: Global
Capitalism from the Renaissance to the present, pp. 75-
124.

11

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6

M
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s

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ia

in
t

he
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od
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n
E

ra
Monday,

September 28, 2020

Political Revolutions
and the Press (1760-

1815)

• Pettegree, Andrew. “Cry Freedom” in The
Invention of News, pp. 326-345.

• Popkin, Jeremy D. “The Press and the
Revolution” in Revolutionary News: The Press in
France, 1789-1799, pp. 169-185.

Wednesday,
September 30, 2020

Mass Media, Mass

Politics, Mass Culture
(1800-1900)

• Briggs and Burke, “Technologies and
Revolutions” in ASHM, pp. 114-142.

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s,

a
nd

C
lo

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s

Monday,
October 5, 2020

Empires of Steam:
Technologies for
Ruling the World

(1815-1900)

First Essay DUE 11 AM

• Briggs and Burke, “New Processes and Patterns”
in ASHM, pp. 143-173.

• Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. “Railroad Space and
Railroad Time” in The Railway Journey, pp. 33-44.

Wednesday,
October 7, 2020

Railways: Panoramic
Vision, Anxiety, and

Terror

• Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. “Panoramic Travel,”
“The Compartment,” and “The Accident” in The
Railway Journey, pp. 52-69, 70-88, 129-133.

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T
he

R
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of

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ep

ro
du

ct
io

n:
I

m
ag

es

Monday,
October 12, 2020

Ways of Seeing:
From Painting to

Photography
(1500-1920s)

• Trachtenberg, Alan. “Illustrious Americans” in
Reading American Photographs: Images as History,
Mathew Brady to Walker Evans, pp. 21-70.

Wednesday,
October 14, 2020

The Camera and

Colonialism
(1830s-1940s)

• Vergara, Benito M, Jr. “Confirming the Scowl”
in Displaying Filipinos, pp. 75-110.

12

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un
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n
Monday,

October 19, 2020

The First Internet:
The “Lightning

Messages” of the
Telegraph

(1830-1865)

• Standage, Tom. “The Thrill Electric,” and
“Wiring the World” in The Victorian Internet, pp.
57-91.

• Downey, Gregory. “The Message and the
Messenger” in Telegraph Messenger Boys: Labor,
Technology, and Geography, 1850-1950, pp. 82-103.

Wednesday,
October 21, 2020

Mid-term Exam

Mid-term Exam Distributed 12:10 PM Wednesday,
October 21, due 12:10 PM Friday, October 23

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nd

Monday,
October 26, 2020

Electrifying Times:

The Light Bulb
(1800s-1920s)

• Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. “Night Life” and “The
Drawing Room” in Disenchanted Night, pp. 137-
154, 157-187.

Wednesday,
October 28, 2020

The Electric World:
Waves, Light, and

Imagination
(1880s-1920s)

• Briggs and Burke, “New Processes and Patterns”
in ASHM, pp. 174-209.

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2

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Monday,
November 2, 2020

What is the Proper
Role of Media in

Modern Life?

• Briggs and Burke, “Information, Education,
Entertainment” in ASHM, pp. 210-248.

Wednesday,
November 4, 2020

Wireless Empires:

Battling through and
over the Airwaves

(1894-1945)

• Briggs and Burke, “Information, Education,
Entertainment” in ASHM, pp. 248-275.

13

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Monday,
November 9, 2020

Network Power:
Radio, TV, and

Advertising
(1926-1960)

• Starr, Paul. “The Constitution of the Air (2):
Creating the New Public Sphere” in The Creation
of the Media, pp. 347-384.

Wednesday,
November 11, 2020

Veteran’s Day

(No Class)

• Research and Writing for Essay #2

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Monday,
November 16, 2020

Objectivity: Ideals

and Realities

Essay #2 DUE 11 AM
• Douglas, Susan. “World War II and the

Invention of Broadcast Journalism” in Listening
In, pp. 161-198.

Wednesday,
November 18, 2020

A Window Onto the

World: TV as a
Political Tool
(1920-1945)

• Watson, Mary Ann. “Television and the
Presidency” in The Columbia History of American
Television, ed. Gary Edgerton, pp. 205-233.

• Torres, Sasha. “’In a Crisis We Must Have a
Sense of Drama’: Civil Rights and Televisual
Information” in Black, White, and In Color:
Television and Black Civil Rights, pp. 13-35.

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, P
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Monday,
November 23, 2020

Toward Digitization:
Processing Language

and Data
(1642-1977)

• Beniger, James. “Revolution in Generalized
Control: Data Processing and Bureaucracy” in
The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic
Origins of the Information Society, pp. 390-425.

Wednesday,
November 25, 2020

Thanksgiving Break

(No Class)

No class or readings!

14

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? Monday,

November 30, 2020

Digital Media:
Convergences,
Capacities, and

Control
(1945-1980)

• Briggs and Burke, “Media Convergences” in
ASHM, pp. 276-320.

Wednesday,
December 2, 2020

Social Media:

Mobility,
Fragmentation, and
Networked Lives

• Briggs and Burke, “The Return of the Social” in
ASHM, pp. 276-320.

RRR Week (December 7-11)
OPTIONAL Review Sessions via Zoom on Monday,

December 7 and Wednesday, December 9 during
regular class hours (12:10-2:00 PM)

Final Exam
72 hours provided

Distributed 2:30 PM Tuesday, December 15, 2020,
Due 2:30 PM, Friday, December 18, 2020