Julie's Survey of Professional Media

Marshall McLuhan is known today for his quote, “the medium is the message” and the term he coined to describe the unification of the world through electronic media, “global village.” He was a prophet, a media analyst, a philosopher, and a challenger. His ideas from thirty and forty years ago have come to pass and exceeded what he might have thought possible. Did we get his message though?

Well since “the medium is the message” the answer is probably, no. McLuhan wanted everyone to see the danger in electronic media and how it affected our minds on an individual level but also society as a whole. He saw the media shift from journalism and printed media to electronic media with the spread of telephones, radio, and television. With this shift came changes in the basic way of life.

People went from individualistic free thinkers who interpreted the written word based on their judgment, to consumers of a media feed. This is why he says “medium is the message.” We interpret the message based on how we receive it. When television shows us an image, we tend to believe it without question. If we were to read a message, however, we would be free to think about it and interpret it how we see fit. The message therefore is exactly as the medium allows it to be.

Since this message that McLuhan speaks about is now able to be sent around the world in a fraction of a second, thanks to electronic media, it has led to the formation of a “global village.” McLuhan coined this term as an allusion to the way people interacted in tribal times. Before the printing press was invented, people spread “the message” through word of mouth or readings in groups. There was always some kind of interpersonal interaction going on.

With the invention of the printing press, information came on an individual level. Anyone could get news and take it with them to read by themselves. Since electronic media has emerged, this idea has shifted. People are now, once again all connected. With radio, television, and especially now the internet information can be sent around the world in seconds. We are back to the primal connectivity of tribal cultures, and that has its negatives and positives.

Awareness of global issues and communication with people across the world leads to diversity and hopefully unity through common understanding of one another. This can be seen as a good thing about the “global village.” As McLuhan points out though, it can be dangerous to be so connected. When one medium controls the message it is very easy to believe what we hear without question. If control of that medium falls in the wrong hands it would be very easy to control the minds of everyone who follows the medium.

“Satan is a great electric engineer.” McLuhan said this to make his point about electric media’s danger. If the message is in the wrong hands, we can very easily be tricked. It is our job to be vigilant consumers of media and investigate everything we hear. We must use our brains and judge for ourselves how to interpret the message.