Mass Media (Civ5)/Civilopedia

The term "mass media" was coined in the 1920s with the advent of the radio, but the idea of media for large audience consumption has been around since the dramas and plays of the Ancient World. Mass media has been directly driven by technology, with greater advances in publishing techniques and communications leading to even larger possible audiences being reached.
Originally just applied to communication devices like radio, newspapers, and magazines, mass media now encompasses television, movies, music, paperback books, video games, and the Internet. With the advent of these globe-spanning media types has also arisen the ability to reach the masses like never before, and not always in a good way. The attempt to bias or control large amounts of information, either through nefariously minded propaganda or more innocent personal opinions being injected into facts is becoming a large problem for some governments and organizations to deal with. Invasive advertising techniques are also a byproduct of mass media, much to the annoyance of consumers everywhere. While the message may be worthwhile and it's increasingly easier for the common person to publish their ideas and artworks, getting heard in the torrential output of information now available can really be like searching for that proverbial needle in the haystack.