2007 edition, p. 29.
Empire and Communications (1950)
Context: The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and indeed the fact of appraisal appears to be peculiar to certain types of media. A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another.
“We must appraise civilization in relation to its territory and in relation to its duration. The character of the medium of communication tends to create a bias in civilization favourable to an over-emphasis on the time concept or on the space concept and only at rare intervals are the biases offset by the influence of another medium and stability achieved.”
A Plea for Time (1950), a paper presented at the University of New Brunswick, published in The Bias of Communication (1951) p. 64.
The Bias of Communication (1951)
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Harold Innis 22
Canadian professor of political economy 1894–1952Related quotes
As quoted in The New York Times (27 May 1984)
Leçons sur les Phénomènes de la Vie Communs aux Animaux et aux Végétaux (1878-1879).
1840s, Essays: Second Series (1844), Politics
“The bias of each medium of communication is far more distorting than the deliberate lie.”
JQ. Journalism quarterly, Volume 50, Association for Education in Journalism, 1973, p. 145
1970s
'Painting and Culture' p. 57
Search for the Real and Other Essays (1948)
Source: Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), p. 171
Source: 1940s, Beyond the Aesthetics' (1946), pp. 38-39