“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.”

—  Harold Innis

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)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "We must appraise civilization in relation to its territory and in relation to its duration. The character of the medium…" by Harold Innis?
Harold Innis photo
Harold Innis 22
Canadian professor of political economy 1894–1952

Related quotes

Harold Innis photo

“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.”

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.

George F. Kennan photo
Claude Bernard photo

“The stability of the internal medium is a primary condition for the freedom and independence of certain living bodies in relation to the environment surrounding them.”

Claude Bernard (1813–1878) French physiologist

Leçons sur les Phénomènes de la Vie Communs aux Animaux et aux Végétaux (1878-1879).

Hans Reichenbach photo
Ralph Waldo Emerson photo

“We think our civilization near its meridian, but we are yet only at the cock-crowing and the morning star. In our barbarous society the influence of character is in its infancy.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

1840s, Essays: Second Series (1844), Politics

Marshall McLuhan photo

“The bias of each medium of communication is far more distorting than the deliberate lie.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

JQ. Journalism quarterly, Volume 50, Association for Education in Journalism, 1973, p. 145
1970s

Edward Bernays photo

“The public relations counsel, therefore, is a creator of news for whatever medium he chooses to transmit ideas. It is his duty to create news no matter what the medium which broadcasts this news.”

Edward Bernays (1891–1995) American public relations consultant, marketing pioneer

Source: Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923), p. 171

Mark Rothko photo

Related topics