Keyword – technology history

Bajomi-Lázár, Péter – Boldog, Dalma:

The telegraph and the internet

Media scholars studying the origins and impacts of the rise of the internet and exploring interactions between communication technology and society often seek historical analogies. The parallels offered by comparisons of the electronic revolution marked by the telegraph network and the digital revolution marked by the internet are particularly often remarked. This paper follows this tradition. Based on a critical review of the literature, it compares the histories of the telegraph and of the internet, the first and the last binary and digital networks. While finding a great number of similarities, it also suggests that they differ in their impacts upon journalism and its role in society, among other things.

Keywords: globalisation, internet, journalism, telegraph, technology history