Print Media

What is Print Media?

Definition:
The industry associated with the printing and distribution of news through newspapers and magazines.

The modern advertising techniques make use of many ways to convey messages to the consumers. Print media however, is one of the oldest forms of advertising methods. Print media also remains to be one of the most popular forms of advertising because it can reach a wider target audience. There are various different types of print media, which help advertisers to target a particular segment of people.

HISTORY OF PRINTING:
There was a time when people used to write on palm leaves. This was before the discovery of paper. Some of the old manuscripts written on palm leaves are preserved in our National Manuscript Library in Delhi. The Chinese were the first to invent the art of printing. They made wooden blocks to print letters. This was started during the period of the Tang Dynasty in 600 AD. The oldest known surviving printed work in a woodblock is a Buddhist scripture of 684 AD. It is now exhibited in a calligraphy museum in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. The first printed book published in China was the Buddhist text, the Diamond Sutra by Wang Chick in 868 AD. Some copies of the Buddhist scriptures printed in 1377 are preserved in museums in China. Can you imagine a world without paper? Nowadays paper has become an integral part of our life. We read papers in the morning, write on note books made of paper, send letters on paper, use paper boxes to carry things and so on and so forth. You have learnt in an earlier lesson how this paper is made. Though the Egyptians made paper by 3500 BC, it came to Europe only by the 11th century. The first paper mill in Europe was set up in Spain in 1120. Block printing came to Europe by 1300. It is believed that Johannes Gutenberg of Germany had developed printing technology

Print Media
around 1439. Gutenberg also invented an oil-based ink for printing. He printed the Bible in 1450. It was in the Latin language and had 1282 pages .He used movable Printing blocks for the book. Printing technology came to India in 1556. It was the Jesuit priests who brought this technology to our country. The first book printed in India was in Portuguese language in Old Goa. It was Doctrines Christa by St. Francis Xavier The invention of printing has revolutionized mass communication. Books are printed in large numbers and circulated in many countries. No other invention has had such an influence in the history of mankind.

Different print media:

Newspapers:
Newspapers are the most popular forms of print media. The advertiser in this case can choose from a daily newspaper to a weekly tabloid. Different types of newspaper cater to various audiences and one can select the particular category accordingly. Advertisers then design press advertisements where in the size is decided as per the budget of the client.

Magazines:
Magazines also offer advertisers an opportunity to incorporate various new techniques and ideas. Magazines are one such form of print media that give a more specific target group to the client. The client can make a choice of the particular magazine as per the product.

Newsletters:
Newsletters also form an important part of print media. These target a specific group of audience and give information on the product.

Brochures:
Brochures give detailed information about the product. These are mainly distributed at events or even at the main outlet when a consumer needs to read in detail about the product.

Print Media
Posters:
Posters are forms of outdoor advertising. The message in a poster has to be brief and eyecatching as it targets a person on the move.

Apart from these media, direct mail marketing, flyers, handbills/ leaflets, banner advertising, billboard advertising, press releases, etc., are also various types of print media.

OTHER FORMS OF PRINT MEDIA:

Film fare, Champak, Grihasobha, Chandamama, India Today, The Week, Outlook. Are these names familiar to you? They are also part of the print media. But they are not newspapers. They are called magazines. Can you tell the difference between newspapers and magazines? Like newspapers, magazines and weeklies are other forms of print media. They are published at regular intervals. How do you differentiate between them? A weekly is published once a week and a monthly once a month. A fortnightly is published once in two weeks. A bi-weekly is published twice every week. A tri-monthly is one which is published every three months. These are also known as quarterlies. Then there are certain publications that come out only once a year which are called annuals. India Today is a weekly, while Champak is a fortnightly. Grihasobha and Vinita are monthlies. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRINT MEDIA AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA After the advent of printing nearly six centuries ago, the print media was the only form of mass communication. Then came the electronic medium. Though both print and electronic media deal with mass communication, there are certain basic differences.

Print Media vs. Electronic Media:

Literacy is a basic Even an illiterate person can requirement for the print watch a news bulletin and grasp media. Only a literate its contents though the written matter person can read it. On the screen cannot be read.

Print Media
Print media works there is no deadline for the electronic according to a deadline. Media. News can be updated usually a morning paper anytime. Carries news received up to the midnight of the previous day. In print media readers have Viewers cannot go back and recheck the choice to go back and what they have seen. Print media provides more less scope for such long in-depth scope for in depth analysis of events. Print media does not provide scope for a live discussion. Language is more literary Language used is spoken and more and flowery and reader viewer friendly. Frequent update of news Even a minute-to-minute update is not possible.