Modernization, Democratization and Politicization: Mass Media in 1920s Europe

Abstract

Europe witnessed fundamental changes in its media landscape during the 1920s, namely the development of radio as a mass medium, the introduction of sound film and the dramatic growth of the press and the cinema. However, these changes developed very unevenly all over Europe, differing not only between nation states, but also between regions and between the countryside and metropolitan areas. These developments were often observed critically by political and cultural elites, who warned of the corrosive effects of “mass culture.” Throughout Europe, censorship measures were implemented to save the population from the supposedly corrosive influence of popular entertainment.