Harold Innis
received his Ph.D. degree in economics at the
Innis's theory of communication divided media into two
"bias"; time-binding media and space-binding media. Time-binding media such as manuscripts and
oral communication are have limited distribution potential. According
to Carey (1992), time-binding media "favored
relatively close communities, metaphysical speculation, and traditional
authority" (p. 134). Space-binding media such as print and electronic media are concerned
with expansion and control. Again according to Carey,
space-binding media "favored the establishment
of commercialism, empire and eventually technocracy" (p. 134).
According to Innis, modern western history began with
temporal organization and ended with spatial organization. Carey wrote,
"It is the history of the evaporation of an oral and manuscript tradition
and the concerns of community, morals, and metaphysics and their replacement by
print and electronics supporting a bias towards space" (p. 160).
Innis grew increasingly pessimistic later in life. Changes
in communication technology were seen as a revaluation of community and a of loss culture and freedom. Carey went on to write,
Innis argued that any form of communication
possessed a bias; by its nature it was most adept at reducing signaling time and controlling space or strengthening
collective memory and consciousness and controlling time. This bias hardened
into a monopoly when groups came to control the form of communication and to
identify their interests, priestly or political, with its capacity. (p. 167)
Although Innis died before seeing the widespread
diffusion of television in
What Innis saw most clearly was that the main meaning of
electronics was not in the provision of entertainment and information through
radio and television. he recognized that the speed and
distance of electronic communication enlarged the possible scale of social
organization and greatly enhanced the possibilities of centralization and
imperialism in matters of culture and politics. (p. 137)