Media history or media histories? Re-addressing the history of the mass media in inter-war Britain

This essay sets out some of the conceptual and methodological reasons why the historiography of the mass media has tended to consist of parallel histories of individual mediums rather than an integrated history of the mass media as such. It looks in detail at one specific case study, the British mass media in the inter-war years, to explore what a more integrated historical approach might tell us both about the development of each medium in turn and the culture of intermediality in which they have always in reality operated (including convergence of media styles, growing interdependence of content, notably through the newspaper radio and film column, and crossovers of personnel), and been experienced.