The First Mass Media

Around the time Johannes Gutenberg perfected movable type in the 1440s, mechanized printing was reshaping how images, not just words, could spread. Woodcuts and engravings — older relief and intaglio techniques that printed images on paper before movable type existed — could now be pulled in thousands of copies and distributed across Europe. For the first time, a single image could reach a mass audience simultaneously.

When Martin Luther broke with Rome, his message traveled fast — and his sharpest weapon wasn't text but pictures. Woodcut prints could carry an argument that illiterate peasants grasped at a glance, no reading required.