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Excerpts from Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
Originally published in 1964; excerpts taken from 1994 reprint.

"In a culture like ours…it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message."

In 1961 Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow (1926–) argued that the content of television programming played a crucial role in the cultural life of the nation. In 1964 media theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) argued that the content of programming mattered far less than the underlying form of televised communication. He claimed, in one of the most famous expressions of the 1960s, "the medium is the message." But what did McLuhan mean by his famous pronouncement, and why did it seem to open up a whole world for those who claimed to understand it?

Marshall McLuhan was one of the most...