Much of the media research before the
early 1960s originated in psychology and
sociology departments at colleges and universities Researchers with backgrounds in
the media were rare because the mass media
were young. But this situation has changed.
Media departments in colleges and universities
grew rapidly in the 1960s, and media researchers entered the scene. Today mass
media researchers dominate the mass media
research field, and now the trend is to encourage
cross-disciplinary studies in which
media researchers invite participation from
sociologists, psychologists, and political scientists.
Because of the pervasiveness of the
media, researchers from all areas of science
are now actively involved in attempting to
answer media-related questions