Şcoala de la Toronto. Contribuţia lui Harold Innis
The School of Toronto. The Contribution of Harold Innis

Summary/Abstract: The paper is dedicated to the Toronto School of Communication and to Harold Innis, who is recognized as the founding father of this school even by its most famous representative, Marshall McLuhan. The analysis focuses on the central concept of Innis. work, that of bias of communication. Innis. inquiry is mainly historical, meaning that the author seeks to identify the influence of media in creating a time or a space bias. Despite this historical character, the core of his investigation is the bias of contemporary civilization. According to the Canadian author, this bias is a consequence of the monopoly of knowledge created by the prevalence of written press, by its obsession with space at the expense of time. Contemporary civilization is excessively concerned with the present time and obscures both past and future. A certain type of rigidity emerges, accompanied by reluctance to explore and exploit other dimensions then the space-related ones. The paper makes some clarifications regarding the .technological determinism. usually associated with the Toronto School. The analysis shows that this is an oversimplification, since the core of Innis. work is that only the balance between space and time can provide for the long-term survival of civilizations

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