Innis, Harold

Harold Adams Innis (1894–1952) was a Canadian economic historian turned communication theorist, whose research focused on the role of the medium in communication processes. His work – historical in method (→ Media History) and ecumenical in scope – demonstrated the centrality of communications in social, political, and cultural development. Together with his junior colleague, → Marshall McLuhan, he is considered a founding father of a medium-focused school of communication theory, variously known as the “Toronto School,” → “media ecology,” or → “medium theory.” It holds that communications media are the key to understanding the co-development of mind, culture, and society.