[aageneral] The first newspaper
When was the first newspaper? Where did the press begin? This is one
of those questions to which there is no simple answer.
In the Bible Luke has 'And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus,
which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he
sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press.'
The Bible is not, I think, referring to the press as we know it today
although it does, often, get in the way.
It all depends on your definition of the word newspaper. From 59 BC,
well before the publican Zacchaeus spotted the press, the Romans had
'Acta Diurna' which can be translated as Daily Events. This was a
daily gazette which was handwritten and posted on walls.
In one sense it was a newspaper - it had boring political news and
news of gladiatorial contests, astrological omens, births, marriages
and deaths, trials and executions. Note that this is very like a
modern newspaper in content. There are horoscopes, obits and, if you
count being a gladiator a sport, sports pages.
Nothing much happened after the Roman Empire was over-turned for
several centuries. It was waiting on the invention of moveable metal
type by Guttenberg (there are several spellings of his name.) To fill
in the gap town criers would take handwritten pages and go around
shouting 'Oyez, oyez' to get the crowd's attention - a form of banner
headline - and then read the news.
For what follows we need a sort of dateline.
1590 - The first regular summary of news, the 'Mercurius
Gallobelgicus' is printed in London, England, carrying reports of news
from continental Europe.
1605 Abraham Verhoeven publishes the first editions of 'Nieuwe
Tijdinghen/Latest News' in Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).
This is more a newspaper than the 'Mercurius' and has a good claim to
being the first newspaper although it depends on definition. The
earliest surviving copy is 1621 which shows there was a demand for it
to stay commercially viable for that length of time.
1609 - 'The Relation of Strasbourg' printed by Johann Carolus. This is
viewed by many scholars as the first newspaper although, again, this
can easily be contested.
1621 - 'Corante', the first English language newspaper. Perhaps.
Possibly. Maybe. In fact Nathaniel Butter was publishing a translation
of a Dutch newssheet called 'Corante'. The following year Butter
started 'Weekley Newes' which may well be called the first English
newspaper.
1631 - 'Nouvelles Ordinaires de Divers Endroits' came from two
booksellers. Arguably, the first newspaper in France.
1650 - Officially Théophraste Renaudot, French physician and
administrator founded 'La Gazette', France's first newspaper. But this
was a government front - perhaps the first example of spin doctor
management - under the auspices of Cardinal de Richelieu who was not a
very nice person. It existed because 'Nouvelles Ordinaires de Divers
Endroits' had been suppressed. This newspaper managed to stay in
business until 1917 which shows what government support can do.
1704 - 'The Boston News-Letter', arguably America's first
continuously-published newspaper, was published by John Campbell, a
bookseller and postmaster of Boston. It was a weekly publication.
1709 - Stephen Bryan started a newspaper in Worcester which is now
called the Berrow's Worcester Journal and is almost certainly the
oldest continuously published English language newspaper in the world.
The advertising for the newspaper ran: 'Printed and sold by S Bryan,
next the Cross Keys in Sidbury, and also by a woman, every Saturday
from 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon near St Martin's
Church
in the Corn Market where all country people may be furnished.'
1711 - The start in London of `The Spectator', best known for its
series of essays known as the Sir Roger de Coverley papers. For a year
'The Spectator' was a daily but then went to tri-weekly. The last
edition of 'The Spectator' in this form was in 1721. Two interesting
points. It reached a circulation of 3,000 and had advertising and this
attracted tax which forced the newspaper out of business.
1835 - 'The New York Herald' was founded as the first American
newspaper to proclaim and to maintain complete political independence.
Its publisher, James Gordon Bennett, announced that the Herald would
endeavor to record news, "with comments suitable, just, independent,
fearless and good-tempered."
So what was the first newspaper? I would go for 'Nieuwe
Tijdinghen/Latest News' but you can argue for several other
newspapers, several other dates.
Gareth Powell writes a daily newsletter on http://www.bloggeroff.com.
. Most of his working life he has been a publisher and a journalist.
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of those questions to which there is no simple answer.
In the Bible Luke has 'And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus,
which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he
sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press.'
The Bible is not, I think, referring to the press as we know it today
although it does, often, get in the way.
It all depends on your definition of the word newspaper. From 59 BC,
well before the publican Zacchaeus spotted the press, the Romans had
'Acta Diurna' which can be translated as Daily Events. This was a
daily gazette which was handwritten and posted on walls.
In one sense it was a newspaper - it had boring political news and
news of gladiatorial contests, astrological omens, births, marriages
and deaths, trials and executions. Note that this is very like a
modern newspaper in content. There are horoscopes, obits and, if you
count being a gladiator a sport, sports pages.
Nothing much happened after the Roman Empire was over-turned for
several centuries. It was waiting on the invention of moveable metal
type by Guttenberg (there are several spellings of his name.) To fill
in the gap town criers would take handwritten pages and go around
shouting 'Oyez, oyez' to get the crowd's attention - a form of banner
headline - and then read the news.
For what follows we need a sort of dateline.
1590 - The first regular summary of news, the 'Mercurius
Gallobelgicus' is printed in London, England, carrying reports of news
from continental Europe.
1605 Abraham Verhoeven publishes the first editions of 'Nieuwe
Tijdinghen/Latest News' in Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).
This is more a newspaper than the 'Mercurius' and has a good claim to
being the first newspaper although it depends on definition. The
earliest surviving copy is 1621 which shows there was a demand for it
to stay commercially viable for that length of time.
1609 - 'The Relation of Strasbourg' printed by Johann Carolus. This is
viewed by many scholars as the first newspaper although, again, this
can easily be contested.
1621 - 'Corante', the first English language newspaper. Perhaps.
Possibly. Maybe. In fact Nathaniel Butter was publishing a translation
of a Dutch newssheet called 'Corante'. The following year Butter
started 'Weekley Newes' which may well be called the first English
newspaper.
1631 - 'Nouvelles Ordinaires de Divers Endroits' came from two
booksellers. Arguably, the first newspaper in France.
1650 - Officially Théophraste Renaudot, French physician and
administrator founded 'La Gazette', France's first newspaper. But this
was a government front - perhaps the first example of spin doctor
management - under the auspices of Cardinal de Richelieu who was not a
very nice person. It existed because 'Nouvelles Ordinaires de Divers
Endroits' had been suppressed. This newspaper managed to stay in
business until 1917 which shows what government support can do.
1704 - 'The Boston News-Letter', arguably America's first
continuously-published newspaper, was published by John Campbell, a
bookseller and postmaster of Boston. It was a weekly publication.
1709 - Stephen Bryan started a newspaper in Worcester which is now
called the Berrow's Worcester Journal and is almost certainly the
oldest continuously published English language newspaper in the world.
The advertising for the newspaper ran: 'Printed and sold by S Bryan,
next the Cross Keys in Sidbury, and also by a woman, every Saturday
from 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon near St Martin's
Church
in the Corn Market where all country people may be furnished.'
1711 - The start in London of `The Spectator', best known for its
series of essays known as the Sir Roger de Coverley papers. For a year
'The Spectator' was a daily but then went to tri-weekly. The last
edition of 'The Spectator' in this form was in 1721. Two interesting
points. It reached a circulation of 3,000 and had advertising and this
attracted tax which forced the newspaper out of business.
1835 - 'The New York Herald' was founded as the first American
newspaper to proclaim and to maintain complete political independence.
Its publisher, James Gordon Bennett, announced that the Herald would
endeavor to record news, "with comments suitable, just, independent,
fearless and good-tempered."
So what was the first newspaper? I would go for 'Nieuwe
Tijdinghen/Latest News' but you can argue for several other
newspapers, several other dates.
Gareth Powell writes a daily newsletter on http://www.bloggeroff.com.
. Most of his working life he has been a publisher and a journalist.
########################################################
Looking For Quality Content?
The Syndicator provides free, quality syndicated articles
for your website that are automatically updated each week.
Syndication feeds include:
Business/Sales
Internet Marketing/Promotion
Web Design/Development
Biz Tips
Web Design Tips
Home & Family Matters
Dinner Ideas
Health & Fitness
Horoscopes
AngelVoice
Headlines
and more...
http://www.web-source.net/syndicator.htm
########################################################
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posted by Scott Fish @ 11:53 AM
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