HISTORY OF JOURNALISM

The Beginnings

Rome

• Earliest known journalistic product “Acta Diurna”

• News sheet circulated • Ancient Rome • Published daily from 59 BCE • Hung in prominent places• Recorded important social and political events

China

• A court circular called a “Bao”, or “Report”• Issued to government officials • Tang dynasty (7th to 10th centuries, CE) • More or less continued to the end of the Qing

dynasty in 1911 (in some variation or the other)

And In The Modern Age

• First regularly published newspapers appeared in German cities and in Antwerp (Belgium) about 1609

• First English newspaper “Weekly Newes” • Published in 1622 • One of the first daily newspapers, The Daily Courant, appeared in 1702

To Free or Not To Free

At first hindered by government-

imposed censorship, taxes, and other

restrictions, newspapers in the 18th century

came to enjoy the reportorial freedom and

indispensable function that they have retained

to the present day

Why did newspapers’ circulations increase?

• Growing literacy

• Increased production of newspapers due to

advancements in printing technology

Magazines

• First magazines appeared in 17th centuries• Featured opinion-forming articles on current

affairs • Two Early Magazines -

– Tatler (1709–11) – Spectator (1711–12)

More Magazines

In 1830s • Cheap Mass Circulated Magazines (aimed at

the wider, less well-educated public) • Illustrated Women’s Magazines

Coming of the News Agencies

• News gathering was costly and so various News Agencies came up

• The News Agencies gathered news from all over the world in a professional manner and sold it to individual newspapers and magazines

More Technology

• The Radio and the Telegraph were the new technologies that came up in the 19th century and due to this, there was a great increase in the speed and timeliness of journalistic activity

• Now, news gathering was not just writing skills; it also meant how quick one was and how timely one was

The Internet

• In the late 20th century, satellites and later

the Internet were used for the long-distance

transmission of journalistic information

Source:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/306742/journalism

Thank You Saurabh Deshpande

@saurabhd3108 (Twitter)saurabh.deshpande.315 (Facebook)