Newspapers have dated
back all the way to 59 B.C. with the Acta Diurna (means "Daily Acts"
in Latin), the first instance of a newspaper, published in Rome. This was
written way before the printing press was invented so these "newspapers"
were carved in stone.
But according to the
World Association of Newspapers, the world's first official newspaper was The
Relation, a German newspaper published by Johahn Carolus. The Relation was
considered the first "true" newspaper because by then the printing
press was invented and in use.
The first newspaper in America was the Boston News-Letter and was the only newspaper in the colonies in 1704. John Campbell was the first editor of the paper, which is known for publishing a story on how Blackbeard the Pirate was killed in hand-to-hand combat. At this time, newspapers had a different layout than the ones we see today. They were usually a single page with the news printed on the front and back.
Now how can we talk
about newspapers without talking about freedom of press? This part of the first
amendment wasn’t established until the John Peter Zenger case. Zenger was a
publisher for the New York Weekly Journal. The publication was accused of
calling out governor William S. Crosby for being corrupt and committing crimes
(such as rigging the election).
Zenger was put on trial
for allowing the publication to be published. His lawyer, Andrew Hamilton defended
him on the basis of liberty and Zenger was found not guilty. Thus, freedom of
press was established. So now, newspaper publications are free to write/print
whatever they want.
Newspapers have paved the
way for how we receive news today. Although there are still newspapers being
delivered, now we have easy access to news online. Newspapers lead to
television news broadcasts so people can know what’s going at the time it’s
happening.
Cited Sources (links):
- https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/firsts/americas-first-newspaper
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/When-and-where-was-the-first-newspaper-published/articleshow/2477418.cms
- http://www.ushistory.org/us/7c.asp
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