A newspaper is a
periodical
A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also examples ...
publication
To publish is to make content available to the general public.[Berne Conve ...](_blank)
containing written
information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
,
business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
,
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
and art, and often include materials such as
opinion column
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
s,
weather forecasts
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th centu ...
,
reviews
A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indic ...
of local services,
obituaries
An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
, birth notices,
crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...
s,
editorial cartoon
A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...
s,
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
s, and
advice column
An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response.
The responses are w ...
s.
Most newspapers are businesses, and they pay their expenses with a mixture of
subscription
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...
revenue,
newsstand sales, and
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
revenue. The
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
organizations that publish newspapers are themselves often
metonymically
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name ...
called newspapers.
Newspapers have traditionally been published
in print (usually on cheap, low-grade
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...
called
newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has an ...
). However, today most newspapers are also
published
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
on
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
s as
online newspaper
An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical.
Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...
s, and some have even abandoned their print versions entirely.
Newspapers developed in the 17th century, as
information sheets for merchants. By the early 19th century, many cities in Europe, as well as North and South America, published newspapers.
Some newspapers with high editorial independence, high journalism quality, and large circulation are viewed as
newspapers of record
A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...
.
With the advent of the
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
many newspapers are now digital, with their news presented online rather than in a physical format, with there now being a
decline
Decline may refer to:
*Decadence, involves a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, or skill over time
* "Decline" (song), 2017 song by Raye and Mr Eazi
* ''The Decline'' (EP), an EP by NOFX
*The Decline (band), Australian ...
in sales for paper copies of newspapers.
Overview
Newspapers are typically published
daily
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
or
weekly.
News magazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or new ...
s are also weekly, but they have a
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
format. General-interest newspapers typically publish
news articles and
feature articles on national and international news as well as
local news. The news includes
political events and personalities,
business and finance, crime, weather, and natural disasters;
health and medicine,
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
, and computers and technology;
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
; and
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...
,
society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...
, food and cooking, clothing and home fashion, and
the arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
.
Usually, the paper is divided into sections for each of those major groupings (labelled A, B, C, and so on, with
pagination
Pagination, also known as paging, is the process of dividing a document into discrete page (paper), pages, either electronic pages or printed pages.
In reference to books produced without a computer, pagination can mean the consecutive page num ...
prefixes yielding page numbers A1-A20, B1-B20, C1-C20, and so on). Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing
editorial
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
s written by an editor (or by the paper's editorial board) and expressing an opinion on a public issue, opinion articles called "
op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
s" written by guest writers (which are typically in the same section as the editorial), and
columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
that express the personal opinions of
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
s, usually offering analysis and synthesis that attempts to translate the raw
data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
of the news into information telling the reader "what it all means" and persuading them to concur. Papers also include articles that have no
byline
The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably ''Reader's D ...
; these articles are written by staff writers.
A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers. Besides the aforementioned news, information and opinions, they include weather forecasts; criticism and reviews of the arts (including
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
,
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
,
fine arts
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
, and
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
) and of local services such as restaurants;
obituaries
An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
, birth notices and graduation announcements; entertainment features such as crosswords, horoscopes,
editorial cartoon
A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...
s,
gag cartoon
A gag cartoon (also panel cartoon, single-panel cartoon, or gag panel) is most often a single-panel cartoon, usually including a caption beneath the drawing. A pantomime cartoon carries no caption. In some cases, dialogue may appear in speech b ...
s, and
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
s;
advice
Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to:
* Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct
* Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder
* Advice (p ...
columns,
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
, and other columns; and radio and television listings (program schedules). As of 2017, newspapers may also provide information about new movies and TV shows available on
streaming video
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
services like
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
. Newspapers have
classified ad
Classified may refer to:
General
*Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive
*Classified advertising or "classifieds"
Music
*Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper
*The Classified, a 1980s American roc ...
sections where people and businesses can buy small advertisements to sell goods or services; as of 2013, the huge increase in
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
websites for selling goods, such as
Craigslist
Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.
Craig Newmark ...
and
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
has led to significantly less classified ad sales for newspapers.
Most newspapers are businesses, and they pay their expenses with a mixture of
subscription
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...
revenue,
newsstand sales, and advertising revenue (other businesses or individuals pay to place advertisements in the pages, including
display ads,
classified ads
Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...
, and
their online equivalents). Some newspapers are government-run or at least government-funded; their reliance on advertising revenue and profitability is less critical to their survival. The
editorial independence of a newspaper is thus always subject to the
interests of someone, whether owners, advertisers or a government. Some newspapers with high editorial independence, high journalism quality, and large circulation are viewed as
newspapers of record
A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...
.
Many newspapers, besides employing journalists on their own payrolls, also subscribe to
news agencies
A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...
(wire services) (such as the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
,
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
, or
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency.
AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...
), which employ journalists to find, assemble, and report the news, then sell the
content
Content or contents may refer to:
Media
* Content (media), information or experience provided to audience or end-users by publishers or media producers
** Content industry, an umbrella term that encompasses companies owning and providing mas ...
to the various newspapers. This is a way to avoid duplicating the expense of reporting from around the world. Circa 2005, there were approximately 6,580 daily newspaper titles in the world selling 395 million print copies a day (in the U.S., 1,450 titles selling 55 million copies). The
late 2000s–early 2010s global recession, combined with the rapid growth of free web-based alternatives, has helped cause a decline in advertising and circulation, as many papers had to retrench operations to stanch the losses. Worldwide annual revenue approached $100 billion in 2005–7, then plunged during the worldwide financial crisis of 2008–9. Revenue in 2016 fell to only $53 billion, hurting every major publisher as their efforts to gain online income fell far short of the goal.
The decline in advertising revenues affected both the print and online media as well as all other mediums; print advertising was once lucrative but has greatly declined, and the prices of
online advertising
Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...
are often lower than those of their print precursors. Besides remodelling advertising, the internet (especially the
web
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
) has also challenged the business models of the print-only era by
crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...
both publishing in general (sharing information with others) and, more specifically,
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
(the work of finding, assembling, and reporting the news). Besides, the rise of
news aggregator
In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, feed reader, news reader, RSS reader or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, podc ...
s, which bundle linked articles from many online newspapers and other sources, influences the flow of
web traffic
Web traffic is the data sent and received by visitors to a website. Since the mid-1990s, web traffic has been the largest portion of Internet traffic. Sites monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic to see which parts or pages of their site are ...
. Increasing
paywall
A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...
ing of online newspapers may be counteracting those effects. The oldest newspaper still published is the ''
Ordinari Post Tijdender
''Post- och Inrikes Tidningar'' or ''PoIT'' (Swedish for "Post and Domestic Times") is the government newspaper and gazette of Sweden, and the country's official notification medium for announcements like bankruptcy declarations or auctions. The ...
'', which was established in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in 1645.
Definitions
Newspapers typically meet four criteria:
* Public accessibility: Its contents are reasonably accessible to the public, traditionally by the paper being sold or distributed at newsstands, shops, and libraries, and, since the 1990s, made available over the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
with
online newspaper
An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical.
Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...
websites. While online newspapers have increased access to newspapers by people with Internet access, people without Internet or computer access (e.g.,
homeless people
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
,
impoverished people and people living in remote or rural regions) may
not be able to access the Internet, and thus will not be able to read online news.
Literacy
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
is also a factor that prevents
people who cannot read from being able to benefit from reading newspapers (paper or online).
*
Periodicity
Periodicity or periodic may refer to:
Mathematics
* Bott periodicity theorem, addresses Bott periodicity: a modulo-8 recurrence relation in the homotopy groups of classical groups
* Periodic function, a function whose output contains values tha ...
: They are published at regular intervals, typically daily or weekly. This ensures that newspapers can provide information on newly emerging news stories or events.
* Currency: Its information is as up to date as its publication schedule allows. The degree of up-to-date-ness of a print newspaper is limited by the need for time to print and distribute the newspaper. In major cities, there may be a morning edition and a later edition of the same day's paper, so that the later edition can incorporate
breaking news
Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...
that have occurred since the morning edition was printed. Online newspapers can be updated as frequently as new information becomes available, even several times per day, which means that online editions can be very up-to-date.
* Universality: Newspapers covers a range of topics, from political and business news to updates on science and technology, arts, culture, and entertainment.
History
Gazettes and bulletins
In
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, ''
Acta Diurna
''Acta Diurna'' (Latin: ''Daily Acts'', sometimes translated as ''Daily Public Records'' or poetically as ''Daily Gazette'') were daily Ancient Rome, Roman official notices, a sort of daily gazette. They were carved on stone or metal and presented ...
'', or government announcement bulletins, were produced. They were carved in metal or stone and posted in public places. In China, early government-produced news-sheets, called
Dibao
''Dibao'' (''ti-pao''),; also romanized as ''tepao''. sometimes called headmen or constables,Bernhardt, Kathryn ''et al.'' Civil Law in Qing and Republican China', p. 117. Stanford University Press, 1999. . Accessed 4 Nov 2011. were local officia ...
, circulated among court officials during the late
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
(second and third centuries AD). Between 713 and 734, the ''
Kaiyuan Za Bao
''Kaiyuan Za Bao'', or ''Kaiyuan Chao Bao'', ''Bulletin of the Court'', was an official publication which first appeared in the 8th century, during the Kaiyuan era. It has been described as the first Chinese newspaper or official gazette, and als ...
'' ("Bulletin of the Court") of the Chinese
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
published government news; it was handwritten on silk and read by government officials. In 1582, there was the first reference to privately published newssheets in Beijing, during the late
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
.
In
early modern Europe
Early modern Europe, also referred to as the post-medieval period, is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century. Histori ...
, the increased cross-border interaction created a rising need for information which was met by concise handwritten news-sheets. In 1556, the government of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
first published the monthly ''
notizie scritte'', which cost one ''gazetta'', a small coin.
These
avvisi were handwritten
newsletter
A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of int ...
s and used to convey political, military, and economic news quickly and efficiently to Italian cities (1500–1700)—sharing some characteristics of newspapers though usually not considered true newspapers. However, none of these publications fully met the classical criteria for proper newspapers, as they were typically not intended for the general public and restricted to a certain range of topics.
Newspapers
Europe
The first mechanical, movable type printing that allowed the mass production of printed books was invented by
Johann Gutenberg
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its kind, earlier designs ...
around 1450. In the 50 years after Gutenberg started printing, an estimated 500,000 books were in circulation, printed on about 1,000 presses across the continent. Gutenberg's invention was a simple device, but it launched a revolution marked by repeated advances in technology and, as a result, a popularization of the ideals of liberty and freedom of information exchange.
The emergence of the new media in the 17th century has to be seen in close connection with the
spread of the printing press
The global spread of the printing press began with the invention of the printing press with movable type by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany . History of Western typography, Western History of printing, printing technology was adopted in all ...
from which the publishing
press
Press may refer to:
Media
* Print media or news media, commonly called "the press"
* Printing press, commonly called "the press"
* Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers
* Press TV, an Iranian television network
People
* Press (surname), a fam ...
derives its name. The German-language ''
Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien
Johann Carolus (26 March 1575 − 15 August 1634) was a German publisher of the first newspaper, called ''Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien'' (Account of all distinguished and commemorable stories). The ''Relation'' is re ...
'', printed from 1605 onwards by
Johann Carolus
Johann Carolus (26 March 1575 − 15 August 1634) was a German publisher of the first newspaper, called ''Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien'' (Account of all distinguished and commemorable stories). The ''Relation'' is re ...
in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
, is often recognized as the first newspaper. At the time, Strasbourg was a
free imperial city
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
in the
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
; the first newspaper of
modern Germany was the ''
Avisa'', published in 1609 in
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest c ...
. They distinguished themselves from other printed material by being published on a regular basis. They reported on a variety of current events to a broad public audience. Within a few decades, newspapers could be found in all the major cities of Europe, from Venice to London.
The Antwerp periodial De Nieuwe Tijdinghe was published in Brabant Dutch as from 1605 by Abraham Verhoeven and is thought to have been the first regularly appearing newssheet.
The Dutch ''
Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c.'' ('Courant from Italy, Germany, etc.') of 1618 was the first to appear in
folio- rather than quarto-size.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, a center of world trade, quickly became home to newspapers in many languages, often before they were published in their own country.
The first English-language newspaper, ''Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc.'', was published in Amsterdam in 1620. A year and a half later, was published in England by an "N.B." (generally thought to be either
Nathaniel Butter
Nathaniel Butter (died 22 February 1664) was a London publisher of the early 17th century. The publisher of the first edition of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' in 1608, he has also been regarded as one of the first publishers of a newspaper in Englis ...
or
Nicholas Bourne
Nicholas Henry Bourne, Baron Bourne of Aberystwyth (born 1 January 1952) is a Conservative Party politician who served as Leader of the Welsh Conservative Party and Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales from August 1999 until May 2011 ...
) and
Thomas Archer
Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his
contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque archit ...
. The first newspaper in France was published in 1631, ''
La Gazette
''La Gazette'' (), originally ''Gazette de France'', was the first weekly magazine published in France. It was founded by Théophraste Renaudot and published its first edition on 30 May 1631. It progressively became the mouthpiece of one royal ...
'' (originally published as ''Gazette de France'').
The first newspaper in Italy, in accordance with the oldest issue still preserved, was ''
Di Genova'' published in 1639 in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
.
The first newspaper in Portugal, ''
A Gazeta da Restauração
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'', was published in 1641 in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. The first Spanish newspaper,
Gaceta de Madrid
La Gaceta may refer to
* ''La Gaceta'' (Honduras), the official journal of the Republic of Honduras.
* ''La Gaceta'' (Tampa), a trilingual newspaper in Tampa, Florida, United States
* ''La Gaceta'' (Tucumán), a newspaper in San Miguel de Tucum ...
, was published in 1661.
''
Post- och Inrikes Tidningar
''Post- och Inrikes Tidningar'' or ''PoIT'' (Swedish for "Post and Domestic Times") is the government newspaper and gazette of Sweden, and the country's official notification medium for announcements like bankruptcy declarations or auctions. The n ...
'' (founded as ''Ordinari Post Tijdender'') was first published in Sweden in 1645, and is the oldest newspaper still in existence, though it now publishes solely online. ''
Opregte Haarlemsche Courant
The ''Haarlems Dagblad'' is a regional newspaper in Haarlem, Netherlands. It makes claim to being the newspaper with the oldest publishing history in the world, even if this claim is based on its (forced) merger with another title.
''Oprechte ...
'' from
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
, first published in 1656, is the oldest paper still printed. It was forced to merge with the newspaper ''
Haarlems Dagblad
The ''Haarlems Dagblad'' is a regional newspaper in Haarlem, Netherlands. It makes claim to being the newspaper with the oldest publishing history in the world, even if this claim is based on its (forced) merger with another title.
''Oprechte ...
'' in 1942 when Germany occupied the Netherlands. Since then the ''Haarlems Dagblad'' has appeared with the subtitle ''Oprechte Haerlemse Courant 1656''. ''
Merkuriusz Polski Ordynaryjny
''Merkuriusz Polski Ordynaryjny'' (The Polish Mercury Ordinary; original 17th-century Polish spelling: ''Merkuryusz Polski Ordynaryiny''; full title: ''Merkuriusz Polski dzieje wszystkiego świata w sobie zamykający, dla informacji pospolitej' ...
'' was published in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, Poland in 1661. The first successful English daily, ''
The Daily Courant
''The Daily Courant'', initially published on 11 March 1702, was the first British daily newspaper. It was produced by Elizabeth Mallet at her premises next to the King's Arms tavern at Fleet Bridge in London. The newspaper consisted of a sing ...
'', was published from 1702 to 1735.
Americas
In Boston in 1690,
Benjamin Harris published ''
Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick''. This is considered the first newspaper in the
American colonies even though only one edition was published before the paper was suppressed by the government. In 1704, the governor allowed ''
The Boston News-Letter
''The Boston News-Letter'', first published on April 24, 1704, is regarded as the first continuously published newspaper in the colony of Massachusetts. It was heavily subsidized by the British government, with a limited circulation. All copies ...
'' to be published and it became the first continuously published newspaper in the colonies. Soon after, weekly papers began being published in New York and Philadelphia. These early newspapers followed the British format and were usually four pages long. They mostly carried news from Britain and content depended on the editor's interests. In 1783, the ''
Pennsylvania Evening Post
''The Pennsylvania Evening Post'' was the first daily newspaper published in the United States, and was produced by Benjamin Towne from 1775 to 1783. It was also the first newspaper to publish the United States Declaration of Independence.
Histor ...
'' became the first American daily.
In 1752,
John Bushell John Bushell (March 18, 1715 January 22, 1761) was the first printer in what is now Canada.
Biography
Bushell was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was apprenticed as a printer there. He subsequently worked for a number of different printers and ...
published the ''
Halifax Gazette
The ''Halifax Gazette'' was Canada's first newspaper, established on March 23, 1752, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was published weekly by John Bushell, who had been carrying out a project that had been initiated by his partner Bartholomew Green ...
'', which claims to be "Canada's first newspaper". However, its official descendant, the ''Royal Gazette'', is a government publication for legal notices and proclamations rather than a proper newspaper; In 1764, the ''
Quebec Gazette
The ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph'', founded by William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the ''Quebec Gazette'' on 21 June 1764, is the oldest newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English language weekly from its offices in Queb ...
'' was first printed 21 June 1764 and remains the oldest continuously published newspaper in North America as the ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph''. It is currently published as an English-language weekly from its offices at 1040 Belvédère, suite 218, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. In 1808, the ''
Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro
''Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro'' was the first newspaper to be published in Brazil. It was printed twice a week. It was pro government for the then Portuguese rulers of Brazil. Its editor was Friar José Tiburcio Rocha. It was renamed Gazeta in 1821 an ...
'' had its first edition, printed in devices brought from England, publishing news favourable for the government of the
United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was a pluricontinental monarchy formed by the elevation of the Portuguese colony named State of Brazil to the status of a kingdom and by the simultaneous union of that Kingdom of Brazil w ...
since it was produced by the official press service of the Portuguese crown.
In 1821, after the ending of the ban of private newspaper circulation, appears the first non-imperial printed publication, ''
Diário do Rio de Janeiro
''Diário'' is the fourth album by Portuguese fado singer Mafalda Arnauth
Mafalda Arnauth (born October 1974) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese fado singer.
Life and career
Arnauth was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in October 1974, and her ca ...
'', though there existed already the ''
Correio Braziliense
The ''Correio Braziliense'' (meaning ''Brazilian Mail'' in English) is a daily newspaper in Brazil. The paper was first published on 21 April 1960. Its founder is Assis Chateaubriand. The paper has its headquarters in Brasília.
The name came f ...
'', published by Hipólito José da Costa at the same time as the ''Gazeta'', but from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and with forcefully advocated political and critical ideas, aiming to expose the administration's flaws. The first newspaper in Peru was ''El Peruano'', established in October 1825 and still published today, but with several name changes.
Asia
During the
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
in China (618–906), the ''
Kaiyuan Za Bao
''Kaiyuan Za Bao'', or ''Kaiyuan Chao Bao'', ''Bulletin of the Court'', was an official publication which first appeared in the 8th century, during the Kaiyuan era. It has been described as the first Chinese newspaper or official gazette, and als ...
'' published the government news; it was
block-printed onto paper. It is sometimes considered one of the earliest newspapers to be published.The first recorded attempt to found a newspaper of the modern type in South Asia was by
William Bolts
William Bolts (1738–1808) was a Dutch-born British merchant active in India. He began his career as an employee of the East India Company, and subsequently became an independent merchant. He is best known today for his 1772 book, ''Consideratio ...
, a Dutchman in the employ of the British East India Company in September 1768 in Calcutta. However, before he could begin his newspaper, he was deported back to Europe. In 1780 the first newsprint from this region, ''
Hicky's Bengal Gazette
''Hicky's Bengal Gazette or the Original Calcutta General Advertiser'' was an English-language weekly newspaper published in Kolkata (then Calcutta), the capital of British India(then Known as the Presidency of Fort William.. It was the first ...
'', was published by an Irishman,
James Augustus Hicky
James Augustus Hicky was an Irishman who launched the first printed newspaper in India, '' Hicky's Bengal Gazette''.
Early life
Hicky was born in Ireland around the year 1740. While young, he moved to London to apprentice with William Faden, a ...
. He used it as a means to criticize the British rule through journalism.
The ''Jobo'', which is discussed in the
Annals of the Joseon Dynasty
The ''Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty'' (also known as the ''Annals of the Joseon Dynasty'' or the ''True Record of the Joseon Dynasty''; ko, 조선왕조실록 and ) are the annual records of Joseon, the last royal house to rule ...
, is published in 1577 as a privately run commercial newspaper. It was printed daily, and covered a range of topics, including weather, constellations, and current affairs. In 2017, a Korean monk claimed to have discovered an extant copy of the ''Jobo''.
Middle East
The history of
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
ern
newspapers
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...
goes back to the 19th century. Many editors were not only journalists but also writers, philosophers and politicians. With unofficial journals, these intellectuals encouraged public discourse on politics in the
Ottoman and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Empires. Literary works of all genres were serialized and published in the press as well.
The first newspapers in the Ottoman Empire were owned by foreigners living there who wanted to make propaganda about the Western world. The earliest was printed in 1795 by the Palais de France in
Pera. Indigenous Middle Eastern journalism started in 1828, when
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
,
Khedive
Khedive (, ota, خدیو, hıdiv; ar, خديوي, khudaywī) was an honorific title of Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Kh ...
of Egypt, ordered the local establishment of the gazette ''
Vekayi-i Misriye
''Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' ( ar, الوقائع المصريّة / ALA-LC: ''al-Waqā’i‘ al-Miṣriyyah''; meaning "the Egyptian affairs"), was an Egyptian newspaper established in 1828 on the order of Muhammad Ali, originally called "''Vek ...
'' (''Egyptian Affairs''). It was first paper written in
Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
on opposite pages, and later in Arabic only, under the title "''al-Waqa'i'a al-Masriya''".
The first non-official Turkish newspaper, ''Ceride-i Havadis'' (Register of Events), was published by an Englishman, William Churchill, in 1840. The first private newspaper to be published by Turkish journalists, ''Tercüman-ı Ahvâl'' (Interpreter of Events), was founded by
İbrahim Şinasi
İbrahim Şinasi (5 August 1826 – 13 September 1871) was a pioneering Ottoman intellectual, author, journalist, translator, playwright, and newspaper editor. He was the innovator of several fields: he wrote one of the earliest examples of an Ot ...
and
Agah Efendi
Çapanzade or Çapanoğlu Agah Efendi (1832 – 1885) was an Ottoman civil servant, writer and newspaper editor who, along with his colleague İbrahim Şinasi, published '' Tercüman-ı Ahvâl'' ("Interpreter of Events"), the first private newsp ...
and issued in 1860.
[Ágoston & Masters, p. 433.] The first newspaper in Iran, ''Kaghaz-e Akhbar'' (The Newspaper), was created for the government by
Mirza Saleh Shirazi
Mirza Saleh Shirāzi ( fa, میرزا صالح شیرازی, ''Mīrzā Ṣāleḥ Shīrāzī'') was a court intellectual and the first reporter in Iran."A History of 163 Years of Iranian Press (the Story of Repeated Efforts).''Eqtesade Iran; Econom ...
in 1837. The first journals in the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
appeared in
Hijaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provinc ...
, once it had become independent of Ottoman rule, towards the end of World War I. One of the earliest women to sign her articles in the Arab press was the female medical practitioner
Galila Tamarhan
Galila Tamarhan (or Tamruhan) al-Habashiya ( / ALA-LC: ''Jalīlah Tamarhān''; d. 1863) was a medical practitioner in 19th century Ottoman Egypt. She was one of the earliest women to sign her articles in the Arab press
The Arabs (singular: A ...
, who contributed articles to a medical magazine called "''Ya'asub al-Tib''" (Leader in Medicine) in the 1860s.
Industrial Revolution
By the early 19th century, many cities in Europe, as well as North and South America, published newspaper-type publications though not all of them developed in the same way; content was vastly shaped by regional and cultural preferences. Advances in printing technology related to the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
enabled newspapers to become an even more widely circulated means of communication, as new printing technologies made printing less expensive and more efficient. In 1814, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' (London) acquired a printing press capable of making 1,100 impressions per hour. Soon, this press was adapted to print on both sides of a page at once. This innovation made newspapers cheaper and thus available to a larger part of the population.
In 1830, the first inexpensive "
penny press
Penny press newspapers were cheap, tabloid-style newspapers mass-produced in the United States from the 1830s onwards. Mass production of inexpensive newspapers became possible following the shift from hand-crafted to steam-powered printing. F ...
" newspaper came to the market: Lynde M. Walter's Boston ''
Transcript''. Penny press papers cost about one sixth the price of other newspapers and appealed to a wider audience, including less educated and lower-income people.
[Bird, S. Elizabeth. ''For Enquiring Minds: A Cultural Study of Supermarket Tabloids''. Knoxville: ]University of Tennessee Press
The University of Tennessee Press is a university press associated with the University of Tennessee.
UT Press was established in 1940 by the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees.
The University of Tennessee Press issues about 35 books each ...
, 1992: 12–17. In France,
Émile de Girardin
Émile de Girardin (22 June 180227 April 1881) was a French journalist, publisher and politician. He was the most successful and flamboyant French journalist of the era, presenting himself as a promoter of mass education through mass journalism. ...
started "
La Presse" in 1836, introducing cheap, advertising-supported dailies to France. In 1848,
August Zang
August Zang (; 2 August 1807 – 4 March 1888) was an Austrian entrepreneur who founded the Viennese daily ''Die Presse''. He also had a major influence on French baking methods.
Soldier and baker
The son of Christophe Boniface Zang, a Vienna ...
, an Austrian who knew Girardin in Paris, returned to Vienna to introduce the same methods with "
Die Presse
''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria.
History and profile
''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...
" (which was named for and frankly copied Girardin's publication).
Categories
While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers (e.g., ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
and
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...
'') and sports newspapers. More specialist still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited regional areas; these may serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, the local
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
community or
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
enthusiasts within a city or region.
Frequency
Daily
A daily newspaper is printed every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and occasionally Saturdays (and some major holidays). Saturday and, where they exist, Sunday editions of daily newspapers tend to be larger, include more specialized sections (e.g., on arts, films, entertainment) and advertising inserts, and cost more. Typically, the majority of these newspapers' staff members work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content made in advance or content that is syndicated.
Most daily newspapers are sold in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers, once common but now scarce, are aimed more at commuters and office workers. In practice (though this may vary according to country), a morning newspaper is available in early editions from before midnight on the night before its
cover date
The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...
, further editions being printed and distributed during the night. The later editions can include
breaking news
Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...
which was first revealed that day, after the morning edition was already printed. Previews of tomorrow's newspapers are often a feature of late night news programs, such as ''
Newsnight
''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...
'' in the United Kingdom. In 1650, the first daily newspaper appeared, ''Einkommende Zeitung'', published by Timotheus Ritzsch in Leipzig, Germany.
In the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, unlike most other countries, "daily" newspapers do not publish on Sundays. In the past there were independent Sunday newspapers; nowadays the same publisher often produces a Sunday newspaper, distinct in many ways from the daily, usually with a related name; e.g., ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' and ''The Sunday Times'' are distinct newspapers owned by the same company, and an article published in the latter would never be credited to ''The Times''.
In some cases a Sunday edition is an expanded version of a newspaper from the same publisher; in other cases, particularly in Britain, it may be a separate enterprise, e.g., ''The Observer'', not affiliated with a daily newspaper from its founding in 1791 until it was acquired by ''The Guardian'' in 1993. Usually, it is a specially expanded edition, often several times the thickness and weight of the weekday editions and containing generally special sections not found in the weekday editions, such as Sunday comics and Sunday magazines (such as ''The New York Times Magazine'' and ''The Sunday Times Magazine'').
In some countries daily newspapers are not published on Christmas Day, but weekly newspapers would change their day e.g. Sunday newspapers are published on Saturday December 24, Christmas Eve when Christmas Day falls on Sunday.
Semi-weekly
Some newspapers are published two times a week and are known as semi-weekly publications.
Triweekly
As the name suggests, a triweekly publishes three times a week. The ''The Meridian Star, Meridian Star'' is an example of such a publication.
Weekly
Weekly newspapers are published once a week, and tend to be smaller than daily papers.
Biweekly
Some publications are published, for example, fortnightly (or biweekly in American parlance). They may have a change from normal weekly day of the week during the Christmas period depending the day of the week Christmas Day is falling on.
Geographical scope and distribution
Local or regional
A local newspaper serves a region such as a city, or part of a large city.
Almost every market has one or two newspapers that dominate the area. Large metropolitan newspapers often have large distribution networks, and can be found outside their normal area, sometimes widely, sometimes from fewer sources.
National
Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper. Some national newspapers, such as the ''Financial Times'' and ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', are specialised (in these examples, on financial matters). There are many List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, national newspapers in the United Kingdom, but only a List of newspapers in the United States, few in the United States and List of newspapers in Canada, Canada. In Canada, ''The Globe and Mail'' is sold throughout the country. In the United States, in addition to national newspapers as such, ''The New York Times'' is available throughout the country.
There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterized as international newspapers. Some, such as ''The New York Times International Edition'', (formerly The International Herald Tribune) have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or "international editions" of national or large metropolitan newspapers. In some cases, articles that might not interest the wider range of readers are omitted from international editions; in others, of interest to expatriates, significant national news is retained. As English became the international language of business and technology, many newspapers formerly published only in non-English languages have also developed English-language editions. In places as varied as Jerusalem and Mumbai, newspapers are printed for a local and international English-speaking public, and for tourists. The advent of the Internet has also allowed non-English-language newspapers to put out a scaled-down English version to give their newspaper a global outreach.
Similarly, in many countries with a large foreign-language-speaking population or many tourists, newspapers in languages other than the national language are both published locally and imported. For example, newspapers and magazines from many countries, and List of newspapers in the United Kingdom#Non-English-language newspapers, locally published newspapers in many languages, are ready to be found on news-stands in central London. In the US state of Florida, so many tourists from the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec visit for long stays during the winter ("snowbird (person), snowbirds") that some newsstands and stores sell French-language newspapers such as ''Le Droit''.
Subject matter
General newspapers cover all topics, with different emphasis. While at least mentioning all topics, some might have good coverage of international events of importance; others might concentrate more on national or local entertainment or sports. Specialised newspapers might concentrate more specifically on, for example, financial matters. There are publications covering exclusively sports, or certain sports, horse-racing, theatre, and so on, although they may no longer be called newspapers.
Technology
Print
For centuries newspapers were printed on paper and supplied physically to readers either by the local distribution or in some cases by mail, for example for British expatriates living in India or Hong Kong who subscribed to British newspapers. Newspapers can be delivered to subscribers homes and/or businesses by a paper's own delivery people, sent via the mail, sold at newsstands, grocery stores and convenience stores, and delivered to library, libraries and bookstores. Newspaper organizations need a large distribution system to deliver their papers to these different distributors, which typically involves delivery trucks and delivery people. In recent years, Newspaper, newspapers and other media have adapted to the changing technology environment by starting to offer online editions to cater to the needs of the public. In the future, the trend towards more electronic delivery of the news will continue with more emphasis on the Internet, social media and other electronic delivery methods. However, while the method of delivery is changing, the newspaper and the industry still have a niche in the world.
Online
As of 2007, virtually all major printed newspapers produced online editions distributed over the Internet, which, depending on the country, may be regulated by journalism organizations such as the Press Complaints Commission in the UK. But as some publishers find their print-based models increasingly unsustainable, Web-based "newspapers" have also started to appear, such as the ''Southport Reporter'' in the UK and the ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', which stopped publishing in print after 149 years in March 2009 and became an online-only paper.
Since 2005 in the UK more than 200 regional newspapers have closed down resulting in a 50% decline in the number of regional journalists. A 2016 study by King's College, London, found that the towns that lost their local newspapers receded from democratic values and experienced the loss of public faith in the authorities.
A new trend in newspaper publishing is the introduction of personalization through on-demand printing technologies or with online news aggregator websites like Google news. Customized newspapers allow the reader to create their individual newspaper through the selection of individual pages from multiple publications. This "Best of" approach allows revival of the print-based model and opens up a new distribution channel to increase coverage beneath the usual boundaries of distribution. Customized newspapers online have been offered by Yahoo!, MyYahoo, IGoogle, I-Google, CRAYON, ICurrent.com, Kibboko.com, Twitter. times and many others. With these Online newspaper, online newspapers, the reader can select how much of each section (politics, sports, arts, etc.) they wish to see in their news.
Organization and personnel
In the United States, the overall manager or chief executive of the newspaper is the publisher. In small newspapers, the owner of the publication (or the largest shareholder in the corporation that owns the publication) is usually the publisher. Most newspapers have four main departments devoted to publishing the newspaper itself—editorial, production/printing, circulation, and advertising, although they are frequently referred to by a variety of other names. Most papers also have the non-newspaper-specific departments found in other businesses of comparable size, such as accounting, marketing, human resources, and IT.
Throughout the English-speaking world, the person who selects the content for the newspaper is usually referred to as the editor. Variations on this title such as editor-in-chief, executive editor, and so on are common. For small newspapers, a single editor may be responsible for all content areas. At large newspapers, the most senior editor is in overall charge of the publication, while less senior editors may each focus on one subject area, such as local news or sports. These divisions are called news bureaus or "desks", and each is supervised by a designated editor. Most newspaper editors copy edit the stories for their part of the newspaper, but they may share their workload with proofreaders and fact checkers.
Reporters are journalists who primarily report facts that they have gathered, and those who write longer, less news-oriented articles may be called feature writers. Photographers and graphic artists provide images and illustrations to support articles. Journalists often specialize in a subject area, called a Beat reporting, beat, such as sports, religion, or science. Columnists are journalists who write regular articles recounting their personal opinions and experiences. Printer (publishing), Printers and press operators physically print the newspaper. Printing is outsourced by many newspapers, partly because of the cost of an Offset printing, offset web press (the most common kind of press used to print newspapers), and also because a small newspaper's print run might require less than an hour of operation, meaning that if the newspaper had its own press it would sit idle most of the time. If the newspaper offers information online, webmasters and web designers may be employed to upload stories to the newspaper's website.
The staff of the Newspaper circulation, circulation department liaise with retailers who sell the newspaper; sell subscriptions; and supervise distribution of the printed newspapers through the mail, by newspaper carriers, at retailers, and through vending machines. Free newspapers do not sell subscriptions, but they still have a circulation department responsible for distributing the newspapers. Sales staff in the advertising department not only sell ad space to clients such as local businesses, but also help clients design and plan their advertising campaigns. Other members of the advertising department may include graphic designers, who design ads according to the customers' specifications and the department's policies. In an Advertising-free media, advertising-free newspaper, there is no advertising department.
Zoned and other editions
Newspapers often refine distribution of ads and news through zoning and editioning. Zoning occurs when advertising and editorial content change to reflect the location to which the product is delivered. The editorial content often may change merely to reflect changes in advertising—the quantity and layout of which affects the space available for editorial—or may contain region-specific news. In rare instances, the advertising may not change from one zone to another, but there will be different region-specific editorial content. As the content can vary widely, zoned editions are often produced in parallel. Editioning occurs in the main sections as news is updated throughout the night. The advertising is usually the same in each edition (with the exception of zoned regionals, in which it is often the 'B' section of local news that undergoes advertising changes). As each edition represents the latest news available for the next press run, these editions are produced linearly, with one completed edition being copied and updated for the next edition. The previous edition is always copied to maintain a Newspaper of Record and to fall back on if a quick correction is needed for the press. For example, both ''The New York Times'' and ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' offer a regional edition, printed through a local contractor, and featuring locale specific content. The Journal's global advertising rate card provides a good example of editioning.
: ''See also Los Angeles Times suburban sections.''
Format
Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:
* Broadsheets: , generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards "compact" newspapers is changing this. Examples include ''The Daily Telegraph'' in the United Kingdom.
* Tabloid (newspaper format), Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at , and often perceived as sensationalism, sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples include ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun'', ''The National Enquirer'', ''Star (magazine), The Star Magazine'', ''New York Post'', the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', and ''The Globe (tabloid), The Globe''.
** "Microdaily" is infrequently used to refer to a Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid-sized free daily newspaper that offers lower ad rates than its broadsheet competitors. The content of a microdaily can range from intense local news coverage to a combination of local and national stories.
* Berliner (format), Berliner or Midi (newspaper), Midi: used by European papers such as ''Le Monde'' in France, ''La Stampa'' in Italy, ''El País'' in Spain and, from 2005 until 2018, ''The Guardian'' in the United Kingdom.
Newspapers are usually printed on cheap, off-white paper known as
newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has an ...
. Since the 1980s, the newspaper industry has largely moved away from lower-quality letterpress printing to higher-quality, CMYK color model, four-color process, offset printing. In addition, desktop computers, word processor, word processing software, graphics software, digital cameras and digital prepress and typesetting technologies have revolutionized the newspaper production process. These technologies have enabled newspapers to publish color photographs and graphics, as well as innovative Page layout, layouts and better design.
To help their titles stand out on newsstands, some newspapers are printed on coloured newsprint. For example, the ''Financial Times'' is printed on a distinctive salmon pink paper, and Sheffield's weekly sports publication derives its name, the ''Green Un, Green 'Un'', from the traditional colour of its paper. The Italian sports newspaper ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' is also printed on pink paper while ''L'Équipe'' (formerly ''L'Auto'') is printed on yellow paper. Both the latter promoted major cycling races and their newsprint colours were reflected in the colours of the jerseys used to denote the race leader; for example the leader in the Giro d'Italia wears a pink jersey.
Circulation and readership
The number of copies distributed, either on an average day or on particular days (typically Sunday), is called the newspaper's circulation and is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not necessarily the same as copies sold, since some copies or newspapers are distributed without cost. Readership figures may be higher than circulation figures, because many copies are read by more than one person, although this is offset by the number of copies distributed but not read (especially for those distributed free). In the United States, the Alliance for Audited Media maintains historical and current data on average circulation of daily and weekly newspapers and other periodicals.
According to the ''Guinness Book of Records'', the daily circulation of the Soviet newspaper ''Trud (Russian newspaper), Trud'' exceeded 21,500,000 in 1990, while the Soviet weekly ''Argumenty i Fakty'' boasted a circulation of 33,500,000 in 1991. According to United Nations data from 1995 Japan has three daily papers—the ''Yomiuri Shimbun''with circulations well above 5.5 million. Germany's ''Bild-Zeitung, Bild'', with a circulation of 1.15 million, was the only other paper in that category. In the United Kingdom, ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun'' is the top seller, with around 1.2 million copies distributed daily. In the U.S., ''The Wall Street Journal'' has a daily circulation of approximately 2.02 million, making it the most widely distributed paper in the country.
While paid readership of print newspapers has been steadily declining in the developed OECD nations, it has been rising in the chief developing nations (Brazil, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa), whose paid daily circulation exceeded those of the developed nations for the first time in 2008. In India, ''The Times of India'' is the largest-circulation English newspaper, with 3.14 million copies daily. According to the 2009 Indian Readership Survey, the ''Dainik Jagran'' is the most-read, local-language (Hindi) newspaper, with 55.7 million readers. According to Tom Standage of ''The Economist'', India currently has daily newspaper circulation of 110 million copies.
A common measure of a newspaper's health is market penetration, expressed as a percentage of households that receive a copy of the newspaper against the total number of households in the paper's market area. In the 1920s, on a national basis in the U.S., daily newspapers achieved market penetration of 123 percent (meaning the average U.S. household received 1.23 newspapers). As other media began to compete with newspapers, and as printing became easier and less expensive giving rise to a greater diversity of publications, market penetration began to decline. It wasn't until the early 1970s, however, that market penetration dipped below 100 percent. By 2000, it was 53 percent and still falling. Many paid-for newspapers offer a variety of subscription plans. For example, someone might want only a Sunday paper, or perhaps only Sunday and Saturday, or maybe only a workweek subscription, or perhaps a daily subscription. Most newspapers provide some or all of their content on the Internet, either at no cost or for a fee. In some cases, free access is available only for a matter of days or weeks, or for a certain number of viewed articles, after which readers must register and provide personal data. In other cases, free archives are provided.
File:Newspaper vendor.jpg, Newspaper vendor, Paddington, London, February 2005
File:USA Today newsracks.webm, Attempting to buy a newspaper
Advertising
A newspaper typically generates 70–80% of its revenue from advertising, and the remainder from sales and subscriptions.
The portion of the newspaper that is not advertising is called ''editorial content'', ''editorial matter'', or simply ''editorial'', although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those articles in which the newspaper and its guest writers express their opinions. (This distinction, however, developed over time – early publishers like Girardin (France) and Zang (Austria) did not always distinguish paid items from editorial content.). The business model of having advertising subsidize the cost of printing and distributing newspapers (and, it is always hoped, the making of a profit) rather than having subscribers cover the full cost was first done, it seems, in 1833 by ''The Sun (New York), The Sun'', a daily paper that was published in New York City. Rather than charging 6 cents per copy, the price of a typical New York daily at the time, they charged 1-cent, and depended on advertising to make up the difference.
Newspapers in countries with easy access to the
web
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
have been hurt by the decline of many traditional advertisers. Department stores and supermarkets could be relied upon in the past to buy pages of newspaper advertisements, but due to industry consolidation are much less likely to do so now. Additionally, newspapers are seeing traditional advertisers shift to new media platforms. The classified category is shifting to sites including
Craigslist
Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.
Craig Newmark ...
, employment websites, and auto sites. National advertisers are shifting to many types of digital content including websites, rich media platforms, and mobile.
In recent years, the advertorial emerged. Advertorials are most commonly recognized as an Editorial, opposite-editorial which third parties pay a fee to have included in the paper. Advertorials commonly advertise new products or techniques, such as a new design for golf equipment, a new form of laser surgery, or weight-loss drugs. The tone is usually closer to that of a press release than of an objective news story. Such articles are often clearly distinguished from editorial content through either the design and layout of the page or with a label declaring the article as an advertisement. However, there has been growing concern over the blurring of the line between editorial and advertorial content.
File:C & A Speciale Mantel-Aanbieding.jpg, 1938 Dutch newspaper advertisement for women's clothing sold at C&A stores
File:Naa newspaper ad revenue.svg, US newspaper advertising revenue—Newspaper Association of America published data
Journalism
Since newspapers began as a journal (record of current events), the profession involved in the making of newspapers began to be called ''journalism''. In the yellow journalism era of the 19th century, many newspapers in the United States relied on sensational stories that were meant to anger or excite the public, rather than to inform. The restrained style of reporting that relies on fact checking and accuracy regained popularity around World War II. Criticism of journalism is varied and sometimes vehement. Credibility is questioned because of anonymous sources; errors in facts, spelling, and grammar; real or perceived bias; and scandals involving plagiarism and fabrication.
In the past, newspapers have often been owned by so-called press barons, and were used for gaining a political voice. After 1920 most major newspapers became parts of chains run by large media corporations such as Gannett, The McClatchy Company, Hearst Corporation, Cox Enterprises, Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, Morris Communications, Tribune Company, The Tribune Company, Hollinger Inc., Hollinger International, News Corporation (1980–2013), News Corporation, Swift Communications, etc. Newspapers have, in the modern world, played an important role in the exercise of freedom of expression. Whistle-blowers, and those who "leak" stories of corruption in political circles often choose to inform newspapers before other mediums of communication, relying on the perceived willingness of newspaper editors to expose the secrets and lies of those who would rather cover them. However, there have been many circumstances of the political autonomy of newspapers being curtailed. Recent research has examined the effects of a newspaper's closing on the reelection of incumbents, voter turnout, and campaign spending.
Opinions of other writers and readers are expressed in the ''
op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
'' ("opposite the editorial page") and letter to the editor, ''letters to the editors'' sections of the paper. Some ways newspapers have tried to improve their credibility are: appointing ombudsman, ombudsmen, developing ethics policies and training, using more stringent corrections policies, communicating their processes and rationale with readers, and asking sources to review articles after publication.
Impact of television and Internet
By the late 1990s, the availability of news via 24-hour television channels and the subsequent availability of online journalism posed an ongoing challenge to the business model of most newspapers in developed countries. Paid newspaper circulation has declined, while advertising revenue—the bulk of most newspapers' income—has been shifting from print to social media and news websites, resulting in a general decline. One of the challenges is that a number of online news websites are free to access. Other online news sites have a
paywall
A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...
and require paid subscription for access. In less-developed countries, cheaper printing and distribution, increased literacy, a growing middle class, and other factors have compensated for the emergence of electronic media, and newspaper circulation continues to grow.
In April 1995, ''The American Reporter'' became the first daily Internet-based newspaper with its own paid reporters and original content. The future of newspapers in countries with high levels of Internet access has been widely debated as the industry has faced down soaring newsprint prices, slumping ad sales, the loss of much classified advertising, and precipitous drops in circulation. Since the late-1990s, the number of newspapers slated for closure, bankruptcy, or severe cutbacks has risen—especially in the United States, where the industry has shed a fifth of its journalists since 2001.
A June 2022 report estimated that 2 newspapers die each week, and revealed that the US dropped from 8,891 newspapers in 2005 to 6,377 at the end of May 2022. Journalism jobs dropped from about 75,000 in 2006 to 31,000 in 2022.
The debate has become more urgent lately, as the 2008–2009 recession shaved newspapers' profits and as once-explosive growth in web revenue has leveled off, forestalling what the industry hoped would become an important source of revenue.
At issue is whether the newspaper industry faces a Business cycle, cyclical trough (or dip), or whether new technology has rendered print newspapers obsolete. , an increasing percentage of millennials get their news from social media websites. In the 2010s, many traditional newspapers have begun offering "digital editions", accessible via computers and mobile devices. Online advertising allows news websites to show catered ads, based on a visitor's interests.
See also
* List of newspaper comic strips
* List of online newspaper archives
* Lists of newspapers
* Off stone
Notes
References
Further reading
* ''Willings Press Guide'' (134th ed. 3 vol. 2010), comprehensive guide to world press. Vol 1 UK, Vol 2 Europe and Vol 3 World.
* ''Editor and Publisher International Year Book'' (90th ed. 2009), comprehensive guide to American newspapers
* Kevin Barnhurst (media studies scholar), Kevin G. Barnhurst, and John Nerone. ''The Form of News, A History'' (2001
excerpt and text search* Bleyer, Willard Grosvenor.
Newspaper Writing and Editing.' (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, 364pp.).
* Conley, David, and Stephen Lamble. ''The Daily Miracle: An Introduction to Journalism'' (3rd ed. 2006), 518pp; global viewpoint
* Harrower, Tim. ''The Newspaper Designer's Handbook'' (6th ed. 2007
excerpt and text search* Alex Jones (journalist), Jones, Alex. ''Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy'' (2009)
* Andrew_Pettegree, Pettegree, Andrew. ''The Invention of News: How the World Came to Know About Itself'' (2014)
* Shaw, Matthew J. ''An Inky Business: A History of Newspapers from the English Civil Wars to the American Civil War'' (2021)
* Sousa, Jorge Pedro Sousa (Coord.); Maria do Carmo Castelo Branco; Mário Pinto; Sandra Tuna; Gabriel Silva; Eduardo Zilles Borba; Mônica Delicato; Carlos Duarte; Nair Silva; Patrícia Teixeira.
A Gazeta "da Restauração": Primeiro Periódico Português. Uma análise do discurso VOL. II — Reproduções'(2011)
* Walravens, Hartmut, ed. ''Newspapers in Central And Eastern Europe'' (2004) 251pp
* Williams, Kevin. ''Read All About It!: A History of the British Newspaper'' (2009
excerpt and text search
External links
*
NewsTornado– Worldwide Newspaper Circulation Map
Print Culturea
A History of Central Florida PodcastChart – Real and Fake News (2016)/Vanessa Oterobasis
Chart – Real and Fake News (2014)2016/Pew Research Center
Newspaper archives
Newspapercat – University of Florida Historical Digital Newspaper Catalog CollectionHistorical newspapers from 1700s–Present Newspapers.com
Historical newspaper database, from NewspaperARCHIVE.comMore than 8m pages of Historic European newspapers(Free)
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapersfrom National Digital Newspaper Program.
{{Authority control
Newspapers,
Newspaper publishing,
Articles containing video clips
Ephemera
Journalism
Media formats
Paper products
Printing
Promotion and marketing communications