Folk news Evidence suggests that cultures around the world have found a place for people to share stories about interesting new information. Among
Zulus,
Mongolians,
Polynesians, and
American Southerners,
anthropologists have documented the practice of questioning travelers for news as a matter of priority. Sufficiently important news would be repeated quickly and often, and could spread by word of mouth over a large geographic area. Even as printing presses came into use in
Europe, news for the general public often travelled orally via monks, travelers,
town criers, etc. The news is also transmitted in public gathering places, such as the Greek forum and the Roman baths. Starting in
England,
coffeehouses served as important sites for the spread of news, even after telecommunications became widely available. The history of the coffee houses is traced from Arab countries, which was introduced in England in the 16th century. In the Muslim world, people have gathered and exchanged news at mosques and other social places. Travelers on pilgrimages to Mecca traditionally stay at
caravanserais, roadside inns, along the way, and these places have naturally served as hubs for gaining news of the world. In late medieval Britain, reports ("tidings") of major events were a topic of great public interest, as chronicled in Chaucer's 1380
The House of Fame and other works.
Government proclamations depicting a town crier with a trumpet Before the invention of newspapers in the early 17th century, official government bulletins and
edicts were circulated at times in some centralized empires. The first documented use of an organized
courier service for the diffusion of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers for the diffusion of their decrees in the territory of the State (2400 BC).
Julius Caesar regularly publicized his heroic deeds in Gaul, and upon becoming dictator of Rome began publishing government announcements called
Acta Diurna. These were carved in metal or stone and posted in public places. In medieval England, parliamentary declarations were delivered to
sheriffs for public display and reading at the market. Specially sanctioned messengers have been recognized in
Vietnamese culture, among the
Khasi people in India, and in the
Fox and
Winnebago cultures of the American mid west. The
Zulu Kingdom used runners to quickly disseminate news. In West Africa, news can be spread by
griots. In most cases, the official spreaders of news have been closely aligned with holders of political power.
Town criers were a common means of conveying information to city dwellers. In thirteenth-century Florence, criers known as arrived in the market regularly, to announce political news, to convoke public meetings, and to call the populace to arms. In 1307 and 1322–1325, laws were established governing their appointment, conduct, and salary. These laws stipulated how many times a was to repeat a proclamation (forty) and where in the city they were to read them. Different declarations sometimes came with additional protocols; announcements regarding the plague were also to be read at the city gates. These proclamations all used a standard format, beginning with an
exordium—"The worshipful and most esteemed gentlemen of the Eight of Ward and Security of the city of Florence make it known, notify, and expressly command, to whosoever, of whatever status, rank, quality and condition"—and continuing with a statement (
narratio), a request made upon the listeners (
petitio), and the penalty to be exacted from those who would not comply (
peroratio). In addition to major declarations,
bandi (announcements) might concern petty crimes, requests for information, and notices about missing slaves.
Niccolò Machiavelli was captured by the Medicis in 1513, following a bando calling for his immediate surrender. Some town criers could be paid to include advertising along with news. Under the
Ottoman Empire, official messages were regularly distributed at mosques, by traveling holy men, and by secular criers. These criers were sent to read official announcements in marketplaces, highways, and other well-traveled places, sometimes issuing commands and penalties for disobedience.
Early news networks The spread of news has always been linked to the communications networks in place to disseminate it. Thus, political, religious, and commercial interests have historically controlled, expanded, and monitored communications channels by which news could spread. Postal services have long been closely entwined with the maintenance of political power in a large area. One of the imperial communication channels, called the "
Royal Road" traversed the
Assyrian Empire and served as a key source of its power. The Roman Empire maintained a vast network of roads, known as
cursus publicus, for similar purposes. Visible chains of long-distance signaling, known as
optical telegraphy, have also been used throughout history to convey limited types of information. These can have ranged from smoke and fire signals to advanced systems using semaphore codes and telescopes. The
Han dynasty is credited with developing one of the most effective imperial surveillance and communications networks in the ancient world. Government-produced news sheets, called
tipao, circulated among court officials during the late Han dynasty (second and third centuries AD). Between 713 and 734, the
Kaiyuan Za Bao ("Bulletin of the Court") of the Chinese
Tang dynasty published government news; it was handwritten on silk and read by government officials. Newsletters called ''ch'ao pao'' continued to be produced and gained wider public circulation in the following centuries. In 1582 there was the first reference to privately published newssheets in Beijing, during the late
Ming dynasty. Japan had effective communications and postal delivery networks at several points in its history, first in 646 with the
Taika Reform and again during the
Kamakura period from 1183 to 1333. The system depended on
hikyaku, runners, and regularly spaced relay stations. By this method, news could travel between Kyoto and Kamakura in 5–7 days. Special horse-mounted messengers could move information at the speed of 170 kilometers per day. The Japanese shogunates were less tolerant than the Chinese government of news circulation. The postal system established during the
Edo period was even more effective, with
average speeds of 125–150 km/day and express speed of 200 km/day. This system was initially used only by the government, taking private communications only at exorbitant prices. Private services emerged and in 1668 established their own
nakama (guild). They became even faster, and created an effective optical telegraphy system using flags by day and lanterns and mirrors by night. In the
early modern period, increased cross-border interaction created a rising need for information which was met by concise handwritten newssheets. The driving force of this new development was the commercial advantage provided by up-to-date news. In 1556, the government of
Venice first published the monthly
Notizie scritte, which cost one
gazetta. These
avvisi were handwritten newsletters 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.
Avvisi were sold by subscription under the auspices of military, religious, and banking authorities. Sponsorship flavored the contents of each series, which were circulated under many different names. Subscribers included clerics, diplomatic staff, and noble families. By the last quarter of the seventeenth century, long passages from
avvisi were finding their way into published monthlies such as the and, in northern Italy,
Pallade veneta. Postal services enabled merchants and monarchs to stay abreast of important information. For the
Holy Roman Empire, Emperor
Maximillian I in 1490 authorized two brothers from the Italian Tasso family, Francesco and Janetto, to create a network of courier stations linked by riders. They began with a communications line between Innsbruck and Mechelen and grew from there. In 1505 this network expanded to Spain, new governed by Maximilian's son
Philip. These riders could travel 180 kilometers in a day. This system became the
Imperial Reichspost, administered by Tasso descendants (subsequently known as
Thurn-und-Taxis), who in 1587 received exclusive operating rights from the Emperor. In 1620, the English system linked with Thurn-und-Taxis. These connections underpinned an extensive system of news circulation, with handwritten items bearing dates and places of origin. Centred in Germany, the network took in news from Russia, the Balkans, Italy, Britain, France, and the Netherlands. The German lawyer
Christoph von Scheurl and the
Fugger house of Augsburg were prominent hubs in this network. A common type of business communication was a simple listing of current prices, the circulation of which quickened the flow of international trade. Businesspeople also wanted to know about events related to shipping, the affairs of other businesses, and political developments. Handwritten newsletters, which could be produced quickly for a limited clientele, also continued into the 1600s.
Rise of the newspaper ) on 3 December 1909 The
spread of paper and the
printing press from China to Europe preceded a major advance in the transmission of news. With the spread of printing presses and the creation of new markets in the 1500s, news underwent a shift from factual and precise economic reporting, to a more emotive and freewheeling format. (Private newsletters containing important intelligence therefore remained in use by people who needed to know.) The
first newspapers emerged in Germany in the early 1600s.
Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, from 1605, is recognized as the world's first formalized 'newspaper'; while not a 'newspaper' in the modern sense, the Ancient Roman
Acta Diurna served a similar purpose circa 131 BC. The new format, which mashed together numerous unrelated and perhaps dubious reports from far-flung locations, created a radically new and jarring experience for its readers. A variety of styles emerged, from single-story tales, to compilations, overviews, and personal and impersonal types of news analysis. News for public consumption was at first tightly controlled by governments. By 1530, England had created a licensing system for the press and banned "seditious opinions". Under the
Licensing Act, publication was restricted to approved presses—as exemplified by The London Gazette, which prominently bore the words: "Published By Authority". Parliament allowed the Licensing Act to lapse in 1695, beginning a new era marked by
Whig and
Tory newspapers. (During this era, the
Stamp Act limited newspaper distribution simply by making them expensive to sell and buy.) In France, censorship was even more constant. Consequently, many Europeans read newspapers originating from beyond their national borders—especially from the
Dutch Republic, where publishers could evade state censorship. The new United States saw a newspaper boom beginning with the Revolutionary era, accelerated by spirited debates over the establishment of a new government, spurred on by subsidies contained in the 1792
Postal Service Act, and continuing into the 1800s. American newspapers got many of their stories by copying reports from each other. Thus by offering free postage to newspapers wishing to exchange copies, the Postal Service Act subsidized a rapidly growing news network through which different stories could percolate. Newspapers thrived during the colonization of the
West, fueled by high literacy and a newspaper-loving culture. By 1880, San Francisco rivaled New York in number of different newspapers and in printed newspaper copies per capita.
Boosters of new towns felt that newspapers covering local events brought legitimacy, recognition, and community. The 1830s American, wrote
Alexis de Tocqueville, was "a very civilized man prepared for a time to face life in the forest, plunging into the wilderness of the New World with his Bible, ax, and newspapers." In France, the Revolution brought forth an abundance of newspapers and a new climate of press freedom, followed by a return to repression under Napoleon. In 1792 the Revolutionaries set up a news ministry called the ''Bureau d'Esprit''. Some newspapers published in the 1800s and after retained the commercial orientation characteristic of the private newsletters of the Renaissance. Economically oriented newspapers published new types of data enabled the advent of
statistics, especially
economic statistics which could inform sophisticated investment decisions. These newspapers, too, became available for larger sections of society, not just elites, keen on investing some of their savings in the
stock markets. Yet, as in the case other newspapers, the incorporation of advertising into the newspaper led to justified reservations about accepting newspaper information at face value. Economic newspapers also became promoters of economic ideologies, such as
Keynesianism in the mid-1900s. Newspapers came to sub-Saharan Africa via colonization. The first English-language newspaper in the area was
The Royal Gazette and Sierra Leone Advertiser, established in 1801, and followed by
The Royal Gold Coast Gazette and Commercial Intelligencer in 1822 and the
Liberia Herald in 1826. A number of nineteenth-century African newspapers were established by missionaries. These newspapers by and large promoted the colonial governments and served the interests of European settlers by relaying news from Europe. Newspapers were censored heavily during the colonial period—as well as after formal independence. Some liberalization and diversification took place in the 1990s. Newspapers were slow to
spread to the Arab world, which had a stronger tradition of
oral communication, and mistrust of the European approach to news reporting. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire's leaders in Istanbul monitored the European press, but its contents were not disseminated for mass consumption. Some of the first written news in modern North Africa arose in Egypt under
Muhammad Ali, who developed the local paper industry and initiated the limited circulation of news bulletins called . Beginning in the 1850s and 1860s, the private press began to develop in the multi-religious country of Lebanon.
Newswire The development of the
electrical telegraph, which often travelled along railroad lines, enabled news to travel faster, over longer distances. (Days before Morse's Baltimore–Washington line transmitted the famous question, "What hath God wrought?", it transmitted the news that Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen had been chosen by the Whig nominating party.) One of Havas's proteges,
Bernhard Wolff, founded
Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau in Berlin in 1849. Another Havas disciple,
Paul Reuter, began collecting news from Germany and France in 1849, and in 1851 immigrated to London, where he established the
Reuters news agency—specializing in news from the continent. In 1863, William Saunders and Edward Spender formed the
Central Press agency, later called the
Press Association, to handle domestic news. Just before insulated telegraph line crossed the English Channel in 1851, Reuter won the right to transmit stock exchange prices between Paris and London. He maneuvered Reuters into a dominant global position with the motto "Follow the Cable", setting up news outposts across the
British Empire in Alexandria (1865), Bombay (1866), Melbourne (1874), Sydney (1874), and Cape Town (1876). In the United States, the
Associated Press became a news powerhouse, gaining a lead position through an exclusive arrangement with the
Western Union company. In 1866,
an undersea telegraph cable successfully connected Ireland to Newfoundland (and thus the Western Union network) cutting trans-Atlantic transmission time from days to hours. The transatlantic cable allowed fast exchange of information about the London and New York stock exchanges, as well as the New York, Chicago, and Liverpool commodity exchanges—for the price of $5–10, in gold, per word. Transmitting On 11 May 1857, a young British telegraph operator in Delhi signaled home to alert the authorities of the
Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebels proceeded to disrupt the British telegraph network, which was rebuilt with more redundancies. In 1902–1903, Britain and the U.S. completed the circumtelegraphy of the planet with transpacific cables from Canada to Fiji and New Zealand (British Empire), and from the US to Hawaii and the occupied Philippines. U.S. reassertions of the
Monroe Doctrine notwithstanding, Latin America was a battleground of competing telegraphic interests until World War I, after which U.S. interests finally did consolidate their power in the hemisphere. By the turn of the century (i.e., ), Wolff, Havas, and Reuters formed a news cartel, dividing up the global market into three sections, in which each had more-or-less exclusive distribution rights and relationships with national agencies. Each agency's area corresponded roughly to the colonial sphere of its mother country. Reuters and the Australian national news service had an agreement to exchange news only with each other. Due to the high cost of maintaining infrastructure, political goodwill, and global reach, newcomers found it virtually impossible to challenge the big three European agencies or the American Associated Press. In 1890 Reuters (in partnership with the Press Association, England's major news agency for domestic stories) expanded into "soft" news stories for public consumption, about topics such as sports and "human interest". In 1904, the big three wire services opened relations with
Vestnik, the news agency of Czarist Russia, to their group, though they maintained their own reporters in Moscow. During and after the
Russian Revolution, the outside agencies maintained a working relationship with the Petrograd Telegraph Agency, renamed the
Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) and eventually the
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS). The
Chinese Communist Party created its news agency, the Red China News Agency, in 1931; its primary responsibilities were the
Red China newspaper and the internal
Reference News. In 1937, the Party renamed it
Xinhua News Agency, which became the official news agency of the
People's Republic of China in 1949. These agencies touted their ability to distill events into "minute globules of news", 20–30 word summaries which conveyed the essence of new developments. The wire services brought forth the "inverted pyramid" model of news copy, in which key facts appear at the start of the text, and more and more details are included as it goes along. In a 20 September 1918
Pravda editorial, Lenin instructed the Soviet press to cut back on their political rambling and produce many short anticapitalist news items in "telegraph style". As in previous eras, the news agencies provided special services to political and business clients, and these services constituted a significant portion of their operations and income. The wire services maintained close relationships with their respective national governments, which provided both press releases and payments. The acceleration and centralization of economic news facilitated regional economic integration and
economic globalization. "It was the decrease in information costs and the increasing communication speed that stood at the roots of increased market integration, rather than falling transport costs by itself. In order to send goods to another area, merchants needed to know first whether in fact to send off the goods and to what place. Information costs and speed were essential for these decisions."
Radio and television The
British Broadcasting Company began transmitting radio news from London in 1922, dependent entirely, by law, on the British news agencies. BBC radio marketed itself as a news by and for social elites, and hired only broadcasters who spoke with upper-class accents. The BBC gained importance in the May 1926 general strike, during which newspapers were closed and the radio served as the only source of news for an uncertain public. (To the displeasure of many listeners, the BBC took an unambiguously pro-government stance against the strikers). In the US, RCA's Radio Group established its radio network, NBC, in 1926. The Paley family founded CBS soon after. These two networks, which supplied news broadcasts to subsidiaries and affiliates, dominated the airwaves throughout the period of radio's hegemony as a news source. Radio broadcasters in the United States negotiated a similar arrangement with the press in 1933, when they agreed to use only news from the Press–Radio Bureau and eschew advertising; this agreement soon collapsed and radio stations began reporting their own news (with advertising). As in Britain, American news radio avoided "controversial" topics as per norms established by the
National Association of Broadcasters. By 1939, 58% of Americans surveyed by
Fortune considered radio news more accurate than newspapers, and 70% chose radio as their main news source. The Soviet Union began a major international broadcasting operation in 1929, with stations in German, English and French. The
Nazi Party made use of the radio in its rise to power in Germany, with much of its propaganda focused on attacking the Soviet Bolsheviks. The British and Italian foreign radio services competed for influence in North Africa. All four of these broadcast services grew increasingly vitriolic as the European nations prepared for war. The war provided an opportunity to expand radio and take advantage of its new potential. The BBC reported on
Allied invasion of Normandy on 8:00 a.m. of the morning it took place, and including a clip from German radio coverage of the same event. Listeners followed along with developments throughout the day. The U.S. set up its
Office of War Information which by 1942 sent programming across South America, the Middle East, and East Asia.
Radio Luxembourg, a centrally located high-power station on the continent, was
seized by Germany, and then
by the United States—which created
fake news programs appearing as though they were created by Germany. Targeting American troops in the Pacific, the Japanese government broadcast the "
Zero Hour" program, which included news from the U.S. to make the soldiers homesick. But by the end of the war, Britain had the largest radio network in the world, broadcasting internationally in 43 different languages. Its scope would eventually be surpassed (by 1955) by the worldwide
Voice of America programs, produced by the
United States Information Agency. In Britain and the United States, television news watching rose dramatically in the 1950s and by the 1960s supplanted radio as the public's primary source of news. In the U.S., television was run by the same networks which owned radio: CBS, NBC, and an NBC spin-off called ABC.
Edward R. Murrow, who first entered the public ear as a war reporter in London, made the big leap to television to become an iconic newsman on CBS (and later the director of the United States Information Agency).
Ted Turner's creation of the
Cable News Network (CNN) in 1980 inaugurated a new era of
24-hour satellite news broadcasting. In 1991, the BBC introduced a competitor,
BBC World Service Television. Rupert Murdoch's Australian
News Corporation entered the picture with
Fox News Channel in the US,
Sky News in Britain, and
STAR TV in Asia. CNN's specialty is the
crisis, to which the network is prepared to shift its total attention if so chosen. CNN news was transmitted via
Intelsat communications satellites. CNN, said an executive, would bring a "town crier to the global village".
Internet The early internet, known as
ARPANET, was controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense and used mostly by academics. It became available to a wider public with the release of the
Netscape browser in 1994. At first, news websites were mostly archives of print publications. An early
online newspaper was the
Electronic Telegraph, published by
The Daily Telegraph.
A 1994 earthquake in California was one of the first big stories to be reported online in real time. The new availability of web browsing made news sites accessible to more people. This insurmountable flow of news can daunt people and cause
information overload.
Zbigniew Brzezinski called this period the "technetronic era", in which "global reality increasingly absorbs the individual, involves him, and even occasionally overwhelms him." In cases of government crackdowns or revolutions, the Internet has often become a major communication channel for news propagation; while shutting down a newspaper, radio or television station is (relatively) simple, mobile devices such as smartphones and netbooks are much harder to detect and confiscate. The propagation of internet-capable mobile devices has also given rise to the
citizen journalist, who provide an additional perspective on unfolding events. ==News media today==