Comm455/History of Journalism

In 1455 Johannes Gutenberg created what may be the greatest invention in the history of journalism. In 1517, a young man named Martin Luther would challenge Gutenberg for the position as the most influential German in the history of journalism when he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg.

At the time, nailing messages to the door of the church was a common way to start discussion in Luther’s time. One thing that had changed recently was the amount of people who would be able to read and understand what Luther was saying.

Up until Gutenberg invented movable type, printing was an arduous and incredibly expensive process, making books available to only the elite members of society. After Gutenberg perfected his invention, literacy rates among the populous soared and created a new audience for Luther’s arguments to be heard.

With this new larger audience and with the ease of printing increasing, what would have been a message for the church to debate internally quickly turns into a countrywide discussion. For Luther, this naturally came as a shock, but instead of hiding from his highly controversial and provocative ideas about the church, he stood by and even expanded on them.

Luther’s message was simple. He argued that the corruption of the Catholic church was causing millions of people to lose salvation or place false hopes on indulgences sold by the church. As the leading global authority at the time, the church naturally was outraged with Luther, and Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther when he refused to recant.

Even though his life was now literally in danger as he could be arrested thanks to the excommunication, Luther still refused to recant, and was eventually summoned to the Diet of Worms thanks to the help of Germany’s leader at the time, Frederick the Wise. Frederick was able to set up this meeting to hold a vote on whether Luther was a heretic.

Frederick was certainly wise enough to realize this young monk in his territory was weakening the position of the church he had to pay royalties to so regularly, so he took advantage of the situation and prevented the vote from being unanimous as to keep Luther alive. Ultimately Luther would survive the vote at Worms, and continue his attacks on the papacy, the church, and even Jews in his later years. 

Overall Luther had two main contributions that still impact the world and journalism today.
The first was his posting of the 95 theses, which helped shape journalism as a discussion within the community rather than a discussion amongst elites. The second, his translation of the bible into German, again reinforced the importance of citizens learning for themselves, and advocated for the spread of knowledge and discussion within the community.

Though his first contribution may have been accidental, his second contribution was completely deliberate and arguably more meaningful. Whatever the case may be, Martin Luther was certainly one of Germany’s greatest contributions towards the journalism we know today.

In 1455, Johannes Gutenberg created something that changed his world forever and helped shape the society we live in today. Though many may already know this creation was the Gutenberg Bible and that his invention was movable type for printing presses, ask those same individuals to name another fact about Gutenberg’s life and they will likely be at a loss. This is because even though he may arguably be one of the most important individuals in history, history has forgotten nearly every other aspect of his life.

For those who do not understand the importance of Gutenberg, simply look at the effect he had on his own time period. Before Gutenberg perfected movable type printing was a much more arduous process that made the cost of the papers printed affordable only to the upper classes. Books were seen as a sign of wealth and since they could not afford them the majority of the people in his time were illiterate.

Movable type solved this problem and allowed publishers to increase output exponentially. This increase in literacy created more authors and more informed and serious discussion of societal issues. A perfect example of this can be seen in the example of Martin Luther starting the Reformation with his 95 theses.

Not only did the printing press help distribute his work to the masses, but the increase in literacy at the time meant that not only did his fellow monks and clergymen receive his message, but so did the common people. A century earlier with a less educated and less literate populace, Martin Luther likely would have been crushed by the power and control the church had at that time.

Though his contribution to the world and journalism more specifically has been easy to explain, the rest of Gutenberg’s life is almost entirely speculation. As the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin explains about Gutenberg, “We do not know if he was married or had children.

Even the famous engraved portraits of Gutenberg were made long after his death and are based on the artist’s imagination, not Gutenberg’s actual appearance.”

The few facts we do know about Gutenberg are that he was born in and passed away in Mainz, Germany and that he was a metal worker before creating his printing press. WE also know that he likely retired early and was financially supported by the Archbishop of Mainz until his death in 1468.

Though we may have little historical evidence about Gutenberg’s life outside of his greatest achievement, we will at least always remember his name as a man who changed the world forever.

Notes:

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/johann/

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