Comm455/History of Journalism

It used to be common for countless Americans to read a newspaper found daily on their doorstep.  For years, this remained the main source for news.  Times are changing, and with a saturated online news market, many people are looking elsewhere for news. The New York Times claims that newspapers nationwide have recently seen a […]

Let’s face it: coffee and news go great together. It’s an iconic image of the working world to see a newspaper or magazine laid next to a hot cup of black coffee. When a person picks up the paper with one hand, what do they usually have in the other? A cup of coffee. Until […]

Benjamin Harris published the first American newspaper, “Publick Occurences“, in 1690. 14 years passed before America saw another newspaper published. Because Harris published the paper without a government license and and it contained “reflections of a very high order,” Harris’ newspaper was shut down after the first issue. The “Boston News-Letter” may have been the […]

40,000BC: Americas are settled. News spreads by word of mouth. 59 BC: spread of news began in Ancient Rome, with the Acta Diurna, made public by Julius Caesar. These were government announcement bulletins which were carved in metal or stone, and posted in public places. 618: tipao, early government- produced news sheets, distributed in China during […]

Radio wasnt invented on a certain day or by a certain person. It is a collection of ideas and discoveries put together. James Clerk Maxwell and Hienrich Hertz were responsible for electromagnetic waves in the 19th century. Guglielmo Marconi discovered how to turn those waves into coded messages.Lee De Forest and Reginald Fessenden turned coded […]

Nobody gets their information from newspapers anymore. Right? Newspapers are dying and no one cares because everyone gets their information online. That is the conventional wisdom. It is not the whole truth because not everyone gets their information online. They either do not have access to the internet or they prefer newspapers. Newspapers are accessible everywhere. Anyone […]

The Chinese inventions of paper and the printing press are often overlooked by the Western World. However, China was the first country to improve on the paper making process and created the first moveable type printing press, without which journalism would not have evolved to where it is today. Stephens cites A.D. 105 as the […]

The First Amendment Coalition reported in early Sep. that attorneys general in 18 states “demanded” that Craigslist.org removethe sites adult services page, arguing that Craigslist was not doing enough to stop ads for “illicit services” in Aug.  Last week Craigslist placed a black “Censored” bar over the adult services page. Did the attorneys generals over […]