Since Johannes Gutenberg’s Printing Press—invented around 1436—prints of all kinds have been massively produced. Following this invention, the newspaper was able to spread the news in the form of printed paper.
The time in between Gutenberg’s Printing Press and our modern society of blogging, tweeting and online publications has come to be known as the Gutenberg Parenthesis—meaning an interruption of the ‘word of mouth’ spread of news.
The first English newspaper was the London Gazette, founded in 1666. It was the Industrial Revolution 200 years later that allowed for a continued rise in newspaper production. In fact, in 1850 there were 2,526 different papers in the United States.
Nowadays, however, newspapers are becoming more and more unnecessary in such a technological world. The Internet has replaced traditional forms of publications, greatly affecting the nature of newspapers. We no longer heavily rely on the likings of such an outlet. Our society has turned back to the word of mouth just as it was 500 years ago, before the printing press.
Not only is there less of a need for different positions that newspapers employ—copy readers, editors, reporters, etc.—but the Internet also presents the benefits of instant publication. Newspapers, and individuals alike, have the ability to research a story, write it out, and publish it straight to the Internet. Printing means a newspaper must wait to publish a breaking story until they go to press.
Just a Few Job Positions in a Newspaper:
- Reporter/Journalist
- Chief Editor
- Copy Editor
- Section Editor
- News editor
- Photo/Graphics Staff
It’s been a long time, but we’ve almost finally come full circle. One day in the near future it may seem as if the printing press never existed and there was only ever word of mouth and the Internet.
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