Comm455/History of Journalism

“Asking who is a journalist is the wrong question, because journalism can be produced by anyone” –The American Press Institute This quote epitomizes the changing role of a journalist over the course of history. Today, a journalist is anyone who commits an act of journalism. This is quite different than the definition of a journalist  in […]

Print syndication’s well runs dry. Once upon a time, in the magical kingdom of newspapers and magazines, news was actually fresh. It was current, it was relevant and it was…newsworthy. Then, it all went to hell. Maybe “hell” is a stretch. But it’s mostly accurate. In the same vein, maybe newspapers aren’t as guilty as magazines in […]

On September 11, 1714, after 14 months of siege, Barcelona fell to Spanish forces fighting for the Borbon king Phillip V; thus sealing the fate of the, then independent, Principality of Catalonia as one of Spain’s conquered communities. Following years of industrialization and rapid economic growth, in 1913 Catalonia was able to assert itself and […]

In London in 1730, The Daily Advertiser began publication. This daily newspaper offered advertising space with news of politics, commerce, and society. Stanley Morison, a journalism historian, stated in our book that The Daily Advertiser was the “first modern newspaper” that “gained a hold on the commercial classes which it never lost.” This success caused […]