History Of The Newspaper Essays - Journalism,

History of the Newspaper Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. So wrote Thomas Jefferson to a friend in January 1787. The concept of the newspaper that the founding father of the American Declaration of Independence, so obdurately spoke of, had rested on a foundation that has lasted six hundred years. The modern newspaper, in comparison to that which had been forged from the pamphlets distributed by churches across the United States during the Renaissance, acted under a notion that still exists today. This notion is that the newspaper was the easiest method to educate the masses on issues that needed to be addressed, while making the deliberation of such announcements far easier to comprehend. There has been a great debate on the nature of these announcements. Thomas Jefferson, who was an active participator in such debates, was not the first to distinguish the difference be tween freely gathered news and news which was managed. Managed news had always acted in favour of those releasing the news to the public, serving as a propaganda machine. By having freely gathered news, which is a constitutional right, Thomas Jefferson had given Americans the right to freely collect information and make intelligent decisions based on the information they had collected. Though the concept of the newspaper saw harsh opposition during its infant stages of development, it has slowly become an integrated part of modern society. The newspaper acts as a watch dog on democracy making sure that the government is run in a fair and just manner; while at the same time informing citizens when its not allowing them to intelligently debate on what to do. Without the modern newspaper, not only would democracy falter, the loss of an information medium would be devastating to Canada The concept of the newspaper was founded during the 1400's in the form of privately circulating letters and pamphlets. These papers contained wild stories and tales, but were passed on as legitimate "news". The invention of the printing press allowed the average citizen the opportunity to read the news first hand. Though forms of daily news were available as far back as 59 B.C, when the Acta Diruna (Daily Events) was published by Julius Caesar and placed in prominent places, the average citizen either did not take the time to read it or did not have the opportunity to do so. The same approach had been made by the Chinese during the 6th to 20th Century. Though, the newspaper took on many forms since the birth of its fundamental concept, the modern newspaper did not come into existence until the invention of the printing press. Richard March Hoe, the inventor of the first factory printing press built the foundation for a cultural revolution. The printing press allowed for the mass production of modern newspapers, which created an easily accessible medium of communication to the general public. The sole combination of the printing press and the modern newspaper caused the literacy rates to drastically increase during the industrial revolution. Unfortunately, as soon as the first true newspaper was printed, and along with the emerging of domestic affairs came censorship. Thomas Archer, the original king of publishing was imprisoned and all foreign affairs soon too followed in the list of censored news. The "news" was left as nothing more then a collection of scrap paper with words on them, as the truth that journalists saw was censored. The concept of censorship had begun to develop in the Americas. When the first amendment was introduced, the world finally fully understood the importance of the freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The First Amendment, forbids Congress from enacting laws that would regulate speech or press before publication or punish after publication. At various times, many states passed laws in contradiction to the freedoms guaranteed in the 1st Amendment. This was a very important concept, as it allowed the citizens of the United States to be, in theory, fully aware of the events that have occurred that may impact society in some way. It gave citizens of the state the right to make educated judgments