NEWSPAPER EVOLUTION
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ERAS OF NEWSPAPER
The Role of Newspapers
Newspapers have been a very essential part of media for a very long time, being used by most people as a main source of information, entertainment, and cultural connection for many people across the world
From when they were just made in the early days of the printing press up to these days where we are on digital platforms, newspapers have evolved a ton along with the changing of cultures and the big advancement of technology This article goes through the very interesting and long history of newspapers, going very deep into the roles they play in society, the crazy events that helped to shape their development, and their massive impact that they had during the Modern and Postmodern Eras
How Everything Started
The big story of newspapers really starts when the printing press came out. In the late 15th century, Johannes Gutenburg’s movable type printing press really helped to revolutionize communication and information dissemination (McLuhan, 1964) This crazy new invention made it possible for printed papers to get mass produced, and that started leading us to a big era of educational reform
By the 1600s, newspapers came popping up in Europe, With very early examples like “The London Gazette” (1665), that became a super popular source for political news Now that newspapers became a new medium for communication, it helped to contribute to the rise of public sphere discussion, where everyone would engage with each otheron debated things like politics (Habermas, 1962)
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution marked another super important turning point in history for newspapers. When Europe and America got Industrialized, it led to a huge rise in literacy rates With big cities coming out of nowhere, newspapers became super important for everyone to stay informed about everything In the 19th century, the steam powered printing press made printing costs way lower, and that helped more people get newspapers Big newspapers like The New York Times and Le Monde got bigger, and a ton more popped up for different social classes and regions Producion became way more efficient and more people wanted news with the rise of capitalism, so newspapers became even more important in industrialized places
World Wars and Newspaper Evolution
World war I and World War II both had a massive impact on newspapers and their role. these wars really made the need for timely information so much more important, and it helped a ton with the overall morale of the public. Newspapers became a super important tool for governments to spread propaganda and also provide the public with all of the news aboutthe war and their efforts
The massive power that the press had was super noticeable by everyone with how it literally changed the opinions of a ton of people and influenced a ton of different things like military recruitment and just how the people acted towards the enemy In the era after the war, television came out of nowhere and became a huge competitor to newspapers with different things like broadcasting becoming popular
But newspapers still played a super important role in shaping public discussions during the late 20th century And now the world started to move into the Postmodern era, which was characterized by different things like skepticism and individualism, so newspapers really had to adapt by expanding their reporting to more international issues.
And when the internet came out, digital media became massive and expanded during the 1990s and 2000s, and this was a huge threat to more traditional newspaper publishing There was a big decline in the production of newspapers, and that's when big places like The Guardian and New York Times Online came up with their online subscriptions that provided everyone with the latest news.
The Four Roles of Media in the Evolution of Newspapers
Surveillance has been recognized in the evolution of newspapers a ton Newspapers have always been used to report on the world’s events and things like political shifts and even just international news to people for ages They are a surveillance tool for peop-le for everything going on
Correlation has also been recognized aa ton. Newspapers have done a great job at linking many events to things like social or cultural contexts to help everyone understand what’s going on They help to connect many readers to larger issues or movements through things like investigative journalism
Cultural Transmission is seen just as much as the others. Newspapers have transmitted social heritage by covering a bunch of stuff like cultural events, literature, or art They help to try and save the values, ideas, and identities of different societies throughout time
Entertainment I would argue is the most seen and looked forward too by people Newspapers throughout the years have had a ton of entertainmentwith things like comic strips or even just some stories, and they have been a very important part that many people look forward to on the newspaper. There are a ton of people that read the newspaper just for this part, or it can just be used as a little break for other people from serious stuff.
Even if it's just a print or online, newspapers are still a very important link to history, culture, and a ton of global events that we would’ve never known about if not for them. And as we as a society keep evolving, so will newer ways to see the news.
