Blog Post #4 - EOTO - Newspapers

EOTO: The History and Impact of Newspapers

The history of newspapers and their development in our society has changed drastically since the time of their first use. Newspapers are an incredibly important form of communication, and their impact within the United States of America is particularly intriguing. 

The very first newspaper in the world was created in the year 1605 in Strasbourg. Now, defining this as a newspaper is not exactly the same as we see newspapers today. Strasbourg had a periodically published and distributed record of local events and information that was distributed on paper. The first newspapers to be widely recognized by historians were called "newsletters" because they were distributed in the form of letters to the public. These early letters contained information and general happenings from town courts to local shops. Newsletters were designed to spread information and gossip from all areas of one town, or multiple towns within a certain radius. These primitive newspapers eventually became circulated in greater volume and within larger areas as young men moved to larger cities to start their careers and brought back local newsletters to share with their families in rural communities. This was very common in populated areas of England and Scotland and newspapers were distributed as early as 1588 with irregular schedules. 

In America, the first recorded newspaper was the "Boston News-Letter". However, many historians concur other newspapers existed prior to the Boston News-Letter but were shut down by the British government after their first issues were published. The village post office was known by residents to be a place for gossip and the exchanging of new information. Because of this, it was only natural for a newspaper to start there. The newsletter was providing the same function that the town discussions did, just in a more organized manner. 

In today's media, newspapers take on many new and different forms. Towns and communities no longer have one possible source of news made by a singular journalist or group of journalists. Now, large corporations, non-profits, government agencies, community blogs, and personal social media influencers all compete with journalists and newspapers in the distribution of current events and information. This concept is further described by the author David Ryfe in his research article titled "The Ontology of Journalism". Ryfe claims that journalism is no longer meant to simply inform. He argues that journalism and most other forms of relaying information tend to focus on both explaining and interpreting the information for their audience. 

Overall, the invention of newspapers changed the way we communicate in many ways. First, it allowed local events to be known in greater areas. Newspapers gave people the opportunity to learn more about their community, their country, and the world. Second, newspapers gave individuals the right to information without government interference. Published news became a source of information that did not have to be approved by the government first. In addition, whether the news is subjective or not, it is a way for people to decide how they feel and how they will respond to new information and recent major events. In the end, I think that the invention of newspapers benefitted our society's ability to communicate with each other about things that are happening in our world today.