History of Newspaper

Newspapers have come a long way since their birth. In 60 B.C., the Roman statesman Julius Caesar wrote the events of the city of Rome and the country on white boards to inform the public. This is the oldest newspaper in the world. The Han Dynasty's Di Pao was the earliest newspaper in China.

Printed newspapers were first published in Europe in 1450, when the German Gutenberg invented movable-type printing on metal, and in 1493, when news of Columbus's voyage was published in Rome. Newspapers were issued only when big, dramatic events occurred.

In 1609, Germany was the first country to publish a regular, albeit weekly, newspaper, which soon spread throughout Europe. The world's first daily newspaper was issued in Germany in 1650, newspapers appeared in France in 1631, and newspapers were issued in England only because of political events at the time. The first newspaper in the United States was the Boston Correspondence, issued by the Postmaster of Boston in 1704, before independence. History developed to the period of the European bourgeois revolution, the newspaper has been issued in various European countries, and is more and more popular and accepted by the people.

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the newspaper realized from "niche" to "mass" process, experienced a large "leap". During this period, the circulation of newspapers rose sharply, from the past tens of thousands of copies to more than 100,000 copies, hundreds of thousands of copies and even millions of copies: the scope of readers is also expanding, from the past political, industrial and commercial circles, such as the upper class to the middle and lower classes. This qualitative leap resulting from the accumulation of quantity announced the advent of an era - the era of mass communication. This "leap" marked the culmination of the development of capitalism.

In contrast to the "niche" (aristocracy) of feudal society, the press during the bourgeois revolution already had a tendency to become "mass". The Industrial Revolution promoted the rapid development of social productive forces, which brought the bourgeois press into a new period - the period of "cheap newspapers" (i.e., "popularized" newspapers) with the general public as the target readers. (also known as "mass" newspapers). During this period, as newspapers increasingly catered to the tastes of the lower classes and were sold at low prices, the range of readers continued to expand. However, the "popular" newspapers of this period were only in their initial form, and their development was very unstable, not comparable to the later popularized newspapers.

Secondly, this leap contributed to the progress of bourgeois democracy: after the emergence of mass and cheap newspapers in the 19th century, and especially after the completion of the process of "massification" of newspapers at the end of the 19th century, newspapers no longer received party subsidies and became free to publish and operate independently. Newspapers were no longer subject to any form of censorship and enjoyed fuller rights to publish, interview and release. In terms of content, the newspaper focuses on various types of information, providing readers with as much information as possible on various matters and giving readers, including people from all walks of life, full freedom of expression. In this process, the newspaper as a "social instrument" plays the role of public opinion supervision, so that the principle of openness, justice and fairness advocated by the bourgeois parliamentary democracy can be carried out. At the same time, through their own practice, the press supplemented and amended the principle of bourgeois freedom of speech, giving it a richer meaning. In this way, the development of bourgeois democracy was promoted.

Once again, it also promoted the development of social economy. The modern newspaper was born in the rapid development of the capitalist economy after the Industrial Revolution. It started with the emergence of "mass" newspapers in the 19th century, and implemented entrepreneurial management, lowering the selling price, placing advertisements, and expanding the circulation as a way to survive, and became a self-financing and independent economic entity. At the turn of the century (the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century), capitalist competition became increasingly fierce and a buyer's market gradually took shape. In order to win in the competition, businessmen adopted various means to promote their products and expand their sales. In this process, newspapers, as the carrier of mass information, became more and more favored by them. As a result, newspapers with large circulation gained a large number of advertisements, which in turn stimulated them to lower their prices, expand their circulation and win more readers. This in turn attracted more advertisements, and as a result, a huge amount of advertising fees came to be a major source of income for newspapers.After the 20th century, with the further development of the capitalist economy and the intensification of the process of centralization of capital, more and more advertisements were published in newspapers, and advertising revenues accounted for a larger and larger proportion of the total income of newspapers. To the United States famous newspaper "New York Times" as an example, the newspaper a large number of advertisements, large and small advertisements *** accounted for two thirds of the total newspaper space; in its total income, 30% from the newspaper's circulation, 70% from advertising. Advertising "feeds" the newspaper, becoming its economic lifeblood; at the same time, through the publication of advertisements to promote products, the newspaper has in turn become a driving force for economic development. It initiates consumption, balances supply and demand, and promotes market prosperity, thus contributing to socio-economic development.

Finally, the leap of the newspaper industry promoted the industrialization of the news media. After the industrial revolution, with the development of the commodity economy, the newspaper's commodity attributes are becoming more prominent, the newspaper industry is also from the small production mode of operation gradually transitioned to enterprise management, and increasingly become a profitable and lucrative capitalist industry. the end of the 19th century, with the transition from free capitalism to monopoly capitalism, the newspaper industry capital is rapidly concentrated, and appeared in the newspaper industry monopoly organization "newspaper corps," thus creating a pattern of media industrialization. By the end of the 20th century, these newspaper groups were rolling to become financially strong, multi-corner extension, transnational operation of the media industry group. For example, Time Warner, the world's largest media company, has a strong presence in newspapers, book publishing, music, movies and cable television. As early as 2,000 years ago, similar transcripts of documents appeared in China. It was a publication used by the government at that time to copy and distribute documents such as the emperor's edicts and bureaucrats' deliberations, as well as the relevant political situation, and was called the "di bao" (邸报). It has certain characteristics of a newspaper. It can be regarded as the earliest form of "government bulletin". Originally hidden in the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes of the Tang Dynasty, "into the Zao Yuan Certificate", is one of the earliest known hand-copied Di Newspaper in China, more than 1,000 years ago.

The use of printing appeared in Europe around 1450. The newspaper that reported on Columbus' discovery of the New World appeared in 1493 and was the first newspaper printed in Rome at the time. Newspapers were not published every day, but were printed on an ad hoc basis when new information came to light.

In 1609, Thorne published the Gazette des Affaires de l'Evézoux in Germany, which was published weekly and was the world's first newspaper to be published on a regular basis. Newspapers soon became popular in Europe, and sources of news reports generally relied on well-connected merchants.

The first issue of a daily newspaper was in 1650, published by a German, Timothelitz. Although it was only in circulation for about three months, it was the world's first daily newspaper.

The first newspaper in Europe was introduced in Norway in 1358.

In 1907, Britain's Daily Mirror published photographs for the first time, replacing drawings. China printed the world's first newspaper - Tianbao four years (745 AD)

The first official newspaper - Beiyang Guanbao (1902, a general office was set up in Tianjin for national distribution) The first Chinese commercial newspaper --- Hong Kong Zhongguo xinbao (1858, Hong Kong)

The first commercial newspaper --- Hong Kong Ship's Head Cargo Paper (1857 , Hong Kong)

The first Chinese newspaper published in China --- East and West Ocean Examination Monthly Unified Chronicle (1833, Guangzhou)

The first English-language newspaper --- -Guangzhou Record (Guangdong Chronicle) (1827, Guangzhou - English)

The first modern newspaper in China (and also the first foreign-language newspaper)

The Bee Chinese Newspaper (1822. Macau - Portuguese)

The first modern Chinese newspaper (and the first religious newspaper) - Chai Secular Monthly Chronicle (1815, Singapore)