The desire to hear the news is as old as man. Cave drawings conveyed the news of the latest hunt, but the reader had to visit the cave. Writing, paper, and ink made the process more portable.
The early Roman and Chinese newssheets were handwritten and a single copy or two could be quickly produced. With the added technology of printing, newspapers could be mass-produced, but it took time to set up a page and print off the sheets. Some early newspapers left one page free from printing in order that the latest breaking news could be written in by hand.
Business and politics have always driven newspapers. As early as 449 B.C., official protocols of the Roman Senate were kept and storied in the Temple of Ceres. It was permitted that copies could be made from them. Educated slaves were sent by their owners to copy the items of importance to their wealthy masters.
Julius Caesar continued the practice of news reporting. He wanted to make sure that the Senate didn’t act in secret. He issued a decree that the Acta Diurna, or The Daily Acts of the Senate, be written and published. The reports were posted on whitewashed boards called “album.” Acta Diurna could be said to be the first name given a newspaper.
The Acta Diurna carried births, deaths, and civil and criminal court news. There were financial reports and special features regarding election news. Caesar worked the news for his own advantage. The reports of his declining the title of king were prominently displayed. In order to increase the Roman population, he had articles promoting large families inserted on the album.
A commercial version of the paper was produced when a master gathered a dozen of his slaves to transcribe the paper. He mounted a platform, and they gathered at his feet to copy everything he read from the original. The copies were sold to wealthy subscribers.
When the capital of the empire moved from Rome to Constantinople, the Daily Acts moved with it. Little advancement took place in news reporting. Ethics took a slide, and truth and falsehood were mixed in the early scandal sheets. It became such a problem that Pope Pius V finally ordered for any false reporting “death and confiscation of property . . . according to the offense and the rank of the offender.”
The written newspaper most likely spread to the rest of Europe from the city of Venice. In order to secure the privilege of even seeing these newssheets, a small coin called a gazetta was asked of the reader. This may have lead to newspapers being called “The Gazette.” Some attribute the name to the Spanish colloquial use of the Latin “gaza” which signified “little treasury of news.” The Germans used a term, “Zeitung” to name their newssheets that meant something similar to “tidings.”
The word “newspaper,” most likely, was used for the first time in a letter addressed to the editor of “The Oxford Gazette.” A correspondent stated, “I wanted your newes paper Monday last post.” Others attribute the word news to the nautical compass that appeared in the banner of one newspaper. North - East - West - South abbreviated was “NEWS.”
While printed newspapers were popular in Germany, Italy and England, the spoken newspaper was an institution in France and Switzerland. In Paris, there were men who would stand on the street corners and tell the gossip of the town. They would pass a hat around to collect payment from the listeners. At the end of the day, they would gather in a tavern to swap the news among themselves.
The Swiss town crier would stand on a balcony and give all the official decisions of the church and civil government. All citizens were expected to listen to the town crier. A court of law was unsympathic to the defense that one didn’t know the law, if the town crier had announced it. In addition, to official announcements there were advertisements for local merchants.
In the American colonies, the precursors to newspapers were broadsides approximately 8 x 14 ½ inches. They were printed with special news items and announcements. Most of these sheets appeared only once and they can’t be called regular newspapers. Samuel Green published one of the first in 1689 under the banner “The Present State of the New-English Affairs.”
The authorities of state and church didn’t always like the dissemination of free thought. Many printers were compelled to have what they printed censored. “Published by Authority” appeared on the officially sanctioned papers.
The strangling weed of press censorship was home grown. In 1689, the Massachusetts authorities, not the English, passed a resolution stating “whereas many papers have been lately printed and dispensed, tending to the disturbance of the peace, any person guilty of printing or even concealing such like papers should be accounted enemies of the Government and be proceeded against as such with uttermost severity.”
An attempt to start a regularly published newspaper was made by Benjamin Harris in Boston with Publick Occurrences - Both Foreign and Domestick. The plan was to print it once a month or more often “if any glut of occurrences happen.” It was not “Published by Authority” and the Governor and Council promptly found that it contained “reflections of a very high nature” and quickly stopped its publication.
The first regularly published newspaper in America was slow in coming. The action of the Governor of Massachusetts regarding Publick Occurrences, and the clergy’s efforts to guard their influence, prevented any new publishers until 1704. John Campbell was the postmaster at Boston. He made a regular practice of sending lengthy handwritten letters to the governors of the New England Colonies. After being read, they were passed around to others and had a fairly extensive circulation.
Numerous requests were made for the newsletter, forcing Campbell to typeset and print his newsletter.
The first printed issue of The Boston News-Letter was published April 24, 1704. It was not suppressed, it was “Published by Authority.”
Years later founding fathers of the country made sure the “authority” to print and publish were in the hands of the people and not the government.
Copyright © 2000 by Frank Granger
Table of Contents
