The Demise of Print Media

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Print media has for a long time been the medium for spreading news and information the world over. The earliest newspaper recorded is the Acta Diurna which Julius Caesar used to convey important social and political happenings to the masses around 59 B.C. This was utilized to inform the public about the government scandals, the military campaigns that were in progress, as well as trials and executions. This was however in large white boards. It was not until the 8th Century that the first hand-written newssheets appeared in Beijing, China. This was later improved by the invention by Johann Gutenberg of the printing press. Modern newspapers as we know then today however found their origin in Western Europe which carried news about Europe and occasionary America and Asia.

These initial papers failed to cover local issues. In most cases, the English papers would cover about the blunders of the French military whilst the French papers were about the scandals surrounding the lives of the British royal family. This was so more due to censorship which gagged the media even in the later parts of the 17th Century when the media was attempting to be more liberal. The authorities feared opposition that could arise with information and as such censored the distribution of the same. These status quo dominated the early periods untill 1766 when Sweden became the first country to pass laws protecting press freedom.

There was however an inherent problem that was derailing the development of the media. The slow transfer of information from its source would render the information history by the time it got to be printed. This dilemma however was satisfied with the invention of the telegraph in 1844. This with later technological developments sa...

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...ithout a wonder that internet has come to be preferred over the print media.

References

Bethelsen, John., 2003. Internet Hacks: Web News Cashes In. Asia Times Online

Cook, T.E., 1998. Governing With the News: The News Media as a Political Institution,

University of Chicago Press

DʼHaenens, L., Jankowski, N. & Heuvelman, A., 2004. News in online and print newspapers:

differences in reader consumption and recall. New Media & Society, 6(3), p.363-382. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13576582.

Reuters., 2011. U.S. Surpasses UK in Online Coverage of Royal Wedding. Retrieved from:

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/218778/technology/us-surpasses-uk-in-online-coverage-of-royal-wedding

Smith, Russ., 2008. The Day the Newspaper Died. Retrieved from:

http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/the-day-the-newspaper-died

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