Journalism and Publishing

newspaper publication issued periodically, usually daily or weekly, to convey information and opinion about current events. Early Newspapers The earliest recorded effort to inform the public of the news was the Roman Acta diurna, instituted by Julius Caesar and posted daily in public places. In China the first newspaper appeared in Beijing in the 8th cent. In several German cities manuscript newssheets were issued in the 15th cent. The invention and spread of the printing press (1430-50) was the major factor in the early development of the newspaper. The Venetian government posted the Notizie scritte in 1556, for which readers paid a small coin, the ( gazetta ). England In England in the 17th cent., journalism consisted chiefly of newsletters printed principally by Thomas Archer (1554-1630?), Nathaniel Butter (d. 1664), and Nicholas Bourne (fl. 1622). The London Gazette, founded (1665) in Oxford, is still published as a court journal. The first daily paper in England was the Daily Courant (1702). Thereafter many journals of opinion set a high standard of literary achievement in journalism—the Review (1704-13) of Daniel Defoe ; the Examiner (1710-11) edited by Jonathan Swift ; and the high society periodicals , Tatler (1709-11) and the Spectator (1711-12) of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele . The first English periodical essay was published in the Tatler. John Wilkes , the 18th-century outspoken journalist, challenged Parliament's efforts...