NewspapersNewspapers

Work done by:Bruno nr 2Tiago nr 19

The Origins of Newspapers The Origins of Newspapers

The history of newspapers is an often-dramatic chapter of the human experience going back some five centuries. In Renaissance Europe handwritten newsletters circulated privately among merchants, passing along information about everything from wars and economic conditions to social customs and "human interest" features. The first printed forerunners of the newspaper appeared in Germany in the late 1400's in the form of news pamphlets or broadsides, often highly sensationalized in content. Some of the most famous of these report the atrocities against Germans in Transylvania perpetrated by a sadistic veovod named Vlad Tsepes Drakul, who became the Count Dracula of later folklore. In the English-speaking world, the earliest predecessors of the newspaper were corantos, small news pamphlets produced only when some event worthy of notice occurred. The first successively published title was The Weekly Newes of 1622. It was followed in the 1640's and 1650's by a plethora of different titles in the similar newsbook format. The first true newspaper in English was the London Gazette of 1666. For a generation it was the only officially sanctioned newspaper, though many periodical titles were in print by the century's end.

NEWSPAPER, a publication that appears regularly and frequently, and carries news about a wide variety of current events. Organizations such as trade unions, religious groups, corporations or clubs may have their own newspapers, but the term is more commonly used to refer to daily or weekly publications that bring news of general interest to large portions of the public in a specific geographic area. The United States had 1,611 general-circulation daily newspapers in 1990 -- 14 percent fewer than it had in 1940, before the arrival of television. Weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases, there also are newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the United States, such newspapers are generally still classified as weeklies.

Different Types of Newspaper

The different types of news include general news, political news, business news, regional news, entrainment news, niche-oriented news (health, science, technology), crime reporting, and sensationalism. A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday and, where they exist, Sunday editions of daily newspapers tend to be larger, include more specialized sections and advertising inserts, and cost more. Typically, the majority of these newspapers' staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers.

Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Express and The Daily Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few truly national newspapers, with the notable exceptions The Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the US and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada. Large metropolitan newspapers with expanded distribution networks such as The New York Times and The Washington Post can fill the role of de facto national newspapers.

There is the large-format and aptly-named broadsheet and the more compact tabloid format.

There are also small magazine-style versions, usually stapled like a magazine, though these are rarely distributed by the large publishers except at supplements to newspapers, frequently in weekend editions.

The IndependentThe Independent

The TimesThe Times

The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph

The GuardianThe Guardian

The ObserverThe Observer

The Daily MailThe Daily Mail

The SunThe Sun

The Daily ExpressThe Daily Express

The Daily MirrorThe Daily Mirror

The Wall Street The Wall Street

USA Today USA Today

The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail

The National Post The National Post

The New York Times The New York Times

The Washington PostThe Washington Post

The End