History of Journalism

By jaeyu
  • Publick Occurrences

    Publick Occurrences was the first multi-page newspaper; shut down by British authorities four days later.
  • The Boston News-Letter

    One of the first continually published newspaper in North America. While the first editions were exclusively on London news, later editions published stories on a more global scale.
  • John Peter Zenger Trial

    After publishing scandalous and libelous content in the New York Weekly Journal, printer John Peter Zenger is arrested and jailed for nine months before he was brought to trial. Zenger argues that a free press is the only protection against corruption. He wins the case, and is let free.
  • First Amendment Bill of Rights

    The first amendment to the United States Constitution gave citizens the right to free speech/religion/press/assembly. This journalisms write and publish stories without worrying about being censored.
  • Saturday Evening Post

    The Saturday Evening Post is an American magazine that published a variety of articles, from current events to comics. It was an extremely popular medium for journalists, because the Post reached a large audience across America.
  • Penny Press

    The penny press printed out cheap newspapers for the public; it's cheap cost helped provide access to the newspaper for the lower and middle class families.
  • Telegraph

    Telegraphs were commercially available by 1837. This was important because it was the first method of sending messages continentally.
  • Yellow Journalism

    Yellow journalism was when the articles had no legitimate information. Instead, it tried to use deliberately false, emotionally appealing words to try to hype something up to the readers.
  • Muckraking

    Muckraking helped use the medium of journalism to expose the truth to the public. Their work helped cause a change throughout society and industry.
  • First Radio Stations

    The KDKA was the first commercial radio station, established in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The original broadcast was transmitted with enough strength to be able to be picked up and received in Canada.
  • Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" Broadcast

    Orson Welles narrated the story "The War of the Worlds" on Halloween. Because it was presented almost like an actual news report, the broadcast tricked many American listeners that they were actually undergoing an extraterrestrial invasion, which caused mass panic.
  • TV's in most homes

    While the television was invented a few decades earlier, it did not become a popular appliance until the 1950s. Around this time, most people owned televisions in their homes, which paved the way for a new medium of communication.
  • Edward Murrow and McCarthyism

    In a stand against McCarthy and his anti-Communist witchhunt, Edward Murrow took a stand against him through his television program "See It Now." Again, this proved the power that effective journalism can have, both for good and for ill.
  • Watergate Scandal

    A major political scandal within the United States, when the Nixon Administration abused their political power for their own benefits. This scandal was uncovered by journalists, which proved just how powerful journalism could be.
  • CNN

    The Cable News Network (CNN) is an American news channel. Since it's establishment, CNN has a massive audience worldwide. In America alone, it airs in nearly 98 million households, which is almost a third of the population. This has allowed it to become one of the most important companies in modern journalism.
  • Internet (for General Public)

    While the actual technology behind the internet had been around earlier, the World Wide Web was established in 1991. This enabled people to communiate almost instantaneously, and created a new medium for journalisms to use.
  • Social Networking

    In 1994, the first social networking site known as Geocities was created. Ever since, countless sites have developed, including the massive modern icons such as Twitter and Facebook. Social media has enabled people to communicate in ways never before possible; utilized correctly, sites like these have had a huge impact on how news is relayed.