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Thousands of year back, the first humans and perhaps even animals began reporting news as a way to communicate among each other for things such as predators coming or for other reasons.
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In the middle of the 15th Century, a German inventor by the name of Johannes Gutenberg developed the beloved printing press. This gave people a quick and cheap way to produces thousands of fliers and books. Eventually, newspapers would be added to the mix.
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Publick Occurences was published in 1690, but there was only one paper that was printed due to the British shutting it down. It was shut down due to the order stating that Harris did not obtain his license and there were claims that the King had a love affair with his son's wife. There was also doubt in whether the news being shared was completely true.
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Peter Zenger was a publisher of the New York Weekly Journal. He was charged with sedition when his paper criticized the colonial authorities. HIs printing press was also burned by the authorities. This trial helped establish truth as a defense against libel. It made to where you can print whatever you want as long as it is true and that you can prove that it is true.
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The Federalist Papers were published between 1787 and 1788 in New York State newspapers. They were published to try and persuade voters in New York to ratify the proposed constitution. There are a total of 85 essays that outlined how the new government would work and why it was the best choice. This would later be known as the most significant public relations campaign in history.
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A group of free African American citizens came together from different states alongside the Eastern seaboard to meet in New York City. They discussed the importance of communicating their views on various social, political, and economic issues. Due to these meetings, the outcome was the first newspaper produced by African Americans, named Freedom's Journal.
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With the creation of the Penny Press, the lower and middle class citizens were now allowed to be informed with the newspapers being sold for just a penny. The New York Sun, which is considered as the newspaper that started the Penny Press, was filled with the hard news, such as crime and natural disasters.
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There were technical advances during the Civil War, such as photography. This would provide advancements to the nation's papers and allow the citizens to see a visual with what they are reading. With the invention of the telegraph, stories from Civil War correspondent would get to newspaper offices at quick speed. The telegraph lines would often be down, which would lead to reporters learning to put the most important information in their stories.
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During the late nineteenth century, there were journalists who would make up stories and create hoaxes in their newspapers. This was named Yellow Journalism. Two of the most recognizable journalists were William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. They transformed newspapers by including scandalous news and using false drawings, as well as including comic strips. One of the most notable cases was when reporters reported that the sinking of the "The Maine" was sunk by the Spanish.
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When yellow journalism became a thing and newspapers were starting to get filled with fake news and hoaxes, heroes were in need to expose the truth. That's where Muckrakers come in play. They were journalists who were out to expose corruption, fake news, and many other things. The term "Muckrakers", in journalism, is used as people who have news "dirt" and they expose corporations for who they are, establishments, and horrific crimes.
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Newspaper articles were made to try and win the public opinion for the United States to join in on World War 1. The first official publication to be put out by the government was "Stars and Stripes".
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The Suffrage Movement relied on newspapers to get and spread their message on their beliefs. They believed that women should be able to vote, white women at least. The "Suffrage journals" were newspapers that were run by both men and women who supported the movement. Sadly, traditional news outlets did not want to circulate any information about the movement.
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Although the first ever radio news broadcast was made on August 31st, 1920, radio broadcasts didn't become popular till a decade later. The radio was used for news broadcasting and entertainment.
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With the advances in technology, Americans were forced to see the country's role in global affairs. The 1940s changed the lives of millions and television became a huge part in the daily American life. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, journalists were given the chance to record the damage of the bombing and display it to millions a few days later. Broadcast networks took advantage of the advances and began pouring large amounts of money into television after the war.
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By the mid 20th century, there were three big major television networks that were dominating American news. These networks were CBS (Colombian Broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcast Company), and ABC (American Broadcast Company). Live news was not a thing at the time, so stations would have to pre-record their segments and air them the following day or the night of. This would begin the slow decline of print media and the huge rise in televisions.
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The murder of John F. Kennedy was a traumatizing experience for Americans due to it being broadcasted live on television. This was when live broadcasting was getting its rise and where the videos or pictures were doing most of the talking. America saw the murder of the man who shot Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, on live television.
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The 1970s will be known as a decade with political corruption. There were two journalists, named Bob Woodward and Carl Berstein, who worked for the Washington Post and they uncovered shocking news about the president, Richard Nixon. The information spread about the Watergate incident lead to Nixon resigning as president. This incident showed that a single journalist can hold great power on others.
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During the 1980s and the 1990s, cable news outlets began taking over American TV. CNN became the first ever 24-hour news station. This meant Americans can always be up-to-date on things going on and never miss a thing. CNN ended up having coverage of the first Iraq war, where they were located in downtown Baghdad. Bombs fell and the news anchors, Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett, and John Holliman, were locked in their hotel room, huddling.
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Ah. Where the internet started taking over everyone's daily lives.
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The attack on September 11, 2001 changed the lives of everyone in the present and in the future. The president of ABC news, David Westin, believed that it was best that the videos of the jets hitting the World Trade Center not be repeated as it is disturbing to view, especially for children.
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Twitter is widely known and many people get their news stories from there. In the middle of the 2000s, people began watching news and reading news over the internet and digitally more than actually sitting down and watching television news. It became widely known and popular and thus television began to fall off, especially in the younger generations.
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Anything on the Internet can be completely false or can be twisted around. Finding reliable sources can be hard and websites, like Wikipedia, and social media posts can be easily edited. You can't believe everything you see on social media.
