The History of Newspapers

By speediermedia1
  • Feb 10, 1476

    First Printing Press

    William Caxton sets up the Englands first printing press in Westminster
  • Mar 13, 1549

    First known English newsletter

    First known English newsletter: Requests of the Devonshyre and Cornyshe Rebelles.

  • First titled newspaper

    First titled newspaper, Corante, published in London.

  • All newsbooks suppressed

    Cromwell suppressed all newsbooks on the eve of Charles I's execution.

  • Worcester Postman launched

    Worcester Postman launched. (In 1709 it starts regular publication as Berrow's Worcester Journal, considered to be the oldest surviving English newspaper).

  • Launch of the first daily newspaper

  • Leeds Mercury started

    Leeds Mercury started (later merged into Yorkshire Post).

  • Belfast News Letter founded

    Belfast News Letter founded (world's oldest surviving daily newspaper)

  • Aberdeen Journal began

    Aberdeen Journal began (Scotland's oldest newspaper - now the Press & Journal)

  • Hampshire Chronicle launched

    Hampshire Chronicle launched, Hampshire's oldest paper

  • Daily Universal Register became The Times

    Daily Universal Register (est. 1785) became The Times

  • The Observer launched

  • The Newspaper Society founded

  • The Daily Telegraph

    Daily Telegraph started as first penny national.Manchester Guardian, The Scotsman and Liverpool Post became daily. Shields Gazette is the first of 17 regional evenings founded this year

  • National Union of Journalists

    National Union of Journalists founded as a wage-earners union

  • First Colour Advertisment

    Britain's first colour advertisement appears (in Glasgow's Daily Record).

  • Press strike

    Month-long national press strike. Daily Record acquired by Mirror Group

  • Manchester Guardian

    Manchester Guardian becomes The Guardian. Six-week regional press printing strike

  • The Sun

    The Sun launched, replacing Daily Herald. Death of Beaverbrook. General Council of the Press reformed as the Press Council

  • Input by journalists

    Nottingham Evening Post is Britain's first newspaper to start direct input by journalists

  • First free daily newspaper

    Mirror Group sold by Reed to Maxwell (Pergamon). First free daily newspaper, the (Birmingham) Daily News, launched by husband & wife team Chris & Pat Bullivant.

  • First colour national daily launched

    News International moved titles to a new plant at Wapping. Eddie Shah launchedToday, first colour national daily launched. The Independent launched

  • The Mirror bought

    Midland Independent Newspapers is bought by Mirror Group for £297 million. Human Rights and Data Protection bills are introduced

  • Metro introduction

    rinity merges with Mirror Group Newspapers in a deal worth £1.3 billion. Newsquest is bought by US publisher Gannett for £904 million. Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers is bought by Johnston Press for £266m. Major regional press groups launch electronic media alliances (eg, This is Britain, Fish4 sites.) Freedom of Information bill introduced. Associated launches London's free commuter daily, Metro.

  • The Telegraph brought

    Phillis Report on Government Communications published (January). Barclay Brothers buy Telegraph group and poach Murdoch Maclennan from Associated to run it. Kevin Beatty moves from Northcliffe Newspapers to run Associated Newspapers. Trinity Mirror sells Century Newspapers and Derry Journal in Northern Ireland to 3i. Tindle Newspapers sells Sunday Independent in Plymouth to Newsquest. The Times goes compact (November).

  • Britian emerges from recession

    Britain officially emerges from the longest and deepest recession since the war. Lebedev acquires the Independent and Independent on Sunday from Independent News & Media for a nominal fee of £1. Trinity Mirror acquires GMG Regional Media, publisher of 32 titles, from Guardian Media Group for £44.8 million. News International erects paywalls around its online content for The Times and The Sunday Times. Eleven regional print titles are launched by seven publishers in the first six months of the y

  • The creation of a new local media business Local World was annouced

    The creation of a new local media business Local World was announced. Led by former chief executive of publishers Mecom and Mirror Group David Montgomery, Local World is created from the newspapers and websites of Northcliffe Media and Iliffe News & Media.

  • New voice for UK news and media sector

    A new voice for the £6 billion national, regional and local UK news media sector was launched in the form of the News Media Association, formed by the merger of the Newspaper Society and the Newspaper Publishers’ Association. In a climate of grave threats to press freedom, the importance of newspaper journalism was highlighted through stories such as The Times’ exposure of the Rotherham abuse scandal and The Yorkshire Post’s Loneliness campaign. The Independent Press Standards Organisation, t