History of JournalismBroadcast Journalism I

Room 315

History of Journalism

Objectives: To Determine the important dates

in the history of journalism To recognize important figures to

the world of journalism To establish a timeline leading to

today’s world of journalism

3000 BC—Babylonia Clay, stone and wooden

tablets are used by the residents of Babylonia to advertise their businesses

First form of advertising

1827—Freedom’s Journal

First black newspaper Founded by Russwurm

and Cornish Response to racist

attacks by other newspapers

500 B.C.—Thebes, Egypt

Egyptians make papyrus

Form of paper From the stems of

the papyrus plant

1690—Publick Occurrences: Both Foreign and Domestic

Benjamin Harris 4-page paper Contained advertisements Religious Used to spur

independence among the colonies

1735—New York, NY

John Peter Zenger acquitted of seditious libel

Charged due to his printings in New York Weekly Journal

1719—Boston Gazette

Boston’s 2nd newspaper

Beginning of competition among newspapers

1765—Stamp Act Used by Britain to pay

war debts All official documents,

papers, books and newspapers printed on stamped paper that carried a special tax

Additional tax placed on each ad

1732—Philadelphia Zeitung

Published by Benjamin Franklin

First Foreign paper in the US

German newspaper

1741—Magazines

Benjamin Franklin

Andrew Bradford

Published the first print magazine

1737—Elizabeth Timothy Charleston South

Carolina Gazette First woman publisher

in the colonies This was due to her

husband’s accidental death

1754—Cartoons First cartoon appears in

the Pennsylvania Gazette

1814—London

London Times used a steam-driven press

The press could print up to 1100 sheets per hour

1776—Pennsylvania Evening Post

First newspaper to publish the Declaration of Independence

1783—Daily Newspapers

Pennsylvania Evening Post became America’s first daily newspaper

Most until this point were weekly papers

1835—Pony Express Established between

New York and Philadelphia by the postmaster

1808—El Misisipi

The first Spanish-language newspaper in the US

1438—Johan Gutenberg, Germany

Begins working on a method of printing using moveable type

Gutenberg Press

1833—New York Sun

First penny paper Established for the

working folk Carries mostly

sensational human interest news with a touch of humor