Newspapers
Newspapers: Past, Present, and Future
News is simply defined as "a report of a recent event; something
one not heard of before"(Websters, 282). With its lack in its
definition, news is so much more than a report of recent events in
todays world. Today, the underlying purpose of news is to "provide
facts upon which decisions are based" (Mencher, 56), making
journalism the work of gathering news. Neil Postman says that news is
"more often made rather than gathered". He goes on to say that it
consists of information that a journalist believes is important or
what they think their audience will think is important. There are
many different mediums in which one receives news these days,
including, internet, radio and television. One of the ways that has
been around the longest is the newspaper.
Today newspapers are publications that come out regularly
containing news, information and advertisements. Newspapers usually
meet four different criteria: Publicity, periodicity, currency, and
universality. Publicity means that its contents are reasonably
accessible to the public and is well circulated. Periodicity has to
do with the timing of publishing. In order for a publishing to be
considered a newspaper it needs to be published at regular times.
Currency deals with the information of the news itself. A newspaper
usually presents news that is current and applicable to it's readers.
Universality deals with the types of news that is covered. The topics
in a newspaper is often the reason why people pick up a newspaper to
begin with. When a publication meets these four criteria they are
usually considered a newspaper. Newspapers have been around for a
long time, they have always played an important part in society and
while still today an important source of information, are slowly
dying.
The Beginning of Newspapers
Although what is thought to be the
News is simply defined as "a report of a recent event; something
one not heard of before"(Websters, 282). With its lack in its
definition, news is so much more than a report of recent events in
todays world. Today, the underlying purpose of news is to "provide
facts upon which decisions are based" (Mencher, 56), making
journalism the work of gathering news. Neil Postman says that news is
"more often made rather than gathered". He goes on to say that it
consists of information that a journalist believes is important or
what they think their audience will think is important. There are
many different mediums in which one receives news these days,
including, internet, radio and television. One of the ways that has
been around the longest is the newspaper.
Today newspapers are publications that come out regularly
containing news, information and advertisements. Newspapers usually
meet four different criteria: Publicity, periodicity, currency, and
universality. Publicity means that its contents are reasonably
accessible to the public and is well circulated. Periodicity has to
do with the timing of publishing. In order for a publishing to be
considered a newspaper it needs to be published at regular times.
Currency deals with the information of the news itself. A newspaper
usually presents news that is current and applicable to it's readers.
Universality deals with the types of news that is covered. The topics
in a newspaper is often the reason why people pick up a newspaper to
begin with. When a publication meets these four criteria they are
usually considered a newspaper. Newspapers have been around for a
long time, they have always played an important part in society and
while still today an important source of information, are slowly
dying.
The Beginning of Newspapers
Although what is thought to be the