History of News Media

There is no distinct beginning for what can be considered news media. We now associate the term media with communication that involves large groups of people. If this definition is applied to a look back through history, news media probably had its beginning with the development of the printing press. This invention is usually attributed to Gutenberg in about 1439. To be more exact, Gutenberg invented a printing press with moveable type. There had been earlier printing presses that could print one page at a time using an image carved into a piece of wood. Prior to using the carvings as a press, the actual carved pieces of a more durable material like stone were place in public places to make announcements on behalf of the government of the day.  

The history of news media is the interplay of technological developments, events that gave rise to the use of new media, and the personalities that used the media in new ways. The printing press with moveable type soon led to sheets of news that were distributed hand to hand. Newspapers appeared in several cities in Europe by the early 1600’s with the paper in Strassburg likely being the first. But even though the distribution of news was facilitated by the printed page, news gathering remained as before, primarily a word of mouth process. News of events from other places was gleaned from travelers and official announcements were received by couriers. News events were editorialized and the opinions of the owners of the newspapers were expressed freely. 

It was not until the invention of the telegraph that news gathering and transmission could be done with speed and accuracy. The American Civil War was the first major event that had news coverage by reporters close to the action who were able to telegraph their reports to newspapers in the major cities. The Associated Press, a cooperative of several newspapers had received its first report via transatlantic cable telegraph in 1858, just before the start of the conflict. So the organization was positioned to use the new technology and a new method of news gathering when the war started a few years later. 

Telegraph transmission of information for publication by newspapers was the primary news medium for the next 60 or 70 years. The information was not always accurate as the reports of the sinking of the Titanic illustrate. The headlines in many papers in Britain first proclaimed that all lives were saved. Of course this proved to be erroneous.

Late in the 19^th Century and early in the 20^th Century, two new technologies emerged that would have a profound influence on news media. The first was the development of motion pictures and recorded sound. Speeches of Presidents and major events like coronations were recorded and seen in theatres. These mini-documentaries, which became known as newsreels, were shown in theatres. This practice continued into the 1950’s. The movies made changes in how events were presented and orchestrated that laid the groundwork for the television coverage that would come later.

The other significant development of that period was the radio. It rapidly became a means of transmitting news from the source. Radio was in its infancy during the conflict that became known as World War I, but was used extensively during World War II, both as a means for political leaders to communicate with their people and for news reporters to transmit the news as it was observed. Franklin Roosevelt in the United States and Winston Churchill in England made several motivating speeches during the war that have become classics of oratory. Edward R. Murrow’s reports on the annexation of Austria by the Nazi’s in 1938 and his live broadcasts of the blitz in London in 1941 are examples of a new type of news reporting, describing events as they unfolded literally before the reporter’s eyes.

Radio did not replace newspapers. It provided an immediate report on events but was restricted in many ways. Newspapers were able to evolve concepts like in-depth coverage, investigative reports, human interest stories and editorial comment. Radio provided the intimacy of a political leader or reporter entering a home and speaking directly to people. This immediacy and close connection with people led academic Marshal McLuhan to call radio a hot medium. 

Radio also became a medium for regular broadcasts of news, sports, weather and other information. These broadcasts were simple in comparison to the Murrow reports. Like newspapers, radio stations would receive transmissions of events from newswires and read these on air. This practice continues in a similar way today without substantial changes since these types of programs became popular in the 1920’s.

Inventors had also been working on various aspects of what would be called television during the time radio was being developed. The first broadcast news report on television was in 1928 in Scenectady New York. By the late 1930’s television broadcasts were started by the major radio companies, notably the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in the US. FDR was the first president to appear on television on April 30, 1939. That same year, the New York World’s Fair demonstrated television as a consumer product. So there were people with televisions in their homes who could receive the broadcast. About 1000 people within a 40 mile radius of the EmpireStateBuilding, the source of the broadcast, received and watched this historic transmission.

NBC received the first commercial license for television in America in 1941 but the development of television was actually inhibited by the war that the US was about to enter. Full scale programming and expansion of television stations in the networks did not begin until after the war. By 1955 an estimated half of all households in the US had a television. Similarly in Britain, television broadcasts were suspended during the war and resumed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1946.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was the most watched news program of all time in 1953 with an estimated 27 million viewers. The success of this coverage led to regular news broadcasts in Britain the next year. Regular news programs had become standard programming in the US by that time, throughout the 1940’s into the present day. They began by imitating radio, featuring an announcer reading news reports on the air but evolved to make use of live reporting made possible by communication satellites. Newscasters became celebrity figures and household names.

Television coverage of political campaigns changed the way politicians presented themselves and their ideas. As an example, in 1952 Richard Nixon was running for Vice President of the United States on the Dwight Eisenhower Presidential ticket.  He was accused by a newspaper of accepting illegal campaign contributions. In response, Nixon held a televised news conference during which he disclosed all of his personal finances, including the gift of a dog, Checkers.  This television speech was the first of its kind and proved to be very effective turning the tide of the election.  The appearance of a  politician on television became as important as the way a politician presented himself in person.

Richard Nixon was a part of another television news first - the first televised debate during a presidential election campaign. In 1960, Nixon debated John Kennedy, who is credited with winning the debate.  The debate is seen as a contributing factor to Kennedy's success at the polls in the election.  One factor that is sometimes mentioned by commentators was that Nixon refused to wear makeup, which would have improved his appearance in comparison to the younger and more vibrant Kennedy. 

Leaping ahead a few decades, a major change in news coverage by television came in 1980 with the creation of 24 hour news only television channels. This change was facilitated by the development of cable transmission of television, a method that provided more flexibility for networks than broadcasts over the airwaves. CNN was the first all news network, founded by Ted Turner in 1980.

There are many changes in technology that made news gathering more effective, allowing cameras into locations that might have been prohibitive previously. And the history of the news media continues with the Internet, but this is a subject so vast I am going to leave it for another hub.