The NewspaperPresented By: Elizabeth Hennen & Erica George

Historical Overview of Newspapers● Earliest Recorded Newspaper:

The Acta Diurna

The Acta Diurna◆ Translation: (“Daily Events”) in Latin

● Considered the forerunner of newspapers

◆ Location/Time Period: Ancient Rome around 59 B.C.

◆ Launched by: Julius Caesar

◆ Purpose: to keep the empire informed

◆ Characteristics: daily newsletters carved on stone or metal & posted in public

places around Rome

● With only one newsletter/day created, it was up to the readers to recopy the information by

hand and distribute it

The Acta Diurna (cont’d)◆ Content: summary of current events such as:

○ Law reports, human interest stories, holidays, religious festivals, and announcements of

important births, deaths, marriages and divorces

◆ Wealthy citizens: sent scribes to the forum with a stylus and a wax tablet to

jot down items of interest from the newsletter

● News items could then be copied onto papyrus rolls and sent to friends

outside the city

○ → This medium relied heavily on social distribution to reach a wide audience

The Acta Diurna (cont’d)◆

Wax tablet used for copying information

Historical Overview of Newspapers● The First Printed Newspaper:

The Ti Pao (Dibao)◆

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The Ti Pao● Translation: (“Reports from official residents”)

○ Also known as “palace reports” or “imperial bulletins”

● Location/Time Period: Ancient China

○ Sometime between Han Dynasty (206 BCE--220 CE) and Tang Dynasty (618--907 CE)

● Launched by: government officials

● Purpose: to inform the aristocracy on court politics and gov’t affairs

● How It Was Printed: wooden blocks

The Ti Pao (cont’d)●

Wood block Chinese used for printing

Fugger Newsletter● Handwritten newsletter in Europe during 16th century

● Commercial-based

● Post-newsletter Developments:

○ Postal Systems

○ News periodicals

■ Broadsides

■ Newsbooks

Corantos● Weekly basis in early 17th century

● Post masters = reporters for them

● Small press runs on “safe” foreign news

○ Thirty Years Wars stimulated interest in reading Corantos

Daily Newspapers● First English Daily -

○ Samuel Buckley’s (Elizabeth Mallet) Daily Courant (1702)

● By 1750, London has multiple daily, weekly newspapers

● 10 readers per copy sold

Florida Today Newspaper History● Date Invented/Location: March 21, 1966 near NASA headquarters in FL.

● Created By: The Gannett Company

○ Was the company’s first newspaper

○ Originally dubbed as “Florida’s Space Age Newspaper.”

○ Eventually redesigned to emphasize state and local news

● Primary Audience: Major daily newspaper serving Brevard County

● Circulation: 42,634 (Daily) & 80,656 (Sunday)

○ 1st two weeks of newspapers life - delivered papers at no cost to all residences in Brevard County

○ 1st newspaper to win the National Newspaper Association general excellence award for 2

consecutive years

Florida Today Costs: Then and Now● Then: free - 20 cents (varies depending on newspaper)

● Today:

○ Main edition: $1.25/issue

○ Sunday edition: $3.50/issue

■ Home Delivery Subscription: ($6.89--$12.89/mo)

● Includes print edition, e-newsletter edition, 24/7 website access, all smartphone/tablet

apps

■ Online Subscription: ($19/year)

● Includes e-newsletter edition, 24/7 website access, all smartphone/tablet apps

The Significance of Florida Today● Tested several distinguishing features that would eventually appear in the

company’s most successful national newspaper--the USA Today:

○ Clearly organized format

○ Page-one-left-column summary of the day’s news

○ Heavy use of color

○ Tons of photographs

○ Detailed weather reports

Background of USA Today● Date Invented/Location: September 15, 1982

● Created By: Al Neuharth of the Gannett Company

● Targeted Audience: “news-in-a-nutshell” people

○ People that don’t want to spend a lot of time reading, but who want to know the headlines

● Costs Per Issue Then/Now: 60 cents ; $2

● Print subscription cost: ($25--$225)

● Online subscription cost: ($9.99--$99)

● Circulation: 978,037

○ Tied with the other 2 leading newspapers in nation: Wall Street Journal & NY Times

● # of Mobile App Downloads: 22 million+

The Significance of the USA Today:How Was It Different From Other Newspapers?

● Provided more news about more subjects in less time

● Content Features:

○ Loaded with color

○ Brief and easy-to-read stories

○ Many graphics and charts

○ Detailed report on sports, TV, weather

○ Summarized news every day from every state

● These features captured most important points of a story

USA Today : Then (1982) & Now

Then Now Then Now

Impact of Newspapers on Mass Communication

● Increased literacy rates

● Spread news faster and to a larger audience

● Fostered sociability

● Created newspaper syndicates (newspapers that agree to share same stories)

Sources:● http://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/Newspaper-publishing#toc28656

● http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/13/books/books-of-the-times-news-from-acta-diurna-to-modern-media.ht

ml

● http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-standage/the-forgotten-history-of-_b_4101330.html

● http://www.floridatoday.com/news/

● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Today

● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibao_(ancient_Chinese_gazette)#cite_ref-if30_2-0

● https://gannett.investorhq.businesswire.com/sites/gannett.investorhq.businesswire.com/files/doc_library/file

/105721-Annual_Report.pdf

● https://books.google.com/books?id=QDaax4mFMpcC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=Did+the+Gannett+Cor

poration+use+the+Florida+Today+newspaper+to+develop+USA+Today&source=bl&ots=siT7b8ts3c&sig=I

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