History of newspaper publishing

Newspaper being packed for delivery, Paris 1848

Before the invention of newspapers in the early 17th century, official government bulletins were circulated at times in some centralized empires. The earliest newspapers date to 17th-century Europe when printed periodicals began rapidly to replace the practice of hand-writing newssheets. The emergence of the new media branch has to be seen in close connection with the simultaneous spread of the printing press from which the publishing press derives its name.: At the same time, then, as the printing press in the physical, technological sense was invented, 'the press' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage. The phenomenon of publishing was born.

16th century to 1800

One example of this type of merchant was the 16th-century German financialist, Fugger. He not only received business news from his correspondents, but also sensationalist and gossip news as well. It is evident in the correspondence of Fugger with his network that fiction and fact were both significant parts of early news publications.

16th century Germany also saw subscription-based, handwritten news. Those who subscribed to these publications were generally low-level government officials and also merchants. They could not afford other types of news publications, but had enough money to pay for a subscription, which was still expensive for the time.

Avvisi, or Gazzettes (not gazettes), were a mid-16th-century Venice phenomenon. They were issued on single sheets, folded to form four pages, and issued on a weekly schedule. These publications reached a larger audience than handwritten news had in early Rome. Their format and appearance at regular intervals were two major influences on the newspaper as we know it today. The idea of a weekly, handwritten newssheet went from Italy to Germany and then to Holland.

First newspapers

See also: List of the oldest newspapers and History of British newspapers

Title page of Carolus' Relation from 1609, the earliest newspaper

The term newspaper became common in the 17th century. However, in Germany, publications that we would today consider to be newspaper publications, were appearing as early as the 16th century. They were discernibly newspapers for the following reasons: they were printed, dated, appeared at regular and frequent publication intervals, and included a variety of news items (unlike single item news mentioned above). The first newspaper according to modern definitions was the Strasbourg Relation, in the early 17th century. German newspapers, like avisis, were organized by the location from which they came, and by date. They differed from avisis in because they employed a distinct and highly illustrated title page, and they applied an overall date to each issue.

The emergence of the new media branch was based on the spread of the printing press from which the publishing press derives it name.

The German-language Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, printed from 1605 onwards by Johann Carolus in Strasbourg, is often recognized as the first newspaper. At the time, Strasbourg was a free imperial city in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation; the first newspaper of modern Germany was the Avisa, published in 1609 in Wolfenbüttel.

Other early papers include the Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. of 1618 which was the first to appear in folio- rather than quarto-size. Amsterdam, a center of world trade, quickly became home to newspapers in many languages, often before they were published in their own country.

The first English-language newspaper, Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc., was published in Amsterdam in 1620. A year and a half later, Corante, or weekely newes from Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, France and the Low Countreys. was published in England by an "N.B." (generally thought to be either Nathaniel Butter or Nicholas Bourne) and Thomas Archer.

The first newspaper in France was published in 1631, La Gazette (originally published as Gazette de France).

The first newspaper in Portugal, A Gazeta da Restauração, was published in 1641 in Lisbon. The first Spanish newspaper, Gaceta de Madrid, was published in 1661.

Post- och Inrikes Tidningar (founded as Ordinari Post Tijdender) was first published in Sweden in 1645, and is the oldest newspaper still in existence, though it now publishes solely online.

Opregte Haarlemsche Courant from Haarlem, the Netherlands, first published in 1656, is the oldest paper still printed. It was forced to merge with the newspaper Haarlems Dagblad in 1942 when Germany occupied the Netherlands. Since then the Haarlems Dagblad appears with the subtitle Oprechte Haerlemse Courant 1656 and considers itself to be the oldest newspaper still publishing.

Merkuriusz Polski Ordynaryjny was published in Kraków, Poland in 1661.

The first successful English daily, The Daily Courant, was published from 1702 to 1735.

News was highly selective and often propagandistic. Readers were eager for sensationalism, such as accounts of magic, public executions and disasters; this material did not pose a threat to the state, because it did not pose criticism of the state.

Dutch Republic

Newspaper publications, under the name of corantos, came to the Dutch Republic in the 17th century, first to Amsterdam, which was a center of trade and travelers, an obvious locale for news publication. The term coranto was adopted by other countries for a time as well. The coranto differed from previous German newspapers before it in format. The coranto dropped the highly illustrated German title page, instead including a title on the upper first page of the publication – the masthead common in today's periodicals. Corantos also adopted a two-column format, unlike the previous single-column format, and were issued on halfsheets.

British newspapers

Main articles: History of British newspapers and Media of Scotland

The coranto form influenced British newspapers. On 7 November 1665, The London Gazette (at first called The Oxford Gazette) began publication. It is considered to be the newspaper that decisively changed the look of English news printing, echoing the coranto format of two columns, a clear title, and a clear date. It was published twice a week. Other English papers started to publish three times a week, and later the first daily papers emerged. This was partly due to in the postal system between Dover and London.

Newspapers in general included short articles, ephemeral topics, some illustrations and service articles (classifieds). They were often written by multiple authors, although the authors' identities were often obscured. They began to contain some advertisements, and they did not yet include sections. Mass market papers emerged, including Sunday papers for workers to read in their leisure time. The Times adopted new technologies and set the standards for other newspapers. This newspaper covered major wars, among other major events.

British magazines

The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, in London, is considered to have been the first general-interest magazine. Edward Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine", on the analogy of a military storehouse of varied materiel, originally derived from the Arabic makhazin "storehouses".

The oldest consumer magazine still in print is The Scots Magazine, which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totaling over 90 years weaken that claim. Lloyd's List was founded in Edward Lloyd’s England coffee shop in 1734; it is still published as a daily business newspaper.

North America

See also: History of American newspapers and History of Canadian newspapers

Untitled watercolor (c. 1863) of a man reading a newspaper by Henry Louis Stephens. The headline reports the Emancipation Proclamation.

Front page of The New York Times on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.

In Boston in 1690, Benjamin Harris published Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick. This is considered the first newspaper in the American colonies even though only one edition was published before the paper was suppressed by the colonial officials, possibly due to censorship and control issues. It followed the two-column format and was a single sheet, printed on both sides.

In 1704, the governor allowed The Boston News-Letter, a weekly, to be published, and it became the first continuously published newspaper in the colonies. Soon after, weekly papers began publishing in New York and Philadelphia. The second English-language newspaper in the Americas was the Weekly Jamaica Courant. These early newspapers followed the British format and were usually four pages long. They mostly carried news from Britain and content depended on the editor’s interests. In 1783, the Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first American daily.

In 1751, John Bushell published the Halifax Gazette, the first Canadian newspaper.

India

In 1766, a British editor, William Bolts, started the first newspapers for the English audience in Calcutta. He criticized the ruling East India Company, and it sent him back to England. In 1780, James Augustus Hickey published Bengal Gazette/General Calcutta Adviser. The size of that four-page newspaper was 12"x8". Hickey too was against the Company Government and published internal news of the employees of the Company. It retaliated by keeping it out of the mail and eventually suppressed it. In November 1781, India Gazette appeared; it supported the government.

Modern newspapers since 1800

Technology

In 1814, The Times of London acquired a printing press capable of making 1,100 impressions per minute. It was soon adapted to print on both sides of a page at once. This innovation made newspapers cheaper and thus available to a larger part of the population. In 1830, the first penny press newspaper came to the market: Lynde M. Walter's Boston Transcript. Penny press papers cost about one-sixth the price of other newspapers and appealed to a wider audience. Newspaper editors exchanged copies and freeley reprinted material. By the late 1840s telegraph networks linked major and minor cities and permitted overnight news reporting.

New agencies

Main article: News agency

Only a few large newspapers could afford bureaus outside their home city. They relied instead on news agencies, founded around 1859, especially Havas in France and the Associated Press in the U.S. Agenzia Stefani covered Italy. Former Havas employees founded Reuters in Britain and Wolff in Germany. Havas is now Agence France-Presse (AFP). For international news, the agencies pooled their resources, so that Havas, for example, covered the French Empire, South America and the Balkans and shared the news with the other national agencies. In France the typical contract with Havas provided a provincial newspaper with 1800 lines of telegraphed text daily, for an annual subscription rate of 10,000 francs. Other agencies provided features and fiction for their subscribers. The major news agencies have always operated on a basic philosophy of providing a single objective news feed to all subscribers. For example, they do not provide separate feeds for conservative or liberal newspapers. Fenby explains the philosophy:

to achieve such wide acceptability, the agencies avoid overt partiality. Demonstrably correct information is their stock in trade. Traditionally, they report at a reduced level of responsibility, attributing their information to a spokesman, the press, or other sources. They avoid making judgments and steer clear of doubt and ambiguity. Though their founders did not use the word, objectivity is the philosophical basis for their enterprises – or failing that, widely acceptable neutrality.

Britain

Main article: History of British newspapers

With literacy rising sharply, the rapidly growing demand for news, led to changes in the physical size, visual appeal, heavy use of war reporting, brisk writing style, and an omnipresent emphasis on speedy reporting thanks to the telegraph. London set the pace before 1870 but by the 1880s critics noted how London was echoing the emerging New York style of journalism. The new news writing style first spread to the provincial press through the Midland Daily Telegraph around 1900.

By the early 19th century, there were 52 London papers and over 100 other titles. In 1802 and 1815 the tax on newspapers was increased to three pence and then four pence. Unable or unwilling to pay this fee, between 1831 and 1835 hundreds of untaxed newspapers made their appearance. The political tone of most of them was fiercely revolutionary. Their publishers were prosecuted but this failed to get rid of them. It was chiefly Milner Gibson and Richard Cobden who advocated the case in parliament to first reduce in 1836 and in 1855 totally repeal of the tax on newspapers. After the reduction of the stamp tax in 1836 from four pence to one penny, the circulation of English newspapers rose from 39,000,000 to 122,000,000 by 1854; a trend further exacerbated by technological improvements in rail transportation and telegraphic communication combined with growing literacy.

The Times

Main article: The Times § History

Front page 4 December 1788

The paper began in 1785 and in 1788 was renamed The Times. In 1817, Thomas Barnes was appointed general editor; he was a political radical, a sharp critic of parliamentary hypocrisy and a champion of freedom of the press. Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of The Times rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City of London. It spoke for reform. Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted journalists, and gained for The Times the pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform.") The paper was the first in the world to reach mass circulation due to its early adoption of the steam-driven rotary printing press. It was also the first properly national newspaper, as it was distributed via the new steam railwaysto rapidly growing concentrations of urban populations across the country. This helped ensure the profitability of the paper and its growing influence.

The Times was the first newspaper to send war correspondents to cover wars. W. H. Russell, the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War of the mid-1850s, wrote immensely influential dispatches; for the first time the public could read about the reality of warfare. In particular, on September 20, 1854, Russell wrote a missive about one battle that highlighted the surgeons' "humane barbarity" and the lack of ambulance care for wounded troops. Shocked and outraged, the public's backlash led to major reforms. The Times became famous for its influential leaders (editorials). For example, Robert Lowe wrote them between 1851 and 1868 on a wide range of economic topics such as free trade (which he favored).

Alan Nevins, the historian of journalism, in 1959 analyzed the importance of The Times in shaping London's elite views of events:

For much more than a century The Times has been an integral and important part of the political structure of Great Britain. Its news and its editorial comment have in general been carefully coordinated, and have at most times been handled with an earnest sense of responsibility. While the paper has admitted some trivia to its columns, its whole emphasis has been on important public affairs treated with an eye to the best interests of Britain. To guide this treatment, the editors have for long periods been in close touch with 10 Downing Street.

Other main papers

Main articles: Manchester Guardian and The Daily Telegraph

The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by a group of non-conformist businessmen. Its most famous editor, Charles Prestwich Scott, made the Guardian into a world-famous newspaper in the 1890s. The Daily Telegraph was first published on June 29, 1855 and was purchased by Joseph Moses Levy the following year. Levy produced it as the first penny newspaper in London. His son, Edward Lawson soon became editor, a post he held until 1885. The Daily Telegraph became the organ of the middle class and could claim the largest circulation in the world in 1890. It held a consistent Liberal Party allegiance until opposing Gladstone's foreign policy in 1878 when it turned Unionist.

New Journalism

The New Journalism reached out not to the elite but to a popular audience. Especially influential was William Thomas Stead, a controversial journalist and editor who pioneered the art of investigative journalism. Stead's 'new journalism' paved the way for the modern tabloid. He was influential in demonstrating how the press could be used to influence public opinion and government policy, and advocated "government by journalism". He was also well known for his reportage on child welfare, social legislation and reformation of England's criminal codes.

Stead became assistant editor of the Liberal Pall Mall Gazette in 1880 where he set about revolutionizing a traditionally conservative newspaper "written by gentlemen for gentlemen." Over the next seven years Stead would develop what Matthew Arnold dubbed 'The New Journalism'. His innovations as editor of the Gazette included incorporating maps and diagrams into a newspaper for the first time, breaking up longer articles with eye-catching subheadings and blending his own opinions with those of the people he interviewed. He made a feature of the Pall Mall extras, and his enterprise and originality exercised a potent influence on contemporary journalism and politics. Stead introduced the interview, creating a new dimension in British journalism when he interviewed General Gordon in 1884. He originated the modern journalistic technique of creating a news event rather than just reporting it, with his most famous 'investigation', the Eliza Armstrong case.

Matthew Arnold, the leading critic of the day, declared in 1887 that the New Journalism, "is full of ability, novelty, variety, sensation, sympathy, generous instincts." However, he added, its "one great fault is that it is feather-brained."

France

Main article: History of French newspapers

A copy of L’Ami du peuple stained with the blood of Marat

In the Old regime there were a small number of heavily censored newspapers that needed a royal license to operate. The first newspaper was the Gazette de France, was established in 1632 by the king's physician Theophrastus Renaudot (1586-1653), with the patronage of Louis XIII. All newspapers were subject to prepublication censorship, and served as instruments of propaganda for the monarchy. Dissidents used satire and hidden meanings to spread their political criticism.

Newspapers and pamphlets played role in The Enlightenment in France and they played a central role in stimulating and defining the Revolution. The meetings of the Estates-General in 1789 created an enormous demand for news, and over 130 newspapers appeared by the end of the year. The next decade saw 2000 newspapers founded, with 500 in Paris alone. Most lasted only a matter of weeks. Together they became the main communication medium, combined with the very large pamphlet literature. Newspapers were read aloud in taverns and clubs, and circulated hand to hand. The press saw its lofty role to be the advancement of civic republicanism based on public service, and downplayed the liberal, individualistic goal of making a profit. In the Revolution the radicals were most active but the royalists flooded the country with their press the "Ami du Roi" (Friends of the King) until they were suppressed. Napoleon only allowed one newspaper in each department and four in Paris, all under tight control.

In the revolutionary days of 1848 former Saint-Simoniennes founded a Club for the Emancipation of Women; in 1848 it changed its name to La Société de la Voix des Femmes (Society for Women’s Voice) in line with its new newspaper, La Voix des Femmes. It was France's first feminist daily and proclaimed itself "a socialist and political journal, the organ of the interests of all women." It lasted for only a few weeks as did two other feminist newspapers; women occasionally contributed articles to the magazines, often under a synonym.

The democratic political structure of France, 1870-1914, was supported by the proliferation of newspapers. The circulation of the daily press in Paris went from 1 million in 1870 to 5 million in 1910; it then leveled off and reached 6 million in 1939. Advertising grew rapidly, providing a steady financial basis. A new liberal press law of 1881 abandoned the restrictive practices that had been typical for a century. High-speed rotary Hoe presses, introduced in the 1860s, facilitated quick turnaround time and cheaper publication. New types of popular newspapers, especially Le Petit Journal reached an audience more interested in diverse entertainment and gossip rather than hard news. It captured a quarter of the Parisian market, and forced the rest to lower their prices. The main dailies employed their own journalists who competed for news flashes. All newspapers relied upon the Agence Havas (now Agence France-Presse), a telegraphic news service with a network of reporters and contracts with Reuters to provide world service. The staid old papers retained their loyal clientele because of their concentration on serious political issues.

The Roman Catholic Assumptionist order revolutionized pressure group media by its national newspaper La Croix. It vigorously advocated for traditional Catholicism while at the same time innovating with the most modern technology and distribution systems, with regional editions tailored to local taste. Secularists and Republicans recognize the newspaper as their greatest enemy, especially when it took the lead in attacking Dreyfus as a traitor and stirred up anti-Semitism. When Dreyfus was pardoned, the Radical government in 1900 closed down the entire Assumptionist order and its newspaper.

Banks secretly paid certain newspapers to promote particular financial interests, and hide or cover up possible most behavior. They also took payments for favorable notices in news articles of commercial products. Sometimes, a newspaper would blackmail a business by threatening to publish unfavorable information unless the business immediately started advertising in the paper. Foreign governments, especially Russia and Turkey, secretly paid the press hundreds of thousands of francs a year to guarantee favorable coverage of the bonds it was selling in Paris. When the real news was bad about Russia, as during its 1905 Revolution or during its war with Japan, it raised the ante to millions. During the World War, newspapers became more of a propaganda agency on behalf of the war effort, and avoided critical commentary. They seldom reported the achievements of the Allies, crediting all the good news to the French army. In a word, the newspapers were not independent champions of the truth, but secretly paid advertisements for banking.

The World War ended a golden era for the press. Their younger staff members were drafted and male replacements could not be found (women were not considered) available.) Rail transportation was rationed and less paper and ink came in, and fewer copies could be shipped out. Inflation raised the price of newsprint, which was always in short supply. The cover price went up, circulation fell and many of the 242 dailies published outside Paris closed down. The government set up the Interministerial Press Commission to closely supervise the press. A separate agency imposed tight censorship that led to blank spaces where news reports or editorials were disallowed. The dailies sometimes were limited to only two pages instead of the usual four, leading one satirical paper to try to report the war news in the same spirit:

War News. A half-zeppelin threw half its bombs on half-time combatants, resulting in one-quarter damaged. The zeppelin, halfways-attacked by a portion of half-anti aircraft guns, was half destroyed."

The Parisian newspapers were largely stagnant after 1914. The major postwar success story was Paris Soir; which lacked any political agenda and was dedicated to providing a mix of sensational reporting to aid circulation, and serious articles to build prestige. By 1939 its circulation was over 1.7 million, double that of its nearest rival the tabloid Le Petit Parisien. In addition to its daily paper Paris Soir sponsored a highly successful women's magazine Marie-Claire. Another magazine Match was modeled after the photojournalism of the American magazine Life.

In the early 21st century, the best-selling daily was the regional Ouest-France in 47 local editions, followed by Le Progres of Lyon, La Voix du Nord in Lille, and Provençal in Marseille. In Paris the Communists published l'Humanite while Le Monde Figaro had local rivals in Le Parisien, L'Aurore and the leftist Libération.

Latin America

British influence extended globally through its colonies and its informal business relationships with merchants in major cities. They needed up-to-date market and political information. El Seminario Republicano was the first non-official newspaper; it appeared in Chile in 1813. El Mercurio was founded in Valparaiso, Chile, in 1827. The most influential newspaper in Peru, El Comercio, first appeared in 1839. The Jornal do Commercio was established in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1827. Much later Argentina founded its newspapers in Buenos Aires: La Prensa in 1869 and La Nación in 1870.

United States

Main article: History of American Newspapers

Asian newspapers

Main articles: Print media in India, Japanese newspapers, and History of Chinese newspapers

India

Robert Knight (1825-90), founded two English language daily papers, the Statesman, in Calcutta, and The Times of India in Bombay. They promoted Indian self-rule and often criticized the policies of the British Raj.

China

Further information: Media history of China

In China, early government-produced news sheets, called tipao, were commonly used among court officials during the late Han dynasty (2nd and 3rd centuries AD). Between 713 and 734, the Kaiyuan Za Bao ("Bulletin of the Court") of the Chinese Tang Dynasty published government news; it was handwritten on silk and read by government officials. In 1582 privately published news sheets appeared in Beijing, during the late Ming Dynasty;

Shen Bao

From the late 19th century until 1949 the international community at Shanghai and Hong Kong sponsored a lively foreign language press that covered business and political news. Leaders included North China Daily News, Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury, and for Germans, Der Ostasiatischer Lloyd, and Deutsche Shanghai Zeitung.

Before 1872 government gazettes printed occasional announcements by officials. In Shanghai English businessman Ernest Major (1841–1908) established the first Chinese language newspaper in 1872. His Shen Bao employed Chinese editors and journalists and purchased stories by Chinese writers; it also published letters from readers. Serialized novels were popular with readers and kept them loyal; to the paper. Shanghai's large and powerful International Settlement stimulated the growth of a public sphere of Chinese men of affairs who paid close attention to political and economic developments. Shanghai became China's media capital. Shen Bao was the most important Chinese-language newspaper until 1905 and was still important until the communists came to power 1949.

Shen bao and other major newspapers saw public opinion as the driving force of historical change, of the sort that would bring progress reason and modernity to China. The editors portrayed public opinion as the final arbiter of justice for government officials. Thereby they broadened the public sphere to include the readership. The encouragement of the formation of public opinion stimulated activism and form the basis for popular support for the 1911 revolution.

Chinese newspaper journalism was modernized in the 1920s according to international standards, thanks to the influence of the New Culture Movement. The roles of journalist and editor were professionalized and became prestigious careers. The business side gained importance and with a greater emphasis on advertising and commercial news, the main papers, especially in Shanghai, moved away from the advocacy journalism that characterized the 1911 revolutionary period. Outside the main centers the nationalism promoted in metropolitan dailies was not as distinctive as localism and culturalism.

See also

• Future of newspapers
• History of French newspapers
• History of Journalism

Further reading

• Boyce, George; James Curran; Pauline Wingate (1978). Newspaper history from the seventeenth century to the present day. Constable.
• Pettegree, Andrew. The Invention of News: How the World Came to Know about Itself (Yale University Press, 2014), covers Europe 1400 to 1800
• Stephens, Mitchell. A History of News (3rd ed. 2006)
• Starr, Paul. The Creation of the Media: Political origins of Modern Communications (2004), far ranging history of all forms of media in 19th and 20th century US and Europe; Pulitzer prize excerpt and text search

Asia

• Hopkinson, Belinda, ed. Information technologies for newspaper publishing in Asia and the Pacific (UNESCO No. 46. 1997)
• Jeffrey, Robin. "India’s Newspaper Revolution: Capitalism, Politics and the Indian." Language Press (2000) 1#9 pp: 77-9.
• Mittler, Barbara. A newspaper for China?: power, identity, and change in Shanghai's news media, 1872-1912 (Harvard Univ Asia Center, Vol. 226, 2004)
• Reed, Christopher A. Gutenberg in Shanghai: Chinese Print Capitalism, 1876-1937 (2004)
• Yu, Haiqing. Media and cultural transformation in China (Routledge, 2009)

Europe

• Botein Stephen, Jack R. Censer and Ritvo Harriet. "The Periodical Press in Eighteenth-Century English and French Society: A Cross-Cultural Approach", Comparative Studies in Society and History, 23 (1981), 464-90.
• Chalaby, Jean K. "Journalism as an Anglo-American Invention A Comparison of the Development of French and Anglo-American Journalism, 1830s-1920s." European Journal of Communication (1996) 11#3 pp: 303-326.
• Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. Grub Street Abroad: Aspects of the French Cosmopolitan Press from the Age of Louis XIV to the French Revolution (1992)
• Gough, Hugh. The Newspaper Press in the French Revolution (Routledge, 1988)
• McReynolds, Louise. The News under Russia's Old Regime: The Development of a Mass-Circulation Press (1991)
• Schulte, Henry F. The Spanish Press 1470-1966 (1968)
• Zeldin, Theodore France: 1848-1945 (1977) vol 2. ch 11, "Newspapers and corruption" pp 492-573

Britain

• Andrews, Alexander. A History of British journalism(2011)
• Barker, Hannah. Newspapers and English Society 1695-1855 (2000) excerpt
• Brake, Laurel, and Marysa Demoor, eds. Dictionary of nineteenth-century journalism in Great Britain and Ireland (Academia Press, 2009)
• Clarke, Bob. From Grub Street to Fleet Street: An Illustrated History of English Newspapers to 1899 (2004) excerpt and text search
• Conboy, Martin. Journalism in Britain: A Historical Introduction (2010)
• George, Curran. Newspaper History from the Seventeenth Century to the Present (1978)
• Herd, Harold. The March of Journalism: The Story of the British Press from 1622 to the Present Day 1952. online
• O'Malley, Tom. "History, Historians and of the Writing of Print and Newspaper History in the UK c. 1945–1962," Media History (Special Issue: The Historiography of the Media in the United Kingdom) (2012) 18#3-4, DOI: 10.1080/13688804.2012.723492
• Sommerville, C. John. The News Revolution in England: Cultural Dynamics of Daily Information (1996)
• Williams, Keith. The English Newspaper: An Illustrated History to 1900 (1977)
• Williams, Kevin. Read All About it: a History of the British Newspaper (2010)

Canada

• Kesterton, W.H. A History of Journalism in Canada (1979)

United States

Main article: History of American journalism § Further reading

• Daly, Christopher B. Covering America: A Narrative History of a Nation's Journalism (2012) excerpt and text search
• Emery, Michael, Edwin Emery, and Nancy L. Roberts. The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media (9th ed. 1999.), standard textbook;
• Mott, Frank Luther. American Journalism A History: 1690-1960 (1962)
• Nord, David Paul. Communities of Journalism: A History of American Newspapers and Their Readers (2006) excerpt and text search
• Schudson, Michael. Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers. (1978). excerpt and text search
• Sloan, W. David, James G. Stovall, and James D. Startt. The Media in America: A History, 4th ed. (1999)
• Streitmatter, Rodger. Mightier Than the Sword: How the News Media Have Shaped American History (1997)online edition
• Vaughn, Stephen L., ed. Encyclopedia of American Journalism (2007) 636 pages excerpt and text search

Readership

• Heyd, Uriel. Reading Newspapers: Press and Public in Eighteenth-Century Britain and America (Oxford, 2012)
• Schoenbach, Klaus, et al. "Research Note: Distinction and Integration Sociodemographic Determinants of Newspaper Reading in the USA and Germany, 1974-96." European Journal of Communication (1999) 14#2 pp: 225-239.

Magazines

• Angeletti, Norberto, and Alberto Oliva. Magazines That Make History: Their Origins, Development, and Influence (2004), covers Time, Der Spiegel, Life, Paris Match, National Geographic, Reader's Digest, ¡Hola!, and People
• Brooker, Peter, and Andrew Thacker, eds. The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines: Volume I: Britain and Ireland 1880-1955 (2009)
• Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines (five volumes, 1930-1968), detailed coverage of all major magazines, 1741 to 1930.
• Summer, David E. The Magazine Century: American Magazines Since 1900 (Peter Lang Publishing; 2010) 242 pages. Examines the rapid growth of magazines throughout the 20th century and analyzes the form's current decline.
• Wood, James P. Magazines in the United States (1971)
• Würgler, Andreas. National and Transnational News Distribution 1400–1800, European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History),(2010) retrieved: December 17, 2012.

Historiography

• Buxton, William J., and Catherine McKercher. "Newspapers, magazines and journalism in Canada: Towards a critical historiography." Acadiensis (1988) 28#1 pp. 103-126 in JSTOR; also online
• Daly, Chris. "The Historiography of Journalism History: Part 1:‘An Overview.’." American Journalism 26 (2009): 141-147; "The Historiography of Journalism History: Part 2: 'Toward a New Theory,'" American Journalism, (2009) 26#1 pp 148–155, stresses the tension between the imperative form of business model and the dominating culture of news
• Dooley, Brendan. "From Literary Criticism to Systems Theory in Early Modern Journalism History," Journal of the History of Ideas (1990) 51#3 pp 461–86.
• Espejo, Carmen. "European Communication Networks in the Early Modern Age: A new framework of interpretation for the birth of journalism," Media History (2011) 17#2 pp 189–202
• Griffen-Foley, Bridget. "Australian press, radio and television historiography: an update." Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy 119 (2006) pp: 21+
• Nevins, Alan. "American Journalism and Its Historical Treatment," Journalism Quarterly (1959) 36#4 pp 411-22 online
• Wilke, Jürgen: Journalism, European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2013, retrieved: January 28, 2013.

Primary sources

• Brennen,Bonnie S. and Hanno Hardt, eds. The American Journalism History Reader (2010), 512pp