Blog Post #4: The First Newspaper

The Relation

The definition of a newspaper is “a printed publication (usually issued daily or weekly) consisting of folded unstapled sheets and containing news, feature articles, advertisements, and correspondence” (Oxford Languages). 

 

In July 1604, a man by the name of Johann Carolus bought a printing house in Strasbourg, Germany. Carolus was a book binder and planned on using this printing house to bring books. As an effort to gain some financial stability for his new company, Carolus hand-copied and delivered a very small amount of weekly news to the upper class in Strasbourg. 

 

According to historian of printing, Stanley Morison, “employed the format and most of the conventions of a book: it is printed in quarto size and the text is set in a single wide column”. The next year, Carolus realized that many people would want to read the weekly news, not just a few upper-class individuals. There was a large risk factor in this, Carolus would have to print and sell a large quantity of newspapers in order to make a profit. He also had no idea what people would pay for his papers, which made the risk even greater. 

Thankfully, taking the risk paid off and his newspapers were wanted by many people. Carolus newspapers with 4 to 6 pages every week, and the demand increased. The newspaper was titled ‘Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien’, called “Relation” by historians. Carolus was the only editor of the newspaper at the beginning, but after demand increased, he was helped by a theologian. 

The goal of the Relation was to publish accurate and important news about events in society and government, to the citizens of Strasbourg. After three years of publishing the Relation, Carolus faced his first censorship incident. In his weekly paper, Carolus published news about the government’s recent financial struggles. 

After the release of this information, Carolus was “advised” to consult the government before publishing anything critical about the government. Carolus abided by this, but openly stated that future censorship would be negative on his newspaper business. This is because people wanted information about the positives and negatives of society, they didn’t want this information to be adjusted to make the government look good. 

Although Carolus predicted that his business would fall, it ended up staying successful. 

Censorship is “the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security” (Oxford Languages). We have seen different forms of censorship throughout history since the first newspaper was created,up until now. Censorship is a negative outcome of media such as newspapers because it prevents the public from knowing the truth if it is damaging to the government. 

The creation of the newspaper completely changed the way that people received information. It provided people with a weekly new source which they have not had access to before. Since the first newspaper was created there have been over 18,000 different newspaper companies that have been created all over the world. The newspaper made receiving news more convenient and quick with its weekly updates. The newspaper was one of the building blocks for all other future types of news media.

Sources: http://scihi.org/johann-carolus-first-newspaper/ 

http://www.edubilla.com/inventor/johann-carolus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Carolus

Eight Values of Free Expression

     I found the lecture on the Eight Values of Free Expression to be very interesting as I had never heard about these before throughout my education. Each of the Eight Values of Freedom Expression are important elements of basic human rights. The value that feels most important to me is Check on Governmental power. 

In our political system, the most important aspect is the checks and balances that we have on governmental power. It ensures that no certain branch has more power or control than the others and keeps the power in the hands of the people and not one individual. These checks enables the freedom of the press, who inform the public about the potential abuses of power. The press keeps our checks and balances in line and keeps citizens aware of what is going on within the government which is important because we the people, have the right to know. 

The Value of Free Expression that feels most person to me is Individual Self- Fulfillment is also known as self- actualization, and represent the individual aspect of freedom of speech. Free speech allows people to express themselves in any way that they chose, creating their own identity in the process. This form of freedom of speech also supports the belief that all humans have the right to be whoever they want, emotionally, physically, and mentally. 

This feels most the most personal to me because something that many people struggle with is their identity and feeling as if they can be whoever they want to be. I feel as if this is something that everyone can relate to in their own way whether it is their gender identity or emotional identity, everyone has to find their own identity at some point in their life. 

Today, I see all of these Eight Values of Free Expression in action today, but the one that I notice the most is promote tolerance. Throughout the last few years, the promotion of all types of free speech has been very prevalent in the media. Although any type of speech is protected by the First Amendment, we take it upon our selves to deem what is socially acceptable and what is not. The media has been preaching the idea that a more tolerant society is a better one, which is what the value of promote tolerance is all about.  

In the world today, Individual Self- Fulfillment is prevalent in the transgender- rights movement. The transgender- rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against them. These people have the right to express themselves and identify themselves in any way they would like. 

Individual Self- Fulfillment gives these transgender individuals the right to be themselves and receive the same human rights that everyone else gets. Individual Self- Fulfillment is not the only Value of Free Expression that is prevalent in transgender rights. 

The other Value of Free Expression that is prevalent in transgender rights is Promote Tolerance. This protects freedom of speech that we could find hateful and socially acceptable. In society today we see a lot of hate speech that was directed towards the transgender community in the past is now becoming socially unacceptable. As transgender rights are increasing and the normalization is increasing, more and more hate speech that has been deemed as acceptable in the past, is becoming socially unacceptable, providing a more inclusive environment for the transgender community. 

Overall, the Eight Values of Free Expression all serve as important aspects in the way we run society and are important elements. Freedom of speech and expression are important in our government because it is a freedom that protects the people of the United States. All Eight Values are prevalent in the world today in many different ways. 

images: https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/12/opinions/what-does-freedom-of-press-mean-opinion-stelter/index.html 

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-lgbtq-rights-movement-wins-its-biggest-supreme-court-victory 

History of The Supreme Court Blog #3

THE SUPREME COURT

    The United States Supreme Court, also called SCOTUS, is the head of the judicial branch of government, and the highest federal court in the country. They are in-charge of upholding the constitution, as well as having the power to check both of the other branches of government, the executive branch and the legislative branch. In class we talked about the power of the Supreme Court and we're assigned two videos and an article to read and reflect on. 

What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?

    I learned that their were currently nine Supreme Court Justices, I had always thought their were six and didn't know that it was changed. I also did not know that Congress had the power to organize the structure of the Supreme Court. I think this is important because this is what we refer to as checks and balances. Checks and balances means that the three branches counterbalance one another stone branch does not have more power than the others. Congress having the power to organize the structure of the Supreme Court is an example of checks and balances. 

What is the most important take-away point about the Supreme Court?

The most important take-away point about the Supreme Court is the power that the Supreme Court holds and how important it is that we have the Supreme Court in the United States. They have ultimate jurisdiction when it comes to laws in the United States and can deem whether these laws are constitutional or not. The Supreme Court protects the freedoms that the constitution has given us, and makes sure that they are not violated in any way. It makes sure that no branch or person is given too much power so our nation has equal control. 

What was the most surprising thing you learned?

The most surprising this that I learned was that the President has authority to nominate new Supreme Court Justices. I did not know that it was the President who nominated individuals into the Supreme Court. This makes me think about how the Supreme Court could be biased based on their political parties or feel obligated to serve a certain political party because they were nominated by a President from that party. 

How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?

The video changed the way I thought of the Supreme Court because I got to hear from people who served on the Supreme Court first hand. In Supreme Court Pt. 1, one justice said "Being appointed to the Supreme Court is Akin to being struck by lightening".  It was interesting to hear how overwhelming they originally thought it was, and it took at least three years for that feeling to go away. I never thought about how difficult the job must be as a Supreme Court Justice. After the video and being able to see first hand, I now understand the pressure and difficulty of the job. 

Photo: https://news.gallup.com/poll/394103/confidence-supreme-court-sinks-historic-low.aspx 

Ted Talk Blog #2

 How do these issues affect you? You friends and family?

   

These issues affect me because everything that I have done or posted on the internet is easy accessible to anyone in the world. They can figure out information about me which violates my privacy. This also means that whatever I post could be sent anywhere, which means I need to be careful about what I post. My location could also be found by government which means that I should be careful about what I do, as well as my family in friends should too. My family and friends should be careful about where they go because in one of the TED talks, a man was put on a watch list just for going to certain political events. Another way these issues could affect my family, friends, and I is because our phone calls are wired. This means that someone could be listening to calls, and it may not just be the government, a hacker could also have access to these calls. Hacking is so prevalent now a days and my family and friends could be victims of it without even knowing. The last issue that could affect my friends and family is nudes being posted online. People around you could use naked photos of you without you knowing, and could be called revenge porn. You need to be aware of who you are around because they could post photos online without your consent, and once something is on the internet it is hard to remove it. Overall, my friends, family, and I need to be careful about what we post, do, and hang out with because as technology becomes more prevalent, so do the risks. 

What should the government be doing about these issues?

The government should not be able to access your location information at all times. In one of the Ted Talks they said the Government can find out if you go to church, if you go to therapy, or more. This is an extremely privacy breach, and the government should not have access to this information. The government shouldn't have access to location unless it is needed for an extreme reason. The government should also not keep this information, they should delete it as it is collected. The government should also not be able to take photos or gain any information from people in their homes, this is also a breach of privacy. The government should not listen to phone calls unless they have a reason to, because it makes it easy for hackers to listen to calls and could put someone in danger. The government also needs to make it easier to remove revenge porn from the internet and make it a bigger priority. There is a lack of laws to protect victims and punish the perpetrators, these people are only getting misdemeanors, if only that. Overall, the government needs to protect the privacy of people and make it easier for someone to protect. Our cyber civil rights need to be recognized and changed now, before it is too late. 

What can we do to protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy? 

To protect ourselves from the
invasions of privacy we need to be careful about what we post and reveal about our selves online. It is also important to use devices that can not easily be hacked so call, texts, and video can not be accessed by hackers. We also can be cautious about who we are around and what photos they take or post, because with one click things can be sent across the internet. It is important to be cautious about where you go on the internet because you leave a trace wherever you go and it can come back and haunt you in the future. In order to protect ourselves, we need to pressure the government to create new laws that will protect our privacy. Cyber civil rights are super important and need to be recognized because we have no more privacy online. 

Top Five Sources of Information

TikTok

As someone who doesn't regularly watch the news, I get most of my information from the social media app, Tik Tok. Most of the news that comes up on my page is about crime, celebrities, and global events. There are no major news platforms on the app so the information comes from users who create their own videos about current events using information from big news sources.I like getting news from Tik Tok because it usually is a 2-minute summary of the information using basic terms, making it easy to understand and absorb. Tik Tok uses an algorithm to put videos of your interest into your feed, so I only see news about my interests. I would recommend this platform to others because it is a quick way to get information that is personalized to each individual user. Click here for an example of a user who shares news stories on their page. 

ESPN App

Although this is not a mainstream news source, I receive all of my sports news through ESPN. The way I access this news source is through the ESPN App on my phone, which sends me notifications when big news stories are released. I like using this app because I feel as if sports media is less biased as other news sources and ESPN articles are often easy to understand if you do not know much about sports. I would suggest this platform to others because it is easy to access from the TV, internet, and the app. It also has stories that are short and to the point, making it very convenient to use on the go. Click here to access the ESPN website. 

Family/ Friends

Since I do not watch the news often, I get a lot of my information from my family and friends. My parents watch the news every morning before they go to work and usually talk to me about what is going on in politics when I come downstairs for breakfast. They give me a summary of current political events and answer any questions I have to make it easier to understand. I would recommend using your family and friends as a news source because it is very interesting to hear the interpretations of current events by others, and they can help make the stories easier to understand. 

Apple News App

As someone who doesn't usually look a the news, I get a lot of my information from the Apple News App that sends me notifications on my phone. I don't usually just open the app to see what is going on, I only go on it when I receive a notification for a breaking news story. I would suggest this to others because it is an easy way to stay updated on breaking news because it sends notifications of the stories directly to your phone. The news app is easy to access and more reliable than a lot of other news sources because doesn't lean towards a specific political side. 

Fox News 

Fox News is a channel that leans towards the Republican side of politics. Although I am not an avid news watcher, my parents always have it on. I get a lot of my information from watching Fox News while I am downstairs while my parents have it on. I would recommend this channel to anyone that leans towards the right as it is politically biased just like all other news channels. They provide insights and information that otherwise would not be known to the public if they were viewing other channels. Fox News is extremely timely and gets information out fast, making it the perfect place to hear all of the current news stories. Click here to access the Fox News website.