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