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Timeline of the Newspaper Industry

From the Acta Diurna to the Digital Processes

By , About.com Guide

Timeline of the Newspaper Industry
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  • 59 B.C.: Acta Diurna the first newspaper is published in Rome.
  • 1556: First monthly newspaper Notizie Scritte published in Venice.
  • 1605: First printed newspaper published weekly in Antwerp called Relation.
  • 1631: The first French newspaper published, the Gazette.
  • 1645: Post-och Inrikes Tidningar is published in Sweden and is still being published today, making it the world's oldest newspaper.
  • 1690: The first newspaper is published in America, Publick Occurrences.
  • 1702: The first English language daily newspaper is published called the Daily Courant. The Courant was first published (periodical)in 1621.
  • 1704: Considered the world’s first journalist, Daniel Defoe publishs the Review.
  • 1803: First newspapers published in Australia, the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser.
  • 1830: Number of newspapers published in the U.S. is 715.
  • 1831: The famous abolitionist newspaper The Liberator is first published by William Lloyd Garrison.
  • 1833: The New York Sun newspaper costs one cent - the beginning of the penny press.
  • 1844: First newspaper published in Thailand.
  • 1848: The Brooklyn Freeman newspaper is first published by Walt Whitman.
  • 1850: P.T. Barnum starts running newspaper ads for Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale" performances in America.
  • 1851: The Post Office starts offering a special cheap newspaper rate.
  • 1855: First newspaper published in Sierra Leone.
  • 1856: The first full-page newspaper ad is published in the New York Ledger. Large type newspaper ads are made popular by photographer Mathew Brady. Machines now mechanically fold newspapers.
  • 1860: A "morgue" in newspaper terms means an archive. The New York Herald starts the first morgue.
  • 1864: William James Carlton of J. Walter Thompson Company begins selling advertising space in newspapers. The J. Walter Thompson Company is the longist running American advertising agency.
  • 1867: The first double column advertising appears for the department store Lord & Taylor.
  • 1869: Newspaper circulation numbers published by George P. Rowell in the first Rowell's American Newspaper Directory.
  • 1870: Number of newspapers published in the U.S. is 5,091.
  • 1871: First newspaper published in Japan - the daily Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun. Famous newspaper interview with explorer Stanley Livingston published.
  • 1873: First illustrated daily newspaper published in New York.
  • 1877: First weather report with map published in Australia. The Washington Post newspaper first publishes with a circulation of 10,000 and a cost of 3 cents per paper.
  • 1879: The benday process improves newspapers. The first whole page newspaper ad placed by an American department store (John Wanamaker) is run.
  • 1880: First halftone photograph (Shantytown) published in a newspaper.
  • 1885: Newspapers are delivered daily by train.
  • 1887: The San Francisco Examiner published.
  • 1893: The Royal Baking Powder Company becomes the biggest newspaper advertiser in the world.
  • 1903: The first tabloid style newspaper, the Daily Mirror is pblished.
  • 1931: Newspaper funnies now include Plainclothes Tracy starring Dick Tracy.
  • 1933: A war breaks out between the newspaper and radio industries. American newspapers try to force the Associated Press to terminate news service to radio stations.
  • 1954: There are more radios than there are daily newspapers.
  • 1955: Teletypesetting is used for newspapers.
  • 1967: Newspapers use digital production processes and began using computers for operations.
  • 1971: Use of offset presses becomes common.
  • 1977: First public access to archives offered by Toronto Globe and Mail.
  • 2007: There are now 1,456 daily newspapers in the United States alone, selling 55 million copies a day.
  • 2009: This was the worst year in decades as far as advertising revenues for newspapers. However, newspapers are moving into online internet versions.

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