The newspaper is a printed medium that informs about world affairs and other issues. It is designed for the general populace or other fringe groups. The reader gets informed about current events by means of article, features or advertising.
The content of newspapers typically describes local stories or national and international events in the fields of politics, culture, business, criminality, society, entertainment or sports. As well journalists create editorials, horoscopes, crosswords, reviews, comics, criticism or columns.
The beginning and today
The German newspaper “Relation aller Fürnemmer und gedenckwürdigen Historien” was the first document in the field of journalism and was established in 1605 by the print worker Johann Carolus in Strasbourg. It was founded to weekly inform the citizens of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
The oldest newspaper that is still published, has its origin in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1645 the newspaper “Ordinari Post Tijdender“ (Regular Mail Times) had been originated. Today it is called “Post- och Inrikes Tidningar” (Post and Domestic Times). The first English newspaper was the “Daily Courant”. Unfortunately it was published only from 1702 to 1735.
Today about 6580 daily newspapers do exist. About 395.000.000 copies are sold every day. Very popular newspaper are for example: The New York Times (USA), The Wall Street Journal (USA), The Guardian (UK), The Observer (UK), BILD (Germany), Hamburger Morgenpost (Germany), Le Monde (France), Argumenty i Fakty (Russia), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), The Australian (Australia) or The New Zealand Herald (New Zealand).
Next to those tendencies a strong medium grows in the field of newspapers. It is able to edges out the aforementioned fields – the internet or World Wide Web. Since the 21st century the field of journalism has to refocus its basic thinking. Journalism became a multifunctional tool that appeals to different markets. In our times the technical progress strides ahead. In that case journalism has to think about new ways of reporting and investigating.