THE MULTIPLE AVENUES OF NEWS COVERAGE AVAILABLE

FROM THEIR ORIGINS UNTIL TODAY

Joann Vaglica

Professor Prusslin

Research Paper

04/2012

INTRODUCTIONHow do you get the latest and breaking news today? How about 10 years

ago, what medium did you turn to for the happenings of the day? In this

day in age, individuals have multiple avenues they can pursue when

looking for the news, whether it's a scandalous story, a small brush fire

two towns over, or a tsunami happening overseas, but it wasn't always like

that. With the evolution and modernization of media platforms over the

decades, stories, from all different levels of news-worth, can be contrived

in an instant. Where do people go for the news? It’s a question that’s

always asked and over the years, the answer changes.

THE NEWSPAPER One of the first "newspapers" to be created dates back to 59 B.C..

The Roman's "Acta Diurna.” Wasn't written on paper, but rather

bulletin boards that were kept in locations that people frequented in

order to keep their citizens knowledgeable of current events.

   In 1447, Gutenberg started the Printing Revolution and is credited

with the formation of newsletters and informational pamphlets.

  By 1662, the first newspaper publication "In the English-speaking

world, [titled] The Weekly Newes" was distributed but it wasn't until

three years later in 1665 that an official and well formatted newspaper,

England's "London Gazette," came out.

The "London Gazette" is considered the first "modern, English-

language.”

THE NEWSPAPER CONT’D

Twenty five years later, the creation of the newspaper

found its ground in the United States.

Boston's "Publick Occurrences” distributed in 1690,

immediately after it was "suppressed by the authorities.”

Even though the origin of the newspaper dates way back

to centuries ago, it was in 1704 that the "Boston News

Letter" became the first government-sanctioned

newspaper” to be recognized in America.

THE NEWSPAPER CONT’D

Fast forward to 2007: over 6,500 newspapers out on a daily

basis, 395 million copies per day (in America)!

Once the recession hit in 2008, plus the growth of social

networking and the Internet, the newspaper industry was hit

with a tremendous decline, some papers even becoming non-

existent.

All is not dead for the newspaper industry. In a study done by

the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans are said to follow

local news by reading newspapers for "crime, local politics,

community events, or arts and culture.”

THE TELEVISION

  In 1831, two men by the name of Joseph Henry and Michael Faraday

discovered the electronic communication era which ultimately helped in

the creation of the television.

By 1862, the first still image was made transferable through the

pantelegraph that was invented by Abbe Giovanna Caselli.

After multiple passing years and many scientists coming together for

this new creation, in 1900, the term "television" was first used at the

International Congress of Electricity held at the World's Fair in Paris.

THE TELEVISION CONT’D

By 1926, John Baird officially operated a television using 30 lines of

resolution system running at 5 frames per second.”

Eventually progressed to color and sound and were able to be

controlled with remotes. As well, cable TV and various channels were

made available to the public and with each upgrade of the system, it

became more mainstream.

THE RADIO

Italian inventor, Guglielmo Macroni, was the first person to send and

receive radio signals, but technically, the radio was designed by Nikola

Tesla in 1892.

After a successful radio transmission in 1896, which only transmitted

signals as far as one mile away, he realized the great potential a radio

could hold.

By 1898, he "flashed the results of the Kingstown Regatta to the

offices of a Dublin newspaper, thus making a sports event the first

public broadcast.”

THE RADIO CONT’D

The following year, Marconi went to Chelmsford, Essex and opened

up a radio factory which made it possible to establish a radio

connection between Britain and France. Connection to US by 1901

The radio as we know it today was invented in 1921.

Today there are over 30,000 radio stations worldwide, with 12,000 of

them solely in America. Two billion radio sets are "in use, or about one

radio for every 3 persons; proof that video never killed the radio star.”

THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

Computer was first discovered in 1939, but it wasn't until 1957 that the

evolution of computers took effect. From the 1930s until this day, almost

every year there has been innovations in either hardware, software,

models, gaming products, graphics, search engines, and most importantly,

the Internet, which came along in 1990.

The modern computer as we know it today, was established by Alan

Turnig.

In 1941, German engineer Konrad Zuse invented the first working

computer.

As of December 31, 2011, in a population calculated with over six billion

people worldwide, nearly 361 million people have Internet access. In

America alone, nearly 275 million people use the Internet.

THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKS CONT’D

Facebook, created by Mark Zuckerberg after he

supposedly stole the idea from fellow classmates.

Originally called TheFacebook.com, at first, site was only

opened to Harvard students beginning on Feb. 4, 2004.

Facebook today: 3,000 employees as of December 2011,

845 million monthly active users with about 80% of users

outside of the U.S. and Canada, over 480 million monthly

users on Facebook mobile, offered in 70+ languages.

THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKS CONT’D

Two years after Facebook, Twitter was created, 2006

A team of members including: Dick Costolo, CEO, Jack Dorsey,

Executive Chairman, Evan Williams, Director, and Biz Stone, Creative

Director,

Originally the idea was for a podcasting startup, but Apple launched

iTunes before these men launched their creation.

A man by the name of Noah Glass was actually the first person to

bring Odeo (podcasting) to light. He had a product where you call a

phone number and it would turn your message into an MP3 hosted on

the Internet.

THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKS CONT’D

Dorsey came up with the brilliant idea for a medium that

revolved around "status, what people were doing at a given

time.”

Twitter today: almost 200 million users worldwide,

approx. 450,000 people opening new accounts on a daily

basis, 140 million messages are tweeted everyday.

In 2008, Twitter had less than 10 employees, but today

they stand at 400 and are still hiring.

DATA

In 2012, people who go mobile are getting news on all their devices.

They also appear to be getting it more often, and reading for longer

periods of time.

34% of desktop/laptop news consumers now also get news on a

smartphone.

About 27% of smartphone news consumers also get news on a tablet

These digital news omnivores are also a large percentage of the

smart phone/tablet population and most of those individuals (78%)

still get news on the desktop or laptop as well.