Tuesday, February 03, 2009

The Trade in News by John B. Thompson

I found this article in the packet, extermly interesting. It talks of the earliest forms of communication before the printing press. To think that people at one point in europe got their news via word of mouth from pedlers or clergy is astonishing to look back on. Today we can simply click a mouse to get up to the minute information from the smallest town in the entire world and it is more than likely accurate. You can keep in touch with a relative in a different country by picking up the phone or sending them an email, and get feedback instantly. To imajine a world where you would not get any news of importance for maybe a week after it happened is completly unrealistic in today's terms. Also, as word of mouth was a main source of communication, we can only imagine how story's could have changed from person to person, before the news became completly wrong from the original story. The printing press and a daily newspaper clearly changed the world for the better. It is kind of sad,however, to see that technology was so needed and helped back then, but the advances in technology now take a simple daily publication and basically make that too outdated.

2 Comments:

At 12:44 AM, Blogger C.Brennan said...

I agree with your thoughts of the article. I feel that with technology today we don’t really stop and appreciate that hard work and dedication that goes into the press printing business like making a book or newspaper. I do love the fact that at anytime in the day I can find whatever information I’m looking for by the convenience of a computer. The things that bother me is that the need and value for the products of the printing press will decrease. Although 30 years from now I will probable be able to find the full newspaper on January 22nd 2009 on the computer. But to actually have in your hands the paper that came out that day after the swearing in of the first African American president just has so much meaning.

 
At 9:39 PM, Blogger A. Mattson said...

A thoughtful comment.

What was going on in Europe that created an increased demand for news? Why wasn't oral culture sufficient to meet the needs for information? Who were the first readers and producers of newspapers? What kind of news did they print?

 

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