Brief History of Journalism

04:567:480:01Media Ethics and Law

Early history

• Press always connected to government.• Licensing developed in England

precluded newspapers from criticizing government as “seditious libel.”

• Government intricately connected to press through postal legislation. (Earliest newspaper editors were postmasters.)

Even earlier history

• What was the greatest invention in history (’cept for the Internet)?

• Go to next slide for answer…

• What did Gutenberg invent?• When?

A promoter of type

• Who was this man?• What did he do?

• Enrgraving

• Engraving

• Typography

Henry the VIII

• Liked women, a lot.• Came to the throne in 1509.• Did not want England to remain

subservient to the church.

Hen-er-y

• Invented divorce.• Invented “seditious libel.”• Invented “prior restraint.”• Death was one penalty. So was

“unutterable cruelty.”• Prohibited books.

Hen-ery and the pope

• This is Henry.

• This is the pope.

• This is Henry and his wife.

• Henry with one of his real wives.

• But books proliferated anyway.

• Parishioners could read for themselves.

16th century

• Book licensing.• All works had to be submitted to Queen

Elizabeth before publication.• James I and Charles I in the 17th

century (1603-1649) opposed newspapers. But the Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc. started publishing in Amsterdam and imported to England.

• British government tries a host of licensing measures after 1660.

• By 1700, direct censorship ended.• 1690-1713: eight bills proposed in

Parliament to censor the press, but they failed.

• Licensing Act lapsed in 1695.

Next time…

• America!