The Rise of the Newspaper

Abstract

The Rise of the Newspaper By Will Slauter In the late seventeenth century, most news-defined as timely reports on public affairs and commerce-did not appear in newspapers. The monarchy, church, and Parliament closely monitored discussions of politics and religion. In most years, the official London Gazette (1665-present) remained the only printed newspaper. A tiny elite paid for access to fuller reports found in handwritten newsletters, which were compiled in London by individuals with access to the diplomatic correspondence of the monarchy and free use of the royal post. Merchants also relied on weekly periodicals called price currents for updates on the prices of goods in various markets. But when it came to distributing news in print, periodicals were not as common as separate pamphlets, which could be produced quickly and sold cheaply on the streets, and broadsides, which contained words and images printed on one side of a sheet so that they could be attached to a wall or post for public viewing. By the late eighteenth century, the business and culture of news had changed substantially. Admittedly, local news still traveled by word of mouth, friends in other places still provided details that could not be found in print, and pamphlets remained important tools of political persuasion. But by 1775 newspapers printed on a regular 2 schedule (weekly, tri-weekly, or daily) could be found in cities throughout England and North America, not to mention Scotland, Ireland, and the West Indies. These newspapers discussed public affairs more openly than their seventeenth-century counterparts, and they contained a range of material that previously appeared in distinct publications: paragraphs of foreign and domestic news, price lists and mortality figures, accounts of crimes and trials, poems and songs, reader correspondence, parliamentary proceedings, political essays, and advertisements. Pamphlets and broadsides continued to be used for late-breaking news or for certain genres, such as the last words of executed criminals. But by 1775 the newspaper had become the primary means of packaging news and selling it to customers. From the perspective of printers and publishers, periodicals sold by subscription had several advantages over separate publications such as pamphlets and broadsides: a predictable production schedule, dedicated customers in known locations, and the promise (though not the guarantee) of steady income from sales and advertisements. Periodicity-the fact of issuing a publication on a regular schedule-encouraged the formation of a community of readers, which in turn attracted advertisers. Selling by subscription locked customers in and enabled printers to know how many copies to print and where to deliver them. Newspapers in the late eighteenth century contained much more than news, and their mix of literary, political, and commercial material increased their appeal for readers. Still, it was not inevitable that the newspaper would become the dominant way of selling news by 1775. The seventeenth and eighte...

The Financing of Political Newspaper Commentary in Late Eighteenth-Century England

“…Pointing to the business records of the Daily Advertiser from 1744, Will Slauter has recently argued that the 'boundary between news and advertisements was not always clear', because people would pay for puffs that promoted an event or product. 35 He notes that these puffs were disguised as news, in order for newspaper proprietors to evade the tax on advertisements. The same logic can be extended to lobbyist letters to the editor; indeed, the boundary between opinion and advertisement was far from clear-cut.…”