Jour·nal·ism

/ˈjərnlˌizəm/

Noun

The activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast.

Feb. 24-28 is Scholastic Journalism Week (SJW), a time when students across America and around the world bring visibility to our school publications and staff.

Today we examine the history of Journalism.

Journalism has had a varied history, however it progressed rapidly in the 1600s when the printing press was created in Germany. Shortly after, newspapers and other media began to flood the streets, which began to keep the public educated on the events happening all around them.

One of the earliest forms of journalism was political pamphlets. The first periodical, published in 1655, was called the Oxford Gazette, and was said to have “inhabited all of the qualifications needed in a newspaper.”

In the late 1600s, people began to question press freedom. Laws such as the Stamp Act of 1712 were created,  which prevented treason, the reporting of parliamentary actions, and rebellious slander. The government began to frown upon the increased production of newspapers and magazines, so much that they began to try placing taxes on them.

The Stamp Act was implemented in the United Kingdom on Aug. 1, 1712 to create a new tax on publishers particularly of newspapers. The initial assessed rate of tax was one penny per whole newspaper sheet, a half penny for a half sheet, and one shilling per advertisement contained within.

During the American Civil War, war correspondents began working for newspapers. Because telegraphs were so expensive to send, writing had to be created in shorter forms. This helped lead to the development of wire services, news agencies that produced and distributed news by telegraph, the Associated Press becoming one of the first.

Later, radio and television stations were created. By the 21st century, the growth of the internet had an impact on the journalism world as a source of free news, and major newspapers saw troubling financial times. Large publications decided to end print editions and go to solely online for small subscription fees. Other companies decided to try hybrid publishing, where they would print some hard copy editions and the rest would be available on the Internet.