EOTO #1- The Newspaper

 When we think about inventions that shifted the tides of human civilization, we often think of smartphones, the internet and social media. Long before any of these inventions, one invention rooted how societies communicate, learn, and hold people in power accountable, the newspaper. The history and impact of the newspaper go back centuries, all the way to the 1600s, and still, its impact defines the way we understand our world today. 

Long before newspapers there was no plausible way to possibly mass produce inked paper to send a message without doing all the copies by hand. That changed in the mid 1400s when a man named Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, a way to mass produce the same message onto paper, without having to do it manually, this is the first step towards the invention of the newspaper. Without the printing press, we would never have been able to produce newspapers in mass quantities. 

The earliest we see something similar to newspapers as we know today, was in ancient Rome. There, high government officials would post handwritten messages around in public spaces, known as Acta Diurna. These messages were strictly government written only, the Roman Empire Times describe them as, "These public traces did more than inform. They structured attention, directed conversation, and quietly reinforced authority by deciding what deserved to be visible at all" (Athanasiou 2026). We see how government having control of the media can be dangerous, only telling the people what you want them to hear, and the public had zero way to question, verify, or challenge what these messages said. 

However, the true breakthrough for the invention of the newspaper is credited to Johann Carolus, who published through the first widely recognized newspaper, The Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien. From this point forward, information was no longer controlled by the elites or the government, the public finally got to understand their government, pick sides, and understand the wider world to a significantly improved extent. 

This shift in media and news control was revolutionary. Newspapers eventually would become the first form of mass communication, allowing thousands of civilians to finally have shared public opinions and conversations. Finally, ideas in communities could spread faster than the government could control them. Many revolutions such as the French Revolution, newspapers played a huge role in gathering public opinion to rise against a greater power. Newspapers could even be credited as helping shape democracy, all by giving the citizens the information they need to be able to participate in self-government. 

One of the most overlooked impacts of the newspaper was its benefits to literature in the world. As newspapers exploded in popularity through the 18th and 19th century, literacy and writing skills also were necessary for people be able to understand the world around them. Before newspapers, reading was limited mostly to religious texts, scholarly works, or books that were too expensive for common people, limiting access for people all around the world. Newspapers were the first easily accessible form of reading for ordinary people, and because they were widely available, newspapers played a major role in democratizing literacy and making reading a part of daily life. 

The future for newspapers is not a bright one, with technology advancing with every breath we take, we see the word "newspaper" lose its meaning. Today, we see the big news publishers

such as The New York Times and many others switch to digital "newspapers", or in modern terminology posting articles. Information can move and spread so much quicker on the internet, that is why modern media and news is almost always consumed by the public either through live television, or articles online. We still see newspaper being printed daily, however sales and interest have dropped drastically over the last 30 years, simply because of the advancements of technology. 

Even though how we consume news has changed drastically since the invention of the newspaper, the influence of its invention is impossible to ignore. It shaped how people learned about the word around, influenced literature throughout the world, is the reason we hold our governments accountable, and created shared public opinions throughout communities. While printing papers fades because of the technological advancements, The newspapers influence on the world as we know it today cannot go unnoticed, it opened the door for mass communication, public debate, investigative journalism, truth seeking, and so many more crucial impacts that shaped the world as we know it today