Paradoxically, another property commonly attributed to news is sensationalism, the disproportionate focus on, and exaggeration of, emotive stories for public consumption. This news is also not unrelated to gossip, the human practice of sharing information about other humans of mutual interest. A common sensational topic is violence; hence another news dictum, “if it bleeds, it leads”. Another corollary of the newness of news is that, as new technology enables new media to disseminate news more quickly, ‘slower’ forms of communication may move away from ‘news’ towards ‘analysis’. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Xia is a junior at Northwestern University studying journalism and data science.
Boosters of new towns felt that newspapers covering local events brought legitimacy, recognition, and community. In 1792 the Revolutionaries set up a news ministry called the Bureau d’Esprit. Even in those situations where objectivity is expected, it is difficult to achieve, and individual journalists may fall foul of their own personal bias, or succumb to commercial or political pressure. Similarly, the objectivity of news organizations owned by conglomerated corporations fairly may be questioned, in light of the natural incentive for such groups to report news in a manner intended to advance the conglomerate’s financial interests. Individuals and organizations who are the subject of news reports may use news management techniques to try to make a favourable impression. Because each individual has a particular point of view, it is recognized that there can be no absolute objectivity in news reporting. Journalists can collectively shift their opinion over what is a controversy up for debate and what is an established fact, as evidenced by homogenization during the 2000s of news coverage of climate change.
Early news networks
By this method, news could travel between Kyoto and Kamakura in 5–7 days. Special horse-mounted messengers could move information at the speed of 170 kilometers per day. The Japanese shogunates were less tolerant than the Chinese government of news circulation. The postal system established during the Edo period was even more effective, with average speeds of 125–150 km/day and express speed of 200 km/day. This system was initially used only by the government, taking private communications only at exorbitant prices.
Among Zulus, Mongolians, Polynesians, and American Southerners, anthropologists have documented the practice of questioning travelers for news as a matter of priority. Sufficiently important news would be repeated quickly and often, and could spread by word of mouth over a large geographic area.
Reproduction of Kaiyuan Za Bao court newspaper from the Tang dynastyThe world’s first written news may have originated in eighth century BCE China, where reports gathered by officials were eventually compiled as the Spring and Autumn Annals. The annals, whose compilation is attributed to Confucius, were available to a sizeable reading public and dealt with common news themes—though they straddle the line between news and history. The Han dynasty is credited with developing one of the most effective imperial surveillance and communications networks in the ancient world. Government-produced news sheets, called tipao, circulated among court officials during the late Han dynasty . Between 713 and 734, the Kaiyuan Za Bao (“Bulletin of the Court”) of the Chinese Tang dynasty published government news; it was handwritten on silk and read by government officials.
This 38-year-old mom’s final wish was to buy up and ‘destroy’ other people’s medical debt. Here’s how it works and how to help.
Regular people in societies with news media often spend a lot of time reading or watching news reports. Newspapers became significant aspects of national and literary culture—as exemplified by James Joyce’s Ulysses, which derives from the newspapers of 16 June , 1904, and represents the newspaper office itself as a vital part of life in Dublin. Governments have also funneled programming through private news organizations, as when the British government arranged to insert news into the Reuters feed during and after World War Two. Past revelations have suggested that the U.S. military and intelligence agencies create news stories which they disseminate secretly into the foreign and domestic media. Investigation into the Central Intelligence Agency pursued in the 1970s found that it owned hundreds of news organizations outright. Soviet news warfare also involved the creation of front groups, like the International Organization of Journalists.
She is a writer and editor for North by Northwestern magazine and has interned at PublicSource, a Pittsburgh local news group. Stanley joined the 2023 State of Local News Report after stepping down in January as editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and regional editor of 11 Gannett dailies. Under Stanley’s guidance, the Journal Sentinel received virtually every major national journalism award including 3 Pulitzer Prizes and 10 Pulitzer Finalists.
According to a study by Pew Research, a large portion of Americans read news on digital and on mobile devices. Ted Turner’s creation of the Cable News Network in 1980 inaugurated a new era of 24-hour satellite news broadcasting. In 1991, the BBC introduced a competitor, BBC World Service Television. Rupert Murdoch’s Australian News Corporation entered the picture with Fox News Channel in the US, Sky News in Britain, and STAR TV in Asia. Combining this new apparatus with the use of embedded reporters, the United States waged the 1991–1992 Gulf War with the assistance of nonstop media coverage. CNN’s specialty is the crisis, to which the network is prepared to shift its total attention if so chosen.
You need to be aware of what’s out there and take steps in advance to talk to children about what they might hear or see. Perry is a Medill senior double majoring in journalism and economics with a minor in data science. She previously served as The Daily Northwestern’s editor-in-chief and has interned at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Information.
Over the centuries, commentators on newspapers and society have repeatedly observed widespread human interest in news. Elite members of a society’s political and economic institutions might rely on news as one limited source of information, for the masses, news represents a relatively exclusive window onto the operations by which a society is managed. Today, international non-governmental organizations rival and may surpass governments in their influence on the content of news. Feminist critiques argue that discourse defined as objective by news organizations reflects a male-centered perspective.
