Beginnings of journalism

The history of journalism is tied to the history of the development of human society. Both individuals and societies have needed information to form communities.

That information must be timely and relevant, and journalism - in some form or another - has the job of providing that information.

The modern profession of journalism is a story of the development of journalistic information and the means of gathering that information, the technological means of producing and distributing that information in some medium, and the development of audience expectations for that information.

Journalism is particularly tied to technology, and changes in the technology of information usually mean changes in the profession of journalism.

The most profound technological change in the last 1,000 years was the printing press.
Its development allowed the efficient duplication of information in a form that could be easily distributed. The development of the printing press occurred in a larger environment of profound change in the 1400s and 1500s.

A part of that change was the increasing value given to individual thought and analysis and the increasing rate of literacy among the populations of western Europe. The development of journalism followed these changes.

In America in the 1700s, news and information became a tool used by those who wanted to break away from the English empire. Their interpretation of the events of the day, such as the Stamp Act, allowed them to make the argument for change, and the printing technology allowed them to disseminate those arguments to great effect.