A News-Hungry Century

PEOPLE have always wanted news of things going on around them. They like to be informed immediately of anything outstanding that happens. One famous courier was a warrior who in 490 B.C.E. ran about 25 miles [40 km] to Athens to announce the defeat of the Persian armies. He reportedly died on arrival after announcing the victory at Marathon.

Today, some 600 million television sets and 1.4 thousand million radios bring into homes worldwide news of happenings that occurred only hours or even minutes before. Some events are seen live, while they are happening. And many hundreds of millions of newspapers, as well as tens of millions of magazines, are printed daily in scores of languages to satisfy a news-hungry world.

Johannes Gutenberg’s invention less than 550 years ago of a printing press with movable type made possible the rapid spread of printed news. Early newssheets, however, had limited circulation, and because of their high cost, the rich were often the only ones who could afford them.

Soon freedom of the press became an issue. Renaudot’s Gazette, for example, was published in the 17th century with the approval of the king of France, and most of the news printed was at the direction of the government. Few journalists of the time dared defy the authorities of their country.

Quest for News Today

The end of the 19th century brought an explosion of news channels, mainly because of the mechanization of printing presses and the massive circulation of daily newspapers, especially in Europe and North America.

Soon new techniques, particularly radio, were being employed to spread news abroad. In 1917, for example, during the Russian Revolution, the radio transmitter of the cruiser Aurora incited the inhabitants of Petrograd (now Leningrad) to insurrection.

During World War II, the radio became a powerful instrument for propaganda, especially for Nazi Germany. During that war the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in London also broadcast Allied news over a large portion of Europe and the world.

Although television had been experimented with before World War II, its development was slowed by the war. However, it soon blossomed as a news medium. Today, television news programs are watched by hundreds of millions.

In recent decades the press has started producing many specialized publications. After World War II, weekly magazines were published that analyzed the news. Magazines that cater to young people, women, retired persons, sportsmen, and handymen, not to mention the weekly television program reviews, are enjoying excellent sales. In France, for example, about 200 new magazines appear each year.

News in the Future

Already it is possible to access data banks on video display terminals via telecommunications links. Cable and satellite systems now offer some television channels (as in the United States) that provide news bulletins night and day, and some predict that the future will bring still more on an international level. Thus, the 20th century may rightly be called the news-hungry century. But is the news always reliable? Does the variety of information services guarantee honest, objective news?

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Gutenberg’s invention of a printing press with movable type was a great step toward spreading news and ideas