Newspapers -How have newspaper changed overtime? Free Essay Example

Newspapers have changed so much overtime. It’s changed in so many different ways. Many of them are obvious such as use of colour, text size etc. The first printed newspaper was published in 1605; the World Association of Newspapers recognizes Johann Carolus’s ‘Relation aller Fi?? rnemmen und gedenckwi?? rdigen Historie’, published in 1605, as the world’s first newspaper.

‘ However, when the English started printing their own papers in London, they reverted to the pamphlet format used by contemporary books. The era of these news books lasted until the publication of the Oxford Gazette in 1665.

Text size has changed drastically as in the early 1900s the text size was so small you needed a magnifier. This was because in the 1900s ink was expensive, very expensive. The newspapers, newsprint (paper) was also very expensive. So the editor had to cram in as much words as possible in the smallest size available.

Nowadays the text size is much bigger and not crammed as its given space; even sometimes they make the font bigger when there is less information.

This is because people are becoming lazier; they tend to want to read less but also want to know more. They are not prepared to read longer articles. Many popular tabloids are encouraging a ‘culture of ignorance’. Apparently nowadays ‘less is more’ this is referring to the text sizes. There are many studies that shows, people are more likely to read newspapers with fewer words than a newspaper with more words.

Anther reason is that the ink is also much cheaper nowadays and so is the manufacturing of newsprint (newspaper paper).

The highlighted areas in yellow show how the text many years ago is different to modern newspapers. In the 1903 newspaper the writing is really tiny you can hardly see it whereas in the 2005 newspaper the writing is really big and can be seen from far, so it will catch a passers bys attention. On the other hand in areas highlighted in red is the headline of the story.

As you can see in the 1903 newspaper the headline is barely visual as they want to cram in as much information as possible into a tiny area so that they don’t have to pay a lot of money for paper as it was really expensive in the past. However in the 2005 newspaper the headline is really, really big so it can be seen from far. The headlines as you’ve would have guessed are also much bigger this is because the editor wanted to catch the reader’s attention. It reflects less loyal readership. Using the newspapers above the headlines is highlighted in red see how different they are?

The 1903 Daily Mail shows that the headline is really small, if you compare it with the 2005 Daily Mail you will see a 20x bigger difference between the headlines. If you saw the 1903 Daily Mail headline in a 2005 newspaper you would think that it was the date, or a little reminder of what is inside the newspaper. Because you wouldn’t even see that type of small font in a newspaper at this date as the newspapers are becoming more modern. That is the really big difference of newspapers and how they adapted to culture.

The order of newspapers are really important as you don’t want to clash too many of the sections together and make it appear all incorrect e. g. Fashion section and sport section together, this will confuse people and make the newspaper look unorganized. In the early stages of newspapers there used to be notices of the births, deaths of people etc on the front page of the newspapers, a few newspapers still do it till this day (The Times, Daily Telegraph) but it is hidden, either in the middle or the end of the newspaper.

Because it’s no longer important to insert it into the papers to the wider audience, this is because we find out about deaths and births through a wider range of technology such as mobile phones, telephones, and internet etc. And also, there is no longer a target market for this as people are no longer interested to find out about this in newspapers. Newspapers are clearly split into sections. Society has changed therefore newspapers have changed to adapt to the society, and it reflects societies different priorities.

For example, sport is more important than the death and birth notices therefore there is always a huge section on sports at the end of the newspaper so it is easier to find and shows the most important story as a front page but at the back. It is also more socially acceptable for newspapers to have a section for fun and enjoyment. In the middle to end, depending on the newspaper, there is a section which includes; crosswords, Sudoku (easy, medium, and hard), horoscopes, mini cartoon strips etc.

Remember! This is just a sample.

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