History of Journalism

The history of journalism, or the development of the gathering and transmitting of news, spans the growth of technology and trade, marked by the advent of specialized techniques for gathering and disseminating information on a regular basis that has caused, as one history of journalism surmises, the steady increase of "the scope of news available to us and the speed with which it is transmitted." When it comes to the history of journalism, everything starts with the invention of the movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century. However, while Bibles and other books were among the first things produced by Gutenberg's press, it wasn't until the 17th century that the first newspapers were distributed in Europe. With the decline of print newspapers, there has been a wave of new media journalism. New media journalism is also known as convergence journalism. Convergence journalism focuses on using social networking as a means of communication as opposed to traditional print journalism. Many newspapers have begun publishing online to cut production costs; simultaneously, more people find news online instead of buying print newspapers. Recently, convergence journalism has been dominated by websites like Face book and Twitter. With the evolution of new technologies, some experts predict print journalism will ultimately disappear, to be replaced by new media. The state of online news heading into 2010 may best be described as a moving target. Digital delivery is now well established as a part of most Americans daily news consumption. Six in ten Americans get some news online in a typical day--and most of these also get news from other media platforms as well.

Yet it remains unclear how best to count the audience online. Should those with an interest in knowing the count care more about total unique visitors, number of page views, or time per visit? And are some users more valuable than others? Do news organizations want to amass the largest possible audience, including those who will return often but usually for quickly read stories across a wide range of topics? Or will a small, loyal audience that digs deeper, returns more often in the end prove more valuable? Overall, the data suggest users do not stay anywhere for long--with search clearly taking an increasing role in news consumption.