subject: How people access news since ancient history [print this page] How people access news since ancient history
News actually stands for North-East-West-South. From times ancient, mankind has strived to get the latest news on all aspects. It is merely human attributes to stay informed about all aspects of the world around him. It might be the 21st century but this human character hasn't changed. What has changed is the point of supply of this information. The source of news has undergone progress from ancient ages. This article discusses this revolution of source of news over a period of time.
The time of kingdoms
When kingdoms existed and ruled over by monarchies in old times, there used to be a central announcing point. A gong was rung and the news announced which was spread around word by word. This was an inaccurate medium of news as the news was actually controlled by the monarchy. Also, the news spread by word of mouth which distorted the actual facts. Society has come a long way from this.
Official government bulletins
In centralized and controlled empires, official government bulletins were circulated to the people which catered to their desire for news. Again, the weak point of this was that they were regulated by the ruling empire which meant people read what they wanted them to read. There were no independent press or journalists who could write on what they wanted to.
Newspapers
Newspapers are an brainchild of 17th century. This is where it was started circulating in the society. News was frequently highly selective as understandable: kings and higher command used them as a way of publishing accounts of battles or events that made them look good to the community. Sensationalism was not far behind. Sensationalist material was also printed, like references to magic and natural disasters as this material did not pose a menace to the kingdom, as it did not criticize the state. Printers readily printed sensationalist material; they thrived on the human desire for excitement. They faced a ready market, which proved remunerative for them. Although, many advanced mediums such as tv set and Internet have come in now, they are still regarded as a major and important source of news information for the general public. As time passed, monarchy rule ended and governments started establishing. This resulted in more independence for the press. They could write about what they wanted without fearing any repercussions. This signaled the advent of modern journalism.
Television
Television's started becoming available since the 1920's. Since then, they have increasingly become very popular and have become the chief source of news. Originally, news was broadcasted for a slotted time in a day. Today, channels which entirely focus on news exist. They cover comprehensive news from regional, political, international, celebrity and sports.
Internet
Internet has recently started becoming a very significant source of news. The beautiful aspect of internet is that news from all quarters can be collected immediately. You don't have to worry about partial news as you can readup on news from various sources and judge for your self. As the world wide web becomes more advanced, the finel line between tv set and the web is gradually diminishing with announcement of products such as google tv.
