A true copy of the journal of the High Court of Justice, for the tryal of K. Charles I. London, 1684
September 24, 2008
At a time when the future of newspapers is uncertain, a new exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library is examining the birth and development of newspapers in early modern England and colonial America. Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper opens at the Folger September 25 and runs through January 31, 2009.
The first newspaper, a European import, arrived in England in 1620. Recent innovations in printing technology and the creation of a new class of professional journalists made newspapers possible. An information-hungry public created the demand and by mid-century, England had become an innovator in news form and content.
Readers eagerly snapped up reports on topics that are still mainstays of today’s presses: international conflicts, natural disasters, crime, and news of the exotic and strange. Newspapers adopted many format conventions still seen today, including print columns, headlines, serialization, and the arrangement of stories by importance rather than chronology. By the turn of the eighteenth century, London had multiple weeklies as well as a daily newspaper.
The exhibition explores the complex relationship between emerging journalists and the English government, which changed from a monarchy to a commonwealth and back during the period covered by the exhibition. The unstable political conditions created opportunities for writers to play significant roles in shaping public opinion.
“There were few techniques for manipulating the press available today which were not available in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,” explains curator Jason Peacey.
“Politicians recognized that, with a wide range of propaganda options at their disposal, their key task was to ensure that they deployed the right one in order to communicate with the right audience at the right time.”
Along with the story of the birth of the newspaper from its arrival in England to early stirrings of American journalism, Breaking News tells the stories of those who wrote, sold, and read the news during this pivotal period.
Items on display range from a letter detailing the death of Sir Walter Raleigh to the only remaining copy of the first American newspaper, Boston’s Publick Occurrences, which was shut down after just one issue. The paper met a quick end when some of the remarks in the paper displeased the governor.
Also on display is a replica of a printing press designed and built by engineering students from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. The press offers viewers a look at the equipment used by early newspaper publishers.
Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper runs from September 25, 2008 through January 31, 2009 in the Folger’s Great Hall. Admission is free.
Web Resources:
Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper website
Audio Tour of Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper
Bucknell Gutenberg-style press heads to nation’s capital
