Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.1
The first continuously published American newspaper, The Boston
News-Letter, which first appeared in print in 1704, was introduced to address
the need to provide information and news in a quick and efficient manner.
Four hundred and five years later, this need has yet to change, although the
evolution of mankind has introduced a new channel of speed and efficiency of
communications in the form of the Internet. Incidentally one of the current most
efficient methods of online news transmission still bears the name “Newsletter”
as exemplified by Luxe.TV and several other luxury media bodies and brands
published newspaper in the US. Canada followed suit with the
Halifax
Gazette
in 1751.
This was a time when international travel was at a very minimum and
relations between countries and continents were sparse, yet the idea and need
for the newspaper was imminent in all countries and societies and among all
the people. Why? Because the human mind is constructed in such a way that
it is constantly on the quest for knowledge, no matter how inconsequential
this knowledge could be at times. The mind has to be fed with news and
information in order to sustain it. It doesn't matter the means or the form,
and in some cases the content is irrelevant, but news must be given as news
is always sought.
This need also led to the publication of magazines - an offshoot of
newspapers - which today exist in various areas, forms and shapes. Then
the radio came along in 1895 as a fruit of the conviction and obsession of
Guglielmo Marconi. The invention of the radio, complemented by the tele-
graph and the telephone, revolutionized the world of media and changed the
way news is accessed forever. The subsequent invention of electricity and the
