MEDIA OF COMMUNICATION/PRINT MEDIA: BOOKS, NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE ETC

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This unit examines the following arms of the print media:

1. Books
2. Newspapers
3. Magazines

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

1. explain in appreciable details the meaning and origin of books 
2. discuss the meaning and origin of newspapers 
3. discuss the meaning and origin of magazines. 

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1The Printing Revolution

The advent of printing is the key to our modern consciousness, argued Marshall McLuhan. Printing was so important because it allowed mass communication. The Chinese were using wooden block presses as early as A.D 600 and had movable clay type byA.D1000.A simple movable metal type was even in use in Korea in the 13th century. These existed before 1446 when Gutenberg perfected his printing technology. Gutenberg was a goldsmith and metallurgist. He hit upon his idea of using metal type crafted from lead moulds in place of type made from wood or clay. The movable type was not only durable enough to print page after page but letters could be arranged and rearranged to make any message possible. And he was able to produce virtually identical copies.


Also, Gutenberg, instead of using his invention to produce attractive artwork like the Korean metal mould printing, he used it to produce books for profit. He stressed quality over quantity; partly because of his reverence for the book he was printing- the Bible. He used the highest quality paper and ink and turned out far fewer volumes than he could have. The first Gutenberg Bible appeared in 1456. By the end of that century, 44 years later, printing operations existed in 12 Europeans countries, and the continent was flooded with 20 millions volumes of 7,000 titles in 35,000 different editions.

With the discovery of the new world, most of the early settlers brought with them books that were oriented. However those early settlers did not find books central to their lives for a number of reasons. The first printing press arrived in North America in 1638, operated by a company called Cambridge press. Printing was limited to religious and government documents. The first book printed was The Whole Booke of Psalms, sometimes referred to as the Bay Psalm Book published in 1644. Publishing then required the permission of the colonial government before it could be done. Consequently, books continued to grow rapidly as printing technology improved.

3.2 Books

3.2.1 Development of Books
Development of books started with the invention of writing. Over 5,000 years ago, alphabets were developed independently in several places around the world. Ideogrammatic (picture-based) alphabets appeared in Egypt (as hieroglyphics), Sumerian (as cuneiform) and urban china. Ideogrammatic alphabets require a huge number of symbols to convey even the simplest idea. Their complex nature meant that only a very selected few, intellectual elites, could read or write. The Sumerians developed the cuneiform to meet their need of a more precise writing, other than face-to-face communication as those enjoyed in their international trade across the Europe, Africa and Asia. Sumerians cuneiform slowly expanded, using symbols to represent sounds rather than objects and ideas. Around 1800 B.C, these were the first elements of a syllable alphabet -an alphabet employing sequences of vowels and consonants, that is, words

The syllable alphabet, aided by Semitic cultures, slowly developed, and eventually flowered in Greece around 800 B.C and was subsequently perfected. These alphabets of necessity were used for writing in trading, a development which helped their Greek city-states to thrive in business. However, a medium was necessary to carry this new form of communication. The Sumerians had used clay tablets, but the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans eventually employed Papyrus, rolls of sliced strips of reed pressed together. Around 100 B.C the Romans began using parchment, a writing material made from prepared animal skins and in A.D 105 mid level Chinese bureaucrat Ts’ai Lun perfected a paper making process employing a mixture of pressed mulberry tree bark, water, rags and a sophisticated frame for drying and stretching the resulting sheet of paper.

With the emergence of literacy-the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use written symbols-the social and cultural rules and structures of preliterate times began to change. However, communication was still quite limited, because writers could reach only those few literates who held their hand written scrolls or letters.

3.2.2 Convergence in Books

Internet is changing the way books are distributed and sold. But this new technology, in the form of e-publishing, the publication of books initially or exclusively, online, offer a new way for writers ideas to be published. The physical form of books is changing. E-publishing can take the form of the d-books (digital books) and print on demand (POD) and many d-books are designed to be read on handheld computers called e-books.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

How would you assess the reading culture of Nigerian students? Give reasons for your answer.

3.3 Newspaper

3.3.1 History of Newspaper
In Renaissance Europe handwritten newsletters circulated privately among merchants, passing along information about everything from wars and economic conditions to social customs and "human interest" features. The first printed forerunners of the newspaper appeared in Germany in the late 1400's in the form of news pamphlets or broadsides, often highly sensationalized in content. Some of the most famous of these report the atrocities against Germans in Transylvania perpetrated by a sadistic veovod named Vlad Tsepes Drakul, who became the Count Dracula of later folklore.

In the English-speaking world, the earliest predecessors of the newspaper were corantos, small news pamphlets produced only when some event worthy of notice occurred. The first successively published title was The Weekly Newes of 1622. It was followed in the 1640's and 1650's by a plethora of different titles in the similar newsbook format. The first true newspaper in English was the London Gazette of 1666. For a generation it was the only officially sanctioned newspaper, though many periodical titles were in print by the century's end.

In England the press developed under the authoritarian atmosphere of the early seventeenth century. Corantos, one-page news sheets were printed in English in Holland in 1620. English men Nathaniel Butter, Thomas Archer and Nicholas Bourne eventually began printing their own occasional news sheet. They stopped publishing in 1641, the same year that regular, daily account of local news started appearing in other news sheets. These true forerunners of daily newspaper were called diurnals. In Italy as early as 59 B.C, there was a publication of daily events bulletins called Acta Diurna (Actions of the day). They were posted in a public place for all to read. The earliest forerunner of the modern newspaper can be credited to the Chinese, with the publication of Tsing Pao at about 500 A.D.

As the technological advances of printing made their way across Europe, newspapers cropped up frequently. The first newspaper published in Germany was found in 1609 by Egenolph Emmel. As at 1633 there were at least 16 newspapers in Germany.

In 1704, postmaster Jelm Campell joined with Bartholomew Green to publish a newspaper called the Boston News-Letter. By 1721, The News-letter received competition from the News England Courant

published by James Franklin, the older brother of Benjamin Franklin. The Courant was popular and controversial; it distinguished itself and carried forth numerous editorial crusades against both church and state.

By 1729, in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin took over a family newspaper, started by Samuel keimer and renamed it as the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Virginia Gazette. The latter proved especially important because of Virginia’s influence on American independence. In 1734, John Peter Zenger began publishing the New York Weekly to counter Bradford’s newspaper, the New York Gazette who mostly expressed the government line. Zenger’s criticism of the colonial government got him into trouble, and he was later arrested and charged with seditious libel –publishing false and defamatory statements against the government. He, fortunately, won the case thus establishing “Truth as a defense Against Libel”. His lawyer was Andrew Hamilton.

After the American independence, the government of U.S had to determine for itself just how free a press it was willing to tolerate .In 1790, the congress adopted the first 10 amendments to the constitution, called The Bills of Rights. The first Amendment reads! Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press …

3.3.2 Beginnings of Newspaper in America

In America, the first attempt at a newspaper was one started by the English printer, Benjamin Harris. He published in 1690 an edition of a newsletter titled Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick. However, Harris could not continue publishing due to the problem he encountered with the Massachusetts government by being critical of the Indians. The first newspaper appeared in Boston in 1690, entitled Publick Occurrences. Published without authority, it was immediately suppressed, its publisher arrested, and all copies were destroyed. Indeed, it remained forgotten until 1845 when the only known surviving example was discovered in the British Library.

The first successful newspaper was the Boston News-Letter, begun by postmaster John Campbell in 1704. Although it was heavily subsidized by the colonial government the experiment was a near-failure, with very limited circulation. Two more papers made their appearance in the 1720's, in Philadelphia and New York, and the Fourth Estate slowly became established on the new continent. By the eve of the Revolutionary War, some two dozen papers were issued at all the colonies, although Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania would remain the centers of American printing for many years. Articles in colonial papers, brilliantly conceived by revolutionary propagandists,

were a major force that influenced public opinion in America from reconciliation with England to full political independence.

At the end of the war in 1783, there were forty-three newspapers in print. The press played a vital role in the affairs of the new nation; many more newspapers were started, representing all shades of political opinion. The no-holds barred style of early journalism, much of it libelous by modern standards, reflected the rough and tumble political life of the republic as rival factions jostled for power. The ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791 at last guaranteed freedom of the press, and America's newspapers began to take on a central role in national affairs. Growth continued in every state.

By 1814 there were 346 newspapers. In the Jacksonian populist 1830's, advances in printing and papermaking technology led to an explosion of newspaper growth, the emergence of the "Penny Press"; it was now possible to produce a newspaper that could be sold for just a cent a copy. Previously, newspapers were the province of the wealthy, literate minority. The price of a year's subscription, usually over a full week's pay for a laborer, had to be paid in full and "invariably in advance." This sudden availability of cheap, interesting reading material was a significant stimulus to the achievement of the nearly universal literacy now taken for granted in America.

3.3.3 Newspaper and the Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution, as it transformed all aspects of American life and society, dramatically affected newspapers. Both the numbers of papers and their paid circulations continued to rise. The 1850 census catalogued 2,526 titles. In the 1850's powerful, giant presses appeared, able to print ten thousand complete papers per hour. At this time the first "pictorial" weekly newspapers emerged; they featured for the first time extensive illustrations of events in the news, as woodcut engravings made from correspondents' sketches or taken from that new invention, the photograph.

During the Civil War the unprecedented demand for timely, accurate news reporting transformed American journalism into a dynamic, hardhitting force in national life. Reporters, called "specials," became the darlings of the public and the idols of youngsters everywhere. Many accounts of battles turned in by these intrepid adventurers stand today as the definitive histories of their subjects.

Newspaper growth continued unabated in the postwar years. An astounding 11,314 different papers were recorded in the 1880 census. By the 1890's the first circulation figures of a million copies per issue were recorded (ironically, these newspapers are now quite rare due to the atrocious quality of cheap paper then in use, and to great losses in World War II era paper drives) At this period appeared the features of the modern newspaper, bold "banner" headlines, extensive use of illustrations, "funny pages," plus expanded coverage of organized sporting events. The rise of "yellow journalism" also marks this era. Hearst could truthfully boast that his newspapers manufactured the public clamor for war on Spain in 1898.

This is also the age of media consolidation, as many independent newspapers were swallowed up into powerful "chains"; with regrettable consequences for a once fearless and incorruptible press, many were reduced to vehicles for the distribution of the particular views of their owners, and so remained, without competing papers to challenge their viewpoints. By the 1910's, all the essential features of the recognizably modern newspaper had emerged. In our time, radio and television have gradually supplanted newspapers as the nation's primary information sources, so it may be difficult initially to appreciate the role that newspapers have played in our history.

3.2.4 Functions of Newspapers

Succinctly, newspaper helps to provide advantageous information on current affairs. Below are other advantages:

1. Newspapers help in doing genealogical searches for family and issues;
2. Newspapers alert people on upcoming events in sports, community activities (concerts, parades, etc.), and politics (gives one an edge when considering the total candidate for whom to vote); 
3. Newspapers provide platform for speaking out on issues of public importance. This could make someone relevant in national discourse; 
4. It provides relaxation through cartoons, puzzles, jokes etc; 
5. Newspapers help in locating job opportunities, searches on what to buy and so on. 

Sambe (2005) highlights the following as functions of newspaper:

1. Newspapers inform readers objectively about what is happening in their community, country and the world; 
2. Newspaper comments on the news in order to bring development into focus; 
3. Newspaper provides the means whereby persons who want to sell goods and services can advertise their wares; 
4. Newspaper campaigns for desirable civic projects and to help eliminate undesirable conditions;
5. Newspaper gives readers a portion of entertainment; 
6. Newspaper serves readers as a friendly counselor information bureau, and champion of their rights. 

3.3.5 The Penny Press

In the 1830s, there was the introduction of a new style of journalism and a new style of newspaper. Small newspapers with a lighter style, stressing not political issues but the crime, sex and gossip of the day, sold for one cent. The new publications ushered in the era of the penny press. It was a departure from the existing newspaper style, writing in dense prose and dealing with what often were complex political issues; thus an average American found little interest in these “Statesmen newspaper”. The earliest penny press was the New York Sun, published in 1833 by Benjamin. H. Day. His innovation was to sell his paper so inexpensively that it would attract a large readership, which could then be sold to advertisers. Day succeeded because he anticipated a new kind of reader. Soon, there were many penny papers in all the major cities.

3.2.6Yellow Journalism

The penny press not only proved that sensational news sold at an inexpensive price could be successful, it also laid the ground work for an era of another kind of journalism – Yellow journalism.

Leading participants were Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World and William Randolph Hearst, who became the editor of the San Francisco Examiner in 1887. Hearst became famous for his pranks while in Harvard and was eventually expelled. He got newspaper experience from Pulitzer’s World and returned to San Francisco to apply the lesson of sensationalism from the penny press to big-city journalism. With bold, eye –gripping headlines and various escapades to generate or report news, Hearst’s Examiner began to climb in circulation and profits.

Hearst expanded his coast to New York and bought the New York Morning Journal, renamed it as the New York Journal. He hired one of Pulitzer’s top illustrators; Richard F. Outcault, that marked the beginning of an outstanding battle in journalism. Outcault had drawn a cartoon about life in New York‘s crowded tenement that featured a child cartoon character. The extremely popular “kid” appeared in a yellow dress and became known as “Yellow kid”. Outcault brought the kid to the Journal while George .B. Links of Pulitzer’s newspaper also had it within him. Appearing in the promotional literature of both newspapers, “the circulation war” was in full force, and a new title had been given to this era of sensational, competitive and in many ways irresponsible journalism- Yellow journalism. It remained as a way of selling newspaper well into the 1900s and can still be seen today.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

Discuss the disadvantages of newspaper.

3.4 Magazines

3.4.1 The Growth of MagazinesThe first magazine was believed to have been started in 1704 by Daniel Defoe. It was a weekly periodical called the Review. Defoe’s Review was distinguished from the Newspapers of the era because he published features materials in addition to news. Two publications – the Tattler and Spectator emerged out of the journalistic style of Defoe. Tattler was published in 1709 by Richard Steele while the Spectator came up in March 1711 by both Steele and Joseph Addison. The Spectator grew in London and was the first magazine to make a contribution to literature.

In the United States of America, Andrew Bradford began publishing American magazine in 1741,followed by Benjamin’s General magazine. Between 1741 and 1794, 45 new magazines appeared. Entrepreneurial printers with the intention to attract educated, cultural, moneyed gentlemen copied the successful London magazine. Subsequently, other magazines emerged. Some are the Saturday Evening Post, 1821; Harpers 1850, and At1antic Monthly 1857.

Some factors that fuelled the growth of magazines include cheaper printing and growing literacy as well as the spread of social movement such as abolitionism and labour reform.

Magazines began to have mass circulation after the American Civil War. Apart from growth in literacy and availability of cheaper printing that were responsible, the arrival of Women magazine was also responsible. In addition were the Postal Act of 1879, which permitted mailing magazine at cheap rates and the spread of the rail road which carried people and publications westward from the east coast, as well as the reduction in the prices of magazines due to competiting price war. Of significance to this trend is the era of muckraking, which attracted large readership. However, the mass circulation was made possible by industrialization which provided people with leisure and more personal income.

Following the end of World War II, deep alterations in American culture and, in particular, the advent of television changed the relationship between magazines and their audiences. Magazine could not match the reach of television despite its large circulation. Many of the mass circulated magazines closed up. Magazine therefore sought solace in specialization and a life style orientation.

3.4.2 Convergence in Magazine Publishing

Online magazine or webzine have emerged made possible by convergence of magazine and the Internet. For example, Time end Mother Jones now have online edition. There are also others who are strictly online. Online magazines face certain challenges as at now. One is how the subscription for them should be charged. This difficulty is imposed because web users are accustomed to free access to sites. Besides, pure online magazines must generate their original content, an undertaking that is very expensive. Besides, they have to compete online for readers and advertisers as equals with webzine subsided by paper magazine. In addition, purely online magazines must also compete with the other websites on the Internet.

3.4.3 The Influence of Advertisers on Magazines

The sustenance and profitability of magazine business, made possible by advertisement has brought much influence on magazine content. Since the major aim of every business is to make profit, no magazine would like to lose its advertiser. Therefore magazine editors are very cautious in new presentation so as not to offend their advertisers. The questions emerging is that how can a magazine function, offering depth, variety and detail content when its editorial content is influenced by advertisers?

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3

Trace how magazine grew and the factors that were responsible for its mass circulation.

4.0 CONCLUSION

Printing brought expansion in literacy. People found it necessary to learn how to read and write. Printing had become one of the engines driving the industrial revolutions. It was responsible for building and disseminating bodies of knowledge and the refinement of new machines.

Printing made newspapers and magazines possible, brought scientific and technological development, and technology as a result of industrialization gave us mass market magazines. However, one major challenge facing the printing world is that most Nigerians prefer watching television or listening to radio than reading books.

5.0 SUMMARY

The unit has been able to discuss in appreciable details the basic components of the print world, namely: books, newspaper and magazine. The unit examined the origin and the historical base of these print products. The unit traced the development of books to over 5,000 years ago when alphabets were developed independently in several places around the world and ideogrammatic (picture-based) alphabets appeared in Egypt (as hieroglyphics), Sumerian (as cuneiform) and urban china.

The newspaper was traced to have started with handwritten newsletters which were circulated privately among merchants, passing along information about everything from wars and economic conditions to social customs and "human interest" features. The unit established that the first printed forerunners of the newspaper appeared in Germany in the late 1400's in the form of news pamphlets or broadsides, often highly sensationalized in content. The unit also noted that magazine started in 1704 by Daniel Defoe as a weekly periodical called the Review. The unit underscored the place of advertisement in newspaper venture, and submitted that sustenance and profitability of magazine business is hinged on advertisement.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT 

Explain the concept of yellow journalism. Name with convincing reasons a current newspaper in Nigeria that practices Yellow Journalism.