Sandra Kraft, age 12, of Dubuque, Iowa, for her question:
WHEN WAS THE FIRST NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED?
Throughout the world, newspapers are a significant force today for informing people of what is happening in their communities and in every part other part of our planet. But before the development of movable metal type in the mid 15th century and for some time thereafter, news was disseminated by word of mouth, by written letters or by public notices.
It was not until 1609 that the earliest known newspapers were published. Printed in northern Germany and called "corantos," they dispensed what were called "tydings," often about events in other countries. The word "news" was not coined until a century later.
Within 20 years newspapers were being published in Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg, as well as in Basel, Vienna and Antwerp. A paper published in Amsterdam was printed in both English and French and it soon found its way to London. Then in 1621 the first London paper was printed followed in 1631 with the first newspaper in Paris and in 1645 with one originating in Stockholm.
Early newspapers were small in size, usually consisting of only one page. They had neither headlines nor advertising and looked more like newsletters than today's broadsheet newspapers with their bold headlines and numerous pictures.
The first continuously published English newspaper was the "Weekly News" which gave foreign news. But in 1628 the first papers giving domestic news were begun by clerks who reported the debates of the English Parliament. These papers were called diurnals.
The first continuously published American newspaper was the 1704 Boston News Letter. It recorded financial and foreign news as well as births, deaths and social events.
James Franklin founded the New England Courant in Boston in 1721 and included his younger brother Benjamin Franklin on the staff. Ben went to Philadelphia in 1723 to start the Pennsylvania Gazette and the General Magazine.
The first New York City newspaper, founded in 1725, was called the Gazette. It was soon followed by several others including the New York Weekly Journal, edited by the German American printer John Peter Zenger.
When Zenger published criticism of the British colonial governor of New York and his administration, he was arrested and jailed on charges of seditious libel. Zender was tried and found not guilty. His case created an important precedent for the tradition of a free press in America Revolution.
In 1750 there were 12 newspapers in the American colonies, which then had a total population of about 1 million. By 1755 the population had increased to 2.5 million and the number of newspapers had jumped by 48. They were published weekly, contained only four pages each and typically had a circulation of no more than 400 copies.
These early American newspapers printed more essays than news and were definitely libertarian in tone, anticipating the American