History of News in the UK
News and media and specifically, newspapers have a long, rich history in the United Kingdom. Mercurius Civicus. Londons Intelligencer was first published in English on December 2, 1620 in Amsterdam. To explore the history of newspapers in depth, you’ll want to visit The British Library. The library began collecting newspapers during the 1800’s and today has over 660,000 volumes, 370,000 reels of microfilm and over 52,000 separate newspaper and journal titles.
In the early 17th century news was a combination of fact and rumor published in pamphlets and posters. When the news periodicals debuted, the right to print in England was restricted and strictly controlled which is why the first papers were printed in Amsterdam by Joris Veseler. These early prints were modeled after the Dutch model by Veseler until the English eventually started printing their own in London where they reverted to the pamphlet format referred to as a newsbook.
These newsbooks lasted until the Oxford Gazetted was printed in 1665. As the Civil War escalated, so did the demand for news and printing restrictions were eased to some extent. Following the Restoration period the number of news publications rose including the London Gazette which was first published November 16, 1665. The first publication was under the name of the Oxford Gazette and was the first official journal of record newspaper for the Crown.
By the mid-1700’s there were twelve London newspapers and 24 provincial papers. As printing restrictions continued to ease, the number of papers increased dramatically to 52 by the 19th century. The Times was the most significant paper of the 19th century was first known as The Daily Register and began publication in 1785. The Times is a daily national publication and reports circulation for 2005 as over 692,000 per day.
Today there are countless news publications available to readers including the popular tabloid based papers such as The Sun and Daily Mail. These tabloid newspapers outsell all other news publications by staggering numbers with circulation of over 3,274,000 and 2,353,000 respectively. This trend reflects the interest of a new generation who hunger for news and stories concerning the British Monarchy, sports stars, politicians and the entertainment industry in general.
Newspapers have made progress in printing and circulation that would astound the early pioneers of our first papers. With the internet and a new world of news outlets, there is no limit to the impact news and media will have on our world.