Thursday, May 22, 2014 23

T
HE idea of sharing news and
information goes back centuries,
well before there was anything
resembling a modern-day newspaper.
Until the invention of printing, the public
had to be satised with whatever
information it was given by ofcial
sources, or it had to make do with
hearsay and rumour. The early evidence of
an ofcial means of spreading news dates
from 59 BC in in Rome, where a daily
gazette known as the Acta diurna (daily
acts) was published. Carved on metal or
stone, copies were posted around the city
for people to read.
Between 713 and 734, the
Kaiyuan Za Bao, or Court Documents
were produced in China. They were
handwritten on silk.
In 1556 the Government of Venice, in
Italy, published the monthly Notizie scritte.
These were handwritten on paper.
In 1582 there was a private
newspaper published in Beijing, in China.
This may have been the rst printed on
paper.
In 1605 the German newspaper
'Relation' was printed by Johan Carollus.
This is usually regarded as the rst
modern newspaper.
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