Histories

A Short History of the Popular Press. Just like their modern counterparts, early newspapers fed their readers a prurient diet of sex, scandal, and crime. Many were scurrilous and scandalous productions, wherein governments were ridiculed and criminals, particularly highwaymen, were presented as sensational figures of derring-do. Authorities typically regarded popular newspapers as vehicles of insurection and imposed severe censorship laws to control them...

Newspapers. The first provincial newspapers in England began to appear around the turn of the eighteenth century. But they little resembled the papers of today, with most being amateurish little productions that rarely exceeded the size of a modern parish magazine. By the second half of the nineteenth century, however, these local productions more resembled the papers of today. Most promoted local party politics, and a few succeeded in punching well above their weight..

Press Personalities. Press history has its characters just like any other history. Lord Northcliffe, who was Edwardian Britain's answer to modern media giant, Rupert Murdoch, is, perhaps, the most famous of these early press innovators. But he was by no means alone. Other men, many of whom were giants of their profession, played an equally vital role, and press gurus form the North were in the vanguard of these advances. Some left an indelible mark on the evolution of popular journalism..