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Newspapers are sources of information on current events and developments in politics, the economy, technology, culture and society, both in the UK and abroad. The quality of papers offer in depth reporting current issues of public concern. Examples of newspapers are The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, and The Daily Telegraph. Most papers are now available electronically via one of the databases.

History of newspapers

The first printer set up shop in Fleet Street way back in the 15^th century. On the 11^th March 1702 the first newspaper began publishing The Daily Courant. By the mid twentieth century, Fleet Street boasted the headquarters of nearly every British daily. The eighties saw most of the papers relocate. Rupert Murdoch led the charge by moving The Times and The Sun to Wapping. Then in 1730 a newspaper called The Daily Advertiser began advertising stock exchange. In Britain in 1785 The Daily Universal Register was first published. In 1788 it was renamed The Times. In 1814 The Times was printed with a steam powered press for the first time. In 1848 The Times used a rotary printing press with the printing face wrapped around a cylinder for the first time. Newspapers became more common in the late 19^th century. In the 18^th century and 19^th century stamp duty was charged on newspapers, which made them more expensive. In the 1855 stamp duty on newspapers was abolished and they became cheaper and more common. In the mid-19th century newspaper reporters began to use The Telegraph as a means to get news to their newspapers quickly. The first tabloid newspaper was the Daily Graphic published in 1890. In 1891 it became the first British newspaper to print a photo. The press complaints commission was created.

Timeline

1476 - In the 15^th century the first printer was set up in Fleet Street.

1621 - First titled newspaper, The Daily Corante, published in London.

1690 - Worcester Postman launched. (In 1709 it starts regular publication as Berrow's Worcester Journal, considered to be the oldest surviving English newspaper).

1702 - Launch of the first regular daily newspaper: The Daily Courant.

1712 - First Stamp Act; advertisement, paper and stamp duties condemned as taxes on knowledge. Stamford Mercury believed to have been launched.

1737 - Belfast News Letter founded (world's oldest surviving daily newspaper).

1772 - Hampshire Chronicle launched, Hampshire's oldest paper.

1788 – Daily Universal Register (est. 1785) became The Times.

1791 - The Observer launched.

1836 - The Newspaper Society founded.

1844 - The Southport Visiter first published.

1848 - The first issue of the Brechin Advertiser was published on Tuesday 3 October 1848.

1855 - Stamp duty abolished. Daily Telegraph started as first penny national. Manchester Guardian, The Scotsman and Liverpool Post became daily. Shields Gazette is the first of 17 regional evenings founded this year.

1868 - Press Association set up as a national news agency.

1889 - First Official Secrets Act.

1905 - Harmsworth (then Northcliffe) bought The Observer.

1906 - Newspaper Proprietors Association founded for national dailies.

1907 - National Union of Journalists founded as a wage-earners union.

1922 - Death of Northcliffe. Control of Associated Newspapers passed to Rothermere.

1928 - Northcliffe Newspapers set up as a subsidiary of Associated Newspapers. Provincial Newspapers set up as a subsidiary of United Newspapers.

1931 - Audit Bureau of Circulations formed.

1936 - Britain's first colour advertisement appears (in Glasgow's Daily Record).

1944 - Iliffe took over BPM Holdings (including Birmingham Post).

1946 - Guild of British Newspaper Editors formed (now the Society of Editors).

1953 - General Council of the Press established.

1959 - Manchester Guardian becomes The Guardian. Six-week regional press printing strike.

1960 - Photocomposition and web-offset printing progressively introduced.

1964 - The Sun launched, replacing Daily Herald. Death of Beaverbrook. General Council of the Press reformed as the Press Council.

1969 - Murdoch's News International acquired The Sun and News of the World.

1976 - Nottingham Evening Post is Britain's first newspaper to start direct input by journalists.

1978 - The Times and The Sunday Times stopped publication for 11 months.

1980 - Association of Free Newspaper founded (folded 1991). Regional Newspaper Advertising Bureau formed.

1981 - News International acquired The Times and The Sunday Times.

1984 - Mirror Group sold by Reed to Maxwell (Pergamon). First free daily newspaper, the (Birmingham) Daily News, launched by husband & wife team Chris & Pat Bullivant.

1986 - News International moved titles to a new plant at Wapping. Eddie Shah launched Today, first colour national daily launched. The Independent launched.

1987 - News International took over Today.

1988 - RNAB folded. Newspaper Society launched PressAd as its commercial arm. Thomson launched Scotland on Sunday and Sunday Life.

1989 - Last Fleet Street paper produced by Sunday Express.

1991 - Press Complaints Commission replaced the Press Council. AFN folded. Death of Robert Maxwell (November). Management buy-out of Birmingham Post and sister titles. Midland Independent Newspapers established.

1992 - Management buy-out by Caledonian Newspapers of Lonrho's Glasgow titles, The Herald and Evening Times.

1993 - Guardian Media Group bought The Observer. UK News set up by Northcliffe and Westminster Press as rival news agency to the Press Association. Second Calcutt report into self-regulation of the press.

1994 - Northcliffe Newspapers bought Nottingham Evening Post for £93m. News International price-cutting sparked off new national cover-price war.

1995 - Lord Wakeham succeeded Lord McGregor as chairman of the PCC. Privacy white paper rejected statutory press controls. Most of Thomson's regional titles sold to Trinity. Newsquest formed out of a Reed MBO. Murdoch closes Today (November).

1996 - A year of buyouts, mergers and restructuring in the regional press. Regionals win the battle over cross-media ownership (Broadcasting Act). Newspaper Society launches NS Marketing, replacing PressAd.

1997 - Midland Independent Newspapers is bought by Mirror Group for £297 million. Human Rights and Data Protection bills are introduced.

1998 - Fourth largest regional press publisher, United Provincial Newspapers, is sold in two deals: UPN Yorkshire and Lancashire newspapers sold to Regional Independent Media for £360m and United Southern Publications sold to Southnews for £47.5m. Southern Newspapers changes its name to Newscom, following acquisitions in Wales and the West (including UPN Wales in 1996). Death of Lord Rothermere. Chairmanship of Associated Newspapers passes to his son Jonathan Harmsworth. Death of David English, editor-in-chief of Daily Mail and chairman of the editors' code committee.

1999 - Trinity merges with Mirror Group Newspapers in a deal worth £1.3 billion. Newsquest is bought by US publisher Gannett for £904 million. Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers is bought by Johnston Press for £266m. Major regional press groups launch electronic media alliances. Freedom of Information bill introduced. Associated launches London's free commuter daily, Metro.

http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk/history-of-british-newspapers

Broadsheets

Broadsheet newspapers refer to the most common newspaper format which is generally 11 to 12 inches wide and 20 or more inches long. They are also usually six columns across. Broadsheet newspapers generally employ a traditional approach to news they do an in depth coverage and have a sober tone in articles and editorials. They contain serious press stories, aimed at higher social groupings, plainer layout, subtle smaller pictures, longer articles, more detailed articles, serious headlines, more focus on politics and international news. Some broadsheet newspapers are the Sunday Telegraph, The Observer and The Sunday Times.

http://journalism.about.com/od/trends/a/tabloidsbroadsheets.htm

The history of broadsheet newspapers

The original purpose of the broadsheet, or broadside, was for the purpose of posting royal proclamations, acts, and official notices. Eventually the people began using the broadsheet as a source for political activism by reprinting speeches, ballads or narrative songs originally performed by bards. With the early mechanization of the 19th century came an increase in production of printed materials including the broadside as well as the competing penny dreadful. In this period newspapers all over Europe began to print their issues on broadsheets. However, in Great Britain, there was the gradual reduction of the newspaper tax, beginning in the 1830s, and eventually its dismissal in 1855. With the increased production of newspapers and literacy, the demand for visual reporting and journalists led to the blending of broadsides and newspapers, creating the modern broadsheet newspaper.

Tabloids

Tabloid newspapers tend to be typically 11 times 17 inches and are five columns across. Tabloid newspaper stories tend to be shorter. Tabloid newspapers generally are more irrelevant and use slang language in their writing stories. A tabloid is a small newspaper with stories often exaggerated with its own language and style. The style is used with adjectives, exaggeration and maybe falsification of incidents. The tabloid newspapers contain popular press aimed at lower social groupings, bold layout with large dramatic pictures, shorter articles, more pictures, less in depth reporting, puns jokes in headlines, more focus on human interest stories, celebrity gossip, use gimmicks. Some tabloid newspapers are The Daily Mail, The Independent, Daily Mirror, Metro and The Sun. http://journalism.about.com/od/trends/a/tabloidsbroadsheets.htm

The history of tabloid newspapers

An early pioneer of tabloid journalism was Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865–1922), who amassed a large publishing empire of halfpenny papers by rescuing failing indifferent papers and transforming them to reflect the popular taste, which produced him enormous profits. Harmsworth used his tabloids to influence public opinion, for example, by bringing down the wartime government of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith in the Shell Crisis of 1915.

Local newspapers

Local newspapers are normally four columns across. Stories tend to be short as the stories tend to be simple. Local newspapers tend to put local news, houses for sale, local jobs available, win prizes and local things going on in the area. They use big images with the writing. They tend to be short to the point sentences to tell readers all about the topic. The layout tends to be simple and in an unconventional layout. Some Local Newspapers are Chichester Observer, The Argus and Portsmouth News.

The history of local newspapers

Stamp duty has a big effect on the circulation of local newspapers the first tax started in 1712. Campaigns were mounted against the duty which was reduced to1p on newspapers (and removed for journals) in 1836 this led to a huge increase in the number of newspapers. The duty was finally abolished in 1855 and then the number of newspapers grew rapidly by 1870. The number of newspapers decreased after around the 1950s when the cost of producing the newspapers tended to be greater than the income from advertisements and sales.

The I newspaper – Tabloid