History of German journalism

Last updated

The history of German journalism dates back to the 16th century. Johannes Gutenberg, a German, invented the printing press, while the world's first newspapers were produced in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the 17th century.

Contents

Early developments

Merchants in early modern Europe exchanged financial and commercial news, and some started regular newsletters for their clients. One example of this type of merchant was the 16th-century German financiar, Fugger. He not only received business news from his correspondents, but also sensationalist and gossip news as well. It is evident in Fugger's correspondence with his network that fiction and fact were both significant parts of early news publications. 16th century Germany also saw subscription-based, handwritten news. Those who subscribed to these publications were generally low-level government officials and also merchants. They could not afford other types of news publications, but had enough money to pay for a subscription, which was still expensive for the time. [1]

In the 16th and 17th century, there appeared numerous printed news sheets summarizing accounts of battles, treaties, kings, epidemics, and special events. Early forms of news periodicals were the so-called Messrelationen ("trade fair reports") which were compiled twice a year, for the large book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig respectively, starting in the 1580s. In 1605, the German Johann Carolus published the world's first newspaper in Straßburg, consisting of brief news bulletins. The world's first daily newspaper appeared in 1650 in Leipzig. Later, Prussia increasingly became the largest and most dominant of the German states, but it had newspapers that were kept under very tight control. Advertising was forbidden, and budgets were very small. [2]

The term newspaper became common in the 17th century. However, publications that resemble modern-day newspaper publications were appearing as early as the 16th century in Germany. They were discernibly newspapers for the following reasons: they were printed, dated, appeared at regular and frequent publication intervals, and included a variety of news items. The first newspaper according to modern definitions was the Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien of Johann Carolus, in the early 17th century. German newspapers were organized by the location from which they came, and by date. They differed from avisis in that they employed a distinct and highly illustrated title page, and they applied an overall date to each issue.

The emergence of the new media branch was based on the spread of the printing press from which the publishing press derives its name. Historian Johannes Weber stated: "At the same time, then, as the printing press in the physical, technological sense was invented, 'the press' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage. The phenomenon of publishing was born. The German-language Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, printed from 1605 onwards by Johann Carolus in Straßburg, was the first newspaper." [3]

German Confederation, 1815–1867

A large number of newspapers and magazines flourished. A typical small city had one or two newspapers; Berlin and Leipzig had dozens. The audience was limited to around five percent of the adult men, chiefly from the aristocratic and middle classes. Liberal papers outnumbered conservative ones by a wide margin. Foreign governments bribed editors to guarantee a favorable image. [4] Censorship was strict, and the government issued the political news they were supposed to report. After 1871, strict press laws were used by Bismarck to shut down the socialists, and to threaten hostile editors. There were no national newspapers. Editors focused on political commentary, but also included a nonpolitical cultural page, focused on the arts and high culture. Especially popular was the serialized novel, with a new chapter every week. Magazines were politically more influential, and attracted the leading intellectuals as authors. [5]

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic's constitution along with other social forces and the earlier Reich press law of 1874 gave rise to a dispersed, energetic and pluralistic press with a wide range of political opinion after the Great War. The Generalanzeiger  [ de ] and the Boulevardblatt  [ de ] established consumer bases decades earlier. Wire news service and newspaper commercial lending by Ruhr industrial interests sought to influence editorial opinion prior to the Great War and during the republic. [6]

1945–1955

In 1945, the occupying powers took over all newspapers in Germany and purged them of Nazi influence. The American occupation headquarters, the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) began its own newspaper based in Munich, Die Neue Zeitung . It was edited by German and Jewish émigrés who fled to the United States before the war. Its mission was to encourage democracy by exposing Germans to how American culture operated. The paper was filled with details on American sports, politics, business, Hollywood, and fashions, as well as international affairs. [7]

See also

Notes

  1. Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing Wealth and Honor in Renaissance Germany (2012)
  2. Kenneth E. Olson, The History Makers: The Press of Europe from hits Beginnings through 1965 (1967) pp. 99–134
  3. Johannes Weber, "Strassburg, 1605: The origins of the newspaper in Europe." German History 24#3 (2006) pp. 387–412.
  4. Theodore S. Hamerow, The Social Foundations of German Unification, 1858-1871: Ideas and Institutions (1969) pp. 284–91
  5. Kenneth E. Olson, The history makers: The press of Europe from its beginnings through 1965 (LSU Press, 1966) pp. 99–134
  6. Eksteins, Modris. (1975). The Limits of Reason: the German Democratic Press and the Collapse of Weimar Democracy. London: Oxford University Press. Oxford Historical Monographs series. pp. 78-79. ISBN   0-19-821862-1.
  7. Jessica C.E. Gienow-Hecht, "Art is democracy and democracy is art: Culture, propaganda, and the Neue Zeitung in Germany." Diplomatic History (1999) 23#1 pp. 21–43

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation, the methods of gathering information, and the organizing literary styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of British newspapers</span> Dates to the 17th century

The history of British newspapers begins in the 17th century with the emergence of regular publications covering news and gossip. The relaxation of government censorship in the late 17th century led to a rise in publications, which in turn led to an increase in regulation throughout the 18th century. The Times began publication in 1785 and became the leading newspaper of the early 19th century, before the lifting of taxes on newspapers and technological innovations led to a boom in newspaper publishing in the late 19th century. Mass education and increasing affluence led to new papers such as the Daily Mail emerging at the end of the 19th century, aimed at lower middle-class readers.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1605.

A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of interest to its recipients. A newsletter may be considered grey literature. E-newsletters are delivered electronically via e-mail and can be viewed as spamming if e-mail marketing is sent unsolicited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolus Clusius</span> Flemish doctor and botanist (1526–1609)

Charles de l'Écluse,L'Escluse, or Carolus Clusius, seigneur de Watènes, was an Artois doctor and pioneering botanist, perhaps the most influential of all 16th-century scientific horticulturists.

A weekly newspaper is a general-news or current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspaper is published once every two weeks. Weekly newspapers tend to have smaller circulations than daily newspapers, and often cover smaller territories, such as one or more smaller towns, a rural county, or a few neighborhoods in a large city. Frequently, weeklies cover local news and engage in community journalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welser family</span>

Welser was a German banking and merchant family, originally a patrician family based in Augsburg and Nuremberg, that rose to great prominence in international high finance in the 16th century as bankers to the Habsburgs and financiers of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Along with the Fugger family, the Welser family controlled large sectors of the European economy, and accumulated enormous wealth through trade and the German colonization of the Americas, including slave trade. The family received colonial rights of the Province of Venezuela from Charles V, who was also King of Spain, in 1528, becoming owners and rulers of the South American colony of Klein-Venedig, but were deprived of their rule in 1546. Philippine Welser (1527–1580), famed for both her learning and her beauty, was married to Archduke Ferdinand, Emperor Ferdinand I's son.

The history of journalism spans the growth of technology and trade, marked by the advent of specialized techniques for gathering and disseminating information on a regular basis that has caused, as one history of journalism surmises, the steady increase of "the scope of news available to us and the speed with which it is transmitted". Before the printing press was invented, word of mouth was the primary source of news. Returning merchants, sailors, travelers brought news back to the mainland, and this was then picked up by pedlars and traveling players and spread from town to town. Ancient scribes often wrote this information down. This transmission of news was highly unreliable and died out with the invention of the printing press. Newspapers have always been the primary medium of journalists since the 18th century, radio and television in the 20th century, and the Internet in the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of newspaper publishing</span>

The modern newspaper is a European invention. The oldest direct handwritten news sheets circulated widely in Venice as early as 1566. These weekly news sheets were full of information on wars and politics in Italy and Europe. The first printed newspapers were published weekly in Germany from 1605. Typically, they were censored by the government, especially in France, and reported mostly foreign news and current prices. After the English government relaxed censorship in 1695, newspapers flourished in London and a few other cities including Boston and Philadelphia. By the 1830s, high-speed presses could print thousands of papers cheaply, allowing low daily costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Carolus</span> German publisher of the first newspaper

Johann Carolus was a German publisher of the first newspaper, called Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien. The Relation is recognised by the World Association of Newspapers, as well as many authors, as the world's first newspaper.

<i>Avisa Relation oder Zeitung</i> Periodical literature

Avisa Relation oder Zeitung was one of the first news-periodicals in the world. It was published in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, in 1609. The printer/publisher was Lucas Schulte. The first issue states that the news had been collected from various countries by 15 January. It is presumed that the issue was printed on or about that date.

Modris Eksteins is a Latvian Canadian historian with a special interest in German history and modern culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renaissance technology</span> Technology during the Renaissance era

Renaissance technology was the set of European artifacts and inventions which spread through the Renaissance period, roughly the 14th century through the 16th century. The era is marked by profound technical advancements such as the printing press, linear perspective in drawing, patent law, double shell domes and bastion fortresses. Sketchbooks from artisans of the period give a deep insight into the mechanical technology then known and applied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Journalism of early modern Europe</span>

In the early modern period of Europe (1500–1700), journalism originally consisted of handwritten newsletters used to convey political, military, and economic news quickly and efficiently throughout the continent. They were often written anonymously and delivered through a complex system of couriers. They are divided into the Italian avvisi and the German contemporary equivalent Zeitungen. From 1605 in Germany, and in the next decades in other European countries, the newsletters started to be printed as well. Because handwritten material was less subject to censorship and quicker to be produced, handwritten newsletters continued to be produced in parallel with printed newspapers for all the 17th century, and sporadically also in the 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newspaper</span> Scheduled publication containing news of events, articles, features, editorials, and advertisements

A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports, art, and science. They often include materials such as opinion columns, weather forecasts, reviews of local services, obituaries, birth notices, crosswords, editorial cartoons, comic strips, and advice columns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reactionary modernism</span> Political ideology characterized by embrace of technology and anti-Enlightenment thought

Reactionary modernism is a term first coined by Jeffrey Herf in the 1980s to describe the mixture of "great enthusiasm for modern technology with a rejection of the Enlightenment and the values and institutions of liberal democracy" that was characteristic of the German Conservative Revolutionary movement and Nazism. In turn, this ideology of reactionary modernism was closely linked to the original, positive view of the Sonderweg, which saw Germany as the great Central European power neither of the West nor of the East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of French journalism</span>

Newspapers have played a major role in French politics, economy and society since the 17th century.

Western media is the mass media of the Western world. During the Cold War, Western media contrasted with Soviet media. Western media has gradually expanded into developing countries around the world.

The North Atlantic or liberal model of media and politics, as defined in Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini's Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics, is characterized by an early development of commercial press, information-oriented journalism, strong professionalization, and a market dominated media system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">An Wasserflüssen Babylon</span> 1525 Lutheran hymn by Wolfgang Dachstein

"An Wasserflüssen Babylon" is a Lutheran hymn by Wolfgang Dachstein, which was first published in Strasbourg in 1525. The text of the hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 137. Its singing tune, which is the best known part of the hymn and Dachstein's best known melody, was popularised as the chorale tune of Paul Gerhardt's 17th-century Passion hymn "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld". With this hymn text, Dachstein's tune is included in the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch.