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Lesson#16
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TYPES OF PRINT MEDIA
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TYPES OF PRINT MEDIA
With a sort of boon coming in the world of print communication
with the availability of printing
press, telegraph, telephone and telex, the publishing industry
made hey while the sun was shinning.
The first hundred years was the time when the print industry
tried to comprehend the new situation and
shaped itself into a regular and formal sector but from the
start of the 19th
century, print media in most
countries started specializing in certain areas. Since business
in the form of advertisements in the print was
also flourishing, the media enjoyed a great deal of financial
comfort and provided jobs to tens of thousands
of people across the globe.
The publishing industry, a synonym with print media, could be
classified in general terms into three distinct
categories:
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Books
In the following paragraphs we will see these three areas with
more details.
Newspapers
It took about 150 years from the invention of printing press in
the middle of 15th
century that the
world witnessed first regular publication which could be defined
as a newspaper.
Although there have been claims by many to be decorated as first
newspaper like Mixed News in China in
710, Notizie Scritte, a monthly newspaper for which readers pay
a “gazetta”, or small coin by Venetian
government in 1556 etc, the World Association of Newspapers held
“Relation”, as the first newspaper
published in France in 1605. By this reckoning the newspapers’
history is 400 years old. The Relation
followed a list of news papers from all around the world. Here
is a brief account of some popular papers:
1621 ---- In London,
the newspaper Courante
is published.
1631 ----
The Gazette,
the first French newspaper, is founded.
1639 ---- First
American colonial printing press.
1645 ---- World’s
oldest newspaper still in circulation,
Post-och Inrikes Tidningar,
is published in Sweden
1690 ----
Publick Occurrences
is the first newspaper published in America when
it appears in Boston. The
editor, Benjamin Harris, stated he would issue the paper “once a
month, or, if any Glut of Occurrences
happen, oftener.” The royal authority, wary of publications
printed without its express consent, suppresses
the newspaper after only one issue.
1704 ---- Daniel
Defoe, the author of Robinson
Crusoe and often recognized as the
world’s first journalist,
begins to publish the
Review,
a periodical covering European affairs.
1798 ---- Alois
Sedenfelder Invents Lithography. Although invented over two centuries ago, off
set
lithography first gained popularity in the 1960’s, and is now
the industry standard.
1803 ---- Australia’s
military government publishes the
Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser,
the
country’s first newspaper. This is only fifteen years after the
colony of convicts had been established in
Sydney Cove.
1812 ---- Friedrich
Koenig invents the Steam Powered Cylinder Press. In 1814, John Walter, publisher
of
The Times in London,
began to assemble the new press in secrecy, fearing that his pressmen might riot
if
they discovered his plans. On the night of November 28, 1814,
Walter took his pressmen away from their
hand presses with the excuse that he was expecting important
news from the continent. He then used
Koenig’s presses to produce the entire print run of
The Times
-- at an output of 1,100 sheets per hour.
1844 ---- Telegraph is
invented.
1851 ---- Reuters –
news agency, is established.
1900 ----Vladimir
Lenin founds Iskra,
in Leipzig, Germany. This revolutionary newspaper is to become a
major tool for Communist propaganda.
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1903 ---- Alfred
Harmsworth (later Lord North cliffe) develops the first tabloid newspaper, the
Daily Mirror,
in London. The
Daily Mirror introduced the concept of
the “exclusive” interview. The first was with Lord
Minto, the new Viceroy of India, in 1905.
As the newspapers came to age, they assumed different shapes and
assigned themselves different jobs.
Contents
General-interest newspapers are usually journals of current
news. Those can include :
Political events
Crime
Business
Culture
Sports
Opinions (either editorials, columns, or political cartoons)
Newspapers use photographs to illustrate stories; they use
editorial cartoonists, usually to illustrate writing
that is opinion, rather than news.
Some specific features a newspaper may include are:
• weather news and
forecasts
• an advice column
• critical reviews of
movies, plays, restaurants, etc.
• editorial opinions
• a gossip column
• comic strips and other
entertainment, such as crosswords and horoscopes
• a sports column or
section
• a humor column or
section
• a food column
Types of newspapers
Besides the contents, the newspapers also specialize in their
type.
• International newspapers
• Weekly newspapers
• Sunday newspapers
• National newspaper
• Local newspaper
Circulation
A big issue with newspapers is always the size of their
circulation. This also determines the revenue
it can generate, and number of people it can employ with it. The
mass circulation also gives a newspaper a
weigh in a number of local and national matters and its
editorial staff enjoys a unique freedom in more than
one ways.
Some top ranking newspapers circulation-wise are as follow:
Rank Title Country Circulation (000)
1. Yomiuri Shimbun Japan 14,067
2. The Asahi Shimbun Japan 12,121
3. Mainichi Shimbun Japan 5,587
4. Nihon Keizai Shimbun Japan 4,635
5. Chunichi Shimbun Japan 4,512
6. Bild Germany 3,867
7. Sankei Shimbun Japan 2,757
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8. Canako Xiaoxi (Beijing) China 2,627
9. People’s Daily China 2,509
10. Tokyo Sports Japan 2,425
Magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of
articles, generally financed by
advertising, purchased by readers, or both.
Magazines are typically published weekly, biweekly, monthly,
bimonthly or quarterly, with a date on the
cover that is later than the date it is actually published. They
are often printed in colour on coated paper,
and are bound with a soft cover.
Types of magazines
Art magazines
Business magazines
Music magazines
Computer magazines
Children's magazines
Health and fitness magazines
History magazines
Humor magazines
Inspirational magazines
Men's magazines
Women's magazines
Luxury magazines
News magazines
Online magazines
Pulp magazines
Pornographic magazines
Regional magazines
Satirical magazines
Teen magazines
Consumer magazines
Consumer magazines are aimed at the public and are usually
available through retail outlets. They
range from general-interest titles such as
Time,
Esquire
and
Cosmopolitan, which appeal to a
broad spectrum of
readers, to highly specialist titles covering particular
hobbies, leisure pursuits or other interests.
Business magazines
Many business magazines are available only, or predominantly, on
subscription. In some cases these
subscriptions are available to any person prepared to pay; in
others, free subscriptions are available to
readers who meet a set of criteria established by the publisher.
This practice, known as
controlled circulation, is
intended to guarantee to advertisers that the readership is
relevant to their needs.
All magazines have some elements in common, even if they are a
listings magazine or a simple advertising
vehicle. The main features of content in magazines mainly
consist of the cover page features, reviews,
problem pages, interviews, advertisements, competitions and some
form of gossip. Other common
elements are; advice columns, campaigns, do it yourself
features, in our next issues, makeovers, letters’ page,
opinion columns, and contents pages.
The main features of presentation of magazines are the cover
pages, the layout and the design photographs
and illustrations use of colour, an insight of the actual
magazine and visual narrative. The better the visual
narrative of the magazine, the more it will appeal to its
specific audience.
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Books
Though books existed before print technology, they were limited
in number and their readership
was also confined to few.
A book is a collection of paper, parchment or other material
with a piece of text written on them, bound
together along one edge, usually within covers. Each side of a
sheet is called a page and a single sheet within
a book may be called a leaf. A book is also a literary work or a
main division of such a work
Books became part of the mass media after the printing process
was invented. Now they are in the reach of
almost everyone and could cover any distance on the planet.
Their topics are varied and their value could be
judged from the fact that most libraries in the world are due to
books rather than other published material.
When writing systems were invented in ancient civilizations,
nearly everything that could be written upon—
stone, clay, tree bark, metal sheets—was used for writing.
Alphabetic writing emerged in Egypt around 1800
BC.
Scroll
Egyptian papyrus showing the god Osiris and the weighing of the
heart
In Ancient Egypt, papyrus (a form of paper made by weaving the
stems of
the papyrus plant, then pounding the woven sheet with a hammer
like tool)
was used for writing maybe as early as from First Dynasty, but
first
evidence is from the account books of King Neferirkare Kakai of
the Fifth
Dynasty (about 2400 BC).
Middle Ages
Manuscripts
Before the invention and adoption of the printing press, almost
all books were copied by hand,
which made books expensive and comparatively rare. Smaller
monasteries had usually only some dozen
books, medium sized a couple hundred. By the ninth century
larger
collections held around 500 volumes.
Wood block printing
A 15th century incunabulum
Notice the blind-tooled cover, cornerbosses and clasps for
holding the book
shut.
Innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand
mould. This
invention made books comparatively affordable (although still
quite expensive
for most people) and more widely available. It is estimated that
in Europe
about 1,000 various books were created per year before the
development of the printing press.
Paper
Though papermaking in Europe had begun around the 11th century,
up until the beginning of 16th
century vellum and paper were produced congruent to one another,
vellum being the more expensive and
durable option. Printers or publishers would often issue the
same publication on both materials, to cater to
more than one market. As was the case with many medieval
inventions, paper was first made in China, as
early as 200 B.C., and reached Europe through Muslim
territories. At first made of rags, the industrial
revolution changed paper-making practices, allowing for paper to
be made
out of wood pulp.
Modern world
A collection of Penguin Books
With the rise of printing in the fifteenth century, books were
published in limited numbers and were quite valuable. The need
to protect
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these precious commodities was evident. One of the earliest
references to the use of bookmarks was in
1584 when the Queen's Printer, Christopher Barker, presented
Queen Elizabeth I with a fringed silk
bookmark. Common bookmarks in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries were narrow silk ribbons bound
into the book at the top of the spine and extended below the
lower edge of the page. The first detachable
bookmarks began appearing in the 1850's and were made from silk,
embroidered fabrics or leather. Not
until the 1880's, did paper and other materials become more
common.
Steam-powered printing presses became popular in the early
1800s. These machines could print 1,100
sheets per hour, but workers could only set 2,000 letters per
hour. Monotype and linotype presses were
introduced in the late 19th century. They could set more than
6,000 letters per hour and an entire line of
type at once.
The centuries after the 15th century were thus spent on
improving both the printing press and the
conditions for freedom of the press through the gradual
relaxation of restrictive censorship laws. In mid-
20th century, Europe book production had risen to over 200,000
titles per year.
Collections of books
In the Middle Ages, monasteries and universities had also
libraries that could be accessible to general public. Typically
not the
whole collection was available to public; the books could not be
borrowed and often were chained to reading stands to prevent
theft.
Celsus was built in 135 A.D. and could house around
12,000
scrolls.
The beginning of modern public begins around 15th
century.
The advent of paperback books in the 20th century led to an
explosion of popular publishing. Paperback
books made owning books affordable for many people. |
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