Newspapers
The earliest newspapers date to 17th century Europe when printed periodicals began rapidly to replace the practice of hand-writing newssheets. The emergence of the new media branch has to be seen in close connection with the simultaneous spread of the printing press from which the publishing press derives it name. A follow up post, List of Oldest Newspapers lists newspapers through 1715, the end of Louis XIV's reign.
Definition
Newspapers − apart from being printed − are typically expected to meet four criteria:[3]
- Publicity: Its contents are reasonably accessible to the public.
- Periodicity: It is published at regular intervals.
- Currency: Its information is up to date.
- Universality: It covers a range of topics.
Broadsheets
The broadsheet is the largest of newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages (typically 22 inches or 560 millimetres). The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single folio sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. A single folio sheet means it was a full sheet folded once to form 4 pages and then cut open at the fold.
In Britain, broadsheets became popular after 1712 when the crown placed a tax on newspapers based on the number of their pages. Larger formats had long been signs of status in printed objects and outside Britain the broadsheet developed for other reasons, including style and authority, unrelated to the British tax structure.
Courante
Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. was the first Dutch newspaper. It was published in June 1618 in Amsterdam. It was a regular weekly publication. It can be called the first broadsheet paper, because it was issued in folio-size. Before this, news periodicals had been pamphlets in quarto-size. It was first published in June of 1618. It was probably printed by Joris Veseler and published and edited by Caspar van Hilten.
The Courante was a single folio sheet. The first issues were printed on just one side of the sheet. It also does not have a serial number, a date or a publisher's imprint. The imprint appeared in 1619. The date and serial number as well as the practice of printing on both sides of the sheet started in 1620. The first issue presented news from four sources, including Venice, Cologne, and Prague. This corresponds with the name of the newspaper, which in English means "Current events from Italy, Germany, etc".
Two years after starting the Courante, Vessler printed the first newspaper in English for the publisher Pieter van den Keere. It followed the format of the Courante. After this, English news periodicals reverted to the pamphlet form until 1665 when the Oxford Gazette was published following the style of the Dutch Courante which ended the era of the newsbooks in England.
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