Evolution of news writing in the world or short note on the news making and its evolution

HISTORY OF WRITING/SYMBOLS

Two problems had to be solved before a system of writing was invented. The first had to do with what symbols were to be used to represent spoken sounds or ideas and the second with what surface the symbols should be written on.

Sign Writing Versus Phonetic Writing :

The first problem was solved when early symbol system called a sign writing was used in which each symbol was based on a picture that resembled the thing it stood for. Thus, a circle with wavy lines radiating from it might stand for the Sun, while a series of wavy lines stocked on top of each other stands for water.

Early Writing :

One early form of symbol style writing developed in Sumeria (Present day Iraq) about 3500 BC. A second, more familiar example developed in Egypt a few hundred years later and came to be known as hieroglyphics. The most durable form of sign writing blossomed in China about 2000-1500 BC. This method required learning thousands of different pictographs that represented various objects and actions.

Alphabet Letters :

The second type of writing system was based more on sound signs. A group of letters, called an alphabet, was used to symbolize each of the sounds that make up a word. The Phoenicians are generally credited with having developed that alphabet that I am using to write this sentence. The Phoenicians to Greek were sea traders, and their invention gradually spread across the Mediterranean to Greece, where a standard alphabet of 24 letters was constructed.

First Written Poem :

First epic poem of Homer was put into written form about 800 BC. Later, the Romans modified the Greek alphabet into the 26 letters that are now standard in English. The alphabet was a more efficient way of writing then the pictographs used by the Egyptians and Chinese.

Example : For example, a computer keyboard with 47 keys can easily write any sentence in English complete with numbers and all punctuation marks. To do the same in the Chinese pictograph system, it would required about 9,000 keys. Eventually, even the pictographs used by the Egyptians evolved into an alphabet based on sounds.

News and its Evolution :

Basically, it is human nature that man wants to be informed with its whereabouts. He always likes adventurous environment to be informed about others. When there was no written pattern, people used signs and symbols to convey their point of views to one another, with the increase in population, human necessities also increased, so men face experiences of traveling from one place to the other.

Early Civilizations and Communication :

News or journalism is as old as human history. If we go through the history of ancient civilizations, we find that the kings of early ages felt it necessary to keep themselves aware of current affairs. This was the beginning of journalism.

The papyrus scripts are an evidence of this. Some of these scripts, which consists in Pharoah’s edicts, include instructions that they must be fixed at the gate of worship place. In addition to this, Hammurabi code also indicates the value of mass contact through mass communication as much as possible.

Roman and News Circulation :

In the 751 BC, the Roman Emperor used to circulate an handout amongst the laity which contains news regarding public interests. This circular was known as "Acta Diurna” which means daily progress.

Journalism in Modern Ages :

The journalism in the modern sense is not so old. In 1566 AD, it was in vogue in the city of Venice that the news were read out loudly in a public gathering from a mitten script. The people who gathered there to listen the news had to pay on gazette. The word gazette was derived from gazette afterwards. It was common in England in sixteenth century that a handout was to be issued from the government which contained the news of public interest. This written script was known as News Sheet.

First Written Newspaper :

First written newspaper was issued in Germany in 1609 AD. In 1961 A.D., it was initiated in England. This was called as News from Spain. Critically speaking, one could not call it as a newspaper. We would name “weekly” edited by Nathaniel Buttler in 1620 from England, as the first regular newspaper published in England. This was the beginning of modern journalism.