A Brief History of Journalism and the News
In the very early, early days, the news was spread from person to person via word of mouth. During the Roman Empire, governments had transferred written accounts, through people, long distances. It was like this for some time, until 1456, with the invention of the printing press (thanks to Johannes Gutenberg). From here, the very beginnings of the dispersion of information were transmitted to the masses.
Newspapers began to rotate in the 17th century, in fact, the very first newspaper in Britain was printed in 1665. These were infrequent, only published on occasion, until 1780 when the first Sunday newspaper, named the British Gazette and Sunday Monitor was published.
Newspapers became more common in the late 19th century. Fast forward to the golden age (or the Roaring Twenties as it’s known in the US), the 1920s, early developments in news media began to arise as the standards of Professional Journalism created and then adopted.
At this time, Fleet Street was the centre of the British newspaper industry. However, as computer technology advanced, replacing the old laborious and intensive methods of printing, newspaper owners gradually moved away from Fleet Street and set up business in local towns and cities. Giving you the modern newspapers you know today, such as The Mail (available on Sundays only) published in 1982, Today, the first newspaper to be printed in colour and in 1999, Metro, the first free newspaper available to commuters.
So what’s new with Family Wise?
In the last couple of months, there’s been lots going on, which isn’t exactly new! Here’s an update on our ‘newest’ news. Get reading!
Calne Duck Race
For those of you who aren’t local to Calne or it’s surrounding villages, every year in May a Duck Race is held in the centre of town, where local business and schools get together to take part in racing their own duck (a pretend one of course)! This year, competing for FWL we have our Mimi!
International Family History Research
If you have been keeping up with our adventures overseas, you may know about FWL exhibiting at RootsTech. We held a competition during our time there and our five lucky winners got the opportunity to win $700 of free UK research! So, as you can imagine, it’s been busy and also an exciting few weeks as we’ve been putting the pieces of their family history puzzle together!
Team Expansion
We’re seeing rapid growth here at FWL, and it is fantastic to have so many great team members on board. How time flies!
