News breaks every day, not once a month and we know that readers like their news fresh, fast and accurate.
The first newspaper was Publick Occurrences. It was published in Boston back in 1690. Today, more than three centuries later, we have more than 1400 dailies in this country, with the two largest The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, which claim circulations exceeding two million each.
The first newspaper provided its readers with news coverage, both foreign and domestic. Today we expect our news to do that and more, therefore our definition of what constitutes the news has expanded over the years.
Most would consider the religious commentary and sermons that used to fill many of the first American newspapers to be out of place—just as they would call inappropriate how crime, scandal, sports, and entertainment is currently covered.
The newspaper is one of our most revered cultural institutions. Journalism history has been one of change and adaptation. Today, with the rise of the Internet, we stand on the brink of another revolution in the delivery of news and information content. 24/7.
The next century may bring changes to the news industry, and perhaps even to our definition of the news itself, as dramatic as those separating Publick Occurrences from The Wall Street Journal, or City Island Images.