Online etiquette

Newspapers[edit]

Main article: History of newspaper publishing
See also: List of the earliest newspapers and Newspaper production process

Europe[edit]

See also: History of British newspapers
Title page of Johann Carolus' Relation from 1609, the first newspaperJosef Danhauser's portrait Newspaper readers, 1840
The first mechanical, movable type printing that allowed the mass production of printed books was invented by Johann Gutenberg around 1450. In the 50 years after Gutenberg started printing, an estimated 500,000 books were in circulation, printed on about 1,000 presses across the continent. Gutenberg's invention was a simple device, but it launched a revolution marked by repeated advances in technology and, as a result, a popularization of the ideals of liberty and freedom of information exchange.^[9]
The emergence of the new media in the 17th century has to be seen in close connection with the spread of the printing press from which the publishing press derives its name.^[10] The German-language Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, printed from 1605 onwards by Johann Carolus in Strasbourg in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, is often recognized as the first newspaper.^[11][12] The second newspaper, the German Avisa, was published from 1609 in Wolfenbüttel. Both newspapers distinguished themselves from other printed material by being published on a regular basis. They reported on a variety of current events to a broad public audience. Within a few decades, newspapers could be found in all the major cities of Europe, from Venice to London.
The Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. ("Courant from Italy, Germany, etc.") of 1618 was the first to appear in folio- rather than quarto-size. Amsterdam, a center of world trade, quickly became home to newspapers in many languages, often before they were published in their own country.^[13] The first English-language newspaper, Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc., was published in Amsterdam in 1620. In the same year, the Antwerp periodial Nieuwe Tijdinghen^[14] was published by Abraham Verhoeven.^[15] In 1621, Corante, or weekely newes from Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, France and the Low Countreys was published in England by an "N.B." (generally thought to be either Nathaniel Butter or Nicholas Bourne) and Thomas Archer.^[16] The first newspaper in France was published in 1631, La Gazette (originally published as Gazette de France).^[7] The first newspaper in Italy, in accordance with the oldest issue still preserved, was Di Genova published in 1639 in Genoa.^[17] The first newspaper in Portugal, A Gazeta da Restauração, was published in 1641 in Lisbon.^[18] The first Spanish newspaper, Gaceta de Madrid, was published in 1661.