Washington, DC – Nearly 350 hundred years ago, readers at London coffeeshops snapped up reports on topics that are still mainstays of today’s presses: international conflicts, natural disasters, crime, and news of the exotic and strange. Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper explores the history of how news was made, shared, printed, distributed, formatted, and debated in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries—a ripe time, as now, for journalists.
“There were few techniques for manipulating the press available today which were not available in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,” explains curator Jason Peacey. “Politicians recognized that, with a wide range of propaganda options at their disposal, their key task was to ensure that they deployed the right one in order to communicate with the right audience at the right time.”
The complex relationship between emerging journalists and the English government—which changed from a monarchy to a commonwealth and back during the period covered by the exhibition—drew attention to the profession and created opportunities for writers to play significant roles in shaping public opinion. Consequently, early reporters earned both accolades and scorn. John Berkenhead attained a knighthood for his journalistic skill, while other writers were derided as “news gabblers.”
“The printing press from the early sixteenth century was a tool which the government both sought to exploit and control,” says curator Chris R. Kyle.
The first newspaper, a European import, arrived in England in 1620. An information-hungry public soon demanded more, and by midcentury, England had become an innovator in news form and content. Newspapers adopted many format conventions still seen today, including print columns, headlines, serialization, and the arrangement of stories by importance rather than chronology. By the turn of the eighteenth century, London had multiple weeklies as well as a daily newspaper.
Exhibition Highlights
Breaking News features a working printing press replica, commissioned for the exhibition, as well as over one hundred books, woodcuts, and other printed materials drawn from the Folger collection. Among its highlights:
- Political material, including an early poll book from a 1710 London election showing a whopping 80% voter turnout.
- Examples of propaganda. The sensational trial and execution of Charles I in 1649 provided ample fodder for pundits and pamphleteers, some of whom produced daily updates for the public.
- The first American newspaper, Boston’s Publick Occurrences, which was shut down after just one issue: some of the paper’s printed remarks attracted the ire of the governor.
- Newsbooks. With eye-catching titles such as “The Ranters Ranting,” and “The Cry and Revenge of Blood”, these small, quickly printed pamphlets of four to forty pages attracted readers with lurid stories detailing murders, natural disasters, sexual deviance, physical abnormalities, and more. These tracts, and their graphic illustrations, showcase the rapid rise of tabloid, as well as professional, journalism during the era.
- Early versions of publications still in print today, like The Tatler, a popular periodical that dished up news, political essays, letters from readers, and character sketches that satirized London “types,” and the London Gazette, a weekly newspaper that has been in continuous publication since 1665.
A printing press replica, acquired from Bucknell University, whose engineering students designed the press, offers viewers a look at the equipment used by early newspaper publishers.
Along with the story of the birth of the newspaper from its arrival in England to early stirrings of American journalism, Breaking News tells the stories of those who wrote, sold, and read the news during this pivotal period.
The exhibition will be on display at the Folger Shakespeare Library from September 25, 2008 to January 31, 2009.
Folger Shakespeare Library is a world-class center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts. It is home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period (1500–1750). Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; an innovator in the preservation of rare materials; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K–12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs—theater, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs. By promoting understanding of Shakespeare and his world, Folger Shakespeare Library reminds us of the enduring influence of his works, the formative effects of the Renaissance on our own time, and the power of the written and spoken word. A gift to the American people from industrialist Henry Clay Folger, the Folger Shakespeare Library—located one block east of the U.S. Capitol—opened in 1932. Learn more at www.folger.edu
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