Results: The History of News and Communication * Part Ten * The History of British newspapers dates to the 17th century with the emergence of regular publications covering news and gossip.

The British press made its debut—an inauspicious one—in the early 17th century. News coverage was restricted to foreign affairs for a long time. As it developed, the British press would remain principally a national one centred on Fleet Street in London. After 1691, improvements in the postal system made daily publication practical, the first attempt at doing so being the single-sheet Daily Courant (1702–35), which consisted largely of extracts from foreign corantos. A more radical departure was the triweekly Review (1704–13), produced by Daniel Defoe, in which the writer's opinion on current political topics was given, introducing the editorial, or leading article. Which books of Daniel Defoe have you read?

New technology influenced newspapers both directly, through the revolution in printing techniques, and indirectly, through the rapid developments in transport and communications. In printing technology, necessity determined invention when the demand for newspapers exceeded the few thousand weekly copies required of the most popular titles. In 1814, the steam-driven "double-press" was introduced at The Times in London, allowing an output of 5,000 copies per hour. The higher output was a contributing factor in the rise of The Times's circulation from 5,000 to 50,000 by the middle of the century. Do you subscribe to any Newspapers?

On December 2, 1766, the Swedish parliament passed legislation that is now recognized as the world's first law supporting the freedom of the press and freedom of information. Narrowly, the Freedom of the Press Act abolished the Swedish government's role as a censor of printed matter, and it allowed for the official activities of the government to be made public. More broadly, the law codified the principle—which has since become a cornerstone of democracies throughout the world—that individual citizens of a state should be able to express and disseminate information without fear of reprisal. Did you know that Sweden was the first country in the world to establish Freedom of the Press?

Before there were photographers, there were illustrators. They followed the Press and quickly sketched the events and celebrities of that time. These images had to be etched in metal, or carved in wooden blocks to be printed. In Part Eleven we will review the Illustrators and the process to ad images to books, pamphlets and newspapers. Have you ever carved a wooden block to print an image?