Daily Courant
The Daily Courant was one of the world's first regular daily newspapers, commencing in 1702 from premises in Fleet Street.
It was first published on 11 March 1702 by Edward Mallet from his premises "against the Ditch at Fleet Bridge".[1] The paper lasted until 1735 when it was merged with the Daily Gazetteer.[2]
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[edit] Description
The paper consisted of a single page with two columns. Mallet advertised that he intended to publish only foreign news and would not add any comments of his own, supposing other people to have "sense enough to make reflections for themselves."[3]
[edit] Change of owner
Mallet soon sold the paper to Samuel Buckley, who moved it to premises in the area of Little Britain known as "the sign of the Dolphin". Buckley later became the printer of The Spectator.[1]
[edit] Dispute
Despite the claim from some British historians as to the Courant being the first daily newspaper ever published [4], the German-language Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, printed from 1605 onwards by Johann Carolus in Strasbourg, is most often recognized as the first newspaper.[5][6].
Other newspapers older than the Daily Courant were the first newspaper of modern Germany, the Avisa, published in 1609 in Wolfenbüttel or the Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. ('Courant from Italy, Germany, etc.') of 1618 [7]
The Norwich Post is also believed to have been published on an earlier date, in 1701.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b The Daily Courant - Everything2.com
- ^ Andrews, Alexander. The History of British Journalism. vol. 1, New York: Adamant Media, 2000, p. 101.
- ^ What's The News;The Age Of Addison
- ^ Silk Tork (19 January 2006). "PUB CRAWLS OF LONDON PART TWO: FLEET STREET". Drinking in the Street. ratebeer. http://www.ratebeer.com/Story.asp?StoryID=577. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ^ "Weber, Johannes: Straßburg 1605: Die Geburt der Zeitung, in: Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte, Vol. 7 (2005), S. 3–27" (in German). http://www.uni-leipzig.de/%7Ehsk/pgs/jahrbuch/2005/Weber_Strassburg1605.pdf.[dead link]
- ^ World Association of Newspapers: "Newspapers: 400 Years Young!"
- ^ Stephens, Mitchell, NYU.edu, "History of Newspapers", Collier's Encyclopedia
- ^ Speech by HRH The Prince of Wales titled The Role of Britain's Newspapers to mark the 300th anniversary of Fleet Street newspapers, St Bride's Church, London (11 March 2002)
