The document summarizes the history of newspapers from ancient times to modern day. It discusses some of the earliest newspapers like the Acta Diurna in ancient Rome and the Ti Pao in ancient China. It then focuses on the development of two specific newspapers - Florida Today and USA Today. Florida Today was launched in 1966 near NASA headquarters in Florida and tested features that would later be used in USA Today, launched in 1982. USA Today had a unique brief, easy to read format that appealed to busy readers and helped increase newspaper readership.

1. The Newspaper
Presented By: Elizabeth Hennen & Erica George

2. Historical Overview of Newspapers
● Earliest Recorded Newspaper:
The Acta Diurna

3. The Acta Diurna
◆ Translation: (“Daily Events”) in Latin
● Considered the forerunner of newspapers
◆ Location/Time Period: Ancient Rome around 59 B.C.
◆ Launched by: Julius Caesar
◆ Purpose: to keep the empire informed
◆ Characteristics: daily newsletters carved on stone or metal & posted in public
places around Rome
● With only one newsletter/day created, it was up to the readers to recopy the information by
hand and distribute it

4. The Acta Diurna (cont’d)
◆ Content: summary of current events such as:
○ Law reports, human interest stories, holidays, religious festivals, and announcements of
important births, deaths, marriages and divorces
◆ Wealthy citizens: sent scribes to the forum with a stylus and a wax tablet to
jot down items of interest from the newsletter
● News items could then be copied onto papyrus rolls and sent to friends
outside the city
○ → This medium relied heavily on social distribution to reach a wide audience

5. The Acta Diurna (cont’d)
◆
Wax tablet
used for
copying
information

6. Historical Overview of Newspapers
● The First Printed Newspaper:
The Ti Pao (Dibao)
◆
➔

7. The Ti Pao
● Translation: (“Reports from official residents”)
○ Also known as “palace reports” or “imperial bulletins”
● Location/Time Period: Ancient China
○ Sometime between Han Dynasty (206 BCE--220 CE) and Tang Dynasty (618--907 CE)
● Launched by: government officials
● Purpose: to inform the aristocracy on court politics and gov’t affairs
● How It Was Printed: wooden blocks

8. The Ti Pao (cont’d)
●
Wood block
Chinese used
for printing

9. Fugger Newsletter
● Handwritten newsletter in Europe during 16th century
● Commercial-based
● Post-newsletter Developments:
○ Postal Systems
○ News periodicals
■ Broadsides
■ Newsbooks

10. Corantos
● Weekly basis in early 17th century
● Post masters = reporters for them
● Small press runs on “safe” foreign news
○ Thirty Years Wars stimulated interest in reading Corantos

11. Daily Newspapers
● First English Daily -
○ Samuel Buckley’s (Elizabeth Mallet) Daily Courant (1702)
● By 1750, London has multiple daily, weekly newspapers
● 10 readers per copy sold

14. Florida Today Newspaper History
● Date Invented/Location: March 21, 1966 near NASA headquarters in FL.
● Created By: The Gannett Company
○ Was the company’s first newspaper
○ Originally dubbed as “Florida’s Space Age Newspaper.”
○ Eventually redesigned to emphasize state and local news
● Primary Audience: Major daily newspaper serving Brevard County
● Circulation: 42,634 (Daily) & 80,656 (Sunday)
○ 1st two weeks of newspapers life - delivered papers at no cost to all residences in Brevard County
○ 1st newspaper to win the National Newspaper Association general excellence award for 2
consecutive years

15. Florida Today Costs: Then and Now
● Then: free - 20 cents (varies depending on newspaper)
● Today:
○ Main edition: $1.25/issue
○ Sunday edition: $3.50/issue
■ Home Delivery Subscription: ($6.89--$12.89/mo)
● Includes print edition, e-newsletter edition, 24/7 website access, all smartphone/tablet
apps
■ Online Subscription: ($19/year)
● Includes e-newsletter edition, 24/7 website access, all smartphone/tablet apps

16. The Significance of Florida Today
● Tested several distinguishing features that would eventually appear in the
company’s most successful national newspaper--the USA Today:
○ Clearly organized format
○ Page-one-left-column summary of the day’s news
○ Heavy use of color
○ Tons of photographs
○ Detailed weather reports

17. Background of USA Today
● Date Invented/Location: September 15, 1982
● Created By: Al Neuharth of the Gannett Company
● Targeted Audience: “news-in-a-nutshell” people
○ People that don’t want to spend a lot of time reading, but who want to know the headlines
● Costs Per Issue Then/Now: 60 cents ; $2
● Print subscription cost: ($25--$225)
● Online subscription cost: ($9.99--$99)
● Circulation: 978,037
○ Tied with the other 2 leading newspapers in nation: Wall Street Journal & NY Times
● # of Mobile App Downloads: 22 million+

18. The Significance of the USA Today:
How Was It Different From Other Newspapers?
● Provided more news about more subjects in less time
● Content Features:
○ Loaded with color
○ Brief and easy-to-read stories
○ Many graphics and charts
○ Detailed report on sports, TV, weather
○ Summarized news every day from every state
● These features captured most important points of a story

19. USA Today : Then (1982) & Now
Then Now Then Now

20. Impact of Newspapers on Mass
Communication
● Increased literacy rates
● Spread news faster and to a larger audience
● Fostered sociability
● Created newspaper syndicates (newspapers that agree to share same stories)

21. Sources:
● http://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/Newspaper-publishing#toc28656
● http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/13/books/books-of-the-times-news-from-acta-diurna-to-modern-media.ht
ml
● http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-standage/the-forgotten-history-of-_b_4101330.html
● http://www.floridatoday.com/news/
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Today
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibao_(ancient_Chinese_gazette)#cite_ref-if30_2-0
● https://gannett.investorhq.businesswire.com/sites/gannett.investorhq.businesswire.com/files/doc_library/file
/105721-Annual_Report.pdf
● https://books.google.com/books?id=QDaax4mFMpcC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=Did+the+Gannett+Cor
poration+use+the+Florida+Today+newspaper+to+develop+USA+Today&source=bl&ots=siT7b8ts3c&sig=I
Lv7cWZO5M00MyG2erOvFyIBoAQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjs99qSz6rMAhXpvoMKHb6BAl8Q6A
EIWjAJ#v=onepage&q=Did%20the%20Gannett%20Corporation%20use%20the%20Florida%20Today%20
newspaper%20to%20develop%20USA%20Today&f=false