The press has long been the means of spreading news and information throughout the world. The first newspaper of which we have news is the Acta Diurna with which Julius Caesar broadcast important social and political events to the masses around 59 BC. It was used to inform the public about government scandals, ongoing military campaigns, as well as trials and executions. This however was on large white boards. It was not until the 8th century that the first handwritten newspapers appeared in Beijing, China. This was later improved upon by Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. Modern newspapers as we know them today, however, found their origins in Western Europe and carried news about Europe and occasionally America and Asia. These initial newspapers failed to cover local issues. In most cases, English newspapers covered the mistakes of the French army, while French newspapers talked about the scandals surrounding the life of the British royal family. This was mostly due to the censorship that muzzled the media even in the later part of the 17th century when the media attempted to be more liberal. The authorities feared opposition might arise with the information and therefore censored its distribution. This status quo dominated the early periods until 1766, when Sweden became the first country to pass laws protecting the freedom of the press. There was, however, an inherent problem that was derailing the development of the media. The slow transfer of information from the source would make the history of the information by the time it could be printed. This dilemma however was resolved with the invention of the telegraph in 1844. This, with subsequent technological developments, became... half the paper... no wonder the Internet has come to be preferred to printed paper. ReferencesBethelsen, John., 2003. Internet Hacks: Web News Cashes In. Asia Times OnlineCook, T.E., 1998. Governing With the News: The News Media as a Political Institution, University of Chicago PressDʼHaenens, L., Jankowski, N. & Heuvelman , A., 2004. News in online and paper newspapers: differences in consumption and reader recall. New Media and Society, 6(3), p.363-382. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13576582.Reuters., 2011. US surpasses UK in online coverage of royal weddings. Retrieved from: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/218778/technology/us-surpasses-uk-in-online-coverage-of-royal-weddingSmith, Russ., 2008. The Day the Newspaper Died. Retrieved from: http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/the-day-the-newspaper-died