Read All About It! A History of the British Newspaper

This Text-book traces the evolution of the newspaper, documenting its changing form, style and content as well as identifying the different roles ascribed to it by audiences, government and other social institutions. Starting with the early 17th century, when the first prototype newspapers emerged, through Dr Johnson, the growth of the radical press in the early 19th century, the Lord Northcliffe revolution in the early 20th century, the newspapers wars of the 1930s and the rise of the tabloid in the 1970s, right up to Rupert Murdoch and the online revolution,the bookexplores the impact of the newspapers on our lives and its role in British society. Using lively and entertaining examples, Kevin Williams illustrates the changing form of the newspaper in its social, political, economic and cultural context. As well as telling the story of the newspaper, he explores key topics in detail, making this an ideal text for students of journalism and the British newspaper. Issues include: newspapers and social change the changing face of regional newspapers the impact of new technology development of reporting techniques forms of press regulation

Introduction: News, Newspapers and Society 1. Spreading the Word: the Pre-history of Newspapers 1486-1660 2. Newspapers for the Few: Politics, the Press and Partisanship 1660-1789 3. Knowledge and Power: the Radical Newspaper 1789-1850 4. Transition to Democracy: the Press as 'the Fourth Estate' 1850-1890 5. The Northcliffe Revolution: the Rise of the Commercial Newspaper 1890-1922 6. Newspaper Wars: the Press in the Inter War Years 1922-1939 7. War, Social Change and Reconstruction: Newspapers at War and Peace 1939-1967 8. The Land of the Rising Sun: the Emergence of the Tabloid Newspaper 1967-1989 9. The Long Goodbye: the Newspaper and Technological Change 1989-present

Kevin Williams is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Swansea University. He is author of Get Me a Murder a Day! A History of Mass Communication in Britain (1998), Understanding Media Theory (2003) and European Media Studies (2005).