A newspaper is a periodical publication that covers a range of topics, provides up-to-date information, and is reasonably accessible to the general public. It is a European invention, although an early precursor dates to at least 713 CE in Imperial China. The oldest direct handwritten news sheets circulated widely in Venice as early as 1566. These weekly news sheets contained information on wars and politics in Italy and in Europe generally. The first printed newspapers were published weekly in Germany from 1605. Typically, they were censored by governments, especially in France, and reported mostly foreign news and current prices. After the English government relaxed censorship in 1695, newspapers flourished in London and a few other cities, including Boston and Philadelphia. By the 1830s, high-speed presses could print thousands of papers cheaply, allowing low daily costs.

16th century to 1800 Avvisi, or , were a mid-16th-century Venice phenomenon. Issued weekly on single sheets and folded to form four pages, these publications reached a larger audience than handwritten news had in early Rome. Their format and appearance at regular intervals were two huge influences on the newspaper as we know it today. The idea of a weekly, handwritten newssheet went from Italy to Germany and then to Holland.Jerilyn McIntyre, "The 'Avvisi' of Venice: Toward an Archaeology of Media Forms." Journalism History 14#2 (1987): 68+

First newspapers

The "periodical publication of news" developed as a distinct industry in early-17th century Europe, and the English-language term "newspaper" came into use by 1667. However, in Germany, publications that resemble newspaper publications appeared as early as the 16th century. They were discernibly newspapers for the following reasons: they were printed, dated, appeared at regular and frequent publication-intervals, and included a variety of news items (unlike single-item news mentioned above). Early forms of news periodicals were the so-called ("trade fair reports") compiled twice a year for the large annual book-fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig, starting in the 1580s. Nevertheless, the German-language , printed from 1605 onwards by Johann Carolus in Strasbourg, is often accepted as the first newspaper.The World Association of Newspapers regarded this as the "first newspaper in print": The emergence of the new media branch stemmed from the spread of the printing press (mid-15th century onwards), from which the publishing press derives its name. Historian Johannes Weber writes: "At the same time, then, as the printing press in the physical, technological sense was invented, 'the press' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage."Johannes Weber, "Strassburg, 1605: The origins of the newspaper in Europe". German History 24#3 (2006) pp. 387–412.

Other early papers include the Dutch , founded by Caspar van Hilten in 1618. This Amsterdam-based newspaper was the first periodical to appear in folio- rather than quarto-size.Stephens, Mitchell, NYU.edu , "History of Newspapers", Collier's EncyclopediaZdenek Simeček, "The first Brussels, Antwerp and Amsterdam newspapers: additional information". Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire (1972) 50#4 pp: 1098–1115. As a center of world trade, Amsterdam quickly became home to many foreign-language newspapers originally styled in much the same way as Van Hilten's publication, and sometimes having a similar name in the tradition of proto-newspaper corantos.

In 1618, the (Weekly news from many places) began to appear in Danzig (present-day Gdańsk) (the oldest newspaper in Prussia and the region of the Baltic Sea). Despite the title, it appeared irregularly, sometimes even three times a week.

The first English-language newspaper, Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc., was published in Amsterdam in 1620. A year and a half later, was published in England by an "N.B." (generally thought to be either Nathaniel Butter or Nicholas Bourne) and by Thomas Archer.BL.uk , Concise History of the British Newspaper in the 17th century

The first newspaper in France, La Gazette, originally appeared as Gazette de France from 1631.Wan-Press.org , A Newspaper Timeline, World Association of Newspapers

The first newspaper in Portugal, (or ), was published in 1641 in Lisbon. The first Spanish newspaper, , appeared in 1661.

(founded as ) began publication in Sweden in 1645; it remains the oldest newspaper still in existence, though it now publishes solely online.Oldest newspapers still in circulation , World Association of Newspapers

was published in Kraków, Poland in 1661.

The first successful English daily, The Daily Courant, appeared from 1702 to 1735. Its first editor (for 10 days in March 1702) was Elizabeth Mallet, who for years had operated her late husband's printing establishment.Bob Clarke, From Grub Street to Fleet Street: An Illustrated History of English Newspapers to 1899 (Ashgate, 2004.Margaret Hunt, "Hawkers, Bawlers, and Mercuries: Women and the London Press in the Early Enlightenment." Women & History (1984) 3#9 pp: 41–68.Ian Maxted, 'Mallet, Elizabeth (fl. 1672–1706)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) accessed 27 May 2015

Early published news was highly selective of reported events and often propagandistic. Readers eagerly devoured sensationalism, such as accounts of magic, public executions and disasters; this material did not pose a threat to the authorities, because it did not pose criticism of the state.

German states Although moveable type printing was invented in China, Germany (at the time the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) was the first European country to independently invent it, and the world's first newspapers were produced in the German states.

The 16th-century German financialist, Fugger, not only received business news from his correspondents, but also sensationalist and gossip news as well; it is evident in the correspondence of Fugger with his network that fiction and fact were both significant parts of early news publications. 16th century Germany also saw subscription-based, handwritten news. Those who subscribed to these publications were generally low-level government officials and also merchants. They could not afford other types of news publications, but had enough money to pay for a subscription, which was still expensive for the time.Mark Häberlein, The Fuggers of Augsburg: Pursuing Wealth and Honor in Renaissance Germany (2012)

In the 16th and 17th century, there appeared numerous printed news sheets summarizing accounts of battles, treaties, the king, epidemics, and special events. In 1605, Johann Carolus published the first regular newspaper in Straßburg, comprising brief news bulletins. The world's first daily newspaper appeared in 1650 in Leipzig. Later, Prussia increasingly became the largest and most dominant of the German states, but their newspapers were kept under tight control. Advertising was forbidden, and budgets were very small.Kenneth E. Olson, The History Makers: The Press of Europe from its Beginnings through 1965 (1967) pp. 99–134

Italy The first Italian gazettes appeared in the first half of the 17th century. Scholars suppose that the first newspaper printed in Italy was edited in Florence in 1636 by Amador Massi and Lorenzo Landi, but no issue was discovered to confirm that conjecture. The first Italian printed newspaper, Genova, was published in Genoa from 1639 to 1646. The issue dated 29 July 1639 is the oldest issue still in existence of a newspaper printed in Italy. Similar newspapers were published in Rome (1640), Milan and Bologna (Milano and Bologna, 1642), Torino (1645) and others. These newspapers - mainly four-page weeklies - had no special titles, the first page contained only the date and place of edition (with the only exceptions of Genoa Il Sincero edited by Luca Assarino and Gazetta edited by Castelli brothers). By the late 17th century, newspapers in the Papal States had become increasingly widespread, with nearly every town establishing its own local publication to meet the growing demand for news and information.

The first Italian literary magazines began appearing in the second half of the 17th century. The Giornale de' Letterati was published in Rome from 1668 to 1683, the Giornale veneto de' letterati in Venice during the years 1671–80 and 1687–90, and the Giornale de' letterati in Parma from 1686 to 1690 and in Modena from 1692 to 1697. In the 18th century, the Enlightenment culture of the North produced a significant number of journals edited by such well-known writers as Francesco Scipione Maffei (Osservazioni letterarie, Verona, 1737–1740), Giuseppe Baretti (La Frusta letteraria, Venice and Ancona, 1763–1765) and Girolamo Tiraboschi (Nuovo giornale de' letterati d'Italia, Modena, 1773–90). The more important reviews of the period, Gasparo Gozzi's Gazzetta veneta (1760–1762) and Pietro and Alessandro Verri's Il Caffè (1764–1766), were less literary and more socio-political in outlook.

Dutch Republic One of the most distinctive features of Dutch 'corantos' is their format. It was in corantos that the highly illustrated German title page was replaced with a heading on the upper first page of the publication: the masthead, common in today's periodicals. In line with this more sober page layout, corantos show an optimal use of space for text. Dutch corantos had two text columns, which covered almost the whole page, unlike the previous German papers, which adopted a single text column with book-like margins. The more economical use of space is also reflected in the minimal indications of paragraphs and the absence of completely blank lines. Different messages were only highlighted with a heading in a slightly bigger type, which usually included the city or country from which the news had come down to the publisher. Another feature of the format of corantos was their size: they were the first newspapers to be issued in folio, instead of halfsheet.Ivan Benson, "New Light on Early Dutch, French and English Journalism." Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 18.1 (1941): 21+ Another example of a coranto in this format, besides the Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c., is the Opregte Haarlemsche Courant. This Haarlem-based newspaper was first published in 1656 by Abraham Casteleyn and his wife Margaretha van Bancken, and still exists today, albeit in a tabloid format, rather than in the original folio.

British newspapers

On 7 November 1665, The London Gazette (at first called The Oxford Gazette) began publication. It decisively changed the look of English news printing, echoing the coranto format of two columns, a clear title, and a clear date. It was published twice a week. Other English papers started to publish three times a week, and later the first daily papers emerged.Matthias A. Shaaber, "The History of the First English Newspaper." Studies in Philology 29.4 (1932): 551–587.

The newspapers typically included short articles, ephemeral topics, some illustrations and service articles (classifieds). They were often written by multiple authors, although the authors' identities were often obscured. They began to contain some advertisements, and they did not yet include sections. Mass market papers emerged, including Sunday papers for workers to read in their leisure time. The Times adopted new technologies and set the standards for other newspapers. This newspaper covered major wars, among other major events.

North America

In Boston in 1690, Benjamin Harris published Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick. This is considered the first newspaper in the American colonies even though only one edition was published before the paper was suppressed by the colonial officials, possibly due to censorship and control issues. It followed the two-column format and was a single sheet, printed on both sides.