Journalism of early modern Europe
In the early modern period of Europe (1500–1700), journalism originally consisted of handwritten newsletters used to convey political, military, and economic news quickly and efficiently throughout the continent.
These were the growing local publishing industry, an Italian culture that encouraged the recording of private and public events, the relatively high literacy and education of the aristocracy that produced and consumed print, and the participation in European political and commercial correspondence networks by Venetians as a necessity of trade.
[3] In fact, Venice's print industry was so large that its 150 presses by the end of the 16th century more than double its closest rival (Paris), and accounted for between one seventh and one eighth of the European output in that period.
[1] Germany and the Spanish Netherlands followed a similar process to Italy later on in the century, with Antwerp and Cologne emerging as significant producers of news sheets, in their case called Zeitungen.
Roman avvisi contained ecclesiastical, political, and criminal intrigue, taking advantage of opposing factions willing to divulge state secrets or official gossip for their own benefit.
[1] Government and church officials realized the powerful tools of communication the avvisi represented and Venice began publishing its own (named foglie di notizie, or news sheets) sometime around 1563.
Such was their importance that while preparing to lay siege to Calais, a Tuscan commander wrote to a court official stationed in Brussels "I remind you again about the attachments [of avvisi] and I await the gazettes and will accept no excuse.
[4] In response to unreliable reports, methods to compare and verify news were developed, such as overlapping coverage by sources and the consultation of many merchants when information was vague.
[4] Intercity traffic would be blocked as a quarantine measure, and therefore the lack of or late arrival of news from a certain city or area allowed governments to plan responses in advance.
[1] Reporters had networks of contacts filtering information from legislative bodies such as the Venetian senates or the Papal consistory; chancelleries; churches; foreign embassies; important households; and less formal environments such as shops, town squares, and market places.
[4][5] The Mediceo del Principato, the archive of Medici court letters, includes creations from London and Constantinople in its over 100 volumes of avvisi, while the Fuggerzeitungen contains sheets originating in 88 different places.
[4] Early attempts at censorship were made by both Pope Pius V and the Council of Ten in the late 1500s, which both limited production of hand-written avvisi and forbade "disclosure of information".
The regular publishing schedule and public reading of these news sheets display a complex and active intellectual and cultural life in European courts and major cities through which the novel printing technology could rapidly spread and be adopted.
[3] Avvisi were also an important contributor in the creation of Grand Duchy of Tuscany's early postal service under the Medici, as the court put a heavy interest in acquiring the political intrigue they contained.
