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          Newspapers. I don’t like them. I hardly read them. I don’t subscribe to none of them. So, when I found out this week’s reading would consist of the rise and fall of newspapers, I cringed a little. When I sat down to read this chapter, I expected it to be painfully mind- numbing, but to my surprise it was not. Although, there were times when the information spewing out from the text felt a bit lengthy and redundant (particularly the listings of topics newspapers put in their papers). A few things sparked my interest while I was reading this certain chapter. First, I did not know that Julius Caesar developed a somewhat newspaper entitled, Acta Diurna. I guess I missed that information in my social studies class. Second, I did not know that the first newspaper, developed by Benjamin Harris, was the last newspaper. It’s a shame it was banned after one issue, maybe the title Publick Occurences, Both Foreign and Domestick, was just too long to read and did not sound very patriotic. Or could it be the fact that, “having a negative tone regarding British rule,” did not help Harris’s newspaper in the long run. Third, I saw the irony of how the New York World, bought by Joseph Pulitzer, and the New York Journal, bought by William Randolph Hearst would compete against each other even though Albert (Pulitzer’s brother) founded the New York Journal. If this chapter has taught me anything, it has shown me that the newspaper business is a dirty, backstabbing industry that would do just about anything to stay on top. It seems as though newspapers went from being partisan “just stating facts”, to being interpretive, to eventually being mostly about displaying as many advertisements as it possibly can. Now what does that say about today’s American society?

            It’s no secret that newspapers are struggling, but books seem to withstand the hands of time. From the papyrus of Ancient Egypt to Amazon.com, no matter what form/medium writing takes place in, people will read! Books are here to stay.