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International Journalist Day is observed every year on November 19. It’s a day that’s celebrated in honor of the memories of those journalists who laid down their lives while performing their duties. Journalists serve as the eyes and ears of the public. They are responsible for providing us with the necessary information we need. It is therefore important to have a day to recognize their efforts. All over the world, journalists face threats to their lives. Some are purposely targeted and murdered because of their work while some are killed in incidents such as bomb explosions. Many governments around the world target journalists for harassment, intimidation, and violence as they cover political stories.
History of International Journalist Day
Journalism dates back to the Han dynasty in China, which made use of regularly published news bulletins. But it was not until the 17th Century that publications reporting the news to the general public in a standardized fashion began to appear. Mass-printing technologies like the printing press were developed and allowed for the establishment of newspapers to provide increasingly literate audiences with the news. The first records of privately-owned newspaper publishers in China date back to the late Ming dynasty in 1582. In Europe, the first newspaper is often recognized as Johann Carolus’s “Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien,” published in 1605 in Strasbourg.
In some regions such as the Roman Empire and the British Empire, journalistic enterprises were started as private ventures. Other countries such as France and Prussia tightly controlled the press, treating it principally as an outlet for government propaganda and subjecting it to consistent censorship. Other governments such as the Russian Empire were even warier of journalists. They effectively outlawed journalistic publications until the mid-19th Century. As newspaper publications became a more established practice over time, publishers increased publication to a weekly or daily rate. Centers of trade such as London, Amsterdam, and Berlin had a heavier concentration of newspapers. Latin America established its first newspapers in the mid- to late 19th Century.
Today, people increasingly consume news digitally through e-readers, smartphones, and other electronic devices. This has led to the decline of traditional media and the reduction of staff in newsrooms. The digital era has also introduced citizen journalism thanks to the internet.