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By Betty Graham


The inquisitive nature of man cannot be overestimated. This creature of skin and bones always has the knack of asking question with regard to the surrounding and occurrences in other areas. Never is this creature satisfied when answers are not to be found. Knowing events in and around the environment is a major concern for various reasons. Somehow in a way it helps the creature in deciding what course of action to take based on this knowledge. It is what people call news. People living in the Middle East listen to broadcasts from the Daily Arab News.

In ancient times the flow was information was very slow and this was often done by mouth. Events in other places took a very long time before it reached other places. Runners were dispatched to other places to get stories of what was happening in other areas. Imagine the physical toll it took on the body of runners just to get it.

It was in Arabia that this animal was first domesticated. This phenomenal animal is a marvel of nature. This is the horse. With it distances were travelled in shorter time as the speed by which this animal move is exponentially higher than that of man. Riding on the animal made info gatherers and spreaders do more in less time. But still information was passed orally.

Spoken words can often be distorted depending on the person speaking it. Perception of events that happen also influences the person seeing it. This leads to opinionated version as it is shared with other people. Inaccuracies may or may not be sometime intentional. The modern game of message relay is a good example of this. A phrase is given to person and is relayed from one to another. The last person almost always will say a different phrase from original one.

The invention of parchment made of papyrus changed the way information was gathered. Instead of spoken words, it transformed into written words as man learned how to write. Papyrus was a medium that was delicate and easily decayed. Pulp form wood was the next step as man created paper out of it. Writing implements were also invented.

Juices from trees eventually was tapped and in combination with minute pieces of wood turned into paper. This easy to produce material became a medium for writing for centuries even up to this day. It is light and durable. It can be folded or rolled. Together with the four legged creature and the biped known as man, it help spread stories along the breadth and width of a community and across borders.

Texts were written by hand then as is still today in most cases. Reproducing written word was done by hand. Copies had to be rewritten manually. This process was very tiresome. It also required many warm bodies. Still this assisted in spreading of event stories from the north, east, west, and south.

It was in the renaissance period that a man invented the printing press. This was a contraption that made use of wooden blocks carved with letters and arranged to form words. This was dipped or smeared with ink and brought into contact with paper. The transfer method made it possible to print group of words over and over again with less effort. This gave birth to newspapers.

The telegraph using Morse code greeted the industrial age. Next to come along was the telephone. Both helped in spreading information from one nation to another nation. New technology emerged by way of radio after the First World War. People ears were glued to radio set listening to broadcasts. After the Second World War television was invented. This time it was no longer the ear that was engage but also the eyes. Contemporary times now have information provided through various media.




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