NEWSPAPER: POWER OR MIRROR?

In Azerbaijan, 22 July is celebrated as National Press Day. The first newspaper in the Azerbaijani language "Akinci" ("Farmer") was published exactly 135 years ago - on 22 July 1875. It was founded by prominent Azerbaijani educator Hasan bay Zardabi. National Press Day was first celebrated after Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991. Nowadays, celebrations are held every year on 22 July. This year, under President Ilham Aliyev's decree to celebrate the 135th anniversary of Azerbaijani journalism, they will begin in Zardab District, the homeland of Hasan bay Zardabi, founder of Azerbaijani journalism, and will take place in every region. Ahead of this remarkable date, many professional journalists of long experience will be given awards by the state and the Press Council.

Before this day was celebrated in our country and around the world, the press had undergone a very long gestation. People have always longed to learn and share news. So, if we go back a few centuries, we will see that long before the appearance of writing, people shared news orally. They learnt news in the marketplace and during conversations around a fire... In those times, heralds convened people at central squares in towns and cities, read out decrees by kings and gave them news from neighbouring states and battlefields. Travelling to populated areas, they spread information about the births and deaths of celebrities, top marriages and divorces.

News forum

In ancient Rome from 59-222, daily news was spread through the population at forums (central squares) in the form of hand-written leaflets. People were thus briefed on political developments, legal debates, scandals, military campaigns and assassinations. The rulers of ancient China published news leaflets. During the rule of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), such leaflets, called "tipao", were handed out to officials. And under the Tang Dynasty (618-906), these leaflets were already being printed. In the middle of the 15th century, after the German Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press, news began to spread via the press in Europe. Christopher Columbus' letter about his geographical discoveries was printed in Barcelona on such a machine and was published ahead of his return in April 1493.

History has brought us the names of the first hand-written newspapers. They were "Acta Diurna" ("The events of the day" in Latin) in ancient Rome and the Ching Pao ("Capital News") in ancient China. The precursors of the first newspapers were handwritten newspapers that appeared in Venice - Europe's major economic and financial centre in the second half of the 16th century. It was here that the word "gazeta" first appeared - from the name of the small Venetian coin "gazzetta" that readers paid for these periodicals, consisting of two or more sheets. They provided timely information on developments in Italy and far beyond its borders and carried illustrations and advertisements. In Venice, handwritten newspapers were called "Avisi" - information, message. From 1566, they were issued once a week. Brief information on developments in a particular city was placed under a subheading with the date of dispatch. Later, this was the practice in other printed papers. These newspapers spread rapidly to several European cities - Basel (1610), Berlin (1617), Frankfurt and Vienna (1615), Hamburg (1616) and Amsterdam. The first printed newspaper in England - "Corante, or weekely newes from Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, France and the Low Countreys" was published on 24 September 1621. France began to publish its first newspaper - Gazette de France - from 1631. In Italy, the first weekly newspaper was published in 1639, and in Spain - in 1641.

In the first newspapers, news was published without being edited - in the form in which it reached the publisher. Reports of bloody battles in the Thirty Years' War were presented under the headings "Vienna", "Frankfurt", "Prague" and under other cities. These reports arrived at an English printing house in the form of personal letters or short newspaper materials. One edition under the same date reported the encirclement and seizure of a certain city. The first attempts to edit incoming messages in order to give them an appropriate appearance were also made in London. The first newspapers reported news from all over Europe, sometimes even from America and Asia, avoiding reports from their own country. Printing houses were under increased control, and in many countries, it was even necessary to obtain a state licence...

"... They beheaded the king"

The ruling circles in Europe did not pay special attention to the publication of newspapers, because they did not allocate space for discussion about local and national issues and events. The situation changed, dramatically, several years before the civil war in England. As soon as the parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, began a struggle against Charles I, local news suddenly acquired special significance. The weakening of royal authority granted newspapers freedom of speech, and they began to discuss current problems in the country. They were the first harbingers of an independent press free from state control. In 1620, as well as covering political news, English newspapers began to use headlines and ads and to decorate articles with engravings, for the first time in the world. In order to get news, they began to hire women interested in everyone and everything, while children selling newspapers appeared on the streets. Thus, they started to cover events of national importance. Newspapers published news like "The king was beheaded in front of the Whitehall Palace today".

After the public execution of Charles I, Cromwell consolidated his power and placed the papers under strict control. Only semi-official newspapers were allowed to be published. As a result of the coup in 1688-89, when James II was deposed and William III of Orange ascended the throne, English newspapers regained their freedom. The licensing law was abolished and very soon people in England and American colonies realized that the press should have the right to criticize the government and citizens must be informed of its activities and events in the country's political life. First, the US Congress considered this unrestricted function of newspapers to be so essential that lawmakers enshrined freedom of the press in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1791. Along with other guarantees of freedom of speech, the amendment imposed a ban on the adoption of laws restricting freedom of speech. Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift, who were considered the great essayists of their time, published their comments on the current social and political life of London in newspapers. 

The newspaper set, which has reached the present day, dates back to 1566. Handwritten newspapers continued to be published alongside printed newspapers until the 17th century. Apart from handwritten newspapers, in the 16th-17th centuries, the flow of information included publications such as printed pamphlets, "news books", "news leaflets," "newspaper flyers", poetic "news ballads" and other small brochures which rapidly reported developments in the country and worldwide. All these publications resembled the first hand-written newspapers. A newspaper printed in Strasbourg in January 1609 reported on events in Cologne, Antwerp, Rome, Venice, Vienna and Prague. To avoid the wrath of government officials, the first printed newspapers did not indicate the address of the publisher, the place of publication or the name of the editor. News, in fact, was not commented on, and there were no headings.

Purely European invention

The complications of the economic and social situation in Europe and the expansion of trade and cultural ties between countries of the continent in the late 16th and early 17th centuries required the creation of a new system for sharing information. The establishment of marine and terrestrial communications, the intensive use of river systems and the construction of canals led to the emergence of an environment suitable for the relatively rapid transmission of news from one region to another. In the 16th and17th centuries, many European countries established a state postal service, which also accelerated this process. The need for timely information on developments in economic and political life led to the emergence of handwritten information sheets in major commercial and political centres at the end of the 16th century. In order to eliminate the "information famine", they reported on trade fairs, market conditions, arrivals of goods at ports etc. These handwritten newspapers came out weekly. The modern newspaper is a European invention. It is not indebted for its appearance to non-extant Roman actals or the experimental news collections that first appeared in China. Nor can one-off editions on particular events - pamphlets and ballads - be regarded as newspapers. The ancestor of the modern newspaper, as we noted above, is the handwritten news leaflet "gazetta" which was widespread in Venice in the 16th century.

The publication of the first newspaper in Azerbaijan, which was forcefully incorporated into Russia, dates to the recent past. The first periodic newspaper here came out in 1875. It was then that the outstanding son of the Azerbaijani people, educator, democrat, journalist and teacher, Hasan bay Zardabi, began to publish the newspaper "Akinci" - the first Muslim newspaper in Russia. In his article "Hasan bay Malikov", the prominent intellectual and social activist, Firudin bay Kocarli, wrote: "One of Hasan bay's main merits is that he gave the first impetus to the awakening of his co-religionists ... The purpose of 'Akinci' was to spread useful agricultural knowledge among the backward masses of Muslims.

"'Akinci' carried articles on such important topics as "The causes of the backwardness of Muslims", "Does religion hinder progress?" etc. Articles by the newspaper's correspondents, Ahsanul Qavaid, Heydari, Sheikh ul-Islam Huseynzada, Asgar aga Garani and Najaf bay Vazirov are still relevant. Unfortunately, the attempts by these progressive people to enlighten the ignorant mass of Muslims were unsuccessful. Their calls for a better and conscious life also went unanswered. Muslims, as before, continued to remain indifferent to issues of science and education. Some of them even asked Hasan bay to leave them alone and not to bother them with "useless" teachings. Hasan bay said that the Muslims had forgotten the sayings of the prophet about the benefits and necessity of the secular sciences for life and that he felt duty-bound to revive their meaning. 'Akinci' is obliged to do its best to help its co-religionists to enter the bright world of God from the darkness of ignorance." ("Zakavkazye" newspaper, № 256, 6 December 1907)

The debate about the role of journalism in society is as old as the media. Some regard journalism as the "fourth estate". And indeed, sometimes a newspaper publication acts faster and more efficiently to ensure decision-making by the authorities. Legally, of course, journalists have no power. However, if our publications are constructive, then not everything is lost in society. After all, we only influence people's conscience. We do not force anyone to do anything - people themselves realize the need to take action.