The Guardian

The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is published Monday to Saturday in the Berliner format, with left-of-centre politics. Until 1959 it was called The Manchester Guardian, reflecting its provincial origins; the paper is still occasionally referred to by this name, especially in North America, although it has been based in London since 1964 (with printing facilities in both Manchester and London). According to a MORI poll taken in 2004, 44% of Guardian readers vote Labour and 37% vote Liberal Democrat[http://www.mori.com/polls/2004/voting-by-readership.shtml]. Today The Guardian is the only British national newspaper to publish in full-colour (though not in Northern Ireland); it is also the first newspaper in the UK to be printed on the Berliner size. In November 2005 The Guardian had a certified average daily circulation of 378,618 copies (November 2005), as compared to sales of 904,955 for the Daily Telegraph, 692,581 for The Times, and 261,193 for The Independent. [Audit Bureau of Circulations Ltd]. The paper is sometimes known as "The Grauniad" (coined by Private Eye), as a result of frequent typographical errors for which it became infamous in the era before computer typesetting. The Guardian Unlimited web site won the Best Newspaper category in the 2005 Webby Awards, an award described by Time magazine as the online Oscar, beating the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and Variety. [http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php#webby_entry_newspaper] It has been the winner for six years in a row of the British Newspaper Awards for Best Daily Newspaper on the World Wide Web (the pcsdotNet Award [http://www.newspaperawards.co.uk/]). The site won an Eppy award from the US-based magazine Editor & Publisher in 2000 for the best-designed newspaper online service. [http://royal.reliaserve.com/eppy/winners2000.html] The website is well-known and recognised for its commentary on sporting events, particularly its over-by over cricket commentary.

Ownership

The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group of newspapers, radio stations, and new media including The Observer Sunday newspaper, the Manchester Evening News, and Guardian Unlimited, one of the most popular online news resources on the Internet. All the aforementioned are owned by The Scott Trust, a charitable foundation which aims to ensure the newspaper's editorial independence in perpetuity, maintaining its financial health to ensure it does not become vulnerable to take over by for-profit media groups, and the serious compromise of editorial independence that this often brings. The Guardian's ownership by the Scott Trust is likely a factor in it being the only British national daily to conduct (since 2003) an annual social, ethical and environmental audit in which it examines, under the scrutiny of an independent external auditor, its own behaviour as a company.[http://www.guardian.co.uk/values/socialaudit] The Guardian and its parent groups are a participant in Project Syndicate [http://www.project-syndicate.org/], established by George Soros, and intervened in 1995 to save the Mail & Guardian in South Africa [http://www.mg.co.za/], but Guardian Media Group sold the majority of its shares in the Mail & Guardian in 2002.

History

2002 The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by a group of non-conformist businessmen headed by John Edward Taylor. The prospectus which announced the new publication proclaimed that "it will zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty … it will warmly advocate the cause of Reform; it will endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy; and to support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, all serviceable measures." The first edition was published on May 5, 1821, at which time the Guardian was a weekly, published on Saturdays and costing 7d.; the stamp duty on newspapers (4d. per sheet) forced the price up so high that it was uneconomic to publish more frequently. When the stamp duty was cut in 1836 the Guardian added a Wednesday edition; with the abolition of the tax in 1855 it became a daily paper costing 2d. Its most famous editor, C. P. Scott, made the Manchester Guardian into a nationally famous newspaper. He was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylor's son in 1907. Under Scott the paper's moderate editorial line became more radical, supporting Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886, and opposing the Boer War against popular opinion. Scott's friendship with Chaim Weizmann played a role in the Balfour Declaration, and in 1948 the Guardian was a supporter of the State of Israel. The story of the relationship between the Guardian and the zionist movement and Israel is told in Daphna Baram's book "Disenchantment: The Guardian and Israel" (Politico's, 2003. ISBN 1842751190). In June 1936 ownership of the paper was transfered to the Scott Trust (named after the last owner, John Russell Scott, who was the first chairman of the Trust). This move ensured the paper's independence, and it was then noted for its eccentric style, its moralising and its detached attitude to its finances. Traditionally affiliated with the centrist Liberal Party, and with a northern circulation base, the paper earned a national reputation and the respect of the left during the Spanish Civil War, when along with the now defunct News Chronicle it was the only UK source of news that was not tainted by support for the insurgent nationalists led by General Francisco Franco. In 1952 the paper took the step of printing news on the front page, replacing the adverts that had hitherto filled that space. The editor A.P. Wadsworth wrote, "it is not a thing I like myself, but it seems to be accepted by all the newspaper pundits that it is preferable to be in fashion". A.P. Wadsworth In 1959 the paper dropped "Manchester" from its title, becoming simply The Guardian, and in 1964 it moved to London, losing some of its regional agenda but continuing to be heavily subsidised by sales of the less intellectual but much more profitable Manchester Evening News. The financial position remained extremely poor into the 1970s; at one time it was in merger talks with The Times. The paper consolidated its left-wing stance during the 1970s and 1980s but was both shocked and revitalised by the launch of The Independent in 1986 which competed for similar readers and provoked the entire broadsheet industry into a fight for circulation. In 1988 The Guardian had a significant redesign; as well as improving the quality of its printers ink, it also changed its masthead to its soon-familiar (but no-longer used as of 2005) juxtaposition of an italic Garamond "The", with a bold Helvetica "Guardian". In 1992 it relaunched its features section as G2, a tabloid-format supplement. This innovation was widely copied by the other "quality" broadsheets, and ultimately led to the rise of "compact" papers and The Guardians move to the Berliner format. In 1993 the paper declined to participate in the broadsheet 'price war' started by Rupert Murdoch's The Times. Also in 1993, The Guardian bought The Observer from Lonrho, thus gaining a serious Sunday newspaper partner with similar political views. In 1995, both the Granada Television programme World In Action and The Guardian were sued for libel by the then cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken, for their allegation that the Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Fahd had paid for Aitken and his wife to stay at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, which would have amounted to accepting a bribe on Aitken's part. Aitken publicly stated he would fight with "the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/aitken/Story/0,2763,208516,00.html]. The court case proceeded, and in 1997 The Guardian produced evidence that Aitken's claim of his wife paying for the hotel stay was untrue. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/aitken/Story/0,2763,208503,00.html] In 1999, Aitken was jailed for perjury and perverting the course of justice. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/258070.stm] During the Afghanistan and Iraq wars The Guardian attracted a significant proportion of anti-war readers as one of the mass-media media outlets most critical of UK and USA military initiatives. The newspaper also gained readers in the United States where there were few "anti-war" rivals. United States Its international weekly edition is now titled The Guardian Weekly, though it retained the title Manchester Guardian Weekly for some years after the home edition had moved to London. It includes sections from a number of other internationally significant newspapers of a somewhat left-of-centre inclination, including Le Monde. In 2004, The Guardian introduced an online digital version of its print edition, allowing readers to download pages from the last 14 issues as PDF files. In August 2004, for the US presidential election, the daily G2 supplement, edited by Ian Katz, launched an experimental letter-writing campaign in Clark County, Ohio, a small county in a swing state. Katz bought a voter list from the county for $25 and asked people to write to those on the list undecided in the election. The point of this venture was for the writers to give Clark County voters a taste of international opinion, without endorsing any candidates. This caused something of a backlash, and on 21 October, 2004, the paper retired the campaign. Following the 7 July 2005 London bombings, The Guardian published an article on its comment pages by Dilpazier Aslam (see [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1527323,00.html We rock the boat]), a 27-year-old British Muslim journalism trainee from Yorkshire. Aslam was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group, and had published a number of articles on their website. According to the paper, it did not know that Aslam was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir when he applied to become a trainee, though several staff members were informed of this once he started at the paper (see [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1534494,00.html Background: the Guardian and Dilpazier Aslam]). The Home Office has claimed the group's "ultimate aim is the establishment of an Islamic state (Caliphate), according to Hizb ut-Tahrir via non-violent means". The Guardian asked Aslam to resign his membership of the group, and – when he did not do so – terminated his employment (see [http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,,1534480,00.html Dilpazier Aslam leaves Guardian] registration req'd). In 2005 The Guardian moved to the Berliner paper format and changed the design of its masthead.
Moving to the Berliner paper format
2005 format and its competitor The Independent, all from 2005-09-10. A sheet of A4 paper is shown for scale.]] In 2004, The Guardian announced plans to change to a "Berliner" or "midi" format similar to that used by Le Monde in France and some other European papers; at 470×315 mm, this is slightly larger than a traditional tabloid. Planned for the autumn of 2005, this change is either a response to, or has the same cause as, the moves by The Times and The Independent to start publishing in tabloid (or "compact") format. The advantage that The Guardian sees in the Berliner format is that though it is only a little wider than a tabloid, and is thus equally easy to read on public transport, its greater height gives more flexibility in page design. An article in the Independent on Sunday, dated January 30 2005, suggested that the move may be fraught with problems. As of January 2005, no printing press in the UK could produce newspapers in the Berliner format. One of the Guardian's presses is part owned by groups responsible for The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Express who would likely require compensation if The Guardian pulls out. It is contracted to use the plant until 2009. Another press is shared with the Guardian Media Group's north western local tabloid papers, which do not wish to switch to the Berliner format. On Thursday 1 September 2005 The Guardian announced that it would launch the new format on Monday 12 September [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1560525,00.html]. The Observer will follow in early 2006. The switch cost Guardian Newspapers £80 million and has involved setting up new printing presses in east London and Manchester. The papers are the first UK nationals able to print in full colour on every page. The new presses mean that printing can go right across the 'gutter', the strip down the middle of the centre page. This has allowed the paper to print striking double page pictures. On Friday 9 September 2005 the newspaper unveiled its new look front page [http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Media/documents/2005/09/09/Newfront.pdf], which débuted on Monday 12 September 2005. Designed by Mark Porter, the new look includes a new masthead for the newspaper, its first since 1988. The typeface is called Guardian Egyptian. In the new design, no other typeface is used anywhere in the paper - all stylistic variations are based on various forms of Guardian Egyptian.
Supplements and features
1988 On each weekday The Guardian comes with the G2 supplement containing feature articles, columns, television and radio listings and the quick crossword. Since the change to the Berliner format, there is a separate daily Sport section. Other regular supplements during the week include: ; Monday : MediaGuardian, Office Hours ; Tuesday : EducationGuardian ; Wednesday : SocietyGuardian (covers the British public sector and related issues) ; Thursday : TechnologyGuardian ; Friday : Film & Music ; Saturday : The Guide (a weekly listings magazine), Weekend (the colour supplement), Review (covers literature), Money, Work, Rise (covering careers for new graduates), Travel, Family Though the main news section was in the large broadsheet format, the supplements were all in the half-sized tabloid format, with the exception of the glossy Weekend section which was a 290×245mm magazine and The Guide which was in a small 225×145mm format. With the change of the main section to the Berliner format, the specialist sections are now printed as Berliner, as is a now-daily Sports section, but G2 has moved to a "magazine-sized" demi-Berliner format. A Thursday Technology section and daily science coverage in the news section replaced Life and Online. Weekend and The Guide are still in the same small formats as before the change.
Regular columns

- Country Diary (natural history)
- Notes & Queries
Online media
The Guardian publishes all of its news online, with free access both to current news and an archive of three million stories. A third of the site's hits are for items over a month old[http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1587517,00.html]. The website also offers PDF editions of the newspaper for a monthly subscription fee. Free and unrestricted access has been cited as one of factors in the site's popularity. The Guardian also has a number of talkboards that are noted for their mix of political disussion and whimsy. They are spoofed in the Guardian's own regular humorous Chatroom column in G2. The spoof column purports to be excerpts from a chatroom on [http://permachat.co.uk permachat.co.uk], a real URL which points to The Guardians talkboards. The Guardian has also launched a dating website, Soulmates, and is experimenting with new media, offering a free weekly Podcast by Ricky Gervais[http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,1662771,00.html].
The Guardian in the popular imagination
The affectionate name the Grauniad for the paper came about because, in the past, it was noted for frequent text mangling, technical typesetting failures and typographical errors, including once misspelling its own name as "The Gaurdian" in the 1970s. Although such errors are now less frequent than they used to be, the 'Corrections and clarifications' column can still often provide some amusement. There were even a number of errors in the first issue, perhaps the most notable being a notification that there would soon be some goods sold at acton, instead of auction. Until the foundation of the Independent, the Guardian was the only serious national daily newspaper in Britain that was not clearly conservative in its political affiliation. The term "Guardian reader" is therefore often used pejoratively by those who do not agree with the paper or self-deprecatingly by those who do. The stereotype of a Guardian reader is a person with leftist or liberal politics rooted in the 1960s, working in the public sector, regularly eating lentils and muesli, wearing sandals and believing in alternative medicine and natural medicine as evidenced by Labour MP Kevin Hughes' largely rhetorical question in the House of Commons on November 19, 2001:
"Does my right hon. Friend find it bizarre — as I do — that the yoghurt- and muesli-eating, Guardian-reading fraternity are only too happy to protect the human rights of people engaged in terrorist acts, but never once do they talk about the human rights of those who are affected by them?" [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo011119/debtext/11119-08.htm#11119-08_spnew3]
Like most stereotypes, to some extent this one is both inaccurate and outdated. For instance, the Guardians science coverage is now extensive and although its Weekend supplement features a column by Emma Mitchell, a natural health therapist, and G2 was until the relaunch home to Edzard Ernst's weekly column on complementary medicine (Ernst is professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula medical school, [http://education.guardian.co.uk/academicexperts/story/0,1392,1048903,00.html]), the paper now carries the Bad Science column by Ben Goldacre and a quizzical column in G2 called The Sceptic [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1585944,00.html], which looks at the evidence for popular treatments and remedies. The stereotype, however, is a persistent feature of British political discourse. Even doctors perpetuate it by using the acronym GROLIES (Guardian Reader Of Low Intelligence in Ethnic Skirt) on patient notes. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3159813.stm] The Guardian has a tradition of spoof articles on April Fool's Day, sometimes contributed by regular advertisers such as BMW. The most elaborate of these was a travel supplement on San Serriffe.
References in fiction

- The 1984 Christmas special of Yes, Minister shows a number of newspapers tipping Jim Hacker as the next Prime Minister. The Guardian is among them, but its name is spelt The Gaurdian.
- In the Young Ones episode "Boring," Rick eagerly notes that The Guardian has an article on how to get an increased student grant. Unfortunately the paper has totally mangled the spelling of a key part of it, leaving Rick with no idea how to get the increased grant. Worse still, the misspelling happens to sound the same as a Satanic chant, so that when Rick reads it out loud he accidentally summons a demon who tries to kill everyone there.
Literary patronage
The Guardian is the sponsor of two major literary awards: The Guardian First Book Award, established in 1999 as a successor to the Guardian Fiction Award which had run since 1965, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, founded in 1967. In recent years it has also sponsored the Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye.
Editors

- John Edward Taylor (1821–1844)
- Jeremiah Garnett (1844–1861) (jointly with Russell Scott Taylor in 1847–1848)
- Edward Taylor (1861–1872)
- Charles Prestwich Scott (1872–1929)
- Ted Scott (1929–1932)
- William Percival Crozier (1932–1944)
- Alfred Powell Wadsworth (1944–1956)
- Alastair Hetherington (1956–1975)
- Peter Preston (1975–1995)
- Alan Rusbridger (1995—)
Notable regular contributors (past and present)

- David Aaronovitch
- Araucaria
- John Arlott
- David Austin
- Dilpazier Aslam
- Leonard Barden
- Heston Blumenthal
- Julian Borger
- Emma Brockes
- Julie Burchill
- Duncan Campbell
- Neville Cardus
- Mark Cocker
- Alistair Cooke
- G. D. H. Cole
- Terry Eagleton
- Harold Evans
- Paul Foot
- Michael Frayn
- Suzanne Goldenberg
- J. G. Hamilton
- Ben Hammersley
- Clifford Harper
- Patrick Haseldine
- Max Hastings
- David Hencke
- L. T. Hobhouse
- J. A. Hobson
- Tom Hodgkinson
- Stanley Johnson
- Rod Liddle
- Maureen Lipman
- Alex Kapranos
- George Monbiot
- C. E. Montague
- Malcolm Muggeridge
- James Naughtie
- Richard Norton-Taylor
- Greg Palast
- David Pallister
- Anne Perkins
- Melanie Phillips
- John Pilger
- Arthur Ransome
- Brian Redhead
- Jon Ronson
- Posy Simmonds
- Jonathan Steele
- Mary Stott
- Jill Tweedie
- F. A. Voigt
- Ed Vulliamy
- Brian Whitaker
- Ann Widdecombe
- Martin Woollacott
- Ted Wragg
- Hugo Young
- Slavoj Zizek
The Newsroom archive
The Guardian and its sister newspaper The Observer also provide [http://www.guardian.co.uk/newsroom The Newsroom], a visitor centre in London. It contains their archives, including bound copies of old editions, a photographic library and other items such as diaries, letters and notebooks. This material may be consulted by members of the public. The Newsroom also mounts temporary exhibitions and runs an educational programme for schools. There is also an extensive Manchester Guardian archive at the University of Manchester's John Rylands Library and there is a collaboration programme between the two archives. The British Library also has a large archive of the Manchester Guardian, available in online, hard copy, microform, and CD-ROM in their [http://www.bl.uk/collections/newspapers.html British Library Newspapers] collection.
External links

- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Guardian Unlimited]
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/rssfeed/0,,1,00.xml The Guardian Front Page RSS feed] (in XML; use a news aggregator)
- [http://digital.guardian.co.uk/ Digital Guardian]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRguardian.htm Founding of the Manchester Guardian]
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/newsroom Information about The Newsroom Archive and Visitor Centre]
- [http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data2/spcoll/guardian/ Information about The Guardian Archive at John Rylands Library in Manchester]
- [http://media.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4777964-105414,00.html Media Guardian: How the broadsheets brightened up]
- [http://talk.guardian.co.uk The Guardian Unlimited Talk Board]
- [http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=605882 Independent on Sunday article] on problems with the Berliner format change (subscription service) Guardian, The Category:Webby Awards winners ja:ガーディアン

Newspaper
A newspaper is a publication containing news and information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly. The first printed newspaper was published in 1605. The newspaper industry survived competition from 20th-century technologies, especially radio and television, but 21st-century developments on the Internet are posing major threats. General-interest newspapers are usually journals of current news. Those can include political events, crime, business, sports, and opinions (either editorials, columns, or political cartoons). Many also include weather news and forecasts. Newspapers use photographs to illustrate stories; use editorial cartoonists, usually to illustrate writing that is opinion, rather than news; and also often include comic strips and other entertainment, such as crosswords and horoscopes. horoscope, South Carolina, United States]]
Overview
A daily newspaper is issued every day, often with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday, and where they exist Sunday, editions of daily newspapers tend to be large, include more specialized sections, and cost more. Weekly newspapers are also common and tend to be smaller and less prestigious than daily papers. However, those Sunday newspapers that do not have weekday editions are not considered to be weekly newspapers, and are generally equivalent in size and prestige to daily newspapers. Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United States and Canada, there are few truly national newspapers, with the notable exceptions of USA Today in the United States and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada. Large metropolitan newspapers with expanded distribution networks such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Toronto Star can fill the role of de facto national newspapers. The owner of the newspaper, or person in charge, is the publisher. The person responsible for content is the editor, editor in chief, or executive editor. Newspapers have been developed around very narrow topic areas, such as news for merchants in a specific industry, fans of particular sports, fans of the arts or of specific artists, and participants in the same sorts of activities or lifestyles.
History
According to the World Association of Newspapers: 59 BC: Regular publications have been created and distributed by governments for millennia, including Acta Diurna, a listing of events ordered by Julius Caesar in ancient Rome. A.D. 713: The first newspaper, Mixed News in Kaiyuan, was published as a hand-written newssheet in Beijing, China. Kaiyuan was the name given to the year in which the paper was published. 1605: Johann Carolus published the first printed newspaper Relation aller fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien (Collection of all distinguished and commemorable news) in Strasbourg, now in France but at the time an independent city within the (mostly) German-speaking Holy Roman Empire. In the same year Abraham Verhoeven of Antwerp (Low Countries/Belgium) publishes Nieuwe Tydingen (source : Encyclopaedia Britannica).The continuous publication of the Nieuwe Tijdingen indicates that the demand for newspapers soon became well-established. 1621: The first English-language private newspaper, The Corante, was first published, in London. 1631: La Gazette, the first French newspaper, was founded. 1632: Courante uyt Italien ende Duytschlandt, the first Dutch newspaper, was founded. 1645: the oldest newspaper still in circulation, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar of Sweden, began publishing. 1650: The world's first daily printed newspaper, Einkommende Zeitungen (Incoming news) founded in Leipzig, Germany. 1665: The oldest surviving English newspaper, The London Gazette begins publication. 1666: The first Danish newspaper, Den Danske Mercurius is published in Ribe by Anders Bording. 1690: Worcester Post-Man founded, which became Berrow's Worcester Journal in 1753, The Worcester Post-Man/Berrow's Worcester Journal is the world's oldest surviving unofficial newspaper. Also, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick in Boston became the first newspaper published in British North America. It was suppressed after one issue. 1701: (September 6) Estimated first issue of the Norwich Post in England, which was probably the first provincial newspaper. 1702: The first English daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was founded by Samuel Buckley on 11 March. (Publication ceased in 1735). 1728: St. Petersburg Vedomosti, the oldest Russian newspaper still in circulation, is founded in Saint Petersburg. 1749: Berlingske Tidende, the first surviving Danish newspaper, is founded by E.H Berling. 1763: Norske Intelligenz-Sedler, Norway's first newspaper, was published. 1780: The Bengal Gazette, India's first newspaper, was founded. 1785: The Daily Universal Register was founded by John Walters. It became The Times on January 1, 1788. 1803: Just 15 years after the first British penal colony was established, Australia's military government published the Sydney Gazette and the New South Wales Advertiser, Australia's first newspapers. 1821: The Guardian was founded. 1827: El Mercurio, the oldest continually-published Spanish language newspaper, was founded in the port city of Valparaíso, Chile. 1833: (September 3) The New York Sun, the first truly successful penny press in the United States, was first published by Benjamin H. Day. By 1936, the paper was the largest seller in the country, with a circulation of over 30,000 copies. 1851 The New York Times was first published. 1871: Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun (Yokohama Daily News) is launched as the first daily newspaper in Japan. Today, on a per-capita basis, Japan ranks first in the world in circulation of newspapers. 1884: Otto Merganthaler invented the Linotype machine, which casts type in full lines using hot lead, a quantum leap in newspaper publishing, and ushering in the era of "hot lead." The systems remained in general production in the industry well into the 1980s, when computerized pagination became prominent. 1962: The Los Angeles Times drives Linotype hot metal typesetters with perforated tape created from RCA computers speeding up the typesetting. The key was development of a dictionary and method to automate the hyphenation and justification of text in columns (tasks that had taken 40 percent of a manual operator's time). 1973: Harris introduced editing terminals, which were quickly followed by terminals from Raytheon, Atex, Digital Equipment Corporation and others. The output was strips of type on film from phototypesetters ("cold type" replacing the "hot type" of Linotype machines)). Atex worked with the Minneapolis Star to develop the first pagination system that allowed the creation and output of full editorial pages, eliminating the need for manual paste-up of strips of film. The Atex system featured "Atex Messaging" which is widely believed to be the forerunner of both e-mail and instant messenger applications.
Format
Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:
- Broadsheets: 600mm by 380mm (23½ by 15 inches), generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards 'compact' newspapers is changing this.
- Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380mm by 300mm (15 by 11¾ inches), and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets.
- Berliner or Midi: 470mm by 315mm (18½ by 12¼ inches) used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy or, from 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the United Kingdom. Newspapers are usually printed on inexpensive, off-white paper known as newsprint. Since the 1980s, the newspaper industry has largely moved away from lower-quality letterpress printing to higher-quality, four-color process, offset printing. In addition, desktop computers, word processing software, graphics software, digital cameras and digital prepress and typesetting technologies have revolutionized the newspaper production process. These technologies have enabled newspaper to make publish color photographs and graphics, as well as innovative layouts and better design. To help their titles stand out on newsstands, some newspapers are printed on coloured newsprint. For example, the Financial Times is printed on a distinctive salmon pink paper, the Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport is printed on pink paper, while L'Équipe (formerly L'Auto) is printed on yellow paper. Both the latter promoted major cycling races and their newsprint colours were reflected in the colours of the jerseys used to denote the race leader; thus, the leader in the Giro d'Italia wears a pink jersey, while the Tour de France leader wears a yellow jersey, or maillot jaune.
Circulation and readership
The number of copies distributed on an average day is called the newspaper's circulation, and is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not the same as copies sold since some newspapers are distributed without cost. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the common assumption that a typical copy of the newspaper is read by more than one person. maillot jaune, February 2005]] According to United Nations data from 1995 Japan has three daily papers - the Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun - with circulations well above 4 million. Germany's Bild, with a circulation of 4.5 million, was the only other paper in that category. In the United Kingdom The Sun is the top seller, with around 3.2 million copies distributed daily (late-2004). In India, The Times of India is the largest English newspaper with 2.14 million copies daily. In the United States and the United Kingdom at least, overall newspaper circulation has been declining for many years, although some individual titles have thrived. USA Today has a daily circulation of approximately 2 million, making it the most widely distributed paper in the country. However, the validity of USA Todays circulation figures are disputed by some in the newspaper community. This is because of the newspaper's contracts with hotels; many of its papers are delivered to hotel guests who do not realise they are being charged for it. (However, this technique of increasing circulation, sometimes known as bulk sales, is not unique to USA Today.) In 2004, several large U.S. newspapers were found to have overstated their circulation.
Advertising
Most newspapers make nearly all their money from advertising. The income from the customer's payment at the news-stand is small in comparison. For that reason newspapers are not expensive to buy, and some (such as AM New York) are free. The portion of the newspaper that is not advertising is called editorial content, editorial matter, or simply editorial, although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those articles in which the newspaper expresses its opinions. Publishers of commercial newspapers strive for higher circulation so that advertising in their newspaper becomes more effective, allowing the newspaper to attract more advertisers and charge more for the service. But some advertising sales also market demographics: some newspapers might sacrifice higher circulation numbers in favor of an audience with a higher income. Many paid-for newspapers offer a variety of subscription plans. For example, someone might only want a Sunday paper, or perhaps only Sunday and Saturday, or maybe only a workweek subscription, or perhaps a daily subscription. Some newspapers provide some or all of their content on the Internet, either at no cost or for a fee. In some cases free access is only available for a matter of days or weeks, after which readers must register and provide personal data. In other cases, free archives are provided.
Newspaper journalism
Since newspapers began as a journal (record of current events), the profession involved in the making of newspapers began to be called journalism. Much emphasis has been placed upon the accuracy and fairness of the journalist - see Ethics. In the yellow journalism era of the 19th century, many newspapers in the United States relied on sensational stories that were meant to anger or excite the public, rather than to inform. The more restrained style of reporting that relies on fact checking and accuracy regained popularity around World War II. Criticism of journalism is varied and sometimes vehement. Credibility is questioned because of anonymous sources; errors in facts, spelling, and grammar; real or perceived bias; and scandals involving plagiarism and fabrication. In the past newspapers have often been owned by so-called press barons, and were used either as a rich man's toy, or a political tool. More recently in the United States, a greater number of newspapers (and all of the largest ones) are being run by large media corporations such as Gannett (the largest in the United States), Cox, The Tribune Company, etc. Many industry watchers have concerns that the growing need for profit growth natural to corporations will have a negative impact on the overall quality of journalism. Even though the opinions of the owners are often relegated to the editorial section, and the opinions of the readers are in the op-ed ("opposite the editorial page") and letters to the editors sections of the paper, newspapers have been used for political purposes by insinuating some kind of bias outside of the editorial section and into straight news. For example, The New York Times is often criticised for a leftist slant to its stories, or, by others, for supporting the American political establishment in nearly all cases, whereas The Wall Street Journal has a history of emphasising the position of the right. Some ways newspapers have tried to improve their credibility are: appointing ombudsmen, developing ethics policies and training, using more stringent corrections policies, communicating their processes and rationale with readers, and asking sources to review articles after publication. Many larger newspapers are now using more aggressive random fact-checking to further improve the chances that false information will be found before it is printed.
The future of newspapers
The future of newspapers is cloudy, with overall readership slowly declining in most developed countries due to increasing competition from television and the Internet. The 57th annual World Newspaper Congress, held in Istanbul in June 2004, reported circulation increases in only 35 of 208 countries studied. Most of the increase came in developing countries, notably China. A report at the gathering indicated that China tops total newspaper circulation, with more than 85 million copies of papers sold every day, followed by India with 72 million—China and India are the two most populous countries in the world—followed by Japan with 70 million and the United States with 55 million. The report said circulation declined by an average of 2.2 percent across 13 of the 15 countries that made up the European Union before May 1. The biggest declines were in Ireland, down 7.8 percent; Britain, down 4.7 percent; and Portugal, where numbers fell by 4.0 percent. One growth area is the distribution of free newspapers, which are not reflected in the above circulation data. Led by the [http://www.metro.lu Metro] chain of newspapers, they grew 16 percent in 2003. Another growth area is high-quality tabloids, particularly in the UK, where several of the major broadsheets are experimenting with the format (see Broadsheet#Switch to smaller sizes). Smaller and easier to hold than broadsheets, but presenting serious journalism rather than traditional tabloid fodder, they appear to have drawn some younger readers who are otherwise abandoning newspapers. Newspapers also face increased competition from the Internet for classified ads, especially for jobs, real estate, and cars, which have long been a key source of revenue.
Newspapers in different countries
:Main article: List of newspapers
Afghanistan
Printed in Afghanistan and other countries by Afghan nationals. List of newspapers in and out of print:

- Kabul Weekly
- Annis
- Issla
- Kabul Times
- Saraj-ul-Akhbar
- Omaid
- Khorasan

Argentina
In Argentina, the broadsheet format is almost non-existent. The only remaining national newspaper published in that format is La Nación.
Belgium
:Main article: List of newspapers in Belgium Belgium's quality newspapers:
- De Standaard [http://www.standaard.be] (christian, patriotically Flemish - 80,000 copies per day)
- De Morgen (left - 40,000 copies per day)
- Le Soir (French-language, centre - 100,000 copies per day) Popular newspapers:
- Het Laatste Nieuws (right, a lot of sports news - 291,000 copies per day)
- Het Nieuwsblad (christian, a lot of sports news - 200,000 copies per day)
- Vers l'avenir (French-language, catholic roots - 99,000 copies per day)
- Het Volk (left, christian - 92,000 copies per day) Source: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3737311.stm BBC: The press in Belgium]
Brazil
Most important newspapers of Brazil are:
- Folha de São Paulo
- O Estado de São Paulo (also known as Estadão)
- O Globo
- Jornal do Brasil
- Correio Braziliense
- Zero Hora
Chile

- El Mercurio
- La Tercera
- Las Últimas Noticias
- La Cuarta
- La Nación
Europe
There are several newspapers that target Europe, or the European Union, as a whole. Many are published in English, being owned both by USA-based or European-based companies.
- European Voice: Owned by the British (European Union) The Economist Group
- The Wall Street Journal Europe: Owned by the USA-based Wall Street Journal
- International Herald Tribune: Owned by USA-based The New York Times Company
- New Europe: Owned by USA-based News Corporation
- EU Reporter: (ownership unchecked), distributed without charge
Germany
:Main article: List of German newspapers Important national newspapers are the daily Die Welt and the weekly Die Zeit as well as the daily tabloid Bild, but local ones draw a much wider readership. Some local or regional newspapers assume the role of national papers, such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine of Frankfurt and the Süddeutsche Zeitung of Munich. The taz (long form: Die Tageszeitung) was founded 1978, partly in reaction to the terrorist events of the German Autumn, and considers itself as an alternative to the (in 1978) mostly conservative newspaper market. The now independent Neues Deutschland was the newspaper of the Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany, which ruled the communist East Germany until 1989. The largest publishing companies are located in Hamburg, notably the Axel Springer Verlag and Gruner und Jahr. About one half of Germany's nation-wide newspapers and magazines are produced in Hamburg. The Axel Springer Verlag dominates the newspaper market with its tabloid Bild and a large number of local papers.
France
Daily: Le Figaro Libération Le Monde Weekly: Les Échos Le Canard Enchâiné
Hong Kong
:Main article: Newspapers in Hong Kong Hong Kong has a vibrant newspaper publishing industry. Most papers use the broadsheet size. Almost all newspapers focus on the local Hong Kong market, but some may also target at the markets in Macau and Pearl River Delta. Although they are broadsheets, the three papers with the largest circulation are all considered tabloid-style, with large and colourful photos and sensational coverage to attract readers. Most papers adopt a daily magazine approach, with coverage ranging from local and international news, entertainment, culture, lifestyle, economic and finance, sport and horseracing. Hong Kong Economic Journal, Hong Kong Economic Times and South China Morning Post have are stronger focus on economics and finance. Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, Singtao Daily and Oriental Daily are the mouthpieces of the communist government in Beijing (Peking). There are also papers specifically published for horse racing tips.
India
Compared with many other developing countries, the Indian press has flourished since independence and exercises a large degree of independence. In 2001, India had 45,974 newspapers, including 5364 daily newspapers published in over 100 languages. The largest number of newspapers were published in Hindi (20,589), followed by English (7,596), Marathi (2,943), Urdu (2,906), Bengali (2,741), Gujarati (2,215), Tamil (2,119), Kannada (1,816), Malayalam(1,505) and Telugu (1,289). The Hindi daily press has a circulation of over 23 million copies, followed by English with over 8 million copies. There are several major publishing groups in India, the most prominent among them being the Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, The Hindu group, the Anandabazar Patrika Group, the Malayala Manorama Group, the Sahara group, the Bhaskar group, and the Jagran group. India has more than forty domestic news agencies. The Express News Service, the Press Trust of India, and the United News of India are among the major news agencies. See Also: Mass media in India
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man publishes three weekly newspapers; Isle of Man Courier, Manx Independent and Isle of Man Examiner. All three newspapers are printed by Isle of Man Newspapers who have their publishing house in Douglas, the capital. The Courier is free and is distributed to all households on the Island every Thursday. They have no official political affiliations. The Courier is distributed to approximately 30,000 households weekly.
Mexico
In Mexico there is no publication that can be considered a national newspaper. The most important ones, such as El Universal, La Jornada and Reforma are in Mexico City, and because of a heavy national centralisation, a lot of redistribution happens (newspapers from Mexico City are sold in almost every city in the country, some with a day or two lag). The only attempts to create a national newspaper originate in Monterrey. One of them is Milenio, a midi format newspaper, which is distributed in Mexico City; Monterrey, Nuevo León; Veracruz, Veracruz; Guadalajara, Jalisco; Tampico, Tamaulipas; and the state of Tabasco. The other attempt to make a national newspaper is from the Reforma News Group, which also originated and is run in Monterrey but that has big coverage from Mexico City. Reforma publishes different newspapers with the same main content, but with specific local content in the major cities of the country: El Norte in Monterrey, Reforma in Mexico City, Mural in Guadalajara and Palabra in Saltillo. All of the newspapers by Reforma are published in the broadsheet format. Reforma is one of the most prestigious, and often considered among the most reliable news sources in Mexico, in spite of its youth (it appeared in Mexico City in 1993). It has gained its prestige with its attractive editorial design, wide-spectrum editorialists and denouncements of government corruption. Until very recently, newsprint in Mexico was a product made only by the government-owned monopoly. Importing the product from other countries was illegal. This allowed the Mexican government, for many years, to put out of circulation any dissident newspaper. Reforma survived the boycott and fought heavily until the government allowed for importing the product in the 1990s. Since then, the Mexican press has been undergoing a process towards more freedom of speech, especially after the election of President Vicente Fox in the year 2000.
Netherlands
The biggest left winged quality paper in the Netherlands is the "de Volkskrant" [http://www.volkskrant.nl De Volkskrant]. Its opposite is the right winged "NRC Handelsblad", which stands for "Nieuwe Roterdamse Courant"[http://www.nrc.nl NRC]. A right winged paper of inferior quality is "de Telegraaf". [http://www.telegraaf.nl de Telegraaf] Further there is "Trouw", a conservative and good paper. It is founded in the second World War by the Dutch resist. [http://www.trouw.nl Trouw]
Norway

- Verdens Gang (VG) (tabloid)
- Aftenposten
- Dagbladet (tabloid)
- Morgenbladet
- Stavanger Aftenblad
- Rogalands Avis (tabloid)
Philippines
The Philippine press has been flourishing, with a large number of newspapers and tabloids. A partial list is provided below:
- Philippine Daily Inquirer
- The Philippine Star
- Manila Bulletin
- Malaya
- The Manila Times
- Manila Standard Today
- BusinessWorld
- Business Mirror
- The Daily Tribune
- Abante (tabloid)
- Balita (tabloid; owned by the Manila Bulletin)
- Bulgar (tabloid)
- Pilipino Star Ngayon (tabloid; owned by the Philippine Star)
- Tonite (tabloid)
- Tiktik (tabloid)
Poland
:Main article: List of Polish newspapers List of Polish newspapers (the most popular ones)

- Gazeta Wyborcza
- Fakt (tabloid)
- Rzeczpospolita
- Super Express (tabloid)
- Życie Warszawy
- Trybuna
- Nasz Dziennik

United Kingdom
:Main article: List of newspapers in the United Kingdom :See also: History of British newspapers In the United Kingdom, newspapers can be classified by distribution as local or national, and by page size as tabloids and broadsheets. The principal newspapers of England are all nationals edited in London. Wales and Northern Ireland are also dominated by the London-based press; in Scotland, although the London-based press is widely available and widely read, two Scottish newspapers can claim quasi-national status: The Scotsman (based in Edinburgh) and the Glasgow Herald. There is often an implication that tabloids cater for more vulgar tastes than broadsheet. Within the tabloid category the most down market titles are classed as red-tops because of the design of their front pages. This term is often used deprecatingly by newspapers that consider themselves more serious. There are also "middle-market" tabloids such as The Daily Mail and The Daily Express. This distinction began to be blurred in October 2003 as two broadsheet newspapers, The Independent and The Times, began tabloid editions in some parts of the U.K. The Independent switched entirely to producing what it prefers to call a "compact" edition from May 2004, and The Times changed to this format at the beginning of November 2004, despite initial opposition from its more traditional and conservative readership. The Guardian changed to a Berliner format (larger than a tabloid, more compact than a broadsheet) in September 2005. This leaves The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times as the UK's only daily national broadsheets. Aside from The Guardian, The Independent and the Daily Mirror (combined circulation of approximately 2,500,000), all of the other daily national newspapers (combined circulation of approximately 9,500,000) are known for holding conservative or right-wing political views. Due to this, many people (especially those on the political left) argue that there is a conservative bias amongst British newspapers. The fact that many of these (e.g. The Times, The Sun, the News of the World) are owned by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch strengthens these claims. There are daily paid papers in most of the larger cities, and weekly paid papers in some other areas. These focus on local news and generally do not attempt to be a direct substitute for the London-based national newspapers, although some such as The Western Mail (based in Cardiff), Eastern Daily Press in Norwich and Yorkshire Post in Leeds offer competition to the London newspapers within their limited home territories. Most areas also typically have one or more free local papers, with extensive classified advertising. Many towns with professional football teams also have a weekly paper dedicated to that sport, usually published on Saturdays. Free morning newspapers for commuters have been launched in major metropolitan areas, offering a concise summary of the news designed to be read on public transport. In London, Glasgow and a number of other urban centres this is the Metro. There are also a wide variety of English language national newspapers catering for ethnic minority readers including The Voice, Eastern Eye and Desi Xpress.
External link

- [http://www.abc.org.uk The Audit Bureau of Circulation] provides circulation figures for British newspapers. Their research is also reproduced in digested form at [http://media.guardian.co.uk/circulationfigures/ this Media Guardian index] along with commentary.
United States
:Main article: List of newspapers in the United States List of newspapers in the United States, November 11, 1918.]] The majority of American newspapers are printed as broadsheets. A small number of daily papers are printed in the tabloid format. U.S. dailies commonly separate the physical newspaper into sections on particular topics. Most major American cities' papers will have sections covering at least a few of the following topics:
- National and international news, usually the first section. In the most prestigious newspapers like the New York Times, the majority of articles in this section are dispatched by the paper's own journalists from bureaux around the world. Smaller papers usually fill almost all of this section with stories taken from newswires like the Associated Press or Reuters.
- Local and regional news, usually the second section. This is often called the metro (from metropolitan) section. Many large newspapers use "zoning," with different zones, receiving somewhat different articles, or the same articles arranged differently. Zoning is most predominant in the local section, but also plays a role in the front page.
- Sports
- Business
- Classified ads
- Features: This may include Arts, Home furnishing, Fashion, Style, or some combination. This section usually also includes general advice columns and amusements, such as comic strips, horoscopes and puzzles.
- A weekly general-interest magazine-type feature, usually appearing on Sunday, such as Parade, USA Weekend, or their own magazine (for larger papers) such as The New York Times Magazine or the Washington Post Magazine.
- Weekend or Entertainment. This section includes advertisements for entertainment events; this section usually appears on a Friday, or the last newspaper printed before the weekend.
- Comics. Typically only a separate section on Sundays; daily papers will include a page or more of comics in another section. Although colour printing technology has seen the use of colour in comics (and other editorial content) to daily editions, for many years the expense of colour printing meant that only the Sunday editions of many newspapers carried most comics in full colour.
- Opinion or Editorial. Includes both editorials by the newspaper's editorial staff and letters to the editor from readers. Typically only a separate section on Sundays; daily papers will include these materials in the back of the national, regional, metro, or local news sections. Sometimes may include commentaries or "op-ed pieces" from nationally renowned writers.
See also

- Alternative weekly
- Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
- Freedom of the press
- Graphic design
- Gazette
- History of British newspapers
- International Freedom of Expression Exchange
- Journalism
- List of newspapers (by country)
- List of common newspaper names
- Magazine
- Mass media
- Muckraker
- News design
- Newspaper circulation
- Newspaper archives online
- Newspapers on demand
- Photojournalism
- Printing
- Propaganda model
- School newspaper
- Trade newspaper
- Underground press
- Weekly newspaper
External links

- [http://www.allyoucanread.com/ AllYouCanRead.com - 23,000 Newspapers and Magazines from 200 Countries]
- [http://www.newspaperindex.com/ Worldwide Newspaper Directory by country]
- [http://rni.nic.in/ Registrar of Newspapers for India]
- [http://www.hotbulletin.com Read hundreds of newspapers online]
- [http://library.prakashan.org/newspapers-worldwide-directory/ Newspapers List Worldwide]
- [http://www.wan-press.org/ World Association of Newspapers]
- [http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/ Daily showcase of newspaper front pages from around the world]
- [http://www.gazetelerin.com/ Turkish Newspapers]
- [http://www.gutenberg-museum.de/index.php?id=32&language=e Exhibition on the Occasion of the 400th Anniversary of the Newspaper in the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz (Germany)] Category:Newspapering Category:Ephemera Category:Serials, periodicals and journals ja:新聞 ms:Akhbar simple:Newspaper th:หนังสือพิมพ์ zh-cn:报纸 zh-tw:報紙

Berliner (format)
is in the Berliner format. The Guardian was (until September 2005) in the British broadsheet format, whereas the Daily Mail is a tabloid, and The Times a "compact". Berliner Zeitung and Neues Deutschland are of sizes between broadsheet and Berliner. A piece of white A4 paper is placed in front for scale.]] Berliner, or "midi", is a newspaper format with pages normally measuring about 470 mm × 315 mm, i.e. slightly taller but only marginally wider than in the format known as "tabloid". It is used by many European newspapers, including quality dailies such as Le Monde in France, La Vanguardia in Spain, La Repubblica in Italy, and (since September 12, 2005) The Guardian in the UK. The French financial newspaper Les Échos changed to this format in September 2003, and the largest daily papers in Slovenia (DELO) and Croatia (Vecernji List), are also in this format. The last quality newspaper to join this trend is Le Soir, the main Francophone newspaper in Belgium (15 November 2005) Confusingly, although the Berliner Zeitung is occasionally referred to as simply "the Berliner", it is not printed in Berliner format — the name refers merely to Berlin, and was originally contrasted with "North German" and "French" sizes in the early 20th century. In fact, only two German national dailies use Berliner format: die tageszeitung (known as the "taz"); and the junge Welt, which, in 2004, abandoned the unique slightly-larger-than-A4 size that had marked it out since the early 1990s. The majority of the national quality dailies use the larger broadsheet format known as "nordisch", measuring 570×400 mm.

References

- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/story/0,16391,1566039,00.html How we got the measure of the Berliner] (discussing the Guardian's switch to the format) Category:Newspapering

Centre left

In politics, the centre left of the political spectrum roughly comprises European social democrats, some democratic socialists, progressive liberals, greens and reformist Marxists. Centre Left supporters accept the capitalist market economy but advocate a mixed economy with a significant public sector and also a private sector. Centre Left policies tend to favour limited state intervention in the economy in what is seen as the public interest. The Centre Left also often favours environmentalist policies.

Politics

Politics is the process by which decisions are made for a given society. The method of making decisions for groups varies, but the act of decision making is the key component that characterises politics. Although it is generally applied to governments, politics is also observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Political science is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power, i.e. the ability to impose one's will on another. One theorist, Harold Lasswell, has defined politics as "who gets what, when, and how." Another definition of 'politics' is: "how power is distributed within a group or system".

A natural state

In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published his most famous work, Leviathan, in which he proposed a model of early human development to justify the creation of human associations. Hobbes described an ideal state of nature wherein every person had equal right to every resource in nature and was free to use any means to acquire those resources. He noted that such an arrangement created a “war of all against all” (bellum omnium contra omnes). Further, he noted that men would enter into a social contract and would give up absolute rights for certain protections. While it appears that social cooperation and dominance hierarchies predate human societies, Hobbes’s model illustrates a rationale for the creation of societies (polities).

Early history

V.G. Childe describes the transformation of human society that took place around 6000 BCE as an urban revolution. Among the features of this new type of civilization were the institutionalization of social stratification, non-agricultural specialised crafts (including priests and lawyers), taxation, and writing. All of which require clusters of densely populated settlements - city-states. The word "Politics" is derived from the Greek word for city-state, "Polis". Corporate, religious, academic and every other polity, especially those constrained by limited resources, contain dominance hierarchy and therefore politics. Politics is most often studied in relation to the administration of governments. The oldest form of government was tribal organization. Rule by elders was supplanted by monarchy, and a system of Feudalism as an arrangement where a single family dominated the political affairs of a community. Monarchies have existed in one form or another for the past 5000 years of human history.

Definitions

- Power is the ability to impose one's will on another. It implies a capacity for force, i.e violence.
- Authority is the power to enforce laws, to exact obedience, to command, to determine, or to judge.
- Legitimacy is an attribute of government gained through the acquisition and application of power in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles.
- A government is the body that has the authority to make and enforce rules or laws.

Political power

Samuel Gompers’ often paraphrased maxim,"Reward your friends and punish your enemies," hints at two of the five types of power recognized by social psychologists: incentive power (the power to reward) and coercive power (the power to punish). Arguably the other three grow out of these two. Legitimate power, the power of the policeman or the referee, is the power given to an individual by a recognized authority to enforce standards of behavior. Legitimate power is similar to coercive power in that unacceptable behavior is punished by fine or penalty. Referent power is bestowed upon individuals by virtue of accomplishment or attitude. Fulfillment of the desire to feel similar to a celebrity or a hero is the reward for obedience. Expert power springs from education or experience. Following the lead of an experienced coach is often rewarded with success. Expert power is conditional to the circumstances. A brain surgeon is no help when your pipes are leaking.

Authority and legitimacy

Max Weber identified three sources of legitimacy for authority known as (tripartite classification of authority). He proposed three reasons why people followed the orders of those who gave them:

Traditional

Traditional authorities receive loyalty because they continue and support the preservation of existing values, the status quo. Traditional authority has the longest history. Patriarchal (and more rarely Matriarchal) societies gave rise to hereditary monarchies where authority was given to descendants of previous leaders. Followers submit to this authority because "we've always done it that way." Examples of traditional authoritarians include kings and queens.

Charismatic

Charismatic authority grows out of the personal charm or the strength of an individual personality (see cult of personality for the most extreme version). Charismatic regimes are often short lived, seldom outliving the charismatic figure that leads them. Examples include Hitler, Napoleon, and Mao.

Legal-rational

Legal-Rational authorities receive their ability to compel behavior by virtue of the office that they hold. It is the authority that demands obedience to the office rather than the office holder. Modern democracies are examples of legal-rational regimes.

References

GOMPERS,SAMUEL; “Men of Labor! Be Up and Doing,” editorial, American Federationist, May 1906, p. 319

1959

1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It is also a song by The Sisters of Mercy on the album Floodland.

Events

January

- January 1 - Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
- January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when forces of Fidel Castro advance.
- January 2 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
- January 2 - Castro's troops approach Havana.
- January 3 - Island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
- January 3 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
- January 4 - In Cuba rebel troops lead by Che Guevara and Glenfuego enter Havana.
- January 4 - In Léopoldville 42 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the Abako party.
- January 6 - Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
- January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
- January 8 - Charles De Gaulle inaugurated as the first president of French Fifth Republic.
- January 13 - Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
- January 22 - Knox Mine Disaster - water breaches River Slope mine in Port Griffith, Pennsylvania - 12 miners dead.

February

- February 1 - A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage.
- February 3 - The chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper goes down in an Iowa snowstorm, killing all four occupants on board. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died," popularized in Don McLean's song, "American Pie."
- February 6 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
- February 15 - Mattel's Barbie doll goes on sale in the USA.
- February 16 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
- February 16 - Blizzard causes a massive power outage in Newfoundland.
- February 17 - USA launches Vanguard II weather satellite.
- February 18 - Jesus Sosa Blanco, murderer of 108 people, executed in Cuba.
- February 18 - Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
- February 19 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence.
- February 22 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- February 26 - Author Walter Mene throws acid on Rubens painting in Munich.

March-May

- March 1 - USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia struck from the Naval Vessel Register.
- March 1 – Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
- March 8 - Last television appearance of The Marx Brothers, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery.
- March 9 - The Barbie doll debuts.
- March 17 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
- March 18 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
- March 19 - Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadida Republic (abolished September 1963).
- March 31 - Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida is dedicated and opens its gates.
- March 31 - Dalai Lama leaves Tibet.
- April 9 - NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first US astronauts (see Mercury Seven).
- April 25 - The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.

May-July

- May - First Ten Tors event held in Dartmoor.
- late May / early June - import tariffs lifted in the United Kingdom.
- May 24 - British Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day.
- June 3 - Singapore becomes a self governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
- June 5 - A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former Ministers were re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
- June 8 - The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
- June 9 - The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
- June 14 - A three-front revolutionary invasion by air and sea takes place in the Dominican Republic consisting of exiles aided by Fidel Castro whose purpose was to overthrow dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Within a few days all but four are captured and executed. Trujillo is killed less than two years later by men partly inspired by the deaths of the 1959 martyrs.
-