Evolution of the press and newspapers in Ringgold County
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Publisher’s Note: This is the first in a continuing series about the advent and history of newspapers with a particular focus on news in Ringgold County.
By Dalton Shadle
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — Since before the times when words formed meaning and stone tablets held writing, humanity has yearned for information. During a time when a person could not pull out a smartphone and ask Google what was happening in the world today or about any other day in history. The public has always had the demand for that information, and the press, in particular newspapers, answered the call serving as not only a reliable source of information on current events but now has evolved into the voice of the people for the people.
The earliest recognized form of news is attributed to be the Acta Diurna (“Daily Events”) dating from before 59 B.C. It was a daily news source that covered many topics including: astrological omens, marriages, births and deaths, public appointments, trials, executions and military news. Acta Diurna also popularized things such as newspaper fillers, the obituary column and sports pages. All copies of the Acta Diurna were handwritten and were posted in prominent places in Rome. Many early news sources were often controlled by the government and in some cases published by them as well. This is true with Acta Diurna as well as the Chinese news from the Bao, and many more.
Meanwhile, in medieval Europe around the time of the 16th century the nearest form of news was the news sheets which were handwritten by official scribes. A town crier would read aloud from the sheet for all to hear.
While the printing press was invented in 1440, the first newspaper Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien (“Account of all distinguished and commemorable news”) was printed on it at a later date in 1605.
Fast forward 85 years to the United States of America and the first paper published was shot down by the governor of Massachusetts. Benjamin Harris, in 1690 published his first issue of Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick, which was intended to be a monthly series. Thankfully, almost 100 years later the first amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791 giving the freedom of speech and press to Americans causing a boom in the newspaper industry. With the boom in papers more daily newspapers began to appear around the late 18th Century.
With the popularity and need for newspapers at an all-time high, Ringgold County got its first newspaper in 1860. The Mount Ayr Republican had a short lived life span due to the Civil War breaking out in 1861. On April 7, 1864. Ith Beall and Warren Turk established the Ringgold Record newspaper in Mount Ayr as the forerunner to the current newspaper being read all across the county, the Mount Ayr Record News which still stands to this day.
“It is the job of newspapers to tell the first draft of history,” publisher Ken Garner said. “Newspapers, particularly ones like the Mount Ayr Record News and the Diagonal Progress, are still essential to our communities and stand the test of time. We are a common good, telling the stories and news that cannot be obtained anywhere else. It is the job of a quality newspaper to serve its communities the best way possible by providing meaningful and local content.”
