1500's | Newssheets appear in Venice, Italy |
| 1690 | Publick Occurrences, First U.S. Newspaper |
| 1704 | John Campbell publishes the Boston News-Letter |
1721 | The New-England Courant, first printed in 1721, landed publisher James Franklin in jail. |
| 1733 | Peter Zenger is put in jail for New York Weekly content, but wins case against New York for seditious libel |
1798 | Alien and Sedition Acts forbid criticism of key government officials. Repealed in 1800. |
| 1830's | Penny press introduces era of mass communication |
| 1864 | Newspapers start using telegraph to transmit news |
| 1848 | Associated Press founded |
1800's | Linotype machines speed up typesetting by making possible the automatic casting of entire lines of type |
| 1890's | Period of yellow journalism. This is followed by era of Jazz Jourmalism. |
| 1941-1945 | Government censors press during World War II |
| 1950's | Television impacts newspaper ad revenue and newspaper subscriptions |
| 1970's | Weekly newspapers get major foothold |
1971 | Supreme Court allows publication of secret Pentagon Papers; calls government effort to stop publication "prior restraint" |
1973 | Washington Post reporters uncover presidential corruption in Watergate scandal |
| 1982 | Gannett starts USA Today |
| 1990's | First newspapers go online |
| 1995 | TV advertising exceeds newspaper advertising for the first time |
