History of Newspapers

Licensing Act of 1662	"An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing Presses."
Tax on newspapers 1711	The increasing popularity and influence of newspapers was problematic to the government of the day. The first bill in parliament advocating a tax on newspapers was proposed in 1711. The duty eventually imposed in 1712 was a halfpenny on papers of half a sheet or less and a penny on newspapers that ranged from half a sheet to a single sheet in size.
The Observer	The Observer is a British newspaper published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its sister papers the Guardian and the Guardian Weekly, whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993, it takes a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper
Reduction of the stamp Tax in 1836	In 1836 the campaigners had their first success when the 4dime. Tax on newspapers was reduced to 1dime. The same year Parliament agreed to remove the tax on pamphlets.
Golden age’ of newspaper publication	From 1860 until around 1910 is considered a 'golden age' of newspaper publication, with technical advances in printing and communication combined with a professionalization of journalism and the prominence of new owners. Newspapers became more partisan and there was the rise of new or yellow journalism
Profits from advertising	Newspapers increasingly made their profit from selling advertising. The availability of repeated advertising permitted manufacturers to develop nationally known brand names.
The Press Council	The Press Council was a voluntary press organization founded under threat of statutory regulation as the General Council in 1953, with a non-binding regulatory framework. Through most of its history the Council was funded by newspaper proprietors, with the stated aim of maintaining high standards of ethics in journalism.
The Independent	The Independent is a British online newspaper. Established in 1986 as an independent national morning newspaper published in London, it was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev in 2010. The last printed edition of The Independent was published Saturday 20 March 2016.
Phone Hacking Scandal	The News International phone hacking scandal is an ongoing controversy involving the News of the World and other British newspapers published by News International, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corporation. Employees of the newspaper were convicted of engaging in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of publishing stories
Decline in newspaper Circulation	During the early 21st century, many newspapers saw a rapid decline in circulation. The sector's advertising revenues fell 15% during 2015 alone, with estimates of a further 20% drop over the course of 2016.