Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/58522

Though Gutenberg had invented printing already in the middle of the 15th century,we had to wait another 150 years, until the first newspaper was published in Strasbourg. The reason for this delay is discussed and clarified by Behringer (2003). He argues, that the official post system of the Holy Roman Empire,which started in 1490 but really stabilized and expanded after the 1590s, made a vital impact on the realization of newspapers. The simple reason, that a newspaper needs information for articles, at first weekly then later daily, seems to be plausible. According to some sources such as Dallmeyer (1977), Münzberg (1994)and other scholars it could be posited,that whole information systems at that time began to cooperate and offered an indispensable condition for the founding of the epoch-making news media. In this way the second newspaper the“Aviso”in Wolfenbüttel in North Germany was made possible because of cooperation of the Reichspost and the Nürnberger city courier-system. Behringer (2003)points out another important fact, namely some similarities between the “Meßrelation”of Michael von Aitzing and the first weekly newspaper “Relation”of Johann Carolus in Strasbourg: the titles and the styles. But also Behringer assumes a mutual ideological background of both authors,a supposition which requires further subtle consideration. While this article discusses promoting factors for the emergence of newspapers, it is still indispensable to consider hindering factors such as censorship, because we must be able to explain why England or France with their functioning post systems could publish a newspaper only later than the German speaking areas.