A brief overview of the function and evolution of the news industry throughout history leading up to today. 

The first documented use of an organized courier service for the distribution of official bulletins and edicts was around 2,400 BC in Egypt. The Pharaohs used these couriers to spread their decrees in their territory of the State. This practice has its roots in oral messaging and may have been built on a pre-existing infrastructure.c

Government announced bulletins were made public in the Roman era by Julius Caesar. They were carved in stone or metal and posted in public places.

Sometimes a messenger, or "nuntius", was sent into towns. For larger responsibilities, Roman envoys were sent abroad with written instructions from their government.c 

Early government-produced news sheets, called "tipao" were circulated among court officials during the late Han dynasty (2nd and 3rd centuries AD). Between 713 and 734, the Tang dynasty published government news handwritten on silk and read by officials. 

It wasn't until 1582 that there was the first privately published news sheets in Beijing, during the late Ming dynasty.c

Increased cross-border interaction and trading among nations created a rising need for information which was conveyed by detailed handwritten news sheets. Venice, Italy, was one of the first societies to use monthly, published newsletters that recounted political, military and economic news to various Italian cities. Because of the high illiteracy rate, news was often communicated via town criers.

The first official newspaper originated in Germany in 1605 and was called "The Relation." The first news agency hails from France in 1835, the creation of a Parisian translator and an advertising agent.c 

In modern times, printed news had to be phoned in to a newsroom or brought there by a reporter, where it was typed and either transmitted over wire services or edited and manually set in type. Since the advent of the radio, television, and most recently, the Internet, "breaking news" has taken on a new meaning as newsworthy events frequently unfold live in consumers' homes as they are happening.c 

A recent example is when Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in May of 2011. Sohain Athar, the 34 year-old IT consultant who lived close to the compound Bin Laden was housed in, reported on his Twitter that a loud bang had rattled his window, adding that he hoped it wasn't "the start of something nasty." A few hours later, Athar posted another Tweet: "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."c