The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-09-18
THE BEMIDJl DAILY PIONEER
ROME HAD TIE FIRST 20 ATE r.
10 cassarT Must Be Credited the Idea
Of Giving Citizens Information Of II
$5 ,. "a Events. % Ts&

that Caesar founded in Rome what
presently grew into d daily city paperf
It was up-to-date, too, even In Its name,
!Acta Dlurna;-the Daily Events or Dali
" Doings. y 22& IS, H.. III, a.
At first the Daily Events, OF. Acts,
was published merely BY setting UP Ia
the Forum q white board on which the
news was inscribed. The Romans stood
round on tiptoe craning their necks to
see, quite as the crowds stand today
In every city in the land to watch the
newspaper bulletins, and sometimes q
trumpet.voiced citizen. studying what
was written on the '"album, or
white" would turn and roar out the
information to the gaping listeners. es
Caesar had double purpose in this.
He reasoned that, If affairs were re-
corded daily and published in q busy
place like the Forum, such publicity
would let the people know what their
officers were up to, and would thus
check the secret passage of unpopular
laws and corrupt measures; and a. he
was playing the desperate game Of Ro-
man politics, in which Punishment or
death followed downfall, he had to
know, what his opponents were doing
behind the closed doors of the senate,
and the publication Of their transac-
TONS daily made it less easy for his en-
emies to lay dangerous plans without
his knowledge. Finally, he understood
perfectly the value of such an organ
to advertise himself. - l. ' 'j; III (.
Z By stimulating the appetite for news,
and by making It easier to collect in
formation, the Daily Acts brought
abont remarkable growth Of Roman
Journalism. It did more than merely
record the proceedings of the senate;
It gave q daily list of births and
deaths, touched on financial news by
noting the receipts Of the tax depart
ment, told the news of both the civil
and the criminal courts, and reported
elections and other political events. A
few years later, when Rome had be-
come an empire, 1t regularly gave de.
tailed news Of the imperial family. In
deed, the new emperor, Augustus, tax
ing Caesars hint, used the Acts freely
to promote his personal views. \ 4, !. -
The natural result Of all this was the
demand for more accessible news. Soon
the number Of hand7written news
chronicles increased. Thus the Acts
began to circulate commonly among the
well-to-do, and Roman ladies are mem
toned as Reading the morning paper"
This. "home edition" was AN enlarged
issue. Of the, Forum edition; and the
various; :"publishers,'' supplemented the
news that they procured from the bull.
letin board with additional news gath
cred from other sources, :, Debating to
o. number. Of copyists at once, they
could s!:'.run OF" an edition, Of so or
even 100 copies, though the usual NUM- I'M
Der, for one publisher was probably moi
above II, "A still more enlarged edi.'
-t,an, but apparently; not a daily, was
written for the mall" and travellers
In the provinces sometimes stayed oyer
to- await It. when 1t, did not arrive on
time. The Daily Acts was published
for 800 years or <more.-Youth's Com.
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