Why 1998 Was The Turning Point For Newspapers: The three most significant years for the newspaper industry were 1609, 1812, and 1998.
During 1609 in the city of Strasbourg, Johann Carolus began publishing Relation, the world's first newspaper. A close rival for that historical honor was Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, founded in that same year by Heinrich Julius, the duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Thus, the newspaper industry began. [...]
The main problem with this flatbed press technology were that even the most skilled printers couldn't press more than 250 pages per hour, a constraint that limited daily circulation.
That constraint remained until 1812, when William Cowper of London conceived the idea of taking a metal cast of the moveable type and then bending thos cast into a cylinder. [...]
So, what was significant about 1998? Unless the path of history changes for the newspaper industry, 1998 was the year that the newspaper industry lost the future. It was the pivotal year in the newspaper industry's attempts to utilize electronic media.
