I am sure that there will be other comments about which is the world’s oldest newspaper but the claim is held by Berrow’s Worcester Journal. You may just make out from the picture that the date established was 1690. I think one of the riders that I have read elsewhere is ‘continuously published’. I just think this is incredible and a real piece of living history.
We now live in a world of speedy electronic communication where messages can reach other parts of the world in seconds and still the good old newspaper continues. A copy is delivered every week and I always enjoy a look through. It records local news, lots of articles to interest local people and enough information to digest whilst enjoying a cup of tea. All at a pace somewhat slower than my usual one. It is also an experience to feel the paper, view a number of pages at one go in a much wider format than any computer we are used to working on. If the phone rings we can answer and not end up logged out when we get back.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love the things that technology brings, it’s immediacy, the way we can create and adjust. The access through the Internet to things that even just a few short years ago were not available to us. It is just that the change of medium, the change of pace, the change of position is just that – a change. Too often we are set working on a computer in a way which means we do not move, in some cases if we get absorbed, for hours on end. Is this healthy?
Looking at the paper, and some of the news from earlier years, 50, 100, 200 years ago it is really interesting to see the changes to the City of Worcester. One can recognize many of the scenes from old pictures that are still familiar today. Some are not but change is a way of life.
This paper got me thing about a few things. These were some:
- How often do we change the sitting position when working at our computers?
- How often should we?
- Looking at the wide pages of the newspaper we can take a more complete look at what is going on – how often do we take the wider look in our businesses, in our lives?
- Is our communication sometimes too quickly sent?
- Is communication we receive always given the time it needed, the respect it deserved?
- Have we lost some of the ‘texture’, the subtleties of the message as we speed through the next email, the next article, but hopefully not the next blog!??
Perhaps sometimes I need to make that extra cup of tea and step away to enjoy the bigger picture. Because my guess is the luxury of the newspaper may not be with us as long as we think. I hope I am proved wrong.
My best wishes,
Peter
