The impact of technology on the production and distribution of the news. Part 1: Computerized newsrooms

Publishers turned to the computer, with varying degrees of success, to solve problems which the industry faced as it entered the decade of the 1960s. Once the new technology arrived in the pressroom, however, it precipitated the reemergence of an age-old problem: man versus the machine a problem which dates back to times when a civilization based on the pasture and the plough gave way to one based on industry. Besides its impact on the ranks of labor, the computer, once it entered the newsroom itself, transformed the organization of the press. It has made possible the development of small papers which operate as satellites to larger metropolitan dailies. In other words, the future holds the possibility of a growth of electronic newspaper networks. The task of this article is threefold. First, I will cover the historical circumstances leading to the adaptation of the computer to the newsroom, and give a thumbnail sketch of the uses to which it has been put. Second, I will make note of the impact the computer has had on labor. Finally, I will investigate how the new technology has made possible the development of satellite presses.published or submitted for publicatio