News

===Folk news===
Evidence suggests that cultures around the world have found a place for people to share stories about interesting new information. Among [[Zulus]], [[Mongols|Mongolians]], Polynesians, and American Southerners, [[anthropologist]]s have documented the practice of questioning travelers for news as a matter of priority.<ref>Stephens, ''History of News'' (1988), pp. 14, 305. "The desire to pass on tales of current events could be found even in [[Cultures]] that did not have writing—let alone printing presses or computers—to whet or satisfy their thirst for news. Observers have often remarked on the fierce concern with the news that they find in preliterate or semiliterate peoples. […] It is difficult, if not impossible, to find a society that does not exchange news and that does not build into its rituals and customs means for facilitating that exchange."</ref> Sufficiently important news would be repeated quickly and often, and could spread by word of mouth over a large geographic area.<ref>Stephens, ''History of News'' (1988), p 23.</ref> Even as printing presses came into use in [[Europe]], news for the general public often travelled orally via monks, travelers, [[town crier]]s, etc.<ref>Fang, ''History of Mass Communication'' (1997), p. 19.</ref>

The news is also transmitted in public gathering places, such as the Greek forum and the Roman baths. Starting in [[England]], [[coffeehouses]] served as important sites for the spread of news, even after telecommunications became widely available. The history of the coffee houses is traced from Arab countries, which was introduced in England in the 16th century.<ref>Stephens, ''History of News'' (1988), p. 8. "A particularly lively forum for the exchange of news by word of mouth—the coffeehouse—flourished in England well after the development of the newspaper, and in some countries, the [[Coffeehouse]] has survived even the introduction of television."</ref> In the Muslim world, people have gathered and exchanged news at mosques and other social places. Travelers on pilgrimages to Mecca traditionally stay at [[caravanserai]]s, roadside inns, along the way, and these places have naturally served as hubs for gaining news of the world.<ref>Ayalon, ''The Press in the Arab Middle East: A History'' (1995), p. 5.</ref> In late medieval Britain, reports ("tidings") of major events were a topic of great public interest, as chronicled in Chaucer's 1380 ''[[The House of Fame]]'' and other works.<ref>Lim, "Take Writing" (2006), pp. 1–6.</ref>