How Print Monitoring Got Its Start
By: Jenn Langdon, Business Development Director
It has always been human nature to need to know what people are saying about you, especially if you are making the news. Even George Washington constantly read newspapers during his terms as President to keep abreast of the continuous attacks from the press in his second term.
President Washington wasn’t the only President to want to know what the papers were saying about them; both President Rutherford B. Hayes and President Franklin Pierce asked secretaries to read papers and tell them the results.
However, commercial newspaper monitoring did not get its start until the late 1800s. In 1852, the first print clipping agency was established in London by a Polish newsagent by the name of Romeike. He noticed that actors, writers, and musicians would come to his shop to look for mentions of their names and realized he could make a profit of it.
Soon after in 1879, clipbooks were invented by Alfred Cherie in Paris, France, who started “L’Argus de la presse,” a clipping agency that sold actors and other artists just booklets of their relevant reviews, as opposed to the entirety of the newspapers. While via a digital means today, the tradition of clipbooks lives on. Every day, we send out clients’ clipbooks with only the information most relevant to them.
While Newz Group does still have some clients who are actors, authors and artists, as time went on the demand for print monitoring expanded from just a small segment of society to almost every industry and entity.
In 2020, print monitoring is used for a wide variety of things, many of which you would not think of off the top of your head. Contractors, engineers, and other kinds of firms use print monitoring to search for bids, Requests for Proposals and Quotes to find possible business with government entities. Sometimes print monitoring is used for research purposes, to detail how often things are happening or being reported on. We have even used print monitoring to assist law enforcement with cases. In Newz Group’s two and half decades of business, we have seen countless uses for newspaper monitoring.
And of course, people, businesses and other organizations still use print monitoring to see what people are saying about them in the press. After all, knowing what is being said about you never goes out of style.
If you want to learn more about how Newz Group can help you find you with Print Monitoring, contact us today!
Well into its second decade, Newz Group provides state press associations with publisher support and archiving services alongside the most comprehensive newspaper monitoring in the greater Midwest. Newz Group is the primary media monitoring source for over 1/3 of American newspapers. For more information visit: www.newzgroup.com
Jenn Langdon is the Business Development Director at Newz Group. She has also been a contributing writer to the Sedalia Democrat and The Kansas City Pitch and was recently named the 2nd Best Newspaper Columnist by Missouri Magazine.
