Online Journalism in 1981 (VIDEO)

Above is one of my favorite videos about online journalism — a 1981 television report from KRON-TV in the San Francisco Bay Area. It shows how, through a special service, people were able to dial into servers and download the day’s newspaper.

How long does it take to download the newspaper? Well, over 2 hours (after all, the modems shown require the user to physically place a telephone handset on top of them).

It speaks of eight newspapers who had online versions available at the time: the Columbus Dispatch, The New York Times, the Virginian-Pilot & Ledger Star, The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, the Los Angeles Times and the Minneapolis Star and Tribune.

“This is an experiment,” said David Cole of the San Francisco Examiner, adding, “we’re not in it to make money.”

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