1860 Definition Of The Newspaper
The newspaper is a chronicle of civilization, the common reservoir into which every stream pours its living waters, and at which every man may come and drink. It is the newspaper that gives to liberty its practical life, its constant observation, its perpetual vigilance, its unrelaxing activity. The newspaper informs legislation of public opinion, and it informs the public of the acts of legislation. And this is not all. The newspaper teems with the most practical morality; in its reports of crimes and punishments you find a daily warning against temptation; not a case in a police court, not a single trial of a wretched outcast or a trembling felon, that does not preach to us the awful lesson how imprudence leads to error, how error conducts to guilt, how guilt reaps its bitter fruit of anguish and degradation. The newspaper is the familiar bond that binds together man and man, no matter what may be the distance of climate or difference of race. The newspaper is a law book for the indolent, a sermon for the thoughtless, a library for the poor. It may stimulate the most indifferent; it may instruct the most profound.
January 20, 1860
The Newark Advocate - Newark, Ohio
Author Unknown
Now, read it again and substitute the word newspaper with the word internet - it is pretty close ... DH