Exact Journals? English Newsbooks in the Civil War and Interregnum

Though the English newspaper was born in the early 1620s, government interference prevented it from developing into a regular feature of English life. The destruction of Charles I's government in 1641–42 saw the removal of censorship, and journalism burgeoned. For 20 years newspapers developed, first as independent institutions and then as government mouthpieces. Style and presentation improved, advertising was introduced, if not in sophisticated form, and many of the features of modern journals began to appear in the often confused period of freedom and censorship.