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Along with paper production, movable type & relief printing made the world modern. The printed word empowered knowledge, history & progress with a technology that began advancing in the 15th century, with hand set letters individually cast in metal. By the mid 20th century it was a highly specialized critical industry and craft.
As foundry type cast from an alloy of lead, tin & antimony lost to the more versatile and labor saving offset lithography. the art and craft of Letter press that had dominated for hundreds of years fell by the wayside. Equipment was scrapped, schools stopped teaching the trade and the "old fashioned" cast iron presses became antique novelties gathering dust, or relegated to mundane numbering and die-cutting tasks in modern print shops. 
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When the US Constitution included press freedom in the Bill of Rights, what was meant in the 18th century was the actual machine, the means of production, the technology itself. Those who had the means to disseminate printed information, by publishing with a press. Protecting the freedom of opinion and importantly political opinion and ideas, that challenged authority and the ability to publish them was deemed necessary for the concept of liberty and democracy to succeed, flourish, and be sustained.
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The Printing Press
With information dominated by
social media, distraction, & disinformation, press freedom is even more crucial today. |
