Title: Before the newspaper; the origins of public information. In the 16th century in Venice, ships arrived from Mediterranean ports carrying not only goods but information that they had acquired in their travels. Enterprising Venetians met the ships, gathered the information, and created hand-written "avvisi" for certain patrons. These spread information throughout the city. Not longer afterward, these news sheets found customers as printed products. The production of "news" however brought some of the same social and political issues as today: is information for the entire public? should some topics be held back from publication? who owns information?