THE essential work of the media is to see the world as it is, and the media are said to be American. That is a political interpretation, nothing to do with the basic facts though.

The world's oldest newspaper is Swedish, the Post-och Inrike Tidningar, or Post and Domestic Times, published in 1645, and gone online since 2007. Followed by the Dutch daily, Opregte Haarlemsche Courant (1656), then by the Gazzetta di Mantova in Mantua, Italy (1664), then by the London Gazette (1665). The list is long. The Hartford Courant, the US' first daily newspaper, did not appear until Oct. 29, 1764.