根据以下材料，回答题
Almost every family buys at least one copy of a newspaper every day.Some people subscribe to as many as two or three different newspapers.But why do people read newspapers?
　　Five hundred years ago, news of important happenings--battles lost and won, kings or rulers overthrown or killed--took months and even years to travel from one country to another.The news passed by word of mouth and was never accurate.Today we can read in our newspapers of important events that occur in faraway countries on the same day they happen.
　　Apart from supplying news from all over the world, newspapers give us a lot of other useful information.There are weather reports, radio, television and film guides, book reviews, stories, and, of course, advertisements.There are all sorts of advertisements.The bigger ones are put in by large companies to bring attention to their products.They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for their advertising space, but it is worth the money, for news of their products goes into almost every home in the country.For those who produce newspapers, advertisements are also important.Money earned from advertisements makes it possible for them to sell their newspapers at a low price and still make a profit.
　In the past, news was________.