20世纪前后,资产阶级改良派和民主革命派,为了各自的政治目的,大力进行舆论宣传,于是各种形式的报刊纷纷问世。而报纸以刊期短、报道快,更为人们所喜读。特别是辛亥革命以后,社会急剧变异,新旧思潮激荡,舆论更为勃兴,各样背景和形式的报刊益形发展。《益世报》 (日报)就是在这种背景下,于1915年10月10日,应运而生。
        《益世报》 是罗马天主教会在中国印行的中文日报,它是一份以西方教会为背景的报纸。创办人为天主教神甫雷鸣远(比籍) ; 刘浚卿任总理,报馆首创于河北,后馆址设在荣业大街1077号,再后迁往东门外洋货街。
        《益世报》虽然颇为重视宣扬西方文化,并曾支持袁世凯称帝; 但是,大多数时间里,它还能比较客观地报道中国社会及天津的各方面情况; 在 “五四” 爱国运动时期,承印过《天津学生联合会报》 ,后来又聘周恩来为特约通讯员,1921～1922年间,还连载了周恩来自法国发回来的《旅欧通讯》150篇之多,表现了一定的进步倾向。

        

·益世报馆

        1931年“九一八”事变后,由于《益世报》抨击国民党不抵抗政策,主张抗日救国,受到读者的极大欢迎。天津沦陷后,于1938年底转迁到昆明出刊; 1940年迁往重庆出刊;抗战胜利后,于1945年12月1日返回天津复刊;1949年1月15日天津解放后停刊。前后达30余年。在天津是最有影响的报纸之一,其影响可与天津《大公报》相比。
        《益世报》虽然为宗教背景,但是并非传教性报刊,而是内容十分丰富的公共性报刊,它对当时中国的内政、外交、经济、军事、文化和社会风情等方面,特别是对当时发生的重大事件,均有比较翔实的报道,对研究近现代史、中外关系史、文化史、地方史和社会史等,提供了大量的足资参证的珍贵历史资料。建国前,《益世报》与《申报》、《大公报》 、《民国日报》并称 “四大报” 。
        《益世报》为了迎合市民心理,扩大销路,还连载通俗小说,然后出版。如董濯缨所著《新新外史》,连载12年,很受读者欢迎; 报馆在1926年出版甲、乙两集,1929年又出丙集; 到1936年这部200万字的书才出齐,共12册。
        Around 20th century,bourgeois reformists anddemocratic revolutionists founded many newspapersand magazines to spread their ideas. Newspapers wereespecially favored because of their short publication termand their timely report. After the revolution of 1911,newspapers and magazines developed rapidly becauseof the sharp social changes and collision between the oldand new thoughts. Yishi Newspaper (daily) was foundedin October 10 in 1915 under this circumstance.
        Yishi Newspaper was a daily newspaper in Chinesepublished by Roman Catholic Church. Its founder wasthe Catholic priest Lei Mingyuan (Belgium) and LiuJunqing was its manager. It was located in No. 1077 inRongye Street and later moved to Yanghuo Street outsidethe east gate.
        As a newspaper with the western church background,Yishi Newspaper attached much attention to spreadwestern culture and it supported Yuan Shikai`s claimingof the emperor. However,in most cases,it objectivelyreported social events of China and Tianjin. DuringMay Fourth Movement,it was responsible for printingNewspaper of Tianjin Students Union. It employedZhou Enlai as its special reporter. From 1921 to 1922,it published in series more than 150 articles aboutEurope by Zhou Enlai who was then studying in France.Therefore,it was in a way supporting the revolution.
        After the September 18th Event in 1931,YishiNewspaper was highly appraised by its readers becauseit attacked the nonresistant policy of KMT and supportedthe anti-Japanese actions. It moved to Kunming at theend of 1938 after Tianjin was occupied. In 1940 it movedto Chongqing. After the victory of the anti-Japanesewar,it returned to Tianjin in December 1 in 1945. Itspublishing was stopped after the liberation of Tianjinin January 15,1949. It had run for more than 30 yearsand had been one of the most influential newspapers inTianjin. In terms of its influence,it was comparable withTa Kung Pao Newspaper.
        Though Yishi Newspaper had religious background,it was not a newspaper preaching religion. It was apublic newspaper with rich contents. It reported in detailpolitical,diplomatic,economic,military,cultural andsocial events in China and especially those big events.It provided large quantity of precious historic materialsfor the research of modern history,relationship historybetween China and foreign countries,culture history,local history and social history. Before the foundingof the People`s Republic of China,Yishi Newspaper,Shenbao Newspaper,Ta Kung Pao Newspaper andMinguo Daily were jointly called the Four Newspapers.
        To promote its sales and to cater to the public,YishiNewspaper also published novels in series and thenpublished them as a whole,for example,the New Historyby Dong Zhuoying was published in Yishi Newspaperin series for 12 years and was greatly applauded byreaders. It published two collections in 1926 and thethird collection in 1929. It was not until 1936 that thewhole collection with more than 2 million characters andtwelve volumes was published.

        

·《益世报》局部