The information age: 1868

I found it as difficult as I dare say every one else did, to learn anything authentic about Hongkong before I left England. There was plenty of information to be obtained, but each new fact was so entirely at variance with the last, that the result was a state of unutterable confusion. There was plenty of information to be obtained, but each new fact was so entirely at variance with the last, that the result was a state of unutterable confusion. I may classify my informants and say that they were of three kinds—those who invented all they told me, those who exaggerated all they told me, and those who only told me half the truth.

--From The China Magazine--

Before the internet came along people had an easier time finding reliable information, because they could simply look it up in fact-checked books or read it in newspapers produced by professional journalists.