Print technology arrived late in Laos, and for much of the French colonial period the Official Bulletin of Laos (1924-1953) and other occasional government newspapers were published outside the country.

The early 1940s were an important period for print media development in Laos. Launched as part of a belated attempt by the French colonial government to enhance Lao national identity with the aim of preventing the Lao people from becoming receptive to the notion of a 'Greater Siam', the bi-weekly newspaper Lao Nhay ('Great Laos') ran poetry and short story competitions celebrating Lao culture and history and contained features recalling the 'glorious lineage of the modern Lao' dating back to the kingdom of Lane Xang, thereby also making an important contribution to the development of modern Lao literature (see Lao literature during the French colonial period).

National newspapers published after independence in 1953 included Xat Lao Daily News, Sieng Seri Daily News and Saykang Newspaper; the Official Bulletin of Laos also continued to be published as the Bulletin Official du Royaume du Laos. During the 1960s Vientiane Municipal Government launched the Lao-language Vientiane Post (forerunner of today's Vientiane Mai (New Vientiane) Newspaper), and the early 1970s saw the appearance of the English-language weekly newspaper Vientiane News and the French-language bulletin Vientiane Tribune.

Meanwhile patriotic leaflets and news bulletins were distributed widely throughout the Royal Lao Government period by the Lao Issara movement and its successor, the Lao Patriotic Front (Pathet Lao). The first revolutionary newspaper to appear was Peua Pheun Chon ('For Poor Friends'). It was succeeded in 1950 by Lao Issara ('Free Laos') newspaper and in 1956 by Lao Hak Xat ('Lao Patriot'); both became important mouthpieces of the revolutionary movement.

In 1965 the army launched its newspaper Kongthap Pasaxon Lao at Viengsay in Houaphanh Province, and in 1968 the Pathet Lao launched Sengsawan ('Light') Magazine, forerunner of today's Aloun Mai (New Dawn) Magazine, which was devoted mainly to articles on Marxist-Leninist theory and party doctrine.

By this time it was becoming clear that a news agency was required to co-ordinate and supply news and information to the various media being generated in support of the revolutionary cause. Accordingly in 1968 the Khaosan Pathet Lao (KPL) News Agency was established with the task of collecting, processing and supplying news and other information to Lao Hak Xat, Lao Issara and Kongthap Pasaxon Lao newspapers, to Sengsawan magazine and to the two revolutionary radio stations - Pathet Lao Radio and Lao National Radio (see Radio), which had been operational since 1960. In 1970 KPL also began to issue its own daily KPL Bulletin, in Lao, English and French.

Following the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos in 1975, KPL became the national news agency, tasked with the supply of domestic and international news to all local media; thereafter the agency continued to publish its daily news bulletins in Lao (KPL Bulletin), English (KPL Bulletin, now KPL News) and French (Le KPL Quotidien).

In the same year the Ministry of Information and Culture's new Department of Mass Media took over the publication of Lao Issara, turning it into the national Lao-language daily newspaper Sieng Pasaxon (Voice of the People); in 1979 the name Sieng Pasaxon was shortened, giving rise to today's Pasaxon (People) Newspaper.

The only pre-1975 Vientiane newspaper to survive the change of government was the Vientiane Post, which continued to be published after 1975 by the Vientiane Prefectural Government, albeit under the new name Vientiane Mai (New Vientiane) Newspaper.

From the early 1990s the advent of the New Economic Mechanism (NEM) stimulated the growth of publishing, and over the next decade a variety of newspapers and journals were launched by different government agencies. Circulation figures also increased as improved transportation brought more print media products from the capital to provincial centres.

In 1990 the Department of Mass Media launched the Lao-language Sunday newspaper Van Athit Weekly. Subsequently, as Laos re-emerged on the international stage, a Foreign Language Newspapers Office was set up four years later within the Department to publish the new English-language Vientiane Times; the latter began life in 1994 as a weekly newspaper, becoming bi-weekly in 1996 and daily in 2004. In 1998 the Foreign Language Newspapers Office also launched the weekly French-language newspaper Le Rénovateur.

In recent years KPL has also expanded its output. In 2001 it launched a second major national Lao-language daily newspaper, Pathet Lao Daily Newspaper, and in 2003 it upgraded its English-language KPL Bulletin, transforming it into the daily newspaper KPL News.

A small number of regional Lao-language newspapers have also appeared since the early 1990s - these include the fortnightly Khoueng Vientiane (Vientiane Province) Newspaper (1994), the weekly Savanhphathana Newspaper (1994), the weekly Champamay Newspaper (1995) and the quarterly Luang Prabang Moradok Loke (Luang Prabang World Heritage) Newspaper (2000),

Today Laos has five national daily newspapers - Pasaxon (People) Newspaper, Pathet Lao Daily Newspaper and Khaokila (Sports Daily News) in Lao, and the Vientiane Times and KPL News in English. The French-language Le KPL Quotidien is still published on a daily basis, but over the past few years it has been available only as a centre spread in the English-language KPL News. Van Athit Weekly, the weekly French-language Le Rénovateur and the twice-weekly army broadsheet Kongthap Pasaxon Lao are also distributed nationwide.

The Party Central Committee and various state bodies, public organisations and official institutions publish their own in-house newspapers and journals.

A small number of dedicated cultural magazines and journals are published in Laos, including Vannasin Magazine and Sinxay Weekly in Lao and Wattanatham (Culture) Magazine in both Lao and English.