Colonial Newspapers

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Colonial Newspapers

• How the American Colonies received their news

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• As people came to the Colonies, beginning in
  1620, they mainly got news by word of mouth.

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• When a ship would arrive from England, not only
  did it bring more supplies and more people, but
  also letters from England and English newspapers.
  These newspapers were considered valuable and
  passed around from person to person. The news
  from England was about two months old when it got
  to the Colonies.

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• Occasionally, someone would have a broadside,
  which was a large piece of paper with news
  handwritten on it. The reader would add
  additional news and pass it on to the next reader.

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• This was the way the colonists got news until the
  first American newspaper was published.

The newspaper was Publick Occurrences, Both
Foreign and Domestick. It was published in 1690.
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Publick Occurrences was a 4-page paper, printed
on three sides.The fourth page was blank so the
reader could write down more news before passing
on the newspaper.
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The government banned the newspaper after one
issue for two reasons

• It printed the truth
• It was not licensed by the British government

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• All newspapers in England and the Colonies had
  government licenses.
• The government kept control of the newspapers in
  this way.

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• After Publick Occurrences, no other newspaper
  appeared in the Colonies for 14 years.

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• The Boston News-letter, published weekly, was the
  first continuing newspaper. It began in 1704.

It was licensed by the government and was the
only newspaper in the Colonies until 1719. As you
might guess, this newspaper ran mainly old news
from London and was bland and boring.
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• All of the type was set by hand, letter by
  letter. A page full of type might weigh over 50
  pounds.
• It was printed on a damp piece of paper and
  hand-cranked. The ink on each copy would be of a
  different thickness.
• If the type dented the paper evenly, the printer
  had a good copy. That's how the phrase "making a
  good impression" came into our language!