Early History of Access to News

Boston, Thursday Sept. 25th, 1690, Printer, Benjamin Harris

When the Founding Fathers spoke of the importance of protecting the Peoples' access to news, they were probably thinking in terms of broadsheets and newspapers.  The early newspapers in the Colonies were quite simple, perhaps only broadsheets, published as a sideline by printers.  Broadsheets are defined as "A large piece of paper printed with information on one side only," the sort of thing we might call a poster. a handbill, or a placard.  The term continues in the present day to refer to a newspaper with a large format, also used to describe a tabloid or a news-sheet.

Publick Occurrences is considered one of the earliest, if not the earliest, newspaper published in the British North American Colonies, for it was four pages long and promised monthly publication.  Boston residents loved it, but the British authorities did not.  British law provided that "no person keep any printing-press for printing, nor any book, pamphlet or other matter whatsoever [without] especial leave and license first obtained."  Harris had not obtained that permission, and British authorities banned further publication and seized and destroyed every copy they could find.  The one copy that is known to have survived is preserved in the British Library.

The meaning of Hamilton's argument in last week's blog, saying there was no need to expressly protect something that could already freely be done, is better understood in the context of what happened to Benjamin Harris' newspaper.  Since Harris did not get permission to publish, his newspapers were destroyed.  Hamilton was saying that since no permission was required in the new nation being formed, there was no need to protect the free publication of newspapers.  Of course, our founding fathers decided differently, and the 1st Amendment does protect a free press.

The Publishing of broadsheets and newspapers did continue under British rule of the colonies, particularly by merchants.  What was called a "partisan press" also developed, in which biased support for political parties or platforms were published. In 1734 when the satirical attacks by a man named Zenger so angered the British governor that he sued Zenger for criminal libel, the jury acquitted Zenger.  By the close of the colonial period there were 24 weekly newspapers in the 13 colonies, and satirical attacks on the government were common practice.

Benjamin Franklin's older brother, James was the first to publish a newspaper superior in quality to the unprofessional news sheets that preceeded James Franklin's New-England Courant.  The style and format drew heavily on The Spectator, a British publication.

The new nation brought with it creation of  newspapers clearly aligned with particular political parties.  The parties threw vulgar insults back and forth.  For example, when Federalist Alexander Hamilton convinced Noah Webster to edit a Federalist newspaper, the Jeffersonian Republicans called Webster "a pusillanimous, half-begotten, self-dubbed patriot", and "incurable lunatic", and "a deceitful newsmonger...Pedagogue and Quack", "a traitor to the cause of Federalism", and "a great fool, and a barefaced liar."

The reality that the animosity in print got so far out of bounds seemed to show  almost everyone changes were needed.  The newspapers of the Revolution became a unifying force, stressing the common purpose to come together and see the war with  Britain to a successful outcome.  Unfortunately, old political differences were behind the passage of the 1798 Alien Sedition laws by Federalists for the purpose of stifling what they regarded as libels by editors with whom they disagreed.  The tactic backfired, and public opinion shifted away from the Federalists and toward the Jeffersonian Republicans.

Newspaper growth in the young nation

This blog is not intended to be a complete study of the evolution of a free press in America, but rather it is intended to show that the process was not always tidy.  Gradually, the editorials shifted from the use of pseudonyms and unsigned editorials and articles, toward a willingness to stand behind what they wrote.  The "Penny Press" made newspapers more affordable, and the number of newspapers grew.  Specialized journalism expanded, with foreign language newspapers for new immigrants, and other targeted groups including religious, educational, agricultural and commercial newspapers.

As settlers headed West, small town newspapers flourished, often politically aligned with a particular party.  Isaac B. Werner was part of this movement, and his county seat of St. John, had two popular weekly  newspapers-the Populist County Capital  and the Republican St. John News.

An era of Yellow Journalism

The late 1800s were also an era of "Yellow Journalism," during which time news was often sensationalized to increase circulation.  The drawing at left, done by Frederic Remington, was published by William Randolph Hearst's newspaper as part of the effort to stir momentum for war with Spain in Cuba.  Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were accused of "war mongering" with sensational "Yellow Journalism" in their news and images.  In a time before camera journalists, artists could misrepresent events, and today the ability to manipulate images is even more sophisticated and concerning.

It was also a period in which investigative reporters exposed social injustices.  One particularly noteworthy case was the female reporter, Nellie Bly, who contrived to be admitted into a mental facility in order to describe factually the mistreatment of those admitted, for legitimate mental illness but also falsely admitted by vengeful guardians and relatives or admitted for temporary conditions and refused release after recovery.  Her expose, Ten Days in a Mad-House, exposed the desperate need for reform.  Without a free press, those abuses might have gone unnoticed or intentionally ignored.

By the 1900s newspapers had grown to the extent where they seemed like an invincible force for delivering news.  As described in last week's blog, editors and responsible journalists saw the need for professional standards of integrity, and they formed the American Society of Newspaper Editors.  Nearly every family subscribed to at least one daily newspaper, and legendary family owned newspapers became a sort of American Royalty.  The wealth and power of American newspapers seemed fixed.

In 1970 there were 1,748 daily newspapers in the United States.  By 1980 there had been a slight decrease, but in 1990 the number had dropped to 1,611, dropping to 1,480 by 2000.  The decline slowed, even ticking upward in between 2012 and 2013, but the decline plunged downward until in 2016 there were only 1,286 daily newspapers in the United States.  Although I do not have the numbers, I suspect the number of daily newspapers has continued to decline sharply.

From 256,800 employees in the newspaper industry in the United States in March of 2010, there has been a gradual reduction of employees until March of 2016 there were 183,200.  The unfortunate reality is that even large newspapers have cut the number of reporters actively engaged in searching out the news.  More reliance on use of the Associated Press means less insistent independent digging for the facts.  

The 1st Amendment may protect a free press, but what it takes for newspapers to seek out the truth in an increasingly complex world doesn't come for free.

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