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Journalism in the Colonies. Ayesha Ali. Publick Occurrences Both F orreign and D omestick. "disobedience and heresy and . . . libels against the best government.” Printed by Richard Pierce and edited by Benjamin Harris September 25, 1690 Filled 3 of 4 pages
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Journalism in the Colonies Ayesha Ali
Publick Occurrences Both ForreignandDomestick • "disobedience and heresy and . . . libels against the best government.” • Printed by Richard Pierce and edited by Benjamin Harris • September 25, 1690 • Filled 3 of 4 pages • Six by ten inch pages of a folded sheet of paper
Publick Occurrences Both ForreignandDomestickcont. • "once a moneth, or, if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener." • First and last • 4 days later it was banned • Collected and destroyed almost ever copy • Only one copy is known to survived and is preserved in British Library
Publick Occurrences Both ForreignandDomestickcont. • contained "sundry doubtful and uncertain Reports. • Rumors of incest and immorality in the French royal family • Criticized the British military for mistreating French prisoners during the French and Indian War. • Committed serious offense by printing without permission. • "the first newspaper published in America became the first to be suppressed by the authorities."
Benjamin Harris in London • Illegally published books, pamphlets, and a newspaper • 1679, he was on trial for seditious libel • "You can hardly read a more bad, and pernicious book, to put us all into a Flame.” • Convicted, pilloried, and sent to prison • After release, he resumed attacks on the gov’t • Left England to avoid further persecution
Benjamin Harris • ran a bookstore, a print shop, and a well-liked coffeehouse where men met to discuss current events. • His print shop made almanacs, school primers, and the Bible • Published first text book, English primer • Most publications were anti-Catholic • Produced the Publick Occurrences
New England Courant • Founded by James Franklin • August 7, 1721 • Simple sheet, printed on both sides • 1st “newspaper” in Boston. Though there were two papers before James’s Courant, they only printed news from abroad • Carried articles, opinion pieces, advertisements, and news of ship schedules
New England Courant cont. • First American newspaper to use literary content and humorous essays • Also, most expensive at the time • The newspapers that came before were badly done • The language of the Courant set the tone for the next 100 years or more for American journalism • Focused mostly on shipping reports, snippets of information from neighboring towns, and letters from Europe • It was later suppressed in 1727
New England Courant cont. • Benjamin Franklin apprenticed to his brother James • He wrote letters at night and signed them with the name of Silence Dogwood • Silence Dogwood was filled with advice and very critical of the world around her • After 16 letters, Ben confessed and James did not take it well • The Franklins’ believed inoculation made people sicker. The powerful Puritan preachers, the Mathers supported inoculation. They did not like the way James made fun of the clergy. • James was sent to jail and Benjamin ran the paper • James was not thankful to Ben for running the paper, and harassed Benjamin so much that he ran away in 1723.
Pennsylvania Gazette • First began in 1728 • First published by Samuel Keimer • The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette • On October 2, 1729, Benjamin Franklin and Hugh Meredith bought the paper and shortened its name
Pennsylvania Gazette cont. • Most successful in the colonies • Ceased Publication around 1800s • Later renamed as the Saturday Evening Post in 1821 • Franklin not only printed the paper but often contributed pieces to the paper under aliases • This newspaper printed the first political cartoon authored by Benjamin Franklin • The Gazette printed local news, extracts from the London newspaper the "Spectator", jokes, verses, humorous attacks on Bradford's "Mercury”, a rival paper, moral essays by Benjamin, elaborate hoaxes, and political satire.
Pennsylvania Gazette cont. • Position of each colony in the snake corresponds to the geographic position • Published on May 9, 1754 • Disunited state of the colonies • Importance of colonial unity • There was a superstition that a snake which had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset.