9. the birth and development of journalism in America

The first attempt to publish a newspaper dates back to 1690, when the owner of one of the Boston taverns, one Benjamin Harris, released the first issue of Public Occuringis, which turned out to be the last, since the British censorship forbade publication of newspapers without his knowledge, and without support at the highest level was not possible.

A significant event in the history of England and its colonies was the abolition of censorship in 1695. From now on, the seal of North America could develop unhindered.

The first regularly published newspaper, Boston Newsletter, was founded in 1704 by the postmaster John Campbell. weekly. They had a small format (22X6 3/4 inches), two lanes with two columns on each. The average circulation was 200-300 copies.

European news came late for 2–3 months, news from other colonies was late for several weeks, and only local events were covered relatively quickly. The news sources were government channels, rumors and other (mostly English) newspapers. Among the colonial news often found information about navigation, pirates and Indians. At first, when the population was small, among the local news one could find information about deaths and births.

The newspaper was completed with ads, among which there was often information about runaway slaves with the promise of reward for capture.

The language of the newspapers was heavy and clumsy. This is not surprising: after all, publishers - postmaster - could hardly boast a brilliant education.

A new page in the history of the press of English America was opened by the brothers James and Benjamin Frankdinami. So in 1721 a new newspaper, New England Courant, was born in Boston. Like the Addison and Steele publications that appeared earlier in England, she marked the beginning of satirical journalism in English America.

James Franklin was a newspaper publisher and earned a lot of money. Freed from the tutelage of his brother, Benjamin moved to Philadelphia and in 1729 acquired the Pennsylvania Gazette created a year earlier, but which had already decayed, and then made it the most popular newspaper in the city. The secret of her success lies in the outstanding journalistic and literary abilities of the publisher, combined with the entrepreneurial spirit and ability to make money. Printing no less news than any other newspaper, Pennsylvania Gazette combined various genres. It published, on the one hand, funny funny stories, such as the resourceful Polly Baker, a single mother of five children, called by puritans to the court of morals, where she uttered such heartfelt speech about the love of children, that one of the judges immediately offered her hand and heart. On the other hand, there were reflected the ideas of the Enlightenment, whose preacher in America was B. Franklin. But, apart from purely educational tasks, the goal was to engender in readers an idea of ​​a new American nation and national unity.

The Pennsylvania Gazette has become the most popular periodical in America and a model for newly created newspapers. Of course, not all publishers had the talent of B. Franklin, but they all tried, following the example of his newspaper, to combine information, analytical and entertainment materials, as well as to pay attention to the style of presentation.

Due to the general lag of the southern colonies, the appearance of periodicals in them was somewhat delayed.

By 1775, 48 newspapers were already published in 13 colonies of English America with a population of only 2.5 million, an indicator that is very high even by European standards. For comparison, it should be noted that in the 30 million France in 1788, there were only 8 newspapers. However, all American newspapers were still weekly. Developing the success achieved, B. Franklin in 1741 created the first magazine in the British colonies, General Magazine. Andrew Bradford began to issue American Magazine at the same time. Both of these journals did not last long, but laid the foundation for a new type of periodicals in America.

Such successes of American journalism are largely due to the relative freedom of speech in English America as compared with European countries, including England. However, there are known cases of harassment of journalists for free-thinking. So, in 1734, Peter Senger, the publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, was arrested for criticizing the governor. He spent almost a year in prison awaiting trial, which issued an acquittal. But while in England the arrests of journalists at that time were common, and in most European countries there was preliminary censorship, in English America there was no censorship, no persecution of freedom of thought was included in the system, and the jury’s decision on the Zenger case created an important judicial precedent.

Despite the poor means of communication, it covered a larger percentage of the population than journalism in European countries, and played an important role in education.