by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
It’s no accident the Founding Fathers saw fit to enshrine Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Those revolutionary makers of a new country knew all too well how tyrannical rulers in the “Old World” squelched free speech and free press to retain their power over others.
In order for democracy to endure, a free press and free speech would be essential.
As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or a newspaper without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”
Like the young American nation in its growing pains, the American Press was just as wild, rambunctious and bursting at the seams as the expanding nation itself. Many people, including plenty of presidents, battled the press, and charges of “fake news” were hurled then as now. Thus, there has always been a tug of war between the Powers-that-be and the Press in the United States. And that tension, that abrasive coexistence, those skirmishes between Power and Press are exactly what the Founding Fathers had in mind as part of the checks-and-balances system that helps keep tyranny in check and democracy alive.
The following are some of the highlights of the Press in American history:
1690
In Boston, the first newspaper in America is published, which is called Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick. The four-page paper, however, ceases publication after only one issue because of sharp rebukes from the colonial government.
1704
The Boston News-Letter is published, the first continuously published newspaper in colonial America. It also contained the first newspaper advertisement – one seeking a buyer for property on Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. The paper also published what just might have been the first sensationalist coverage of “breaking news” – the death in hand-to-hand combat on a ship of the notorious and feared pirate, Blackbeard. The News-Letter was hardly an example of “free press,” however. On its front page, it proclaimed boldly “Published by Authority,” meaning royal powers in London supervised its contents.
1729
Benjamin Franklin begins to champion the start-up of newspapers and encourages the reporting of local, colonial news. In the coming decades, American newspapers have enormous influence to convince readers to support the colonial struggles against England.
1735
John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, is tried in court for publishing stories using sarcasm to ridicule the New York governor. Zenger, represented by Alexander Hamilton, is found not guilty of seditious libel. The Zenger case was a huge blow against censorship attempts, a forerunner of landmark press freedoms and an inspiration for the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution.
1769
Isaac Doolittle in Connecticut builds the first-ever printing press on American soil.
1791
The Founding Fathers approve the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, forbidding the Congress from making any law “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
1827
The first black American newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, is published in New York City.
1833
The New York Sun makes its debut and is a huge success because it’s the first “penny” newspaper, making it affordable to nearly all and concentrating on mainly local news for New York residents.
1844
America’s first telegraph line connects Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, making it feasible for newspapers to offer more timely reporting of events from far away.
1897
The first color Sunday funny papers are published and become an instant hit with loyal newspaper readers.
1904
Press titan William Randolph Hearst extends his newspaper empire coast to coast, with 28 papers in major cities.
1920
Radio rapidly starts becoming a new medium for news.
1941
Commercial TV broadcasting begins.
1966
Congress passes the Freedom of Information Act, making it easier for all citizens, including news reporters, to gain access to government records.
1971
The New York Times publishes the first installment of the “Pentagon Papers,” purloined classified documents detailing the secretive machinations that led to the Vietnam War. President Richard Nixon gets an injunction to stop further publication of the Pentagon Papers, but in June 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court rules the injunction an example of illegal, unconstitutional “prior restraint,” and the publications continue.
1971
Two Washington Post reporters, Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein, begin to connect the dots from clues at a burglary of the office of the Democratic National Committee located in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Their investigative stories eventually lead to Nixon’s resignation after being accused of a cover-up of the dirty-tricks campaign.
1988
The Internet, originally a project of the U.S. military, is opened for commercial uses. In the coming years, news and information sources begin to multiply exponentially online. Newspapers begin to offer online versions of their papers.
1989 to Present
Newspapers, facing financial challenges, increasingly offer digital options for dissemination of news, information, entertainment and advertisements. Many major-city newspapers either close down or merge with others. While the challenges to paper-ink news remain, there is still a strong preference for hard-copy newspapers among many loyal readers, especially for smaller-town newspapers.
2017
President Donald Trump, under fire on many fronts, lashes out repeatedly in speeches and tweets, blaming the “Fake Press” for his administration’s problems. His verbal attacks lead to lively widespread discussions of the roles and responsibilities of media in modern society and about how many “news” stories, like those placed on social media by propagandists, including some by devious Russian meddlers, are indeed “fake.”
This is the front page of the Boston News-Letter, first published in 1704. Its publication continued under various ownerships for 72 years. But the paper was far from an example of “free press.” Note the bold “Published by Authority” on its page, a reminder that the powers-that-be in London supervised its contents.
This ad, from a newspaper in some Eastern seaboard city in 1778, is one of many shameful notices in early American newspapers seeking the whereabouts of runaway slaves. Newspapers, sometimes unwittingly, reflected the cruel injustices of slavery, as this ad indicates. Many newspapers, however, championed the cause of abolitionism – an end to slavery.
This front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, 1945, announces the horrifying news of the dropping of an atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
This ad from a New York newspaper early in the 20th Century offers help for people with beautiful faces but ugly noses. The wearing of a nose mask was supposed to reshape lumpy noses into objects of beauty.
