The History of Modern Media Reporting

The printing press also led to many problems as far as the information that released to the general public. Many times the various local governments in Europe would attempt to censor the print media available and this led to dissent among those involved in journalism. This is still a struggle that occurs even today, the difference is that nowadays in most countries you will not be killed for it.

The press and the rights of people who wanted to have a free form of expression along with certain religious freedoms moved to a little country we call the United States of America. Actually, the concept had moved here before this country was conceived. It was in force as soon as physically available.

This allowed the people of the country to start the formal process of communicating the news of the different regions in an effective manner. After the battle for independence from England, small papers cropped up all over the eastern coast of the United States. Many of the early papers reflected the religious and political troubles of Europe.

This was an illustration of why people had left Europe to begin with, key philosophical differences. Benjamin Harris was a famous bookseller who was formerly from England and he decided to offer a periodical that the ordinary person could afford and understand. He had a bad reputation for being seditious in London and this led to him fleeing to America and setting up shop in Boston. His contribution was more along the lines of promoting literacy by way of his publication.

The first documented paper was “Publick Occurrences,” and published on September 25, 1690. It was devised in the print shop of one R. Peirce, and was a four-page paper that was only printed on three sides. The last page was blank so the consumer may enter his or her own thoughts if it fancied them.

In 1704, a gentleman named John Campbell introduced his “News-Letter.” This was in reference to a primitive hand written reports that had been a common form of communication in Europe before the invention of the printing press. The 1704 version was printed. It focused primarily on commercial and governmental matters.

These advances were slowly shaping what was to become the news media we know today. People were becoming increasingly more interested in the events of the world around them and the newspaper was the first medium to present them with information germane to their lifestyles. In fact, the right of the press to have free reign on information is not as free as you might think. At least to a certain degree, was a cornerstone of what America was and is about.

On the morning of April 24th in 1704, Campbell enlisted the help of a local printer named Bartholomew Green to help with the circulation of the very popular “News-Letter.” On that date, in Greens shop on Newberry Street in Boston, was born the first continuous newspaper and it was christened the “Boston News-Letter.” Most of the writings were deeply reflective of the religious roots of New England journalism.

Oddly enough, the only competition to the publication came in 1719, fifteen years after the initial printing of the “News-Letter.” On December 21, 1719, a man named William Brooker put out a paper called the Boston Gazette. Three years later the New England Courant was introduced to the masses.

It was published by a bit of a rebel named James Franklin. This man invented crusade journalism, which meant he was not happy simply reporting the news, but presenting news in a dramatic form. He made the very important contribution of making press a free enterprise by freeing the press from the licenser. This meant he was free to say what he wanted without having to bow to official pressures to print only what the authorities wanted to hear.

This in turn led to the idea of editorial independence. This was the infancy of editorial independence and the beginning of broad new freedoms as far as what information was disseminated to the public. This allowed the paper to be both witty and vindictive in its plight to be the most read publication of the era and region.