Special for The Press and Standard
Source: masshist.org; Kelsey Harrell
Does Publick* Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick* sound familiar. How about the Boston News-Letter or the Boston Gazette? These were the first newspapers to be published in the Americas before the United States even became the United States. Publick* Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestik* was first published in 1690. Richard Pierce printed the piece for Richard Harris who intended it to be a monthly publication, however Harris was met with opposition from authorities who had issue with some of the items he wrote. Harris wrote some unsavory things about the French royal family and, he was also writing without the express approval of legal of authority. Ultimately the Governor and Council of Massachusetts issued an order of printing without a license. One could say this was a violation of the First Amendment even though there wasn’t an amendment to violate. Then came the Boston Newsletter in 1704. It was small sheet of paper, was printed on both sides, and was printed continuously until 1776. The Newsletter did not have any competition as a continuous publication until 1719 when the Boston Gazette printed its first issue.
The newspaper has been a fixture in daily life for decades. I remember my parents sitting with a cup of coffee and reading the paper. Sundays the paper would be read at my Mamaw’s (with the always present cup of coffee) and the adults would swap sections to read. My cousins and I would steal the funnies and sit and read them in the other room and press Play-Doh onto the page to make the image appear on the Play-Doh.
The intent of a newspaper publication is to inform and educate the reader of current events. The word NEWS stands for:
N—Notable
E—Events
W—Weather
S—Sports
The news is meant to be reported objectively and the reader is to form their own opinion based on the facts. Professionalism of the publication and the journalists is key to providing these objective facts.
As a form of media, many insist that print media is dying. Others insist that it is not. Those in the corner of the newspaper dying cite the increase of readers to digital media. Those in the corner of newspapers insist the medium is not dying but evolving and working smarter not harder to cater to its readers.
There will always be those who enjoy the feel of the newspaper in their hands just like there are those that enjoy the feeling of a book in their hands instead of a tablet or a phone. So, if you haven’t sat down and read your local newspaper, try it for National Newspaper Week. Sit down with a cup of coffee, swap the sections with your family and friends, or let your kids run off with the funnies. That’s what I still do. I may not run off with them, but I do make sure I read them first.
*(spelling intentional)
