1 THE FIRST US NEWSPAPER LASTS JUST ONE EDITION Publick Occurrences was published in Boston Massachusetts on September 25 1690 It was the first newspaper in the American colonies It was meant to be published monthly But four days after its first edition was published the paper was shut down by the government In 1690 Massachusetts was a In 1690 Massachusetts was a colony of Great Britain The colonists lived under the rule of the British Royal Government The government destroyed every copy of Publick Occurrences Only one known copy survives today The Royal Government was angry about what was printed in the about what was printed in the newspaper The paper criticized newspaper The paper criticized 4 Many colonists in Many colonists in Many colonists in Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy Boston were unhappy with British rule with British rule with British rule
The first edition of the Boston News-Letter British actions in the French and Indian War 1754 1763 The government said the paper was illegal It said the paper had printed untrue things It also said printers had to have permission from the government to print information It was 14 years before the next colonial newspaper would be published But this one had more than one edition The Boston News Letter was published for 74 years The first newspapers changed how 4 Number of pages of the first colonial newspaper The British Royal Government shut down the first US newspaper Fourteen years passed before another colonial newspaper was published People began to read the newspaper people got information They did not have to wait for the town crier to tell them the news They could read it for themselves FREEDOM OF THE PRESS After the American Revolution the United States was no longer ruled by England The Bill of Rights was added to the US Constitution in 1791 The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech It says the government cannot tell the press what to say 5
2 PENNY PRESSES GROW IN POPULARITY In the 1800s some newspapers cost only a penny The Sun was the first of these popular penny presses It was printed and read in New York City Before the Sun newspapers were expensive Many people could not afford to purchase them But in 1833 the Sun changed that It earned a very big circulation in New York City Soon many penny presses competed with the Sun in New York City Penny presses Newsboys sell newspapers to passing customers 6
The first edition of the Sun became available in other cities too Penny presses printed newspapers less wealthy people could afford They were printed on smaller sheets of paper than other newspapers were Other newspapers at the time relied on subscriptions to make money But the penny presses relied on advertisements and individual paper sales They hired children called newsboys to sell the papers from street corners The penny presses published news like other papers did But they also published more sensational stories They covered marriages and local news stories Penny press crime stories were popular with readers But some of the stories penny presses published were not true For example one popular story told of bats on the moon This was not true of course But people loved to read these sensational stories The mix of important information and exciting stories helped attract readers 0 06 Cost of the average newspaper in 1833 The Sun cost only a penny The penny presses made papers affordable for many readers Lower prices helped make newspapers more popular 7
