EOTO Reaction: Early Journalism Heroes

In our class' presentations on early heroes in journalism, I was most inspired by Mary McBride. She was a radio host, free-lance magazine writer, and reporter / journalist. She used to write for the Cleveland Press, along with the new York Evening Mail for a few months each. Although her time as a reporter was short, she managed to make waves in the industry. As a magazine writer, her work appeared across many different magazine companies ranging from the Saturday Evening Post to Cosmo. She was also an extremely successful publisher in the 1920s - 30s, publishing books with authors like Paul Whiteman, Alexander Williams, and Helen Josephy.

Between the years of 1934 - 1940, McBride worked under a pen name, Martha Deane; with her daily program "Mary Margaret and Her Guests" airing on WOR radio station. Her show was just advice for women., and grew a great audience in appreciation of her grandmotherly kindness and cleverness. I found this very interesting, as her radio show name is her actual name, but she is speaking under an alias. Why is that? And at the same time, she had a different weekly radio program where she did use her given name. It switched off being broadcast from NBC, CBS, and ABC. The audience for this show particularly enjoyed her off-the-cuff commentary and celebrity interviews. It was also impressive because her target listeners were primarily women, but she managed to reach a male audience.

To conclude, I found Margaret McBride to be extremely interesting as I haven't really been focusing on any radio personnel in class, but rather primarily journalists. I loved learning about how she made switches from different types of reporting and was able to multi-task throughout her life. She proved to be a very influential voice in the radio world, breaking down barriers for women in this field. Her approach to daytime radio programming made it possible to make a profit without drama and soap opera fare. She was an uplifting, inspiring figure for women in the way she spoke opposed to others. She treated her audience with respect, no matter what society viewed them as, and it paid off as her audience was estimated to be over eight million people at it's height.

Final EOTO: Dorothy Thompson

Dorothy Thompson was born in 1893, to British immigrants in Lancaster, New York; she studied at Syracuse University. She got married to a novelist named Sinclair Lewis in 1927, and divorced him later in 1937. She died at age 67 in Lisbon, Portugal of a heart attack in 1961. She was also considered to be one of the most influential female journalists in American history.

She started out her career working for the New York State Woman Suffrage Party, becoming a journalist shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment. She exhibited traits of the Girl Reporters of the late Nineteenth-Century in her reporting tactics. In 1921, she was the only journalist to report from the inside of former King Karl I's castle, by posing as a Red Cross nurse. It's how she established her reputation, got to become the Vienna correspondent, and the central European Bureau Chief for the Philadelphia Public Ledger and the New York Evening Post. This made her the first woman to head a foreign news bureau of any stature. After her wedding in 1928, she split her time between a domestic life in Vermont, and going international for reporting assignments. Dorothy was one of the leading journalists when it come to reporting on the National Socialism in Germany, she was able to have a sit down interview with Adolf Hitler himself, and published a book in 1931, "I Saw Hitler!" Here she described him as "formless, almost faceless, a man whose countenance is a caricature, a man whose framework seems cartilaginous, without bones. He is inconsequent and voluble, ill poised and insecure. He is the very prototype of the little man." The very obvious, fiery hate for Hitler led to her being sent back to America by the German government in 1934 as a warning to other journalists that critique of Hitler would not be tolerated. Her coverage on Hitler is what gave her the nickname of "the First Lady of American Journalism" in the United States. 

Thompson was later offered an opportunity as a radio broadcaster with the New York Herald Tribune, by Helen Rogers Reid in 1936 under their newspaper "Woman's Voice." She created a column that talked about a variety of topics, ranging from national to foreign politics, intellectual trends, social habits, cultural innovations, and historical change; she titled it "On the Record." This skyrocketed her to fame becoming known for her provocative articles, and using Grouse as a motif, satirical character. What really put her at the top of the news cycle though, was her ridiculing the speaker at a German American Bund Rally in 1939, but her intense stance on anti-zionism is also what lost her many followers postwar. She couldn't do it alone though, behind her was a team of three women secretaries and research assistants, along with a trusted group of male friends on retainer for insight or corrections on foreign affairs. This was highly unusual for a female reporter, but it might just be what separated Dorothy from the masses, and allowed her to shine so bright. 

Dorothy Thompson sought change in the world, she expressed her concerned for fascism in America, condemned anti-semitism, and extreme nationalism. In the 1930s and 40s she was urging her American audiences to turn their attention onto Nazi Germany and what was happening to democracy and Europe's Jews. She believed that the state was a "predatory instrument" and had an enlightening point of view on what work meant: "Work is an essential of life itself as necessary as bread and love...the chance to choose one's work, and pursue it, is the chance to become a more effective human being." She engrained this mantra in her soul, and was working til the very day she died. By 1937 she had received six honorary university degrees, invitations to speak at important forums, clubs, dinners, and commencements attended by hundreds of people. Her work ethic and strong moral code is her greatest strength, but when it came to keeping a job with the New York Tribune it was her weakness. Reid, the woman that originally offered Thompson the job, suppressed a column she had written when she switched her support from Willkie to Roosevelt in presidential election of 1940. Starting then she was urged to focus on nonpolitical subjects, which caused her to move to the New York Post saying that she felt "an unbridgeable hostility" towards her at the Tribune. 

Overall, Dorothy Thompson was a powerhouse of a woman, and will forever be remembered as one of the few people who saw the evil and danger in Hitler and the Nazis from the very beginning. She saw them for what they were, and did everything she could to make it known to the rest of the world. She was a fighter for good, and believed that "indulging in hatred and revenge would do more harm to oneself than to the enemy."

Good Night & Good Luck

In class we watched the movie “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005) which was directed by none other than George Clooney. It’s set during the McCarthy Era, the Red Scare, and times of communist mistrust, and was based on an entirely true story from the 1950s. The main purpose of the movie is to display to the audience how the government’s involvement has turned into the government silencing the media. It also highlights the issues within media companies, and how corporate and editorial tend to butt heads on many points. 

The film follows the storyline of the main character, Edward Murrow (David Strathairn), he’s a reporter at CBS and was famous for going after one of the biggest stories, McCarthy. Despite the rumors swirling around Murrow being a part of the communist party, he decides to lead a charge against McCarthy and the government, calling them out for corruption and fabrications of McCarthy. Following the lead of McCarthysim, ignoring the threats of losing his prime time slot, he created a show with his colleagues that exposed all of McCarthy’s malpractices. 

Once the news broke, the movie shows how quick other news companies picked up the story and ran with it, each giving an opposing viewpoint on Edward Murrow’s actions. One calls them brave, while the other says they spew propaganda in a machiavellian manner. But the main purpose was to bait Senator McCarthy into coming onto the show himself. It was an ingenious plan, as the senator went in for the interview, threw out a bunch of nonsense, and left. Following his appearance Murrow went live, naming true or false on everything said prior, which got the senate to open up an investigation. His determination and lack of fear of communism and the government is what contributed to his success in exposing Senator Joseph McCarthy for his corruption and lies. 

Going off some of the talking points from the discussion class, this movie shows how with keeping the press and government separate, bad people can be pushed out of office. That the press is in place as a check on the government and their job is to critique and comment on the actions of the government. It also points out how the press censor themselves, or rather their writers, and how pushing past that is crucial even if your job is put in jeopardy. It also explains that just because higher ups don’t say no, it doesn’t mean they aren’t censoring or silencing in different ways; the example being pulling Murrow’s show. 

Trying to find similarities in the Red Scare and today’s political climate is difficult, we aren’t in a time where anyone really thinks about communism, and I feel like we are past our witch hunt days. But, what we are experiencing is possibly the press abusing their ability to check the government as they’ve begun to check everyone, through cancel culture. 

I'm assuming you’re confused, why is the press checking random people? Well they aren’t, they are checking up on all the high profile people in our society: celebrities, politicians, business owners, etc. They take deep dives into their online posts from years past, comment on their political beliefs, and tear them apart for basic beliefs that they have every right to hold - whether it’s politically correct or not. This has leaked into ordinary people’s lives, and they’ve begun checking or rather canceling each other. 

Connecting this back to our timelines in class, and figuring out what to name this era - one so heavily littered with cancel culture, and social media obsessed consumers. I would name this era, The Instant Media Era, because I think it captures multiple aspects of our time period in one word. If you say the wrong thing, you have instant consequences, and vice versa if you do something right, you are instantly celebrated. Celebrities come and go in an instant, and politicians' entire careers can be destroyed or created in a snap of a finger. The news stories are posted as soon as they come out, and updates are happening live. Everything is at our fingertips, and knowledge could be ours at a moment’s notice. Thus, the Instant Media Era.

The Women's Pages.

 The Women's Pages was a Late Nineteenth-Century publisher's dream. It was a cheap, innovative way of hiring female writers, gaining advertisements, appealing to a wider audience, all while bringing in copious amounts of money. Nicknamed "Mrs. Consumers", it was clear by the 1930s that this was the key to success in the American economy. 

The content of this page, was in its essence sexist. It only talked about topics / stories pertaining to beauty, housekeeping, parental advice, and serial fiction. It worked to reinforce gender norms, feeding directly into female audiences, portraying the myth of the "Ideal American Woman" as a financially comfortable, white woman rooted in her housework. These newspapers explicitly expressed values of white supremacy, but also served as a platform for women to speak to each other on topics of substance under the nose of doubting men. It was a paradox, both limiting and liberating, because it created a separate sphere in the paper. It started off small, with new features, different genres, visual motifs, and topics, with the addition of interactive columns where women shared recipes, advice, etc. The Women's Pages were also the influence for stunt reporting and celebrity gossip as new genres in papers we still see today. 

There were also different versions of the Women's Pages across different newspapers, some of which helped cultivate bonds of affinity between women. One example is from a Yiddish Women's Pages, where they wrote about their own ideological agendas, where they figured out how to "fuse normal women's content with either socialism or religious orthodoxy." It was all done sneakily, as male editors saw these columns as trivial, so women used their ignorance to covertly talk about their own politics, such as suffrage, workplace harassment, etc. 

An interesting example of women run, written, and released Women's Pages is one called the Chicago Defender. It was written by African American women, with a strictly feminist, pro-women approach to content. One of the writers for the paper was Vauleda Hill Strodder, who wrote under the pen name of Princess Mysteria. Her column was named "Advice to the Wise and Otherwise", where she discussed current events, societal expectations, and was a true inspiration to other women. She covered a lot on the roles of wives and mothers, along with a high dosage of high society news. But, the real intrigue to Princess Mysteria was her interaction with fan letters about their own life, she would write back sometimes publishing her response. A quote from one of these occurrences is "This guy is not worth your time. He has an unfixable flaw." 

Another newspaper of importance was the Pensacola Journal, running from January 1905 - December 1914. It had a society page geared towards offering insight into national cultural concerns for women, a page dedicated to "People and Events" highlighting social events with paragraph long descriptions. One of the writers for the paper, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson who's articles in "Heart and Home Problems" provided practical advice to fans writing to her, on topics ranging from hygiene, to courtship, to achieving a better education. Women's Pages as a whole also tackled the topics related to the body - inside and out; with fashion and beauty addressed in the form of editorials, news reports, and advertisements. Some of the advertisements included products related to problems typically experienced by women, such as how to take care of the sick, or new advancements in the cooking world; but beyond that these ads also made false promises in curing "womanly troubles" through random, unrelated products. In "The Journal's Daily Fashion Feature" authors included drawings and descriptions of the up and coming clothing styles emerging from and around the United States and European countries. 

Overall, the Women's Pages were pivotal in providing a place for women in journalism. Whether they were writing about beauty and home, or suffrage and abortions, it was and still is an extremely important moment in journalism history. 

EOTO Reaction: Celebrity Journalism

 As a very avid fan of celebrity journalism, this was a fun topic to get to learn about, especially as it's one of the most popular forms of journalism in the world! Basically, Celebrity Journalism is how we keep up to date with all our favorite Hollywood stars, musicians, and newly minted socialites. 

The beginning of celebrity journalism, had a lot to do with who has considered a celebrity at the time. In the early stages it consisted of people like politicians, making the first celebrity interview / presidential interview President Adams. He was interviewed by Anne Newport Royall, the very first American newswoman. This gained very much popularity, resulting in the birth of a new form of journalism!

Celebrity journalism is often associated with Yellow Journalism, both excessively use catchy headlines to draw in readers often based on gossip and rumor. Publications found this very profitable, as getting an inside look on private life of famous people caught the attention of readers. 

Soon enough, gossip magazines began to pop up in the United States, the first being Photoplay. It was founded in Chicago, the same year another fan-aimed magazine was created, the Motion Picture Story. Some of the celebrities that were featured at the time included: Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Arlene Dahl, and Elizabeth Taylor. 

The main draw to celebrity journalism had less to do with the entertainment of all the drama, but more with the fixation and distraction it provided for everyday citizens. This hasn't really changed, if anything celebrity journalism has expanded into a way for celebrities to profit off of this such as reality tv shows and social media influencing. It draws away attention from daily life, political issues, and provides a break from daily life. It fascinates readers to learn about celebrity divorces, new relationships, pregnancy scandals, and so much more. 

I think the best example of those who capitalized off of this are people like the Kardashians, as they became famous for simply wanting this attention. They gave into the tabloids, ran around life with cameras following them, and made a massive amount of money out of it. 

Me personally, I love giving into celebrity gossip. I find it thrilling to know what's happening with Harry Styles and his newly rumored girlfriend, or the millions of speculations of what Taylor Swift is going to release next, and growing up in a city where I get to see both sides of the situation gives me a new perspective. I think it's a very lucrative industry, do I agree with the tactics of lies and invading privacy most celebrity journalists or paparazzi photographers use, no. But, I do think celebrities enjoy it to some degree too, when it works in their favor. After all, there is no such thing as bad publicity. 

The Girl Reporters.

 The Girl Reporters, originally called the Stunt Reporters, were pioneers in the investigative journalism world. The job was most popular during the 1880s and 90s, enlisting girls to go undercover into dangerous situations in efforts of exposing institutional ills. Some of these ills will include stifling factories, child labor, unscrupulous doctors, scams and cheats. Their stories became popular right after the printing press took off, because it was cheaper and quicker to get papers out to the public, making their primary demographic recent immigrants and factory workers, basically low income residents of bigger cities. 

Their writing style was innovative, providing a new way to showcase womanhood through traits like bravery, independence, professionalism, ambition, charm, and yet unapologetically female. During this time, women and wives still weren't considered full citizens under the "coverture" law, they weren't able to vote which resulted in no laws to protect them from sexual harassment or marital rape. One of the most famous and influential naysayers, Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote about his fear of female writers his age, saying that there's an "impropriety in the display of the woman's naked mind to the gaze of the world."

To fight off, these vicious and damaging stereotypes, women began writing under male pen names like George Eliot and Brontë and they wrote their essays and stories with an obscure sex to the narrator an example being Mary Kate in Land of Little Rain. 

Stunt reporting challenged the idea Hawthorne put out into the world, when they couldn't cast ballots, they took the time to interview presidential candidates, when they couldn't sit in on juries, they reported on trials offering their perspectives. They were unlike the average female reporters, who masked their gender, these women embraced all of it and wrote about their experiences of harassment, judgement, abortion seeking, and even little things like having crushes or a bad hair day. This was all deemed frivolous, emotional, and in all terms of the word "female", but they completely altered the journalistic landscape. 

Some of the revolutionary Girl Reporters were Nellie Bly, Eva Gay, Nora Marks, Annie Laurie, Gertrude Gordon, Elizabeth Jordan, and Ida B. Wells. But the one that prompted the use of the term "Girl Reporters" is still a mystery. It first popped up in as the byline for a Chicago Times, abortion exposé story in 1888 called "Infanticide", and just caught on from there. 

But the journalism method of deep undercover identities, was only made popular after Nellie Bly's 1887 story for the New York World, "Ten Days in the Mad House." Bly got herself committed into the infamous Blackwell's Island insane asylum of NYC for ten days, and later wrote about her experiences and observations from that time. Similarly, Annie Laurie faked a fainting in the streets of San Francisco in order to get a story for The Examiner, where she exposed the ill treatment in public hospitals. 

The work these women did created real world change, with increased funding to mental health facilities, and inspiring labor organizations to push for better labor protection laws. One of these women was Eva Gay, or rather Eva McDonald. She was a young reporter for the St. Paul Daily Globe following leads in Minneapolis regarding women's labor rights. Through her continued activism on and off the page, she became a central figure in Minnesota's Labor Rights Movement. She also was one of the Girl Reporters that used a pseudonym, Eva Gay, first premiered in her weekly column "Mong Girls Who Toil."

The use of female pen names were to protect the identities of these women, and a male editor for The Journalist in 1889 said it perfectly. "Many of the brightest women frequently disguise their identity, not under one nom de plume, but under half a dozen... This renders anything like a solid reputation almost impossible." All in all, these women were little known, little respected, and almost never came out from undercover. 

Movie Review #1

They Won't Forget (1937)

This movie is centered around Robert Hale, and the murder of one of his students. It takes place in the South, in a post-civil war era, a place where the loosing confederate soldiers hold a parade every April 26th in honor of their memorial day. Mary Clay, the student, was killed in a classroom, during the parade when she went to grab her things she had left behind. The first person to find her dead is the elevator operator, who called for the police. 

This is where we are introduced to the very unprofessional relationship between the police department and the town's reporters. The reporters mostly cover local news, and often share information with the police in exchange for the chance to break a story first. With all of this information circulating, the culprit came out to be Robert Hale, the professor. 

When the story breaks that Hale is the suspected murderer, the press have a field day, disregarding any form of protocol and seeking out Mrs. Hale for details. They manipulate her, lie to her, and steal personal property in order to piece together their narrative without stopping to collect more sufficient information on the situation. 

The quote "the press is a powerful tool for justice" is what most stuck with me, because yes, it can help aid in serving justice, but it can also get in the way of it. If the media was just a little less story pressed and more patient, then the trial for Robert Hale would've been more fact based rather than narrative based. The Hale's hired their own lawyer/detective to figure out how to clear his name, and they found only circumstantial evidence and mixed up stories to back up the claims of the police and the press. But, because of the nationwide narrative the media portrayed, the jury members came in with a preconception of the situation and initial bias towards convicting Hale, when in reality it might've not been him. Meaning the real murderer would still be walking around and able to kill another young girl.

As I watched the film, I did believe that Robert Hale was the murderer, but maybe that was because of the story they were trying to portray and because key elements were left out? Overall, I really enjoyed this movie as it made me think about the repercussions of an unchecked media practice. There is of course a high importance to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Press, but there is also a Right to Privacy and I think this film highlighted the importance of respecting both. 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/they_wont_forget_1937

EOTO Reaction: Political Cartoons

During the first round of EOTOs, we all produced presentations on different institutions and publications. The one I found most interesting was the one about Political Cartoons because it touched on the history of the subject and an organization that helps to protect their right for publication. 

Political cartoons have the soul purpose of combining politics and art, they originated back in 1720, when the collapse of the South Sea Company occurred. This was a British joint-stock company who's purpose was the reduce and consolidate the amount of national debt. With this market crash, it brought many artists to the forefront of newspapers, creating graphics that spoke about the situation. 

Throughout the years, these graphics have become so iconic and recognizable, that artists today like to modernize and fit them into current political climates. Some of the ones created for today, revolve aroundissues like COVID-19, Trump, Biden, climate change, and the democrat vs. republican divide. 

Since these were considered art but also journalism, they were protected from censorship by the First Amendment. Some of the most famous political cartoonists were Benjamin Franklin, George Townsend, James Gillary, Thomas Nast, and Rube Goldberg - my personal favorite. 

Benjamin Franklin, created an iconic cartoon with the separated snake portions with the words "join, or die." Which was used by Americans to defeat the British during the American Revolution. This is just one example of the impact these cartoons can have on our society. One of the most influential to come out of this practice was one depicting a donkey and an elephant created by Thomas Nast, which we now use as symbols for our republican and democratic parties.  

Finally, the organization that was talked about that helped facilitate all this was AAEC, or the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Their job is to promote the interests of cartoonists from levels of student, freelance, and staff. Their goal is to aim to protect the right to keep making cartoons as a method of Freedom of Press and Freedom of Speech. 

Why Take This Class?

Never Stay Silent. 

It's the name of this course, and something I was always told to do. It drew me in, and I decided it would be an interesting class to take. This course centers around the History of American Journalism, famous contributors, companies, and moments. All of which not only interest me but are bound to come up in my future studies. 

As a political science major, we read at least three to four different articles, from different news sources / journals a week for one of my classes (Enduring Issues in Political Thought). With all of this new background knowledge I feel as if I gained a deeper appreciation not only for the writing, but for my ability to question the ideas talked about. 

Prior to this course, I knew about censorship and corruption in our government, I knew about how some news sources are more left or right leaning. But, I never took the time to think about what they could not be reporting on, or why they push certain narratives versus others. I think my interest mainly peaked during the Russia / Ukraine conflict because there were no straight answers as to what was going on. 

Now I am especially exposed to the worldwide news, national news, and took a step back from worrying about local news. Oppositely, I have always been a rather frequent trafficker of sites like Variety, BBC, Vogue, People, and many more like them because I was and still am very interested in what is going on with my favorite artists and celebrities. When Candace Owens, a conservative American author, began showing up in my daily news stories about Harry Styles that I began seeking out more news sources and perspectives to one topic. I liked reading what different magazines or politicians, or just random news writers thought about the situation. Maybe it was because I had such a strong opinion and wanted to see why anyone was even siding with her, or maybe it was because I just wanted to see her proven wrong. I don't really know. 

At the time of this big controversy, I was in my junior year of high school and we had a blog project in my AP Lang class. I decided to write about a topic I was passionate about and wanted to help others understand the complexity about. So naturally, I discussed the sexuality of Harry Styles and how he identifies as unlabeled. The more analysis I did of different sources whether it was youtube videos, lyrics, news stories about him, and interviews. I fell absolutely in love with this writing style, and getting to write about my opinion on these topics, it felt new, and exciting, and entirely different from what I was used to. 

I think all of these different factors really shaped my decision in trying my hand at a journalism course, and considering it as a minor. Ironically, I decided to go in the direction sociology as my minor, but this course is still very much something I can be interested in, and would want to explore further later on in my academic or professional career. 

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2020/11/16/candace-owens-criticizes-harry-styles-sparks-an-embarrassingly-outdated-culture-war/?sh=c7d14ae2128d 

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/harry-styles-candace-owens-tweet-1234833146/ 

https://people.com/style/harry-styles-claps-back-at-candace-owens/ 

https://www.vogue.com/article/who-exactly-are-people-like-harry-styles 

https://ajps.org/ 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/machiavellis-the-prince-is-looking-pretty-good-in-the-trump-era/2019/01/09/b78be016-1444-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html 

Publick Occurrences & The Boston News-letter

  Freedom of the press has always been and will always continue to be a top priority for Americans. Even back in 1690, Americans thought it important to create a way to talk about ideals, news, and gossip with their communities. Benjamin Harris was one of these people, and on September 25th, 1690 he did just that. He published the first ever colonial newspaper in America, named Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic. Although the paper only ever lived to see one issue date, it was influential in starting the conversation revolving around freedom of press, and the responsibility it bears in keeping the government in check. 

    Benjamin Harris was an English Publisher based out of Boston, Massachusetts. He was known in England for this pieces that spoke out against the monarchy, and found himself on trial in a case regarding seditious libel. Following his sentence, he moved to America and opened up his own coffee shop, London Coffee House. He decided to publish a newspaper, one of which consisted of local news, gossip, the updates on King William's War, and the atrocities resulting from the allyship of Native Americans and the British Soldiers. 

    The paper itself was four pages in length, it was formatted like a traditional English newspaper, except Harris left some pages blank in the back for readers to fill in. Prior to Publick Occurrences, people had published single sheet broadsides, or were reading the newspapers sent over from England. This made Harris' paper the first ever multi-page colonial newspaper. His target audience was supposed to the city's merchants, but sadly the paper was cancelled the next day. The lack of license prohibited Benjamin Harris from continuing to publish, and prompted the governor and council of Massachusetts to pass a broadside order on September 29, 1690.

https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/first-newspaper-published-in-the-colonies.html

    America didn't see another newspaper for the next fourteen years, until John Campbell came along with his legal version named The Boston News-Letter. This was the first continuously published newspaper in America. Based once again out of Boston, Massachusetts John Campbell, a loyalist, decided to give print work another try. He was born in Scotland, and emigrated to America to open a book store as a post-maker, he also served as Justice of the Peace for Suffolk County. On the week of April 17-24, 1704 The Boston News-Letter was born, a single sheet of double sided paper, lined with two columns that spoke on news of "Mother England", local news, and lengthy abstracts of the Mid-December Issues of The London Flying Post and The London Gazette. Campbell also made sure that every issue he published read "Published By Authority" at the top, as he didn't want to share the same fate as Benjamin Harris. 

    The newspaper was a success, running for seventy four years, fifteen of those unopposed until The Boston Gazette appeared. Even big cities like New York didn't have their own papers until 1725! But, before The Boston News-Letter was a smashing success it began as a weekly pamphlet sent out to New England's governors by Campbell, until he saw the selling value. At the time, he rarely exceeded printing three hundred copies. The format John Campbell sought out has now become the standard American Newspaper layout, ironically created by a English loyalist. At it's core this was a family run business, so when John Campbell passed away in 1722 the operation was passed down to his printer Bartholomew Green, and so on through the Green family as years went on. 

    This was also the only newspaper in America that was active during the American Revolution, being the sole reporter on events like the Boston Tea Party, Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The last issue was in February of 1776, published just before the British troops left America and the country was named independent. With the end of The Boston News-Letter, the family of loyalists left emigrating to Halifax with the rest of the British settlers. 

https://www.readex.com/blog/published-authority-boston-news-letter-1704-1776  

Sources:

https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=400 

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/power/text5/PublickOccurrences.pdf 

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2014/today-in-media-history-first-colonial-newspaper-published-in-1690/ 

https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/first-newspaper-published-in-the-colonies.html

https://www.masshist.org/database/186

https://americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/exhibits/show/news-in-colonial-america/item/116 

https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/boston-news-letter-loyalist-rag-reports-news/