Key Dates in American Journalism

1600s 1700s 1800s 1900s Back

17th Century

Sept. 25, 1690:

The first issue of Publick Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick is published. The newspaper, which is to be "furnished once a moneth (or if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener)," is suppressed only four days later because of its report on the French and Indian Wars. It never resumes publication.

18th Century

The Boston News-Letter begins publication. The first continuously published newspaper in the American colonies, this formerly hand-written newsletter carries official news and proclamations, but focuses mainly on European affairs. It later publishes a sensationalistic account of the death of the pirate Blackbeard.

Twelve jurors in New York find German-born printer John Peter Zenger "not guilty" of publishing seditious libel in the New-York Weekly Journal. Although considered a landmark in colonial America, the case is not typical of freedom of the press in that era.

The first editorial cartoon is published. The cartoon, a drawing of a snake cut into sections with the words "Join, or Die" underneath, accompanies an editorial by Benjamin Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette on the "present disunited state of the British Colonies."

1765:

The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act. Under the act, all commercial and legal papers, newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs and playing cards in the American colonies are to be taxed. A popular uprising among colonists, including several riots, leads to its repeal early the following year. Many printers and publishers abandon their traditional impartiality to protest the tax.

1783:

The Pennsylvania Evening Post becomes the first American daily newspaper.

Irish immigrant Mathew Carey begins reporting on debates in the Pennsylvania House of Assembly in the Pennsylvania Herald. He is the first American political reporter to regularly cover a legislative body. Thomas Lloyd, a reporter for a rival newspaper, soon follows.

The Bill of Rights is adopted. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press in the United States: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

July 14, 1798:

The Sedition Act is passed by the U.S. Congress. The act bans the publication of false and malicious writing against the government, aimed at stifling criticism of the Federalist Party. It is vigorously opposed by Jeffersonian Republicans in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. Twenty-five prosecutions are brought forward under the act, with 10 convictions. It is allowed to lapse under the administration of Thomas Jefferson in 1801.

19th Century

Freedom's Journal, the nation's first black newspaper, is founded by Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm in downtown New York City. Four months later, slavery is abolished in New York state for African-Americans over the age of 40. In March of 1829, the paper ceases publication when the two editors disagree over whether former slaves should return to Africa. By the start of the Civil War, over 40 black-owned newspapers have been started.

Sept. 3, 1833:

The New York Sun is started by Benjamin Day. It becomes the first successful penny paper, sold daily by newsboys on the street. By 1835, the paper claims a circulation of 19,360, the largest in the world. According to the masthead, "The object of this paper is to lay before the public, at a price within the means of every one, ALL THE NEWS OF THE DAY, and at the same time afford an advantageous medium for advertising."

The first telegram is transmitted. It reads "What hath God wrought!" Newspapers begin sending reports via the telegraph.

Six New York City newspapers pool together to finance a telegraphic relay bringing trans-Atlantic news from ships in Boston Harbor. In 1856, the service is named the New York Associated Press. Today, the Associated Press is the largest and oldest wire service in the United States.

Illinois senatorial candidates Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln stage a series of seven three-hour debates on the issue of extending slavery into the territories. Led by two Chicago newspapers, the Republican Tribune and the Democratic Times, verbatim accounts of the debates circulate widely in Illinois not long afterward, a first in American politics.

1886:

The Linotype machine is introduced. Allowing for quicker and easier publication, it vastly increases the number of newspapers in circulation. Between 1880 and 1900, the number of American papers more than doubles, from 850 to nearly 2,000.

Feb. 16, 1896:

The "Yellow Kid" debuts in the New York World. Richard Felton Outcault's drawing of a street urchin in a yellow nightshirt becomes so famous that the term "yellow journalism" is used to describe all sensationalistic reporting. William Randolph Hearst later lures Outcault to the rival New York Journal, but the World continues publishing the strip anyway.

20th Century

May 1917:

The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded. The prizes, established with a $500,000 endowment from newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, become the most esteemed awards in American journalism, though Pulitzers are also awarded in literature and music.