Print Media and Isaiah Thomas – Journal of the American Revolution

Source: Print Media and Isaiah Thomas – Journal of the American Revolution

The Press was the media that shaped the political process of the American Revolution. Colonial newspaper publishers generally produced four-page weeklies and/or single-sheet broadsides to keep colonists informed of local events and of happenings hundreds of miles away. They also printed pamphlets to convey political philosophies and possibilities. Often written by elites under pseudonyms, some pamphlets attempted to rouse colonial resistance by framing dissension with references to historical political upheavals.

There were no reporters as such, so some stories were “borrowed” (plagiarized) from papers located in other cities. This reportage uniformity, analogous to the modern news wire, allowed stories to appear across North America and provide the Revolutionaries a conduit to reinforce a fragile sense of unity. Newspapers and broadsides helped drive American resistance to the British and publishers on both sides were not obliged to print opposing viewpoints…(more)