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In 1704, the American Colonies’ second newspaper, The Boston News-Letter, was published. This publication provided information on events and politics in Europe and worked with the British government to disseminate information. Other, similar newspapers began sprouting up all over the emerging nation, supported by printing contracts with Great Britain. Newspaper printers received much of their information from printers in other cities and began exchanging copies and stories amongst themselves, similar to a modern news-wire.

In the 1760’s, as the French-Indian War came to an end, the focus of these publications began to center on the colonies’ increasingly strained relations with Great Britain. During this time, printers became less reliant on the British printing contracts. Due to the political climate, printers also began to gravitate to different sides of the argument for independence, and the idea of neutrality was all but abandoned. As tensions rose, the entire nation was receiving much of the same information and, through this system, the Founding Fathers were able to distribute the message of independence and resistance very quickly.

With government involvement in the print industry, the door is opened for promoting the political bias of the ruling party. Historically, this involvement has been used to control the sentiment of the general populace. In the 1700s, a Whig was more likely to push a story that promoted independence, where a Tory would promote just the opposite. In the modern media, a liberal official is much more likely to push stories that reflect positively on the Democratic party, and vice versa. In an era where political parties are willing to go to great lengths to promote their side (whether right or left), biased (and in some cases, falsified) news can be the result.

Emergence of Mass Media

By 1900, newspapers had transformed from pamphlets to mass publications. There were several major publications in existence, all considered to be profitable powerhouses for advocacy and sensationalism. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Tribune all began to emerge around this time (among countless others). These were, and are still, regarded as some of the most influential newspapers in journalism. It was not uncommon for the average American citizen to read several newspapers each day, until the adoption and popularization of radio and television. By the 1920s, radio and television took over and began to play integral parts in the communication of important information. While the methods of distributing news had changed, these new publications, radio, and television shows featured many of the same biases as their predecessors.