On April 24, 1704, the “Boston News-Letter” made made its debut as the first continually published newspaper in North America. It was a one page sheet printed front and back and issued weekly.
A local bookseller and postmaster named John Campbell was the first publisher. The paper originally contained news mostly on Brittish news and politics due to the fact that most of the money for the paper came from the Brittish Government.
However, in 1722, Bartholomew Green gained control of the paper. Previously the printer of this periodical, he decided to focus more on local news.
Green died in 1732 and left the paper to his son, John Draper. Draper felt the need to be a better editor and publisher than those who came before him.
He incresed the size of the paper to four pages and included news from Boston, the surrounding colonies and from overseas.
Also, even at the earliest point in American newspapers, this newspaper included sensationalism. A story covering the death of Blackbeard the pirate off the coast Ocracoke Island ran in 1718.
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