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Early Philadelphia Newspapers
In 1719, as the population of Philadelphia reached about 6,000, Andrew
Bradford became the first printer to publish a newspaper in
Philadelphia. The paper, The American Weekly Mercury,
was printed on his press "At the Sign of the Bible." The first issue
was published on December 22. Mercury, which many other early
newspapers used in their titles, was copied from English newspapers.
Mercury was a symbol of speed, although many newspapers weren't speedy
in this time period. Bradford was able to begin the paper with the
financial assistance of John Copson, a rich Philadelphian merchant
(Kobre 37). Almost two years later on May 21, 1721 John Copson's name
was taken off of the newspaper and Andrew's father William became a
partner instead. The partnership between father and son was on and off
for years. During this period William established the New York Gazette in 1727. The father-son partnership made the American Weekly Mercury and New York Gazette
the first attempt at chain journalism. Finally on December 13, 1739 the
partnership was officially over and Andrew Bradford became the sole
publisher of The American Weekly Mercury (Kobre 37).
Bradford maintained his monopoly in the newspaper business until Samuel
Keimer recognized the potential offered by the still growing
Philadelphia. Keimer described Andrew Bradford's paper as "poor as he
[Bradford] was semi-educated and his paper had no appealing essays"
(Kobre 52). On December 24, 1728 Keimer first published the Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences; and the Pennsylvania Gazette.
The weekly paper (Bradford's paper was weekly too) was available to the
public for ten shillings per year. Keimer's publication didn't seem to
be much of a newspaper. It was closer to an academic journal or a
serialized encyclopedia; perhaps Keimer envisioned it for the scholars
of the day. At any rate, the paper failed miserably and only reached a
circulation of 250 copies before it started dropping.
As Samuel Keimer went out of business, deeply in debt, Benjamin Franklin took over the paper, shortening the name to the Pennsylvania Gazette.
Originally, Franklin had as partner Hugh Meredith, a former employee of
Keimer (juast as Franklin was), but Meredith soon withdrew from the
paper (Kobre 55). Franklin was one of the brightest publishers of his
time. He printed numerous "clever" essays for which his paper became
known, although he did try to achieve a balance of local and foreign
news too (Kobre 56). Because of the uncertainties of ocean voyages, the
foreign news was often delayed by anywhere between three and six
months. When Franklin couldn't find enough news to include in his
paper, he would write essays on a variety of trivial topics that were
meant to entertain his audience (Kobre 56).
The third newspaper in colonial Philadelphia was the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser.
William Bradford III published this paper; it is thought that his
grandfather aided in setting up the press. He was chiefly in
competition with his widowed Aunt, who had taken over The American Weekly Mercury,
and Franklin (Kobre 62). After his Aunt abandoned her paper, William
Bradford tried to win over all of her readers by promising to "furnish
my customers with the latest and best Accounts of remarkable
occurrences that happen in all parts of the known world, which can be
produced by a well-settled correspondence, both on the continent and in
several places beyond the sea" (Kobre 62).
Many of these three
first papers were similar to others, and they were all in fierce
competition with one another. They were almost always printed on "folio
leaves varying in size" (Clark 7). Some were smaller and measured about
7 ½ by 9 ½ inches, while others measured 10 by 13 ½ or 14 inches (Clark
7). "A typical newspaper of the middle of the eighteenth century
consisted of four pages, two of which were printed on each side of a
full sheet of paper. The sheet was then folded to produce a folio of
two leaves, a page of type on each side" (Clark 7). Although that was
the norm, there was also great variation in length, with some papers
being as few as two pages and some as long as six. Many early
newspapers did not use many illustrations. Franklin and the Bradfords
were exceptions because they realized that illustrations improved the
appearance of the papers and aided in advertisements. It was not always
easy to differentiate one story for the next, especially early in the
period, since there were not many headlines or type differences. In
order to clearly understand news stories, readers often had to start at
the beginning and read through column to column (Clark 7).
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