[Congressman Billybob]

Actually, Franklin favored a rough and tumble press that wore its opinions on its sleeve. For instance, the Aurora Advertiser wrote this: “If ever a man debauched a nation, George Washington debauched the United States of America.”

Most of the early American newspapers were owned and written by men who were highly partisan. When you're in D.C. I recommend that you visit the James Madison Library (across the street from the main, Jefferson Building) and go to the reading room with microfilms of all the surviving copies of colonial newspapers.

You'll be surprised to see that they much more resembled the supermarket tabloids of today, than either the Washington Post or the Washington Times.

John / Billybob

[sodpoodle]

So - you are saying they printed partisan, but unvarnished TRUTH!!!!!

(much like the National Enquirer?)

[Inyo-Mono]

Most of the early American newspapers were owned and written by men who were highly partisan. When you're in D.C. I recommend that you visit the James Madison Library (across the street from the main, Jefferson Building) and go to the reading room with microfilms of all the surviving copies of colonial newspapers.

You'll be surprised to see that they much more resembled the supermarket tabloids of today, than either the Washington Post or the Washington Times.

As a collector, I own a number of original copies of colonial newspapers and your comments are spot on.