Wed Sep 25 09:00:00 UTC 2024: ## First American Newspaper Shut Down After Just Four Days for “Scandalous Rumours”

**Boston, MA** – The first newspaper published in North America, *Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick*, was shut down after only four days in 1690 due to its controversial content. The publication, edited by English expatriate Benjamin Harris, aimed to provide colonial residents with news both local and international.

While the paper included reports on events such as a smallpox outbreak and troop movements, it was two particularly scandalous stories that caught the attention of colonial authorities. Harris reported on the alleged brutality of Britain’s Mohawk allies towards French prisoners, criticizing the British for trusting them. He also accused French King Louis XIV of having an incestuous relationship with his son’s wife.

These accusations, coupled with the fact that Harris published the paper without a license, angered Massachusetts officials. Just four days after its first publication, the government issued an order banning future issues of *Publick Occurrences*, citing “doubtful and uncertain reports”.

Although some, like Puritan clergyman Cotton Mather, defended Harris, colonial authorities remained steadfast. They feared the potential consequences of unchecked freedom of the press, especially during a time of political unrest and Native American raids.

Harris, undeterred, continued printing public documents under government sanction before eventually moving back to London. It would take another 14 years before the first continuously published newspaper, *The Boston News-Letter*, debuted in 1704, this time with explicit government approval.

The story of *Publick Occurrences* serves as a reminder of the early struggles for freedom of the press in America. It wasn’t until the ratification of the First Amendment in 1791 that the right to a free press was finally enshrined in the US Constitution.

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