Named for a newspaper that lasted four days.
Publick takes its name from the first newspaper printed in the American colonies. This is what happened to it, what came after, and where a free press stands today.
The story of Publick
Boston, 1690, to now
September 25, 1690
The first issue
Benjamin Harris and printer Richard Pierce put out Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick in Boston. It ran four small pages, three of them printed. One report said the colony’s allies had mistreated prisoners of war.
September 29, 1690
Shut down in four days
The governor and council ordered the paper stopped for printing without a license. No second issue came out. One copy is known to survive, at the British Library in London.
1735
Truth as a defense
New York printer John Peter Zenger was tried for printing criticism of the colonial governor. His lawyer argued that true statements should not be a crime, and the jury acquitted him.
December 15, 1791
The First Amendment
Ratified with the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
2026
64th of 180
Reporters Without Borders ranked the U.S. 64th in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, down seven places and its lowest rank ever. The world average score is the lowest in the index’s 25 years.
2026
238 news deserts
Northwestern’s Medill school counts 238 U.S. counties with no local news source, up 26 in one year, the largest one-year rise it has recorded. In 2005 there were about 150.
Why the name
The first Publick was shut down for reporting what those in power did not approve. Its printer also ran rumors he could not prove. Both lessons apply here: report what is true, even when it is unwelcome, and source every word.
Publick is independent. No party, no sponsor and no agenda. Every story shows where its facts came from, so anyone can check them.
The people with the least power usually get the least honest information. That’s what I want to change.The editor
Sources: Publick Occurrences (Wikipedia), History.com, EBSCO Research Starters, National Park Service on the Zenger trial, National Constitution Center, RSF 2026 World Press Freedom Index, Medill State of Local News.