Daily Courant: The History, Impact, and Modern Role of Newspapers

When you think of the Daily Courant, the first daily English-language newspaper, founded in London in 1702. Also known as The Daily Courant, it didn’t just report news—it started the idea that the public deserved daily updates, not just weekly bulletins. This tiny paper, printed on a single sheet, set the template for every newspaper that followed. It wasn’t flashy, didn’t have headlines like today’s papers, and barely had opinions. But it proved people would pay for facts, and that changed everything.

The London Gazette, the official public record of the British government since 1665, was already around when the Daily Courant showed up. But the Courant was different. It didn’t just publish royal proclamations—it reported on wars, trade, and what people were saying in coffeehouses. It was the first to treat news as a service, not a privilege. That shift led directly to papers like the Belfast News Letter, the world’s oldest continuously published English-language newspaper still in print, and Berrow's Worcester Journal, a regional paper that survived for over 300 years by sticking to local truth. These weren’t just old papers—they were the first social networks, built on trust, not algorithms.

Today, the idea of a newspaper is under pressure. The Scott Trust, the nonprofit that owns The Guardian to protect its independence, shows how journalism can survive without chasing clicks. Meanwhile, the Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously published media outlet in the U.S., founded in 1764, reminds us that longevity isn’t about being loud—it’s about being reliable. The Daily Courant didn’t have a website, a TV show, or a TikTok account. It had one thing: credibility. And that’s what’s missing in so much of today’s news.

What you’ll find below isn’t just a list of articles. It’s a thread connecting the past to the present. You’ll read about the oldest surviving papers, who owns today’s biggest outlets, how the UK’s media landscape got so fractured, and why a 300-year-old paper still matters in a world where news changes by the minute. These stories aren’t just history—they’re warnings, lessons, and blueprints for what journalism should be.