Hartford Courant: The Oldest Newspapers in the UK and How They Shape Today's News

When people talk about the oldest newspapers, the Hartford Courant, the first continuously published newspaper in the United States, founded in 1764. Also known as America’s first newspaper, it’s often confused with Britain’s own long-running papers. But the UK has its own legacy — one that predates it by over a century.

The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English-language newspaper, first published in 1665 as the Oxford Gazette didn’t chase headlines or gossip. It reported royal proclamations, military orders, and government notices — the raw backbone of public information. Then there’s the Berrow's Worcester Journal, the oldest weekly newspaper still running, dating back to 1690. And the Belfast News Letter, the oldest daily newspaper in the UK, launched in 1737. These aren’t just relics. They’re proof that the idea of a regular, printed news source — the kind we still rely on today — was born in Britain long before digital feeds or social media took over.

What does this have to do with the Hartford Courant? Nothing, really — except that people keep mixing them up. The Courant matters in American history. But if you’re asking about the roots of modern journalism in the English-speaking world, you’re looking at London, Worcester, and Belfast. The oldest newspaper UK isn’t one paper. It’s a chain of institutions that survived wars, revolutions, and technological shifts. They didn’t just report the news — they defined what news even meant.

Today’s headlines — whether about the UK economy, the NHS crisis, or the latest COVID variant — still follow the same basic structure those 17th-century papers set: clear, factual, timely. The format changed. The speed changed. But the purpose? Still the same. The posts below dig into that legacy. You’ll find deep dives on the London Gazette’s role in shaping public trust, why Berrow’s Worcester Journal still prints every week, and how the Daily Courant — often confused with the Hartford Courant — was Britain’s first true daily. These aren’t just history lessons. They’re the foundation of every news alert you get today.