Oldest US Media: The Real History Behind America’s First Newspapers and News Sources

When people ask about the oldest US media, the earliest printed news sources that reached American audiences. Also known as colonial newspapers, these publications laid the foundation for everything from free press to modern journalism. But here’s the twist: none of the oldest surviving newspapers were actually founded in the United States. The first news sheets that reached American colonists came from Britain. The London Gazette, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the English language, started in 1665. It wasn’t just a British paper—it was the source of official news for the colonies. If you were reading news in Boston or Philadelphia in the 1700s, you were likely reading reprints or summaries of what the London Gazette printed weeks earlier.

The real story of American media begins with imitation. The first American newspaper, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, was shut down after one issue in 1690. It took decades for newspapers to take root. By the 1720s, papers like The Boston News-Letter were printing weekly updates—mostly lifted from British sources. Meanwhile, back in the UK, Berrow's Worcester Journal, the oldest surviving weekly newspaper in the world, began in 1690. And the Belfast News Letter, founded in 1737, is the oldest daily newspaper still running in the British Isles. These weren’t just old—they were the backbone of how information traveled across empires. The US didn’t have its own long-running paper until the late 1700s. Even then, many early American papers relied on British content, shipping schedules, and political reports from London.

So when you hear someone say "the oldest US media," they’re often thinking of something that didn’t exist yet. The real pioneers were British. The US media landscape grew from those roots—copying formats, borrowing headlines, and eventually building its own voice. What you’ll find in these posts isn’t just a list of old papers. It’s the story of how news moved, who controlled it, and why the UK still holds the records. You’ll see how the London Gazette shaped colonial reporting, why Berrow’s survived when others vanished, and how the Belfast News Letter outlasted empires. These aren’t dusty relics—they’re the reason we get news the way we do today. Below, you’ll find deep dives into the actual oldest papers, their survival stories, and why the US didn’t lead the pack—no matter what you’ve been told.