Chaos Erupting
While both newspapers played a key role in informing the colonists of the battles, there was also some media coverage that was falsely informative. One example of this inaccurate information stems from the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre was known as this horrible massacre that happened in Boston with the British soldiers and the Bostonians. The Bostonian Soldiers that were stationed in the Boston Community to protect British rules, fired and killed five civilians and wounded six. What many did not know was that the Bostonianas had relations with these soldiers and it caused conflict within the city. This conflict caused by the British and the civilians in Boston sparked the idea of the creation of a new media. Paul Revere engraved this distorted image of this shooting and displayed the soldiers in a very negative light.7 This fueled many colonists’ distaste for the British and was a major turning point in the American Revolution.
Bias existed before the revolution, too. This notion of having the colonies working together in unity was also seen in 1754. Benjamin Franklin worked one of the most important jobs, as mentioned previously, as a printer and publisher. At the Pennsylvania Gazette, he published an image of a cut-up snake, each part representing the colonies, with bold text proposing “JOIN, OR DIE.” This image was that of a snake cut into eight pieces. Those eight pieces represent the eighth colonies. This image was to display how weak the colonies were. Franklin, along with many other important leaders, wanted unity within the colonies and found this piece of propaganda to be the most effective form of warning sign to colonists.8 This was a pivotal point in the power that the media held (especially propaganda) during this time period.
In both examples, there is evidence of propaganda. Most Americans know about these famous pieces in History, and it is still talked about. Earlier, we saw how media in Newspapers can unite a country; now, we can recognize how certain media can be dishonest and hurtful to a nation.
7. Revere, Paul. Engraving of the Boston Massacre.
8.Benjamin Franklin. Join or Die (1706-1774).