Celebrating independence for America – and the press  - The Martha's Vineyard Times

Celebrating independence for America – and the press  - The Martha's Vineyard Times

Before the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago, there was an aspiring new industry known as the free press. It took shape thanks to the earliest practitioners, such as the young Benjamin Franklin, who as the printer and publisher of the influential Pennsylvania Gazette, was widely believed to be the first newsman in what would become the United States of America. So on this 250th birthday of our nation, while a deeply divided co…