2. The first American presidential administration founded its own newspaper
America’s Constitutional Convention and subsequent ratification debate occurred against the backdrop of a bloody revolution in France. American views over the French Revolution were divided along largely regional lines. New England and New York supported, for the most part, the Royalists in France, and agreed with the emerging Federalists in the United States calling for a strong central government. In the agricultural south and gradually expanding west, support for the revolutionaries, as well as the Republican viewpoint in American politics, called for more power to be centered in the governed, rather than the government. Though George Washington was elected to the presidency unanimously in the Electoral College, it was to preside over a government already riven by the divisiveness of partisan politics. His leading political allies, especially Alexander Hamilton, recognized the need to express their views directly to the people.
In April 1789, John Fenno, working with Alexander Hamilton and others of the Washington Administration, published the first edition of the Gazette of the United States in New York City. When the government moved to Philadelphia, the Gazette moved with it. The newspaper received supportive funding from leading Federalists, and through Hamilton from the government itself. Its sole purpose was to present the administration in a favorable light, support its policies and positions, and praise its actions to the people. Opponents to the Federalists came under heavy fire, in articles, essays, and even poetry. The paper became widely read outside of Philadelphia, and eventually Washington City, especially in the Federalist strongholds of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. It eventually moved Jefferson and other opponents to the Federalists to start Democratic-Republican newspapers to counter its influence.