The Observer's Weekly was originally modelled after the newsmagazine Time(40)> but changed to tabloid size in 1935. It was at first so positive toward the newly instituted Commission Government that some people imagined it to be a government publication (Jan. 5, 1943). By 1937, it had adopted a more critical attitude. It was purchased by the Daily News in 1937 or 1938 and drew heavily on that publication for editorial and other content. In 1948, the paper opposed Confederation strongly
The Oceanside Newsletter does not list a publisher or editor. It is a photocopied publication which is almost entirely limited to social, personal and club news. There are also editorials, letters to the editor and public notices.
The Oceanside Press is published for the communities of Bauline, Flatrock, Pouch Cove, Logy Bay/Middle Cove/Outer Cove, St. Phillips/Portugal Cove and Torbay. The small paper features local history, school news, local events, a "reader's poetry corner", personal news, gardening, health, recycling and financial advice and advertisements.
The Oct. 14, 1933 issue of the Optimist available was extremely anti-government. It particularly opposed Alderdice and Coaker. The editorial expressed admiration for Mussolini and Hitler and the paper contained a large advertisement for a Newfoundland Fascist organization.
The Orange News-Letter published news of local Orange lodges, editorials, letters, and advertisements. An editorial in the Sept. 1902 issue discussed the role of politics in Orange societies. In that issue, it claimed a circulation of 1200.
Our Country contained local and foreign news, proceedings of the legislative assembly, advertisements, serial fiction and other features. Intended to take the place of the Public Ledger, it was an exponent of the Reform Party and opposed the Whiteway administration, particularly in reference to the matter of the railway. It suspended publication from May 1884 to April 1885. It resumed publication for a short time, during which it was entirely devoted to the official report of the Legislative proceedings.
The Packet contains local and provincial news, cultural news, social and club news, travel, history, sports, a women's page, television listings, and other features of the typical community newspaper. The editorials were mildly anti-Smallwood in the early years, but otherwise non-controversial.
The Patriot began publication in the same year the Newfoundland legislature was established. It was supported in the beginning by several individuals, possibly including John Valentine Nugent and James Douglas.(42) In its prospectus, the proprietors pledged "The Patriot will be a terror to evil doers ... All the acts of the Executive, and of the Legislature, will be critically examined and commented upon with freedom."(43) In the summer of 1835, editor R. J. Parsons was sentenced to a three months prison and was fined 50 pounds for contempt of court by the unpopular Judge Boulton because Parsons refused to reveal the identity of the author of the following article that appeared in April of that year:The case attracted the attention of the press in England and North America and a fund was set up to raise money for Parsons' release. Upon his release in September 1835, he became the sole proprietor of the Patriot. Parsons continued to oppose Boulton until the judge was dismissed from office in 1838.Stick a pin here!
Beneficial effects of hanging illustrated! -- We understand that a lecture was delivered in the Courthouse yesterday [by Judge Boulton] ... on the very great benefits which hanging the people confers upon society, arising no doubt from its sedative effects upon the human system which is to be uninitiated, are truly astonishing!
A Liberal Protestant, Parsons was sympathetic to the Irish Catholic population and the Patriot provided wide coverage of Catholic and Irish news. When Bishop Fleming died, the paper was published with black borders (July 20-27, 1850). The Patriot contained more domestic news than its predecessors as well as foreign news, legislative proceedings, shipping news, "columns for the ladies," and long-winded letters.
The Patriot disagreed with nearly all of its contemporary newspapers at one time or the other. It dismissed the Times as being unworthy of recognition: "It is not our wont to bestow notice on the Times ; the character of that journal is too mean and its supporters confined to a circle too narrow to entitle them to the slightest consideration." The Patriot was generally well disposed toward the Newfoundlander, but noted: "we wish the editor would think more of John Kent and Newfoundland, and less of Daniel O'Connell and the Emerald Isle." Parsons accused former supporters John Kent and and John Valentine Nugent of disloyalty when they started their own paper, the short-lived Newfoundland Vindicator which tried to replace the Patriot as the House of Assembly printer and reporter. The Patriot's most bitter rival for several decades was Henry Winton's Conservative Public Ledger, which Parsons early referred to as "the Bigot's Banner" (Dec. 23, 1834). When Winton died, the Patriot announced, "The editor of the Ledger lived long enough to see the utter prostration of the politics he advocated so stoutly but so insincerely and of the party he defended so boldly. Let him rest!" (Jan. 22, 1855).
Parsons outlived Winton for nearly 30 years and sat as a Liberal in the House of Assembly from 1848 to 1852 and from 1855 to 1874. He did not adhere strictly to party lines and never hesitated to criticize members of his own party in the Patriot. Parsons was one of the major proponents of Responsible Government, and published a series of editorials explaining its advantages in the summer of 1850. He opposed Confederation beginning in 1862 and supported the railway. Near the end of his life, he approved of the fact that party politics seemed to be on the wane. In the seven years it continued to publish after Parson's death in 1883, the Patriot declined, but still managed to snipe at the Thorburn administration and two fledgling newspapers, the Evening Mercury and the Evening Telegram.
The Pilot contained colonial news, foreign news with extensive coverage of events in Ireland, a summary of the legislative proceedings, poetry, biographical sketches and Newfoundland history. Claiming to be the only Catholic paper in the Colony, it was primarily dedicated to public reform and Responsible Government. During its short life span, it pulled out all stops in denouncing the "elements of despotism, monopoly, injustice and Imperial misrule". (Feb. 21, 1852)
The Pilot contains news of the Lewisporte region, provincial news, social and personal news, a women's page, advertisements and sports. The editorials generally deal with local issues and avoid controversy.
The Plaindealer was a Catholic publication that published foreign news with a concentration on Irish affairs, pastoral letters, humor, short stories and editorials. W. F. Coaker, founder of the Fishermen's Protective Union, published articles in the Plaindealer in 1908 prior to founding the union's own newspaper, the Fishermen's Advocate.(44) The Plaindealer became a rival of that paper and opposed Coaker and the Lloyd government.(45) The paper opposed Edward Morris and later supported Bond, Cashin and Crosbie.
The Post published news of the South Coast region, provincial news, church news, fishery news, advertisements and other features. The editorials were noncontroversial and dealt with local issues. The Post was discontinued as a separate publication in June 1974 and was published for about a month thereafter as a special weekly section of the Daily News called the "South Coast edition, incorporating the Post."
The early issues of the Public Ledger contained mainly reprints from the foreign press, advertisements, shipping and fishing news, poetry and letters from local contributors. Court proceedings and legislative proceedings added when these bodies were established. There was little domestic news, the feeling being that "the leading incidents of the past year ... as they relate to the local circumstances of this colony ... are neither numerous nor important" (Jan. 2, 1827).
Henry Winton, the co-founder and editor, supported "introducing a local legislature into this country" (June 10, 1828) but felt religion should not be a factor in selecting members to the House of Assembly. (Jan. 13, 1832). When Representative Government was granted to the Colony in July of that year, Winton immediately expressed his opposition to the Liberal Party, his first targets being William Carson and John Kent. "Mr. Kent merged from behind the bar of a tap-house in some obscure part of Ireland but a few years ago and ... has since been vegetating among us in a somewhat subordinate situation in life" (Nov. 13, 1832).
Although Winton, a Protestant, had supported the granting of equal rights to Catholics in England in 1829, he became virulently anti-Catholic. He condemned Catholic interference in elections, particularly singling out Bishop Fleming, and denigrated Catholic candidates for the House of Assembly and the elections in which they were successful: "In the district of Ferryland gross violence and intimidation were used in favour of an old fool named Winser, lately perverted to the Roman Faith." (Nov. 30, 1852). Understandably, "Fleming forbade his congregation to read the Ledger, and ordered a boycott of Catholic merchants who subscribed to it."(47) In May 1835, Winton was attacked and disfigured by a group of ruffians near Harbour Grace.
Winton's main rival was former employee R. J. Parsons, who left the Ledger to found the Liberal Patriot. Winton said of the prospectus for that paper, "It is not too much to say that falsehood, invective and a spirit of the most insolent dictation mainly characterize the whole of his production." (Jan. 11, 1833). Winton opposed Responsible Government, a cause which was championed by Parsons. In 1854, when Parsons and Philip Little traveled to England to petition the Colonial Secretary for Responsible Government, Winton referred to them as "the comical delegation" (Feb. 10, 1854).
Winton died in 1855 and his son Henry ran the paper until his own death in 1866. Henry Winton was also Conservative but not as openly anti-Catholic. The Shea family's paper, The Newfoundlander, was now the Ledger's foe and remained so until the Shea-Carter coalition in 1865. Adam Scott was editor for nine years after the younger Winton's death. He became a great admirer of Shea and a strong supporter of Confederation, an issue which dominated the paper's editorials until it was finally defeated in 1869. The Ledger blamed the Catholics for the defeat of the measure. The paper came out in support of the railway in 1867. The Ledger opposed the Bennett administration and condemned the Catholics for interfering with the 1873 vote on the Permissive Bill, which would have restricted the licensing of liquor establishments. Scott was dismissed from his duties as editor in late 1874 when he began to disagree with the Carter administration, whom the proprietors still supported, over the issue of integrated education and the telegraph monopoly.
F. W. Bowden took control of the Ledger in 1875 and continued the Ledger's previous policy. He cautiously supported the construction of the railway in 1881. In 1882, the Ledger seems to have lost its government patronage to the Evening Mercury. In the election of that year, the Ledger supported neither party, being disillusioned with Whiteway's plans to form a coalition with the old Roman Catholic Liberals including Little, Kent, and Parsons, yet unable to see the fledgling People's Party as a viable opposition. The Ledger probably folded at the end of that year.
The Random Guardian was a mimeographed paper publishing local news, birthdays, social, personal and club news, a religious column and advertisements. It is not known for how long the Guardian was published.
The Record published local news, "Catholic Intelligence", foreign news, legislative proceedings, serial fiction, advertisements and government notices. It opposed the Hoyles-Bannerman government and was ultra-Liberal and Catholic to such an extent it was referred to as "Dr. (i.e. Bishop) Mullock's organ" in the Newfoundland Express (May 23, 1861). On that occasion, the Record had made light of Catholic riots and looting which took in Harbour Main, treating them as harmless fun
The Register published foreign and domestic news, government notices, advertisements and other features. Although it claimed to be "an independent journal written by independent men for an independent public", it supported the Liberal Party and contained a high concentration of Catholic and Irish news. Owned by a company of twelve unnamed stockholders, it denied being an organ of the government.
Printed at the offices of the Patriot, the Reporter was originally intended to serve as a vehicle for the publication of legislative proceedings but also published editorials, foreign and domestic news, poetry, advertisements and other features. Liberal in viewpoint, it disliked the Tories, but more frequently beleaguered the Liberal Party, which it felt to be controlled by family compacts and family monopolies, singling out Philip Little in particular. The Reporter was especially bitter about being forced to share the publication of the legislative proceedings with the likes of the Public Ledger and the Express.
The Reporter aimed at a readership in Conception Bay South, publishing local news, articles on local personalities, social and club news.
The Reporter published local news, interviews, social and personal news, sports, articles on health and entertainment, a women's page, comics, and other features. Claiming to be "the only locally-owned newspaper in Bay St. George" its editorials dealt with local issues and reflected popular opinion.
The single issue of The Rising Sun and Conception-Bay Advertiser located bears the motto "fiat lux, et lux fuit, lecemurque eundo." It consists of a single sheet, printed on both sides and includes a short poem entitled "On Suicide", a reprint of "A report on the State of Newfoundland" from the Public Ledger, an article from a London paper on the "sale of children to gipsies", and one sentence of local news: "On Wednesday last, the Justices fined a gentleman in two guineas, for giving a servant a certificate of character, which he knew at the time was untrue."
The Rising Sun and Conception-Bay Advertiser is the earliest known Newfoundland newspaper to be published outside of St. John's.
'Round Home was a cheerful local newspaper covering the top of the Bonavista Peninsula. Published on newsprint in tabloid format, it included editorials supporting local development, entertainment, club news, household advice and recipes, columns on nature, pets, computers and woodworking by local writers, and advertisements.
March 2, 2009
Suzanne Ellison