Georgia's First Newspaper
According to Dennis Sodomka, executive editor for The Augusta Chronicle, his paper is a descendant of the original Georgia newspaper from 1763: The Georgia Gazette. He discusses how a newspaper can make a difference in a community and help make democracy work by giving people the information they need to make informed decisions. In colonial days, the king forbade Georgia colonists to publish a newspaper for the first 30 years of its existence. Instead, people relied on news from traveling visitors, friends, and through letters and newspapers from other places.
Georgia's First Newspaper
According to Dennis Sodomka, executive editor for The Augusta Chronicle, his paper is a descendant of the original Georgia newspaper from 1763: The Georgia Gazette. He discusses how a newspaper can make a difference in a community and help make democracy work by giving people the information they need to make informed decisions. In colonial days, the king forbade Georgia colonists to publish a newspaper for the first 30 years of its existence. Instead, people relied on news from traveling visitors, friends, and through letters and newspapers from other places.
Social Studies
Give examples of the kinds of goods and services produced and traded in colonial Georgia.
1. Explain why the people of Georgia needed a newspaper.
2. Describe the various ways in which Georgians receive information today. Do you trust one type of source of another? Explain.
1. The segment on Georgia’s oldest business talks about the uncertain future of newspapers. Speculate on how you think we will receive news in the future and whether newspapers will be one of those ways. Just for fun, recall all the uses for newspapers shown in the segment, and suggest some other uses for it.
chronicle: a detailed journal of events in chronological order; a history of events and happenings
gazette: a newspaper of similar periodical containing a chronicling of events as well a public notices
printing press: a machine that prints books, magazines, newspapers, etc., usually in large numbers
1. Explain why the people of Georgia needed a newspaper.
They needed to find out what was going on in the colony. They needed to know when ships would arrive, when the cotton could be shipped, who the visitors in town were or what the government was doing. Depending on word of mouth or letters that took too long to arrive were not enough.
2. Describe the various ways in which Georgians receive information today. Do you trust one type of source of another? Explain.
Student answers may vary but may include radio, television, social media sites, newspapers, and online articles.
