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The Origins of a Free Press in Prerevolutionary ... - Web Publishing

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193<br />

Virg<strong>in</strong>ia pr<strong>in</strong>ter and the output <strong>of</strong> his press. As this was the only source <strong>of</strong> mass<br />

media produced <strong>in</strong> the colony, this had a serious impact on the breadth <strong>of</strong> civic<br />

discourse generated by pr<strong>in</strong>t. <strong>The</strong> new stamp tax severely threatened Royle’s<br />

<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g retail bus<strong>in</strong>ess. At the same time, some readers clearly had become<br />

dissatisfied with the content <strong>of</strong> the only Virg<strong>in</strong>ia newspaper. <strong>The</strong> repeated refusals<br />

by Royle to pr<strong>in</strong>t controversial material had a limit<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>fluence on discourse. Many<br />

residents with lean<strong>in</strong>gs toward the emerg<strong>in</strong>g patriot cause were unhappy with<br />

royalist control <strong>of</strong> the only media outlet <strong>in</strong> the colony. Someth<strong>in</strong>g had to be done.

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