It will come as a great shock, I’m sure, that this segment substantially misconstrues and misrepresents Franklin’s position on freedom of the press. Shall we thread? We shall. /1 https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1384856095097774081

The underlying point is about something Franklin published in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1731 that’s become known as the “Apology for Printers” in which he argues that printers should operate “free and open” presses and not be held liable for the content of their papers. /2

He had apparently published an advertisement that included a derogatory term for priests, and this essay was his defense. Here’s the thing: “free and open” didn’t mean “you can say anything at all that you want.” It had two very specific meanings. /3

First, a press was supposed to be “free” in the sense of being free from government interference. Franklin argued that governments should not be permitted to license printers beforehand (declaring that only certain publishers could print), and could not censor publications. /4

Second, a press was supposed to be “open” to all parties. This one gets a little closer to ideas of free speech as we understand it because it was based on the premise that a newspaper was a public forum and the printer a mere conduit of other people’s ideas. /5

Underlying all of this, therefore, was Franklin making a business argument: don’t blame me for what’s in the newspaper, I’m just the guy who sets type and pulls the press! This is, to use the fancy term, a bit of malarkey, and also specific to the context of the 18th century. /6

For Franklin specifically, the argument provided him with a sleight-of-hand that allowed him to make all sorts of editorial decisions in the Pennsylvania Gazette, to publish essays of his own under pseudonyms, and otherwise promote his own political and commercial interests. /7

For many other 18th century printers, the strategy was defensive. Most operated in markets—if we can call them that—that were small enough they could barely keep a single printing office afloat. You literally couldn’t afford to anger a whole segment of the community. /8

So *of course* you announced loudly and often that you were “open to all parties” and that the government should not influence what you printed. /9

A lot of this changed during the imperial crisis and the American Revolution, when printers began to publish in a far more partisan manner. (This is where I suggest you head over to my book, Revolutionary Networks, for more.) /10

I’ve written in essay form about Franklin and the “Apology for Printers” for @werehist: https://werehistory.org/free-press/  /11

For a short version of what printers we’re doing in the Revolution, I did an essay for @ageofrevs: https://ageofrevolutions.com/2017/09/11/meer-mechanics-no-more-how-printers-shaped-information-in-the-revolutionary-age/ /12

And thanks to @USNatArchives you can read Franklin’s Apology for Printers via Founders Online. Now back to my regularly scheduled morning... https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-01-02-0061 /end