Most political parties usually maintain their own Party Newspaper. A Party Newspaper is disseminated to subscribing party members who wish to stay informed on the latest achievements and developments of their Party as well as to learn about its Worldview and Ideologies. These Party Newspapers, once published in print newspapers, can now be viewed digitally. But it is rather interesting to know that the Democratic-Republican Party lacks any official Party Newspaper. Neither Democrats nor the Republicans offer one, even though they maintain separate organizations for women, children, university students and others.
I say this because the Jeffersonian ideal is to have non-governmental media outlets, whether Commercial Media or Social Media, to disseminate Jeffersonianism rather than the Federal or State governments.
What passes as a Party Newspaper for the Democratic-Republican Party were publications like National Gazette or Philadelphia Aurora. Those two were specifically designed to be mouthpieces of Jeffersonianism. One major contributor of National Gazette just so happened to be one of Jefferson’s proteges, James Madison. Now, there were certain people within the Democratic-Republican Party, such as Philadelphia Aurora’s Benjamin F. Bache, who wanted Jefferson to create an official Party Newspaper funded by the Federal government.
Jefferson could have done that upon seizing the Presidency. Given Bache’s own behavior and proposals, I would not be too surprised if he wanted his Philadelphia Aurora to become something comparable to some of the more well-known Party Newspapers of the 20th century. Yet Jefferson seemed to have preferred a different approach, whereby instead of having a single Party Newspaper, the Party Newspaper was embodied by as many publications outside of the Democratic-Republican Party as possible and without any Federal funding.
By contrast, the Federalist Party did maintain its own official Party Newspaper, Gazette of the United States. Founded by a prominent Party official, John Fenno, Gazette of the United States featured official government statements, articles contributed by Hamilton, Adams and other Party officials, and the occasional literature and poetry. It was also notable for being the first and only Party Newspaper to receive funding from the Federal government. The publication contains many of the Party’s ideological and philosophical positions, catering to rank-and-file party members who are also allowed to contribute to it and write letters to the editor.
There were some outstanding articles and memorable passages in Gazette of the United States that I am kind of dumbfounded as to why I have not reposted even a single article on The Fourth Estate. If the new-old Federalist Party does reappear in contemporary America, Gazette of the United States would no doubt be revived in some capacity. Anything to rekindle the Federalist Worldview in these times.
Categories: Blog Post
The Fourth Estate 
Leave a comment