The first newspaper published in Nebraska was a weekly military journal published by the garrison stationed at Ft. Atkinson, in present day Washington County. Described in the December 10, 1822 edition of the Missouri Intelligencer as a "...manuscript, on a royal sheet, elegantly and correctly executed in point of chirography; and in point of original matter not exceeded by the first eastern publications." The newspaper, along with the fort, did not survive very long. Fort Atkinson was terminated in 1827 and no copies of its newspaper are known to exist today.

Thirty years later, with the opening of Nebraska Territory in 1854, newspapers helped to boost and to develop the new region. The first of these, the Nebraska Palladium, declared on July 15th, "This paper will be strenuously devoted to the support of the great interests involved in the early settlement of this rich, beautiful, and desirable county. It will be an earnest advocate of the immediate establishment of those industrial, social, political, and religious institutions which can avail a permanence to society."

Although it was titled the Nebraska Palladium, there was not a press in the Territory to print the newspaper. Therefore, the first issues were printed on a press in St. Mary, Iowa, a settlement across the Missouri River opposite Bellevue.

A critic of Nebraska's territorial newspapers characterized them as being "rough and pugnacious, but withal manly and efficient." They drew their subscribers mainly from the east and were organs of town companies with a vested interest in seeing Nebraska settled. These early newspapers bear little resemblance to the newspapers of today. Headlines were uncommon, photographs were not a standard feature, and wire news was virtually non-existent. A typical issue consisted of four pages, the first of which was devoted to poetry and articles taken from eastern papers. The third and fourth pages carried mostly advertising. Local news and editorial comment, "puff practice shamelessly" according to one historian, appeared on page two. Produced in an era and a place where few printed materials were available, these newspapers provided a sense of community and a cultural influence for the newly arrived inhabitants of Nebraska Territory.

The mortality rate of the early newspapers was high as competition among editors was intense. The above-mentioned Nebraska Palladium lasted less than a year, suspending operations in April 1855. Some publications, however, have continued a long and healthy existence until today, guided in their formative years by Nebraska's earliest political leaders. Robert Furnas, founder of Brownville's first newspaper, the Nebraska Advertiser, championed the horticultural and agricultural possibilities of Nebraska soil, as well as his own Republican party views. Although the Advertiser doesn't exist today, the Nebraska Farmer, an agricultural journal which still appears monthly, was founded by Furnas in 1859. J. Sterling Morton, the promoter of Arbor Day, edited the Nebraska City News to reflect his political views in support of the Democratic party. It, along with the Falls City Journal, are the only two newspapers among the two hundred newspapers currently being published in the state with roots in the territorial period.

Having a political ax to grind was commonplace for Furnas, Morton, and the majority of Nebraska's newspaper editors. William Jennings Bryan, first an editor for the Omaha World-Herald, split with that newspaper to trumpet the Populist cause in his own newspaper, The Commoner. Willa Cather's first published writings appeared in a newspaper, the Nebraska State Journal, while she attended the University of Nebraska. Her views of late 19th century popular culture were reflected in her reviews as a drama critic. For more information on early Nebraska journalists, please click here.

Special interests of all kinds were reflected in newspapers seeking subscribers who shared the views and/or the background of the publisher. Temperance/prohibition publications, ethnic newspapers, the foreign language press, and women's rights newspapers thrived because an audience welcomed them.

The growth of the newspaper industry paralleled the development of the state. As settlement pushed westward, most communities could boast of having at least one newspaper. Bigger towns often had two, one espousing Democratic views, the other, Republican. (In the 1890s and early 1900s, some towns had room for a third newspaper that supported the Populist Party.) By 1920, 623 newspapers were being published in Nebraska. This was the peak of newspaper publishing in the state, as the industry began a gradual decrease in the number of publications.

Economic hardships in the 1920s and 1930s caused some newspapers to close shop. Other factors contributing to the disappearance of small town newspapers included the decline of the rural population; the appearance of other forms of communication, particularly radio and television; and the rise of metropolitan newspapers.

Today there are about 200 newspapers covering Nebraska news. They continue to provide cohesiveness and to reflect the political, economic, and social thinking of their towns and time.
As one historian has summarized:

"We are glad to believe that every paper in Nebraska has a place in its history, and that no other agency -- not even the great corporations with all their wealth and farseeing enterprise, not even the governing men and statesmen who have labored to give Nebraska position, influence, and fame -- has wielded a greater influence for the prosperity and importance of the State, than the cloud of news print which every week settles down among its busy population."