News Letter

Northern Ireland, 1737 Belfast's first newspaper began after Francis Joy came by a small printing press in settlement of a debt, and it was first printed in Joy's Entry, a narrow alley in the city center. It is generally counted the oldest English-language general daily still in publication, a narrower and more defensible claim than outright oldest. One detail stands out for history lovers: it is among the few papers still in business that reported the American Declaration of Independence, in an edition from late August 1776. Today it is a Monday to Saturday tabloid.