Reporting the United States of America in the Liverpool Mercury (1812)

The essay (in the volume "Knowledge Dissemination in the Long Nineteenth Century", eds. Marina Dossena and Stefano Rosso) examines both the contents and discourse style of news relating to the United States of America in the Liverpool newspaper, the Liverpool Mercury. The Liverpool Mercury’s focus on news regarding the USA reflected the English port’s strong sense of identification and interest in matters relating to the newly independent country across the ocean. The analysis looks at why the American event was considered newsworthy for the Liverpool reader as well as the text structure and language employed to write up such news. The analysis focuses in particular on the year 1812.