History Of The Penny Press

Improved Essays
Today, society rarely picks up a newspaper and reads it due to the many advances of how mass information is transmitted; however, there are still many popular newspapers in circulation which delivers news to mass audiences. Journalism has had many advances from when the first newspaper was written, today major newspapers are delivered to mass audiences all over the world; like any other major breakthrough, newspaper journalism had to start somewhere.
In the 1600 's the first American newspaper was published. During the Revolutionary war newspapers grew rapidly, which started the political press. When the Deceleration of Independence was signed the Continental Congress authorized a lady named, Mary Katherine Goddard, to print the first official
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Thus, came development of The Penny Press. In 1833 the New York Sun was launched by a man named Benjamin Day. Other big city daily newspapers were currently selling for six cents a copy, so his idea was to sell his for only a penny. Containing local news including, violence, sex, and human interest stories, The Sun attracted a mass amount of readers and in turn, The Penny Press began. The New York Herald launched soon after in 1835 and had even more success than The Sun. The New York Herald contained a rather aggressive editorial policy emphasizing reform. Third ranked in line after The Sun and New York Herald was the New York Tribune appearing in 1841. Known for supporting woman 's rights, and appealing to mass audiences intellect rather than their emotions. Lastly, the New York Times was one of the last major newspapers of The Penny Press. It 's reputation showed objective and reasoned journalism. Launching these major newspapers during The Penny Press all had one thing in common. After they became successful selling their penny papers, they since doubled the …show more content…
This caused the reporting type known as, Yellow Journalism. This type of journalism emphasized sex, murder, popular medicine, self-promotion, pseudoscience, and human-interest stories. Although, it had many faults, newspapers sold. When the battleship Maine, was blown up during the Spanish-American war in 1898, Circulation of The Journal jumped over one million, due to offering a $50,000 reward for an arrest of the guilty. When war was declared both papers stopped at nothing to report. Yellow Journalism was not a proud period for American newspapers, but it did have some positive effects. It brought investigative reporting to the table as well as, energy and enthusiasm. Secondly, it brought wide exposure to authors who all wrote for the papers during the time period. Lastly, it popularized use of layouts and display devices that would help to characterize modern day

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