A little more than 175 years ago in 1833, New
Yorkers woke up with “The Sun” -- a newspaper peddling a new idea: Common news
for common folks, cheap at just a penny.
September 1833, Benjamin H. Day launched the first penny newspaper, the
While historians debate the origins of the Penny
Press, there is no doubt it had a significant impact on journalism. Penny Press
papers changed the content, journalistic standards, and financing. For these
reasons, the Penny Press was a significant period for journalism and made
significant contributions to the newspaper industry.
In early 1800s cost of the most newspapers was
six cents. In those days economy it was a hard to affordable amount for the
lower class citizens. Circulation and regulation of news heavily depended on
the people who has the power to do so. With the emergence of one cent
newspapers news became available for more than just upper class society. More and
more people were able to read and reach the news, hence the demand and
circulation increased and news became more and more important.
Printer Benjamin Day’s way of human-interest
stories, tall tales and shocking crimes helped to attract average readers to a
medium that was once enjoyed largely by the upper class. Method of sale was
another innovation, “newsboys” from street corners was the cheapest and easiest
way to catch up.
Penny papers succeeded based on increased circulation
and concentrated importance on advertising. The penny papers did not rely on
annual subscriptions or subsidies from political parties unlike their
predecessors. Advertising targeted the working class circulation needs. Past papers
did not print advertisements they did not agree with but unlike them the penny
papers relinquished their "authority" on moral judgment, leaving it
to readers. With the cheap press it has been identified the technological
improvements and the importance of news as a device for advertising the paper.
The advertisements were made available to more people, to a new economic class,
thereby expanding the market for manufactured goods.
The writing in these papers was another brand new
concept that added a new dimension to journalism as we know it today. In the
beginning, the stories were startling and were often detailed and included
brutal accounts of murders and household disputes. Along with this, came an importance
on local and human interest stories. This broke the old-style writing and began
reporting "interesting" stories regardless of their relevance. As it
relied on sales and advertising, the penny press was free to publish whatever
stories it thought interesting or pertinent, but ultimately selection was based
on what would garner more advertisement revenues. But it also resulted in the
fact that the mass public could now not only afford to buy the newspaper, but
its needs were being taken into consideration.
It can be identified that the penny papers were favorable
in expanding America’s newspaper readership. In his book, American Journalism,
Mott cites from the Public Leger, a penny newspaper in Philadelphia in 1936:
In the cities of New York and Brooklyn,
containing a population of 30,000, the daily circulation of the penny papers is
not less than 70,000. This is nearly sufficient to place a newspaper in the
hands of every man in the two cities, and even of every boy old enough to read
(Mott, 1978, p. 241).
The penny press played an important role in upgrading
the literacy level, at a faster rate. Since the penny newspapers were simply
written, and affordable, they may have encouraged more people to read daily,
allowing them to improve their own literacy. It should be noted that as
literacy level rises the quality of the writing in the penny press also
improved. Furthermore, the penny newspaper always came up with a new awareness
and new ideas. This had a reflective impact on the society on the verge of
literacy. Suddenly an average person with access to a newspaper became a far
more important person on a societal and political level, and could no longer be
looked down by the upper classes. Their voice, their opinions and soon their
votes could no longer be ignored.
The penny papers gave life and importance to the
voice of the common people, and often published that people should be provided
with a realistic view of present-day life; abuses by authority should be
exposed; and that the newspaper has a duty to give readers the news and not to
support the powerful. The penny press was instrumental in increasing literacy
levels in a practical society that was technologically ready to move forward.
They brought innovations, changes in the way news
is gathered and reported and pushed the newspaper into a place as the “trusted”
source of information. This position is
again being tested today as Internet and other media blur the lines of
trust. But we can thank the penny press
for setting the stage that brought journalism into the forefront of American
society.
