Newspapers in colonial America were published with permission of the local government. A free press did not appear until after the Revolution.
The mass newspaper arrived in the 1830s with the publication of Benjamin Day's New York Sun, the first of the penny-press papers.
The era of yellow journalism featured sensationalism, crusades, and human-interest reporting and introduced more attractive newspaper designs.
Many newspapers were merged or folded during the early 1900s, as tabloid papers became popular. The trend toward consolidation would continue into the years following World War II.
There are four types of daily papers: national newspapers, large metro dailies, suburban dailies, and small-town dailies. Other major types of papers are weeklies, special-service newspapers, and minority newspapers.
Almost all papers now have online versions.
Newspaper ownership is characterized by large group owners and declining competition.
Newspapers are reexamining their business model and converging their print and online operations.
Newspaper audiences are measured by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Newspaper readership has declined for the past several decades, but online readership is growing.
