The Penny Press has made a big impact on the current form of Journalism in today's society. With its first introduction, the press sparked great interest-more than the other papers of the time- because of its cheaper price. Commonly, papers could cost at least 6 cents per issue. At the time, the only ones who could afford to read it were the wealthy. Considering that a majority of the citizens were lower or middle class, they couldn't buy newspapers. That was, until the appearance of Penny papers. There was also more incentive for people to read it, other than lower price. Reporters were hired to cover stories about things going on in everyday life. This was vastly more interesting to members of the working class than previous coverage of politics as well as commerce. News now talked about anything from the police, developments on the streets, to what was going on in peoples' private households.
The Press also gathered stories from a larger variety of areas. This happened with the development of press associations. Papers took stories from the wires, from places which they couldn't physically travel to or reach. In addition to this, the introduction of the telegraph made widespread communication much easier. In 1851, ten years after the telegraph was first used, attempts to communicate across the Atlantic ocean was underway. The telegraph set a standard for the immediacy of content. |
As Penny papers progressed, so did the types of advertising they had. No longer newspapers supported by required subscriptions. They now posted want ads, personals, and display ads among the articles.
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