Always Pick Up a Penny For Goodluck

In the early Nineteenth century the average cost of a newspaper was about six cents. That was quite costly and only a handful of the American public could afford to pay such a hefty price. It wasn't until David Sherpard, Horace Greeley and Francis W. Story issued the "Morning Post" for only a penny. The low price made newspapers and the news available to more than just the upper class citizens for the first time. This inexpensive newspaper is a major reason why news and journalism spread and became more important overall. The penny press newspapers began to pay more attention to the public that it now being served. They were quick to notice that the same information that appealed to the upper class who could afford the six cent paper was not the same information that intrigued the audience of the "penny public." The main reason for the newspapers early success and why it could sell the paper so cheap was because of its heavy dependence on advertising as a major source of revenue. Unlike other newspapers who heavily depended on subscriptions and daily sales. Also, the price of paper and materials decreased which ultimately made the production of the newspaper less expensive to produce. The pioneer of the Penny Press era was Benjamin H. Day, the creator of the New York Sun. The Sun was the first popular penny press. What i found quite interesting when researching this was that on top of every days paper was a " motto" that stated " The object of this paper is to lay before the public, at a price within the means of everyone, all the news of the day, and at the same time offer an advantageous medium for advertisements."
The Penny Press era set the precedent for how the modern newspapers operate today. Today's newspapers rely mostly on advertising as a main source of income and is why it is still at a relatively low price. Think about it, how often do you open the paper up and there is a hundreds of advertisements about Bill O'Reily's new book or the newest movie out? At least I can recall such when I read the paper in the mornin and there are way to many to count!