History UsefulNotes / AmericanNewspapers

The United States is one of the few countries where the government is specifically prohibited from licensing the press or reporters, or otherwise shutting down a newspaper simply because they don't like the content. While the average Joe knows his rights are protected by the court case of ''Miranda v. Arizona'', most people are unaware of one of the pivotal cases denying press censorship in the United States: ''Near v. Minnesota'', which basically said the government can't shut down a newspaper no matter how much it finds the newspaper's content objectionable. Of course, freedom of the press is guaranteed in the first amendment to the Constitution.

The United States is one of the few countries where the government is specifically prohibited from licensing the press or reporters, or otherwise shutting down a newspaper simply because they don't like the content. While the average Joe knows his rights are protected by the court case of ''Miranda v. Arizona'', most people are unaware of one of the pivotal cases denying press censorship in the United States: ''Near v. Minnesota'', which basically said the government can't shut down a newspaper no matter how much it finds the newspaper's content objectionable. Of course, freedom of the press is guaranteed in the first amendment to the Constitution.

* The ''Providence Journal'', the largest paper in Rhode Island (and one of just three dailies in the whole state), is a similarly venerable New England paper that lays claim to being the "oldest ''continuously-published '''daily''''' newspaper" in those ExactWords (the ''Courant'' is older, but it was a weekly when it was founded. The ''New York Post'' has been a daily since 1801, but it was forced to stop publishing during two mid-20th century newspaper strikes). The ''[=ProJo=]'' as it is called in the area, is well regarded in Rhode Island despite a series of lay-offs that has greatly reduced the size of its newsroom. Like many papers, it's been through several owners over the years, and is now owned by Gannett, which also owns the second-largest daily in the state (''The Newport Daily News''). The ''Journal'' is also notable for its involvement in the creation of the American diner, as the earliest precursor of the diner was created in 1872 to feed the paper's reporters.

* The ''Village Voice'', founded in 1955 and so named for its long-time home in the Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods of Manhattan, was the United States' first alternative weekly newspaper and pioneered the magazine-style writing and culture coverage that would be found in later papers of that style. The ''Voice'' was the home of a cadre of well-known and respected culture writers, including influential music critic Robert Christgau, political columnist Nat Hentoff, food critic Robert Sietsema, nightlife and gossip writer Michael Musto, media critic Erik Wemple, sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel, and music writers Chuck Eddy and Maura Johnston. Nearly all of those writers were laid off by the paper between 2006 and 2010 during a period of volatility and changing owners, and the paper itself saw its once sterling reputation in the journalism industry crater as new owners filled its pages with more dubious content. The ''Voice'' was closed in 2018 and its website very rarely published new material for several years, until it was revived as a monthly publication under new ownership in April 2021.

* The ''Village Voice'', founded in 1955 and so named for its long-time home in the Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods of Manhattan, was the United States' first alternative newspaper and for pioneering the magazine-style writing and culture coverage that would be found in later papers of that style. The ''Voice'' was the home of a cadre of well-known and respected culture writers, including influential music critic Robert Christgau, political columnist Nat Hentoff, food critic Robert Sietsema, nightlife and gossip writer Michael Musto, media critic Erik Wemple, sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel, and music writers Chuck Eddy and Maura Johnston. Nearly all of those writers were laid off by the paper between 2006 and 2010 during a period of volatility and changing owners, and the paper itself saw its once sterling reputation in the journalism industry crater as new owners filled its pages with more dubious content. The ''Voice'' was closed in 2018 and its website very rarely published new material for several years, until it was revived as a monthly publication under new ownership in April 2021.

* The ''Village Voice'', founded in 1955 and so named for its long-time home in the Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods of Manhattan, was the United States' first alternative newspaper and for pioneering the magazine-style writing and culture coverage that would be found in later papers of that style. The ''Voice'' was the home of a cadre of well-known and respected culture writers, including influential music critic Robert Christgau, political columnist Nat Hentoff, food critic Robert Sietsema, nightlife and gossip writer Michael Musto, media critic Erik Wemple, sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel, and music writers Chuck Eddy and Maura Johnston. Nearly all of those writers were laid off by the paper between 2006 and 2010 during a period of volatility and changing owners, and the paper itself saw its once sterling reputation in the journalism industry crater as new owners filled its pages with more dubious content. The ''Voice'' closed for good in 2018 and its website very rarely publishes new material.

As with traditional media in general, and print in particular, the state of the American newspaper industry is not good: We generally try to avoid time-dependent statements here on TV Tropes, such as the death of the newspaper (which is not the same thing as the death of journalism), but, sadly, it's difficult to imagine a future where that statement isn't true. The decline pretty much began in the mid-late 1990s, when the newspaper industry saw the "Information Superhighway" as being no bigger a threat than radio and television, which had been the bogeymen of newsmen during previous eras, establishing websites as they had bought radio and TV stations several times in the past. But the rise of the Internet and the so-called democratization of information coincided with the public's tastes shifting into more personalized choices, which particularly went against the journalistic model of the American newspaper, based on an emphasis on middle-of-the-road objectivity ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools which was commercially effective]], in spite of right-leaning readers believing that most papers were unquestionably liberal while left-leaning readers thought they were too quiescent to corporate ownership) and street sales[[note]]Subscription charges for American newspapers make up a relatively small slice of revenue compared to their European counterparts, partly because the latter tend to aim to an specific national audience than a general local/regional one[[/note]] as well as advertising.

* ''The New York Sun'', which was founded in 2002 by Canadian media mogul Conrad Black as an intentionally right-wing five-day daily (much like the Canadian ''National Post'', which he founded in 1997), taking its name from an older paper that went under in 1950 (more known for the ''YesVirginia, There is a SantaClaus'' editorial). Circulation was never high, being unable to compete with the ''Times'' and also being hit by Black's prosecution for embezzlement and tax fraud (which forced him to withdraw within a year) and the paper operated at a loss to try and build for several years. In a letter to readers published on the front page of the September 4, 2008 edition, it was announced that the paper would "cease publication at the end of September unless we succeed in our efforts to find additional financial backing." They didn't and publication ceased on September 30, becoming an online portal largely focusing on political news and conservative commentary (including from former owner Conrad Black).

It is worth noting that the remarks about the political leanings in this article are written to American standards. Therefore, many publications referred to as center-left in this article would probably be perceived in the rest of the world as either center-right (as in Britain) or even right-wing (Europe and Latin America).

* ''The Boston Globe'' -- The paper of record for the entirety of New England. It is currently owned by John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox.[[note]]And much else; Henry's Fenway Sports Group also owns [[BritishFootyTeams Liverpool F.C.]], half of a UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} team, and UsefulNotes/LeBronJames' marketing rights, plus a whole bunch of other stuff besides.[[/note]] Well known for its Spotlight investigative journalism team, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning work investigating the sex abuse scandal in the city's Catholic churches was turned into an [[Film/{{Spotlight}} Oscar-winning film]]. In recent years, the ''Globe'' became one of the first major newspapers to publish an entire section dedicated to marijuana, which launched alongside its recreational legalization in Massachusetts in 2018. Boston is also one of the last remaining two newspaper cities; The ''Globe'' shares Beantown with the older but less-read tabloid ''Boston Herald'' (It used to be considered a ''three''-paper town, with the alt-weekly ''Boston Phoenix'' being equally highly regarded, but it was shuttered in 2013).

* ''The Boston Globe'' -- The paper of record for the entirety of New England. It is currently owned by John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox.[[note]]And much else; Henry's Fenway Sports Group also owns [[BritishFootyTeams Liverpool F.C.]], half of a UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} team, and UsefulNotes/LeBronJames' marketing rights, plus a whole bunch of other stuff besides.[[/note]] Well known for its Spotlight investigative journalism team, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning work investigating the sex abuse scandal in the city's Catholic churches was turned into an [[Film/{{Spotlight}} Oscar-winning film]]. Had its own online AlternativeRock radio station, [=RadioBDC=], a spiritual successor to the city's defunct but storied rock station WFNX (The station is now independent and has been renamed to Indie 617). Boston is also one of the last remaining two newspaper cities; The ''Globe'' shares Beantown with the older but less-read tabloid ''Boston Herald'' (It used to be considered a ''three''-paper town, with the alt-weekly ''Boston Phoenix'' being equally highly regarded, but it was shuttered in 2013).

* ''Wired'': Founded in 1993 by Louis Rossetto, his partner Jane Metcalfe and Ian Charles Stewart, this magazine is focused on technology, but is not a "computer magazine" like the others - rather, it describes how tech shapes culture, the economy, and politics and, indeed, has itself created or popularized trends in the intersection of said worlds. Was the mouthpiece for the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Californian_Ideology "Californian Ideology"]][[note]]a mixture of radical individualism, neoliberal economics and libertarianism wrapped in Silicon Valley cybertopia[[/note]] and had an early scoop with Creator/WilliamGibson's still talked-about 1994 article [[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson.html "Disneyland with the Death Penalty"]] about UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} (which got the magazine [[BannedInChina banned from the country by its government]]). Although not as strong as it used to be, it's still influential in the tech world. From 1998 to 2006, the paper magazine and its website (then called ''[=HotWired=]'') were owned by separate companies, until the former's owner bought the latter. The website was the first commercial online magazine, created banner ads[[note]]the first advertiser was telecom company AT&T[[/note]], first measured the effectiveness of online advertising, was one of the first to attempt behavioural advertising, and first applied real-time web analytics.

* ''Wired'': Founded in 1993 by Louis Rossetto, his partner Jane Metcalfe and Ian Charles Stewart, this magazine is focused on technology, but is not a "computer magazine" like the others - rather, it describes how tech shapes culture, the economy, and politics and, indeed, has itself trends in the intersection of said worlds. Was the mouthpiece for the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Californian_Ideology "Californian Ideology"]][[note]]a mixture of radical individualism, neoliberal economics and libertarianism wrapped in Silicon Valley cybertopia[[/note]] and had an early scoop with Creator/WilliamGibson's still talked-about 1994 article [[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson.html "Disneyland with the Death Penalty"]] about UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} (which got the magazine [[BannedInChina banned from the country by its government]]). Although not as strong as it used to be, it's still influential in the tech world. From 1998 to 2006, the paper magazine and its website (then called ''[=HotWired=]'') were owned by separate companies, until the former's owner bought the latter. The website was the first commercial online magazine, created banner ads[[note]]the first advertiser was telecom company AT&T[[/note]], first measured the effectiveness of online advertising, was one of the first to attempt behavioural advertising, and first applied real-time web analytics.

* ''Wired'': Founded in 1993 by Louis Rossetto, his partner Jane Metcalfe and Ian Charles Stewart, this magazine is focused on technology, but is not a "computer magazine" like the others - rather, it describes how tech shapes culture, the economy, and politics and, indeed, has itself trends in the intersection of said worlds. Was the mouthpiece for the so-called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Californian_Ideology "Californian Ideology"]][[note]]a mixture of radical individualism, neoliberal economics and libertarianism wrapped in Silicon Valley cybertopia[[/note]] and had an early scoop with Creator/WilliamGibson's still talked-about 1994 article [[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson.html "Disneyland with the Death Penalty"]] about UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} (which got the magazine [[BannedInChina banned from the country by its government]]). Although not as strong as it used to be, it's still influential in the tech world. From 1998 to 2006, the paper magazine and its website (then called ''HotWired'') were owned by separate companies, until the former's owner bought the latter. The website was the first commercial online magazine, created banner ads[[note]]the first advertiser was telecom company AT&T[[/note]], first measured the effectiveness of online advertising, was one of the first to attempt behavioural advertising, and first applied real-time web analytics.

* The ''Providence Journal'', the largest paper in Rhode Island (and one of just three dailies in the whole state), is a similarly venerable New England paper that lays claim to being the "oldest ''continuously-published '''daily''''' newspaper" in those ExactWords (the ''Courant'' is older, but it was a weekly when it was founded. The ''New York Post'' has been a daily since 1801, but it was forced to stop publishing during two mid-20th century newspaper strikes). The ''[=ProJo=]'' as it is called in the area, is well regarded in Rhode Island despite a series of lay-offs that has greatly reduced the size of its newsroom. Like many papers, it's been through several owners over the years, and is now owned by Gannett, which also owns the second-largest daily in the state (''The Newport Daily News'').

* ''The New York Times'' -- Founded in 1851. Daily read of the East Coast intelligentsia, known as the "Old Grey Lady" (although since they've started printing in color it doesn't make sense anymore) and the "Newspaper of Record." The ''Times'' is one of the most famous and respected newspapers in the world, and has broken many important and historical stories over the years. Among its biggest scoops was this publication of the "Pentagon Papers," which was a classified government report on how the USA got into and ran the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar. The government tried to stop it from being published, but the courts ruled that the government had to show an extreme danger before the press could be stopped from publishing something. No [[NewspaperComics comics]], but the best crossword in the nation. The ''Times'' also owned the ''Boston Globe'' newspaper and a stake in the Red Sox (with both being sold in 2013). Despite its fame, it's still not recession-proof -- it began running ads on the front page in 2009. Despite nominally being a New York paper, a national edition of it is easily available in most parts of the country, if only by being the paper sold at most Starbucks (which also gives a hint as to [[BourgeoisBohemian its readership]]). A rarity in today's market, the ''Times'' is still a basically a family business, with a majority of shares controlled by the Ochs/Sulzberger family since 1896, with Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim being the second-largest share-holder, setting a trend for billionaires to invest in (or downright buy) newspapers. They also used to own some TV stations in middle-sized markets, like WNEP 16 (ABC) in Scranton, PA; these stations were sold in 2007 to Oak Hill Capital Partners, forming the core of Local TV, LLC; they also acquired many ex New World/Fox-owned stations that Fox sold, like WJW-8 in Cleveland; as of 2014, Local TV has been bought out by the Tribune Company.

These two papers are widely considered to be the top of the journalistic profession in America, and you can expect any young reporter in fiction to dream of working at either one. In general, the ''Times'' does better in reporting international news, as well as arts and culture, while the ''Post'' is considered to be the go-to for political news. Both are often cited as being proof of the liberal bias of the press. The accuracy of this accusation is debated, and some observers disagree with it. The reporting of both is claimed by some to have a liberal (or at the very least, neoconservative) bias, but no one disputes that the editorial and op-ed pages do. On that front the ''Times'' has several columnists, such as Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd, who do tend to make conservatives' blood pressure rise.[[note]]What's often forgotten is that Dowd also caused ''liberal'' hypertension back in TheNineties thanks to her constant yammering about how UsefulNotes/{{Bill|Clinton}} was cheating on UsefulNotes/{{Hill|aryRodhamClinton}} and how she was too ambitious/weak-willed to do anything about it.[[/note]] On the other hand, they also boast right-of-center writers such as Ross Douthat, and the late William Safire, who in addition to his political column wrote a highly regarded column on the American English language for the Sunday edition for many years.[[note]]He occasionally dipped into other languages, as well; for instance, he thoroughly chastised the French Academy for adopting "Poutine" as the official French transcription of UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin's name; see EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas for details.[[/note]] Oh, and David Brooks. Both the ''Times'' and the ''Post'' (generally) try to play the role of the centrist voice of reason/Loyal Opposition in their editorial coverage (a role that the ''WSJ'' and ''USA Today'' have tended to fill sometimes as well in recent years), with the results that they irritate conservatives when a Republican president is in power and annoy liberals when a Democrat holds the White House. The ''NYT'' attracted [[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/us/politics/historians-critique-of-obama-foreign-policy-is-brought-alive-by-events-in-iraq.html international attention in 2014]] when one editorial openly criticized Obama's policies. The ''Post'' did get into a bit of a flap when several bloggers accused columnist Jennifer Rubin of being a Romney campaign mouthpiece in 2012, but this was understood to be an anomaly.

* ''The National Interest'': Founded by Irving Kristol in 1985, it is a bi-monthly magazine focusing on American politics and international affairs. Originally neo-conservative at its founding, these days it is similar to ''The Atlantic'' in that it's moderately center-right in its political position while also including libertarian and liberal authors. Notably, Francis Fukuyama's (in)famous ''The End of History'' was originally published here.[[note]]He and a number of other editors went on to establish the rival ''The American Interest'' in 2005.[[/note]] Since 2001, it's been published by the Center for the National Interest, a [[{{Realpolitik}} realist]] think-tank formerly known as the [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon]] Center.

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* ''The UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} Post'' and ''(Denver) Rocky Mountain News'' -- Denver was also a two-paper town. The ''Post'''s sportswriter, Woody Paige, appears on ESPN's ''Around the Horn''. The News was placed for sale by its owner, the E.W. Scripps company, in December 2008. Due to the economic crisis, there were no takers. Publication ceased on February 27, 2009. It was a TearJerker moment for a good number of people (not only employees, of course). (Scripps has returned to Denver, though; they acquired the TV stations formerly owned by [=McGraw-Hill=] in 2012, including the flagship, Denver's 7ABC, KMGH.) The ''Post'' itself has been the victim of some absolutely brutal cuts by its private equity owners, to the extent that the paper is a shadow of its former self and ''Post'' journalists openly insult the owners on Twitter.

* The ''Tampa Bay Times'' is a long-running paper previously known as the ''St. Petersburg Times'', owned by the Poynter Institute journalism school. Since its 2012 revamp, it's gained national prominence, wide admiration and a truckload of Pulitzer Prizes for a series of long-form, investigative pieces about the education system, politics and housing in Florida; it's also done a ''lot'' of stories about the ChurchOfHappyology's influence in the state, almost to the point of being one of the church's foremost enemies. A front-runner for "Best Medium-Sized Newspaper in the Country," going back to its ''St. Petersburg Times'' days.

Further complicating matters, most newspapers (big and small) in the United States are owned by one of [[http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2004/newspapers-intro/ownership/ a couple of dozen newspaper companies]], such as Gannett/Gatehouse, Hearst, Scripps-Howard, News Corp, [=McClatchy=], Digital First and [=MediaNews=].

Further complicating matters, most newspapers (big and small) in the United States are owned by one of [[http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2004/newspapers-intro/ownership/ a couple of dozen newspaper companies]], such as Gannett/Gatehouse, Heas, News Corp, [=McClatchy=], Digital First and [=MediaNews=].

* ''Time'' is the largest news magazine in the world, with over 45 million subscribers worldwide, less than half of whom are in the U.S. It is published weekly. They are famous for their annual "Person of the Year" award, which goes to whoever they feel had the greatest influence on world events; it was originally created in 1927 after getting flack for not putting Charles Lindbergh on the cover after his famous flight. The "person" may not necessarily be a living human being -- the award went to the personal computer in 1982, and to "The Endangered Earth" in 1989. Note that the award is not meant as an honor, but is simply given to whoever is deemed to have had most affected the course of the year, for good or ill -- winners in the past have included UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler (1938), UsefulNotes/JosefStalin ([[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1939 and 1942]]), and Ayatollah Khomeini (1979). This distinction is sometimes lost on people, who have often protested the granting of what they feel to be an "honor" to dictators and warmongers, and has led to some rather wishy-washy decisions since the 1980s, like making Rudy Giuliani Person of the Year in [[TheWarOnTerror 2001]] instead of UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden or "You" in 2006.

Beginning in the 1870s, and continuing over a half-century, the American newspaper industry changed completely. The telegraph allowed a quicker reception of information, also demanding a more fast-paced approach to journalism as did the rapid growth of the nation's bigger cities. Advertising became a more important source of revenue, displacing political bigwigs and subscriber bases, expanding the reach of newspapers. These changes were successfully championed by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, whose "newspaper war" of the 1890s led to "yellow journalism", which carried hard-hitting investigations beneath a surface of crime and sensationalism, as well as the establishment of nationwide chains of newspapers as well as the licensing of news and other features to other papers across America and beyond.

As with traditional media in general, and print in particular, the state of the American newspaper industry is not good: We generally try to avoid time-dependent statements here on TV Tropes, such as the death of the newspaper (which is not the same thing as the death of journalism), but, sadly, it's difficult to imagine a future where that statement isn't true. The decline pretty much began in the mid-late 1990s, when the newspaper industry saw the "Information Superhighway" as being no bigger a threat than radio and television, which had been the bogeymen of newsmen during previous eras, purchasing web dominions as they had bought radio and TV stations several times in the past. But the rise of the Internet and the so-called democratization of information coincided with the public's tastes shifting into more personalized choices, which particularly went against the journalistic model of the American newspaper, based on an emphasis on middle-of-the-road objectivity ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools which was commercially effective]], in spite of right-leaning readers believing that most papers were unquestionably liberal while left-leaning readers thought they were too quiescent to corporate ownership) and street sales[[note]]Subscription charges for American newspapers make up a relatively small slice of revenue compared to their European counterparts[[/note]] as well as advertising.

On the first point, this model was was widely criticized by journalism experts and theorists for being too bland and over-reliant on "wire service regurgitation", especially as companies spent the 1990s downsizing newsrooms with the belief newspapers could rely on running mostly syndicated content. Ironically, this came at a time people became more opinionated and suspicious of traditional media, and thus, readership fell, although this was offset in the early 2000s with 9/11 and the early years of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. It didn't really help that the style-book of the industry had gone almost unchanged since the 1950s if not earlier, which made newspapers look rather prudish in a landscape now dominated by political pundits saying stuff you'd never read in an op-ed page as well as crowdfunded/non-profit journalism not worried about driving away advertisers.

More importantly though, several want ad sites sprung up, such as Cars.com for motor vehicles, Monster for employment offers and [=eBay=]/Craigslist for everything else, allowing sellers to publish free (rather than paying to have an ad reaching not more than 50 miles) and buyers to search what they want with a word-search (instead of patiently peeking through pages of ads). Considering that as much as a quarter of newspapers' revenues came from classified advertising, this became a catastrophe for the finances of many publications. But the actual crisis began between 2006 and 2009, as average circulation numbers began a free-fall that has continued to this day, and the worsening economy meant companies cut back on advertising money, particularly that aimed at newspapers considering the rapidly declining readership figures. That broadcast TV and radio audiences and ad rates were no longer surging also meant trouble for larger conglomerates.

By the time the Great Recession came into full swing in early 2008, most newsrooms had been slashing their staffs for over two years. And by the time the economy began to recover, Facebook and other social media sites rose into prominence, not only competing for the public's attention, but also taking an ever-increasing share of ad dollars the same way it happened with classified ads years earlier. Newspapers are desperately scrambling to find a workable 21st-century economic model, and some might yet succeed. However, there's little doubt that the halcyon days of the American newspaper are in the past.

* ''USA Today'' -- Famed for its colorful charts and graphs and their sports section's heavy emphasis on college and high school sports polling in association with Creator/{{ESPN}}, otherwise just a bland collection of wire reports, although it's also the only public outlet where the full weekly Nielsen UsefulNotes/{{Ratings}} chart is disseminated in any form. Has the highest circulation of any American newspaper, due to its publisher Gannett owning many local papers around the country (which print digested news sections of ''USA Today'' because of budget cuts which allow Gannett to have their local staffs focus on local news) and adding to its aggressive availability; one technique is to convince hotel chains to deliver one free to each room every day. That adds up to a ''lot'' of newspapers. It is also worth noting that, while it is frequently derided as lightweight journalism (it's sometimes called the "[=McPaper=]"), it has broken a few important stories in recent years. For its first 30 years it rarely editorialized about political issues (which added to its reputation as a "banal" outlet), although beginning in the 2010s it began taking a rather soft liberal slant (nonetheless, most of its editorials carry rebuttals, which have gotten positive attention), condemning the GOP for the 2013 federal shut-down and the 2015 immigration revolt in Congress among other issues. In 2016, it "un-endorsed" presidential candidate Donald Trump, a first for the newspaper.

* Some consider the ''Christian Science Monitor'' to be the third national paper in the United States. As it is published by the UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}-based First Church of Christ, Scientist, some may consider it a ''cult''-based newspaper like the ''Washington Times''. [[note]]This follows a standard rule most people use in thinking about religion, if it's small, it's intolerant regarding other people, and/or stifles their believers' freedoms, it's a cult.[[/note]] As it is run by a nonprofit, it cherishes its independence from the for-profit model and as such, its non-religion articles are generally well-written and the publication is widely admired in the journalism field. (Only one proselytizing article per day runs.) Went from a daily printing model to a hybrid weekly printing/online all week-model in 2009.

Most other papers are local, generally known as ''The [city name] [paper name]''. In practice, ''The UsefulNotes/{{New York|City}} Times'' and (to a lesser extent) the other Big Apple papers are readily available nationwide and other major papers are available throughout their regions of influence: the ''UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} Tribune'', the ''Omaha World-Herald'', and the ''[[UsefulNotes/TwinCities Minneapolis]] Star-Tribune'' in the Midwest, the ''UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Times'' on the West Coast, ''The UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} Times'' in the Pacific Northwest, the ''UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} Globe'' in New England, etc.

These two papers are widely considered to be the top of the journalistic profession in America, and you can expect any young reporter in fiction to dream of working at either one. In general, the ''Times'' does better in reporting international news, as well as arts and culture, while the ''Post'' is considered to be the go-to for political news. Both are often cited as being proof of the liberal bias of the press. The accuracy of this accusation is debated, and some observers disagree with it. The reporting of both is claimed by some to have a liberal (or at the very least, neoconservative) bias, but no one disputes that the editorial and op-ed pages do. On that front the ''Times'' has several columnists, such as Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd, who do tend to make conservatives' blood pressure rise.[[note]]What's often forgotten is that Dowd also caused ''liberal'' hypertension back in TheNineties thanks to her constant yammering about how UsefulNotes/{{Bill|Clinton}} was cheating on UsefulNotes/{{Hill|aryRodhamClinton}} and how she was too ambitious/weak-willed to do anything about it.[[/note]] On the other hand, they also boast right-of-center writers such as Ross Douthat, and the late William Safire, who in addition to his political column wrote a highly regarded column on the American English language for the Sunday edition for many years.[[note]]He occasionally dipped into other languages, as well; for instance, he thoroughly chastised the French Academy for adopting "Poutine" as the official French transcription of UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin's name; see EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas for details.[[/note]] Oh, and David Brooks. Both the ''Times'' and the ''Post'' (generally) try to play the role of the centrist voice of reason/Loyal Opposition in their editorial coverage (a role that the ''WSJ'' and ''USA today'' tend to fill sometimes as well), with the results that they irritate conservatives when a Republican president is in power and annoy liberals when a Democrat holds the White House. The ''NYT'' attracted [[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/us/politics/historians-critique-of-obama-foreign-policy-is-brought-alive-by-events-in-iraq.html international attention in 2014]] when one editorial openly criticized Obama's policies. The ''Post'' did get into a bit of a flap when several bloggers accused columnist Jennifer Rubin of being a Romney campaign mouthpiece in 2012, but this was understood to be an anomaly.

* ''New York Post'' -- Founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801, the ''Post'' has gone through a dizzying series of ownership and format changes, and holds the record for the oldest continually-published daily newspaper. While it had previously been known for having a liberal slant, since 1976 it's been owned by right-wing UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch, and is as sleazy and sensationalist as you can get while still technically remaining a newspaper. Brits, think a Noo Yawk-accented version of the ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Daily Mail]]'', or ''The Sun'' without the {{Page Three stunna}}s (though if the headline is saucy enough, they'll put the tits right into the story). The gossip section that Murdoch created after he took over, known simply as "Page Six" (though it [[ArtifactTitle hasn't been confined to that page]] for a long time), pretty much [[TropeMakers pioneered]] the modern style of celebrity reporting. Arch-rival to the ''Daily News'', a slightly less obscene NYC tabloid. (''Slightly.'') A great deal of overlap in readership with the ''Times'' (especially for their sports coverage), but most ''Times'' readers will not admit this. Mainly read as a sports paper, and for its infamously obnoxious headlines ("Headless Body Found in Topless Bar", which actually inspired the title of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headless_Body_in_Topless_Bar a film]]; "Masturbating Mugger Pulls Another One Off"), to the point where it has even published a book full of their most famous ones, though it's also known for less humorous front page images, such as when they ran a large photo of Music/JohnLennon at the morgue on its December 11, 1980 front page. Known to detractors as the "New York [=comPost=]". The paper is also [[NostalgiaFilter somewhat nostalgic for the days of Rudolph Giuliani]], [[TheBigRottenApple and even the days]] ''[[TheBigRottenApple before]]'' (now there are so many hipsters that business is quite hard for them). An UrbanLegend claims that Rupert Murdoch once asked the CEO of an upscale department store (apparently Bloomingdale's) why his company didn't advertise in the ''Post''. The CEO responded, [[http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jan/12/entertainment/ca-shaw12A "but Rupert, your readers are our shoplifters."]]
* ''New York Daily News'' -- The arch-rival to the ''Post'', founded in 1919. Notorious as the paper of people who ride the New York City Subway (who found the tabloid format easier to handle in the 1920s). Perhaps slightly less tabloid than the ''Post'', as well as a more liberal counterpart (pretty much an American version of the ''Daily Mirror'', though not as left-wing [[note]]They were briefly under common ownership in the early '90s, and until this day some ''Mirror'' and ''NYDN'' staffers swap papers. Also, there was a completely different New York paper that was actually called the ''Daily Mirror'', published by Hearst from 1924-63.[[/note]]), known for being as slavishly pro-Bloomberg as the ''Post'' is known for its pro-Giuliani stance ([[EnemyMine they both hate Mayor De Blasio]]). It is also noted for advocating gun control and migrant reform more than any other paper in the country. The paper is also famous for its gigantic, almost full-page headlines, which are usually humorous due to terseness or a pun, and more recently for its provocative and scathing front-page reports on tragedies, atrocities and controversial figures and statements. Despite being a regional paper, the ''Daily News'' has a surprisingly wide publishing range since New Yorkers can be found all over the country (they actually had a daily national edition in the 1990s). It was owned by the Tribune company until 1993 (except for a brief period in 1991 when it was owned by Robert Maxwell) when it was sold to property mogul... Mortimer Zuckerman, who in 2017 sold it back to Tribune Publishing for ''one dollar'', although Zuckerman continues as publisher.

* The ''Tampa Bay Times'' is a long-running paper previously known as the ''St. Petersburg Times'', owned by the Poynter Institute journalism school. Since its 2012 revamp, it's gained national prominence, wide admiration and a truckload of Pulitzer Prizes for a series of long-form, investigative pieces about the education system, politics and housing in Florida; it's also done a ''lot'' of stories about the ChurchOfHappyology's influence in the state, almost to the point of being one of the church's foremost enemies. A frontrunner for "Best Medium-Sized Newspaper in the Country," going back to its ''St. Petersburg Times'' days.

* The ''Times-Picayune'' is the newspaper for New Orleans. Most notable in the past few decades for its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, but also for the period between 2012 and 2014 when it moved from daily publication to thrice-weekly; That resulted in New Orleans becoming the largest city in the United States (and the first major metro area) without a daily newspaper[[note]]If you're wondering what city is now the largest without a daily, that would be Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whose ''Tribune-Review'' went online-only in 2016 and its rival ''Post-Gazette'' dropped to three daily issues in 2019.[[/note]], a very unpopular decision that was reversed soon thereafter: an "early Sunday" edition appeared on Saturday evenings while the other days of the week were covered by a tabloid edition, before reverting to a seven-day broadsheet in 2014. Also, Baton Rouge's ''The Advocate'' extended to NOLA in the meantime, making the "Big Easy" a two-paper town for the first time since 1980.

Further complicating matters, most newspapers (big and small) in the United States are owned by one of [[http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2004/newspapers-intro/ownership/ a couple of dozen newspaper companies]], such as Gannett, News Corp, [=McClatchy=], Gatehouse and [=MediaNews=].

* ''The National Enquirer'' -- The king of the trashy supermarket tabloids. Brits, think of ''The Sunday Sport'' without (much of) the porn. Founded as a Sunday evening paper in 1926 by an associate of Hearst, it espoused an arch-conservative editorial line, being quite sympathetic to the KKK and Nazism. And it became the first paper to break the news of the Pearl Harbor attack. Its owner from 1952 to 1988 allegedly had Mob ties, and thus refrained from discussing anything pertaining to their activities. Unlike most newspapers, it will pay sources for tips, a practice that is frowned upon by journalists. Generally read for entertainment value, as [[LuridTalesOfDoom little of what is inside can genuinely be classified as news]]; the main reason why it took so long for the mainstream media to catch onto the news of John Edwards' affair was because it was the ''Enquirer'' that broke the story, causing many to dismiss it out of hand (''New York'' Magazine was the only one that followed it up at the time). One of their exposes -- which proved to be false -- also managed to get themselves [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calder_v._Jones enshrined in the legal history of the United States]]. Bizarrely, its publisher's Boca Raton offices were one of the targets of a anthrax attack in 2001, which killed a photo editor.

That doesn't mean American reporters have ''carte blanche'' to do anything to report on a story. Depending on what has happened, if a reporter breaks a law covering a story, they sometimes will be prosecuted, especially if the incident is embarrassing. There was one case where a reporter showed how weak the Los Angeles County Welfare Department was in checking on the background of applicants that he was able to apply for -- and receive -- welfare checks. The district attorney originally threatened to prosecute the reporter (for welfare fraud), until he realized that it would give even more publicity to the story and make the county look worse. (Plus, since they hadn't actually cashed the checks, it's probably likely a jury would have seen through what it was: a reporter caught the welfare department "with its pants down" and the DA was trying to punish the reporter for catching them acting stupidly.)