"A newspaper should [do] more than . . . printing every day first-rate news and first-rate editorials. It should have hobbies, undertake reforms, lead crusades, and thereby establish a name for individuality and active public service."
Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911)
Benefactor
The publishing magnate Joseph Pulitzer was largely responsible for the creation of the modern American newspaper. In the last decades of the nineteenth century Pulitzer's New York World combined innovations such as extensive photography and dedicated sportswriters with the sensational stories that attracted a large readership. (Crime and disaster always found a place in the World's pages, and in 1889 the newspaper sent reporter Nellie Bly around its namesake—in 72 days.) He wanted the reporting to be factual as well as lively, and his heart was always with the common man: Pulitzer's investigative reporters rooted out corruption in government even as his editorial pages crusaded against the business trusts, sympathized with the poor, and urged widespread participation in the American democratic process.
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