''The Sun'' was a New York newspaper published from 1833 until 1950. It was considered a serious paper, like the city's two more successful
broadsheets, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and the ''
New York Herald Tribune''. The Sun was the first successful
penny daily newspaper in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and the first one to hire a Police
reporter. It was also, for a time, the most successful newspaper in America.
''The Sun'' is well-known for publishing the
Great Moon Hoax
The "Great Moon Hoax", also known as the "Great Moon Hoax of 1835", was a series of six articles published in '' The Sun'', a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Mo ...
of 1835, as well as
Francis Pharcellus Church
Francis Pharcellus Church (February 22, 1839 – April 11, 1906) was an American publisher and editor. Born in Rochester, New York, he graduated from Columbia University and embarked on a career in journalism. With his brother, William Cona ...
's 1897 editorial, containing the line "
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" is a line from an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church titled "Is There a Santa Claus?", which appeared in the New York newspaper '' The Sun'' on September 21, 1897, and became one of the most famous e ...
".
History
![Printing House Square, New York City](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Printing_House_Square%2C_New_York_City.png)
In New York, ''The Sun'' began publication on September 3, 1833, as a morning
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...
edited by
Benjamin Day (1810–1889), with the slogan "It Shines for All".
It cost only one penny (equivalent to ¢ in ), was easy to carry, and had illustrations and crime reporting popular with working-class readers. It inspired a new genre across the nation, known as the
penny press
Penny press newspapers were cheap, Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid-style newspapers mass-produced in the United States from the 1830s onwards. Mass production of inexpensive newspapers became possible following the shift from hand-crafted t ...
, which made the news more accessible to low-income readers at a time when most papers cost five cents to purchase.
[
]
''The Sun'' was the first newspaper to report crimes and personal events such as suicides, deaths, and divorces. Day printed the first newspaper account of a suicide. This story was significant because it was the first about an ordinary person. It changed journalism forever, making the newspaper an integral part of the community and the lives of the readers. Prior to this, all stories in newspapers were about politics or reviews of books or the theater. Day was the first to hire reporters to go out and collect stories. Prior to this, newspapers relied on readers sending in items, and on making unauthorized copies of stories from other newspapers. (This was in the days before the organization of syndicates like the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
(AP) and United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...
(UPI). ''The Sun''s focus on crime was the beginning of "the craft of reporting and storytelling". ''The Sun'' was the first newspaper to show that a newspaper could be substantially supported by advertisements rather than subscription fees, and could be sold on the street instead of delivered to each subscriber. Its primary audience was working people. Day and ''The Sun'' recognized that the masses were fast becoming literate, and demonstrated that a profit could be made selling to the larger numbers of them. Prior to ''The Sun'', printers produced the newspapers, often at a loss, making their living selling printing services.
An evening edition, known as ''The Evening Sun'', was introduced in 1887.
The newspaper magnate Frank Munsey bought both editions in 1916 and merged ''The Evening Sun'' with his ''New York Press
''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011.
The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hent ...
''. The morning edition of ''The Sun'' was merged for a time with Munsey's '' New York Herald'' as ''The Sun and New York Herald'', but in 1920, Munsey separated them again, killed ''The Evening Sun'', and switched ''The Sun'' to an evening publishing format.
In 1919, ''The Sun'' moved its offices to the A.T. Stewart
Alexander Turney Stewart (October 12, 1803 – April 10, 1876) was an American entrepreneur who moved to New York and made his multimillion-dollar fortune in the most extensive and lucrative dry goods store in the world.
Stewart was born in L ...
Company Building, site of America's first department store, at 280 Broadway
280 Broadway – also known as the A.T. Stewart Dry Goods Store, the Marble Palace, and the Sun Building – is a seven-story office building on Broadway, between Chambers and Reade Streets, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Lower Manhattan ...
between Reade and Chambers Streets. 280 Broadway was renamed "The Sun Building" in 1928. A clock featuring ''The Sun'' name and slogan was built at the corner with Broadway and Chambers Street.
Munsey died in 1925. He left the bulk of his estate, including ''The Sun'', to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
. The next year ''The Sun'' was sold to William Dewart, a longtime associate of Munsey's. Dewart's son Thomas later ran the paper. In the 1940s, the newspaper was considered among the most conservative in New York City, and was strongly opposed to the New Deal and labor unions. The Sun won a Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for an exposé of labor racketeering; it also published the early work of sportswriter W.C. Heinz.
It continued until January 4, 1950, when it merged with the ''New York World-Telegram
The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.
History
Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...
'' to form a new paper called the ''New York World-Telegram and Sun'' for 16 years; in 1966, this paper joined with the '' New York Herald Tribune'' to briefly become part of the ''World Journal Tribune
The ''New York World Journal Tribune'' (''WJT'', and hence the nickname ''The Widget'') was an evening daily newspaper published in New York City from September 1966 until May 1967. The ''World Journal Tribune'' represented an attempt to save th ...
'' preserving the names of three of the most historic city newspapers, which folded amid disagreements with the labor union the following year.
Milestones
''The Sun'' first gained notice for its central role in the Great Moon Hoax
The "Great Moon Hoax", also known as the "Great Moon Hoax of 1835", was a series of six articles published in '' The Sun'', a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Mo ...
of 1835, a fabricated story of life and civilization on the Moon which the paper falsely attributed to British astronomer John Herschel and never retracted. On April 13, 1844, ''The Sun'' published as factual a story by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
now known as "The Balloon-Hoax
"The Balloon-Hoax" is the title used in collections and anthologies of a newspaper article by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1844 in ''The Sun'' newspaper in New York. Originally presented as a true story, it detailed Europe ...
", retracted two days after publication. The story told of an imagined Atlantic crossing by hot-air balloon.
Today, the paper is best known for the 1897 editorial " Is There a Santa Claus?" (commonly referred to as "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus"), written by Francis Pharcellus Church
Francis Pharcellus Church (February 22, 1839 – April 11, 1906) was an American publisher and editor. Born in Rochester, New York, he graduated from Columbia University and embarked on a career in journalism. With his brother, William Cona ...
.
John B. Bogart, city editor of ''The Sun'' between 1873 and 1890, made what is perhaps the most frequently quoted definition of the journalistic
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
endeavor: " When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news." (The quotation is frequently attributed to Charles Dana, ''The Sun'' editor and part-owner between 1868 and his death in 1897.)
In 1926, ''The Sun'' published a review by John Grierson of Robert Flaherty's film '' Moana'', in which Grierson said the film had "documentary value". This is considered the origin of the term "documentary film".
The newspaper's editorial cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, received the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
The Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary is one of the fourteen Pulitzer Prizes that is annually awarded for journalism in the United States. It is the successor to the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning awarded from 1922 t ...
for his cartoon, " Peace Today". In 1949, ''The Sun'' won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting
The Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting is awarded to an example of "local reporting that illuminates significant issues or concerns." This Pulitzer Prize was first awarded in 1948. Like most Pulitzers the winner receives a $15,000 award.
History ...
for a groundbreaking series of articles by Malcolm Johnson, "Crime on the Waterfront". The series served as the basis for the 1954 movie '' On the Waterfront''.
''The Sun''s first female reporter was Emily Verdery Bettey, hired in 1868. Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd (January 31, 1868 – March 18, 1942) was an early 20th-century American author. She published at least 10 novels, mostly written for young women.
Childhood
Eleanor was born at Plum Grove Historic House in Iowa City, Iow ...
was hired as a reporter and fashion editor in the 1880s. Brainerd was one of the first women to become a professional editor, and perhaps the first full-time fashion editor in American newspaper history.
Legacy
The film '' Deadline – U.S.A.'' (1952) is a story about the death of a New York newspaper called ''The Day'', loosely based upon the old New York ''Sun'', which closed in 1950. The original ''Sun'' newspaper was edited by Benjamin Day, making the film's newspaper name a play on words (not to be confused with the real-life New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...
, newspaper of the same name).
The masthead of the original ''Sun'' is visible in a montage of newspaper clippings in a scene of the 1972 film ''The Godfather
''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...
''. The newspaper's offices were a converted department store at 280 Broadway, between Chambers and Reade streets in lower Manhattan, now known as " The Sun Building" and famous for the clocks that bear the newspaper's masthead and motto. They were recognized as a New York City landmark in 1986.
In the 1994 movie '' The Paper'', a fictional tabloid newspaper based in New York City bore the same name and motto of ''The Sun'', with a slightly different masthead.
In 2002, a new broadsheet was launched, styled ''The New York Sun
''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New Yor ...
'', and bearing the old newspaper's masthead and motto. It was intended as a "conservative alternative" and local-news focused alternative to the more liberal/progressive ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and other New York newspapers. It was published by Ronald Weintraub and edited by Seth Lipsky, and ceased publication on September 30, 2008. In 2022, it was revived as an online newspaper, under the ownership of Dovid Efune, while Lipsky remained editor.
Journalists at ''The Sun''
* Moses Yale Beach
Moses Yale Beach (January 7, 1800 – July 18, 1868) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and publisher, who started the Associated Press, and is credited with originating print syndication. His fortune, as of 1846, amounted to ...
, an early owner of ''The Sun''
* Charles Anderson Dana
Charles Anderson Dana (August 8, 1819 – October 17, 1897) was an American journalist, author, and senior government official. He was a top aide to Horace Greeley as the managing editor of the powerful Republican newspaper '' New-York Tribun ...
, editor and part-owner of the Sun
* John A. Arneaux, reporter in 1884
* Paul Dana
Paul Dana (; April 15, 1975 – March 26, 2006) was an American racing driver in the IndyCar Series.
Early life
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Dana graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Before becoming a race ...
, editor, 1880–1897
* W. C. Heinz, war correspondent, sportswriter 1937–1950
* Bruno Lessing, reporter, 1888–1894
* Chester Sanders Lord, journalist and managing editor,[''The Young Man and Journalism'', McGraw Hill, 1922.] 1873-1913
* Kenneth M. Swezey
Kenneth Malcolm Swezey (1904-1972) was an American journalist. He was a science writer living and working in New York City.
Biography
Kenneth Swezey was born in Brooklyn on 11 June 1904. His mother, Carrie, was 42 at the time and his father, Ed ...
, radio/technology reporter, 1930s
* John Swinton, chief editorialist, 1875–1883 and 1892–1897
See also
* List of defunct American periodicals
This is a list of American magazines that are no longer published.
0–9
* ''02138'' (2006–2008)
* ''1984'' (1978–1983)
* '' 3-2-1 Contact'', Sesame Workshop (1979–2001)
* '' '47'' (1947–1948)
* ''7ball'' (1995–2004)
* ''8 ...
References
Further reading
* Lancaster, Paul. ''Gentleman of the Press: The Life and Times of an Early Reporter, Julian Ralph of the Sun.'' Syracuse University Press; 1992.
* O'Brien, Frank Michael.
The Story of The Sun: New York, 1833–1918
' (1918)
page images and OCR
* Steele, Janet E. ''The Sun Shines for All: Journalism and Ideology in the Life of Charles A. Dana'' (Syracuse University Press, 1993)
* Stone, Candace. ''Dana and the Sun'' (Dodd, Mead, 1938)
* Tucher, Andie, ''Froth and Scum: Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and the Ax Murder in America's First Mass Medium'''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
External links
''The Sun'' digitized
at Chronicling America, Library of Congress (1859 to 1916, incomplete)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, The
1833 establishments in New York (state)
1950 disestablishments in New York (state)
American penny papers
Defunct newspapers published in New York City
Publications disestablished in 1950
Publications established in 1833
Daily newspapers published in New York City