New York Sun (historical)
Encyclopedia
The Sun was a New York newspaper that was 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 New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

and the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...

. The Sun was the most politically conservative of the three.

History

In New York, The Sun began publication September 3, 1833, as a morning newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 edited by Benjamin Day with the slogan "It Shines for All". An evening edition was introduced in 1887. Frank Munsey
Frank Munsey
Frank Andrew Munsey was an American newspaper and magazine publisher and author. He was born in Mercer, Maine but spent most of his life in New York City...

 bought both editions in 1916 and merged the Evening Sun with his New York Press
New York Press (historical)
The New York Press was a New York City newspaper that began publication in December, 1887 and continued publication until July 2, 1916, then being merged with Frank Munsey's New York Herald...

. The morning edition of The Sun was merged for a time with Munsey's New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...

as The Sun and New York Herald, but in 1920 Munsey separated them again, killed The Evening Sun and moved The Sun to an evening format. This paper continued until January 4, 1950, when it merged with the New York World-Telegram
New York World-Telegram
The New York World-Telegram, later known as the New York World-Telegram and Sun, was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.-History:...

to form a new paper called the New York World-Telegram and Sun; in 1966, this paper became part of the New York World Journal Tribune
New York World Journal Tribune
The New York World Journal Tribune, also known as the World-Journal-Tribune, was a newspaper published in New York City from September 1966 until May 1967...

, which folded the following year.

Milestones

The Sun first became famous for its central role in the Great Moon Hoax
Great Moon Hoax
"The Great Moon Hoax" refers to a series of six articles that were published in the New York Sun beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon...

 of 1835. On April 13, 1844, The Sun published "The Balloon-Hoax
The Balloon-Hoax
"The Balloon-Hoax" is the title used in collections and anthologies of a newspaper article written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1844. Originally presented as a true story, it detailed European Monck Mason's trip across the Atlantic Ocean in only three days in a gas balloon...

" by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

, a hoax about an alleged Atlantic crossing by balloon.

Today the paper is best known for the 1897 editorial "Is There a Santa Claus?
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
Is There a Santa Claus? was the title of an editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897, edition of The New York Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States and...

" (commonly referred to as "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus"), written by Francis Pharcellus Church
Francis Pharcellus Church
Francis Pharcellus Church was an American publisher and editor. He was a member of the Century Association.-Biography:...

.

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
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 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.
Man bites dog (journalism)
The phrase man bites dog is a shortened version of an aphorism in journalism which describes how an unusual, infrequent event is more likely to be reported as news than an ordinary, everyday occurrence with similar consequences, such as a dog biting a person...

" (The quotation is frequently attributed to Charles Dana
Charles Anderson Dana
Charles Anderson Dana was an American journalist, author, and government official, best known for his association with Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War and his aggressive political advocacy after the war....

, Sun editor and part-owner between 1868 and 1897.)

In 1947–48, the Sun featured a groundbreaking series of articles by Malcolm Johnson, "Crime on the Waterfront," that won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 in 1949. The series served as the basis for the 1954 movie On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...

.

The Sun's first female reporter was Emily Verdery Bettey, hired in 1868. Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd
Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd was an American author of the early 20th century. She published at least 10 novels, mostly written for young women.- Childhood :...

 was hired as a reporter and fashion editor in the 1880s; she was one of the first women to become professional editors, and perhaps the first full-time fashion editor, in American newspaper history.

Legacy

The masthead
Masthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...

 of the original Sun is visible in a montage of newspaper clippings in a scene of the 1972 film The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

. The newspaper's offices, 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 was recognized as a NYC landmark in 1986.

In 2002 a new broadsheet styled The New York Sun and bearing the old newspaper's masthead and motto was launched as a "conservative alternative" and local-news focused alternative to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

and other New York newspapers. It ceased publication on September 30, 2008.

See also

  • Paul Dana (journalist)
    Paul Dana (journalist)
    Paul Dana was an American journalist, the son of Charles Anderson Dana, born in New York City and educated at Harvard and Columbia universities. He joined the staff of the New York Sun in 1880 and in 1897 succeeded his father as editor. He retired in 1903...

    , editor 1880 to 1897.
  • List of defunct American periodicals
  • Moses Yale Beach
    Moses Yale Beach
    Moses Yale Beach was an American inventor and publisher who started the Associated Press.-Biography:He was born in Wallingford, Connecticut. His father was a plain farmer, and gave him an ordinary education. He early showed a mechanical aptitude, and at 14 was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker...

    , an early owner of The Sun.
  • Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
    Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
    Is There a Santa Claus? was the title of an editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897, edition of The New York Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States and...

    Famous Article from The Sun.

Further reading

  • Gentleman of the Press: The Life and Times of an Early Reporter, Julian Ralph of the Sun. Lancaster , Paul. Syracuse University Press; 1992.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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