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The first American newspaper, "Public Occurrences," was published in Boston by Benjamin Harris.
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The first American magazines, "American Magazine" and "General Magazine" appeared during the middle of the 18th century and were published by Andrew Bradford and Benjamin Franklin. Their magazines targeted an intelligent audience with political and economic interest.
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After the Penny Press was invented, the US saw a surge in Magazines, this time in an attempt to appeal to the general public and generally literate middle class. Magazines published during this time include "Godey's Lady's Book" and "Harper's Monthly."
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The Freedom Journal was the first African American owned and operated newspaper in the US.
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There were three primary factors that encouraged this boom:
1. More available money
2. Lowered prices
3. The Postal Act of 1879
These factors assisted in the publication of over 1,800 magazines by 1900 -
Jazz Journalism and the Great Depression increased the demand for newspapers and we saw an increase in newspaper circulation
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After WWI and WWII, magazines began to specialize. Publishers believed this was the only way to become profitable. This era gave rise to some of the most popular magazines even to this date, including Sports Illustrated, Essence, Golf Digest, and Playboy.
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At this time, Newspapers were becoming more expensive to print, however there was an increased in circulation.
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After a period of "death" for magazines, a recovering economy and the invention of apps for computers along with TV and the internet helped a struggling industry.
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Around the same time that magazines were "reborn," they looked to major tech companies like Apple to produce apps with the ability of subscription purchases. This was a significant win for the magazine industry in it's attempt to keep up with modernization in society.
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This is the time for transition into the digital era, where we see a large shift in the percentage of newspapers printed (decrease) vs. papers available online (increase). As of now, the NYT is ranked #2, and CNN is ranked #1 as sources for news on mobile devices
