Before Fake News, before Yellow Journalism, there was Benjamin Day, who ran a newspaper called The Sun. The Sun was started on September 3rd, 1833 with a revolutionary new business model: "Resell the attention of the audience otherwise known as advertising" (Timothy Wu, The Attention Merchants). Before The Sun, newspapers were a form of media, only for the elite. The stories typically focused on three areas: politics, business, and reviews (books and plays). This changed with Benjamin Day who focused on creating stories about real people, but with a twist. Here's how The Sun forever changed the media industry.

The Penny Press, a newspaper that sold for one cent. The typical newspaper in 1833 cost six cents. The everyday man couldn't afford this. Benjamin Day decided to sell his newspaper for one cent; this wasn't a new idea, but it had never succeeded at scale. The Transcript in Boston attempted this but failed. In Britain, The Penny Magazine achieved initial success with gaining circulation of over 200,000 readers, but never earned a profit. However, this seemed to work for The Sun. The paper achieved sustainable success by making a combination of innovative selling techniques and changing demographics.

Changing the way people bought newspapers. Before The Sun, newspapers were delivered to homes on a subscription basis by newspaper publishers or via mail. Benjamin Day, though, popularized the concept of the newspaper hawker. The newspaper hawker would buy The Sun wholesale. They would then sell it on the street or to people who wanted a subscription. Hawkers were typically children and would yell outlandish statements to gain the attention of prospective buyers (the phrase, "extra, extra read all about it" stems from this trend). Great sales require a great product. The Sun learned that early on in its development.

"It shines for all", the slogan of The Sun. The goal was to be the newspaper for the layperson. Benjamin Day was going to make that happen. The middle-class literacy rates were increasing and people wanted news. He wanted to create stories focused on real people. His first hire was George Wisner, the first ever newspaper reporter. His job was to go down to the police court eve...

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