Trace the turbulent history of newspapers in New York

It is impossible to tell the story of New York City without telling the story of its newspapers, which have been chronicling and shaping the rise of Gotham almost from the city’s founding. In fact, the first newspaper in the city begins publishing in 1725, 60 years after New York became a British Colony, and 64 years before the First Amendment guaranteed the right to a free press.

Together, the city grew together with the people and institutions who would document its emergence. New Yorkers have always had an insatiable thirst for news and information, and the newspaper industry rose to quench that thirst with coverage that continued to evolve with the city, not just chronicling the Big Apple, but reflecting it as it changed politically, demographically, socially and economically. Along the way, the newspapers and the people who worked on them became synonymous with the city, achieving fame and fortune.

Book the NYC Newspaper WALKING TOUR now!

This tour will be led by licensed New York City tour guide Michael Morgenthal, a former reporter and editor who has been fascinated by the New York Newspaper scene from the time of his first job, assembling the Sunday New York Times in his uncle’s store — he often says the ink seeped into his blood and never left! We will see New York through the eyes of the legendary reporters, editors and publishers who shaped New York and the United States through their words, cartoons and photographs.

Tour Highlights

On the walking tour, get ready to see…

• 2 former offices of the New York Post
• The original office of the Daily News
• The former headquarters of the New York Times, now a part of Pace University
• The former headquarters of the New York Sun, originally built as one of the most magnificent department stores in New York
• Newspaper Row, where a myriad of newspapers once called home, including The Times, the World, the Sun and the Tribune
• The listing on the 9-11 Memorial of the name of the only journalist killed in the 9-11 attacks
• The former site of Globe Square, which like Herald Square and Times Square was named for a newspaper
• The former site of the New York World Telegram

Get ready to learn about…

• The famous libel trial of early NYC newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger, which served as a precursor to the establishment of the Freedom of the Press decades later in the Bill of Rights.
• Alexander Hamilton, the New York Post, and the overt politics and “Fake News” of post-Revolution New York City’s newspapers
• The newspaper was between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal, which ushered in the age of mass media thanks to “Yellow Journalism.”
• How architecture cemented the permanence of the media with a special focus on the many gorgeous buildings in and around Newspaper Row in downtown Manhattan — most of which no longer exist.
• The New York Sun, the “Penny Press” and the emergence of the modern newspaper
• The New York Times’ rise from a second-rate rag to the preeminent newspaper in the United States.
• Legendary newspaper figures such as William Cullen Bryant, Horace Greeley, Benjamin Day, the Bennetts, Dorothy Schiff, Nellie Bly, Jimmy Breslin, Norman Mailer and Pete Hamill.
• The stories behind some of the most famous newspaper articles in New York’s history, such as “Ford to City: Drop Dead” and “Headless Body in Topless Bar.”
• The decline of the daily newspaper in New York City.

A review on TripAdvisor for Bowery Boys Walks:

“Mike, a former journalist and freelance writer, took us on an EXCELLENT walk through lower Manhattan as we learned about the history of newspapers in NY… He brought the topic to life with fascinating anecdotes and we learned so much. He is an absolutely amazing tour guide — as are all of those who Greg and Tom have doing their walking tours. We are NEVER disappointed!”

Duration

Walking Tour: 2.5 hours (we will send you the meeting place after you book)
Virtual Tour: 90 minutes with Q&A (we will send a Zoom link after you sign up)

Rates

Person – Walking Tour: $40.00
(Best suited for ages 16+) 

Book the NYC Newspaper WALKING TOUR now!

Private Tours available!
Book a private walking tour or a live online experience that makes a fun socially distanced event for your family, organization, or group of friends.
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Your Guide

Tour guide Mike Morgenthal

Looking to study up before the tour?

Prep for our New York Newspaper Tour by listening to the podcast episodes “Gilded Age Newspapers: All That Was (Mostly) Fit to Print” on The Gilded Gentleman History Podcast and “The War on Newspaper Row: Pulitzer, Hearst, and the sinking of the USS Maine” on the Bowery Boys