I was discussing historical journalism with someone and the need to take historical newspapers with a grain of salt as the standards were different back then.

While the goal of journalism was selling the most papers and bring news of current events, once upon a time, the emphasis was on selling papers for quite a while. Most famously was the war between Hearst and Pulitzer (ironically the latter left money in his will for a yearly award granted to excellence in journalism and the arts). Hearst famously said “You furnish me the pictures and I’ll furnish the war” and he was right.

So when did the gold standard of journalism begin and how did it start?