Retired University of Kentucky journalism professor Al Cross shared these significant milestones in newspaper history.
A standard of fairness and reliability for newspapers arose after the invention of the telegraph in 1844 and the creation of the Associated Press (originally the Western Associated Press) in 1846. According to an article published by AP in September 2026, five newspaper publishers in New York City agreed to pool resources in order to speed the delivery of news about the U.S. war with Mexico using a pony-express relay through Alabama to a telegraph office. The AP claims some 4 billion people, nearly half of the world’s population, see news produced by the company on a typical day.
The newspaper industry created The American Society of Newspaper Editors Code of Ethics in 1922, which was largely adopted by the Society of Professional Journalists in 1926. “And that basic code has remained the standard,” Cross says, while being revised and modernized over the last 100 years.
Widespread change also occurred among newspapers after World War II because there was so much negative reaction to President Woodrow Wilson administration’s control of information during the war, according to Cross.