Why Did Evening Newspapers Outsell Morning Papers?

David Senra, reading James McGrath Morris, says evening newspapers outsold morning ones within a few years because the telegraph and faster printing presses made it possible to publish an afternoon newspaper with news as fresh as that day. Morning papers looked as if they were publishing yesterday news, which they were. Gaslight and then electric light also made the newspaper an important evening pastime.

The breakup of Joseph Pulitzer's partnership was put down to an incompatibility of temper brought on by an excess of talent. People did not work with Pulitzer. They worked for him, and often against him. He had excessive confidence in his own judgment. He thought he knew a lot about the industry, maybe more about the industry than anybody else, and he made bets other people simply were not willing to make.

People treated an evening newspaper as a waste of time and said all the money was made in the morning. The flagging fortunes of the three evening papers discouraged other people from venturing into the business. Pulitzer was undeterred. He saw the business was going to change, made a big bet, and stayed convinced evening papers had a great future. He was right.