100 Years ago....
Pioneer of popular newspapers dies
Aug 15, 1922
Lord Northcliffe, who died yesterday at the age of 57, was the pioneer of popular newspapers. He founded the Daily Mail in 1896 on the one-murder-a-day formula.
Most stories were less than 250 words, and had to fit his idea of news. "King Alfonso is always smiling. The smile is not news. "If you get a picture of Alfonso weeping, that would be new," he said.
Altogether his newspapers reach one in six homes in Britain. He rescued The Times in 1908 and stamped it with his own image. "Most of the ordinary man's prejudices are my prejudices and are therefore the prejudices of my newspapers," he claimed. But Times readers were not so ordinary and many did not like it.
Article from "Chronicle of the 20th Century" ISBN 1 872031 80 3