Woodrow Wilson released the Zimmermann telegram to the press to mobilize the public against the Kaiser's Germany in 1917. Occasionally, the papers even decided elections before the votes were cast, as evidenced by the Chicago Tribune's famous Dewey Defeats Truman headline in 1948. Washington Post headline from the Watergate controversy. Toward the new millennium, newspapers remain a major source of news for a majority of Americans. Editors continue to endorse political candidates before Election Day.
Presidents continue to receive daily briefings on, and often read, the major newspapers.
Despite brutal competition from newer forms of mass media, the old-fashioned daily paper retains its influence. Inc. All rights reserved.