What was the best way to spread information? Everything from news, gossip, and emergencies
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Another thing to put out here, newspapers were A LOT more prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries since that was the only means of disseminating news. Particularly in the 19th century when the mass printing became available. This was also a time that saw a mass rise in literacy among the general populous. So instead of what we see now where a city will have one or two newspapers, cities would have dozens. Big cities like London and New York at times would have over 100. The reason they could support this many papers is that was the only way for most people to receive news. With the telegraph, the news could also spread faster, so reporters could run their own stories based on what they heard from the source.
Just an example, the hunt for Jack the Ripper and who he was has resurfaced in modern times thanks to many of these papers defunct for 100 years being digitized and available online. Reporters from around the world converged on London to each provide their own unique takes on it, and slivers of information can be uncovered from random papers which each reported different things. For example, a random reporter from San Francisco might have had an interview he printed in a story on that no one else did. Another random reporter from Kansas City added in something else. Another from Prague, etc. The problem being of course there’s no way to test the veracity of these stories, so we don’t know if the reporter was honest, the witness was honest, etc.
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