author
Joseph Medill Patterson
1879–1946
Born into one of America’s great newspaper families, this restless publisher helped reinvent popular journalism by launching the New York Daily News, the country’s first successful tabloid. His life mixed politics, war service, fiction writing, and a sharp instinct for what mass readers wanted.
1 Audiobook
Rebellion
by Joseph Medill Patterson
About the author
Joseph Medill Patterson was an American journalist, publisher, and novelist born in Chicago on January 6, 1879, and he died in New York City on May 26, 1946. A grandson of Chicago Tribune founder Joseph Medill, he grew up in a powerful newspaper family and later worked with his cousin Robert R. McCormick at the Chicago Tribune before striking out on his own.
Patterson is best remembered for founding the New York Daily News in 1919. The paper became the first widely successful tabloid in the United States, known for its brisk style, strong visuals, and broad popular appeal. He also wrote fiction, including the novel A Little Brother of the Rich, showing that his interests stretched beyond the newsroom.
His career reflected both privilege and experimentation: he served in the Illinois House of Representatives, reported on labor conditions, and served in World War I before building the paper that made his lasting reputation. By the time of his death, the Daily News had become one of the highest-circulation newspapers in the nation, securing his place in American media history.