Abstract
The earliest years of the N.Y. Sun found the newspaper publishing more than entertaining police court news. Benjamin Day and police reporter George Wisner—soon a half owner of the Sun—opposed slavery, with Wisner favoring an immediate and Day a gradual end. Both used columns and stories to support their positions, sometimes at variance with each other. Their coverage may have touched off a 1834 pro-slavery riot in New York. The dilemma is: News may have an effect different from that intended.
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