It was billed “The Fight of the Century” before a single punch was thrown: Jack Johnson versus Jim Jeffries, black versus white for the 1910 heavyweight championship. In Reno, Nevada, thousands gathered to watch Johnson defend his title, while in Manhattan tens of thousands more gathered outside the New York Times building for the next best thing to a ringside seat—a blow-by-blow account that flashed on an electronic board. Election nights and other big news events drew similar crowds to the paper’s Times Square home, which used spotlights to signal ballot results.

By 1952, the rise of television had snapped this physical connection between the newspaper’s home and its public. That year’s election-night crowd was “the least demonstrative” on record, “without voice, without the traditional horns and bells, and utterly without enthusiasm,” the Times reported the next day.

The Internet’s ascent over the last decade has eroded another physical bond between people and newspapers: an increasing number of readers no longer hold print and pulp in their hands. Last year, according to a Pew survey, was the first in which more people got their news online for free than from a paid-for print publication.

Complete access to this article will soon be available for purchase. Subscribers will be able to access this article, and the rest of CJR’s magazine archive, for free. Select articles from the last 6 months will remain free for all visitors to CJR.org.