NYPA History/Mission

The New York Press Association (NYPA) was founded September 8, 1853 to help publishers of small newspapers meet the needs of their communities more effectively by providing better information for their readers. The 32 publishers and editors from Western and Central New York who founded NYPA hoped that through joint discussion they could effectively set standards of commercial practice and financial management that would help their small newspapers prosper. They hoped that the fellowship engendered by personal acquaintance would minimize the misunderstandings that thrive in its absence.

In communities throughout the state, independently-owned publications continue to pass rich community newspaper traditions from one generation to the next. Community newspapers are vibrant, thriving, and historically ever-changing.

NYPA's database of New York newspapers currently includes 812 weekly newspapers and 59 daily newspapers, including 169 culturally-specific newspapers. New York's weekly newspaper circulation is 13.5M households. Daily circulation in New York is 6M, and New York's culturally-specific newspapers reach 4.2M households.

NYPA and the newspapers it represents are greeting technological advances with gusto, as community newspaper websites evolve and publishers harness new technologies to efficiently deliver the intensely local brand of community journalism that is their special strength.

Mindful that community newspapers are only as good as the staffs putting them together, NYPA works hard to provide financial support in the form of paid advertising placements, and focuses other resources to provide ongoing and varied staff training and education programs — in person and online. The NYPA Foundation focuses its energies on developing and partnering with college journalism programs.

For more than 150 years, NYPA has continued to build not only its own strength, but also that of the community newspapers it serves. NYPA's goal is to ensure that the future of New York's community newspaper industry maintains the significance and relevance that local readers have come to expect.