Today, many subscribers are giving up their daily newspapers for the more convenient online news subscriptions. The earliest print newspapers date back to the 17th century after the invention of the printing press.

It was on this day, December 4th, in 1881 that the Los Angeles Times was published for the first time. At the time, the paper was called the Los Angeles Daily Times.

Nathan Cole Jr. and Thomas Gardiner supervised the first publication. Unfortunately, they had to turn the paper over to their printing press, the Mirror printing plant, when they could not afford to pay off the printing bill. Now, the paper is recognized as the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the United States.