A 

newspaper hawker, newsboy or newsie is a street

vendor of newspapers without a fixed newsstand. Related jobs
included paperboy, delivering newspapers to subscribers, and
news butcher, selling papers on trains. Adults who sold
newspapers from fixed newsstands were called newsdealers, and
are not covered here. The hawkers sold only one newspaper,
which usually appeared in several editions a day. A busy corner
would have several hawkers, each representing one of the major
newspapers. They might carry a poster board with giant
headlines, provided by the newspaper. The downtown newsboy
started fading out after 1920 when publishers began to
emphasize home delivery. Teenage newsboys delivered papers
on a daily basis for subscribers who paid them monthly. Hawkers
typically purchased a bundle of 100 copies from a wholesaler,
who in turn purchased them from the publisher. Legally every
state considered the newsboys to be independent contractors,
and not employees, so they generally were not subject to child
labor laws.

In the United States they became an iconic image of youthful

entrepreneurship. Famous Americans that had worked as
newsboys included Bruce Barton, Ralph Bunche, Joe
DiMaggio, Thomas Edison, Dwight Eisenhower, Sam
Rayburn, Walter Reuther, David Sarnoff, Cardinal
Spellman, Harry Truman and Mark Twain.[2]

United States[

To the UNEMPLOYED—A number of steady men can find employment by

vending this paper. A liberal discount is allowed to those who buy and sell
again.

— Benjamin Day, 1833[3]

Benjamin Franklin is sometimes called the "first American newsboy", as he

helped deliver his brother's New England Courant in 1721. But the real
beginning of the trade of newsboy comes in 1833, when the New York
Sun started hiring vendors in New York City. At the time, newspapers were
generally either picked up at the newspaper's office, sent by mail, or
delivered by printers' apprentices or other employees.[3] The Sun, by
contrast, was not sold in stores or by subscription.[4] Its publisher, Benjamin
Day, recruited unemployed people using help-wanted notices to vend his
newspaper. Instead of the adults he expected, his ad drew children: the
first was the 10-year-old Irish immigrant Bernard Flaherty, who turned out
to be a talented hawker—later a stage comedian—who would cry out the
day's most sensational headlines: "Double Distilled Villainy"; "Cursed
Effects of Drunkenness!"; "Awful Occurrence!"; "Infamous Affair!".[5] These
newsboys could either hawk to passersby on the street or
establish subscription routes; many did both.[3]
A newsgirl and boy selling papers outside saloon entrances in New York,
1910; girls were very rare.

Newsboys' were not employees of the newspapers but rather purchased

the papers from wholesalers in packets of 100 and peddled them as
independent agents. Unsold papers could not be returned. The newsboys
typically earned around 30 cents a day[6] (equivalent to $10 in 2021) and
often worked until late at night.[7] Cries of "Extra, extra!" were often heard
into the morning hours as newsboys attempted to hawk every last paper.[8]

Great Depression[edit]

The local delivery boy pulling a wagon or riding a bicycle while tossing the
morning or evening paper onto the front porch was a product of the 1930s.
Newspapers lost circulation and advertising as the economy went down,
and needed to boost revenues and cut expenses. Starting in 1930, the
International Circulation Managers' Association launched a national
operation to show local newspaper managers how to boost home
newspaper readership. They designed a prepackaged curriculum in door-
to-door subscription marketing that taught newsboys new skills in
scheduling time, handling money, keeping accounts, and—especially—
presenting a winning salesman persona. This movement created the
middle-class newspaper boy and permanently altered the relationship
between teenage years and entrepreneurial enterprise.[9] Circulation
managers solved their problem: The teenage boys. They were still
independent contractors rather than employees, but the circulation
manager designed the routes and taught the boys how to collect and
account for the subscription money. To inspire the young entrepreneurs,
they created a distinctive gendered managerial philosophy of masculine
guidance. It inspired the boys' entrepreneurship and stabilized their work
habits while providing extra money for tight family budgets.[10]

Critics and reformers

Newsboys were often seen as victims of poverty and delinquents in the

making. In 1875 a popular writer found them a nuisance:

There are 10,000 children living on the streets of New York....The

newsboys constitute an important division of this army of homeless
children. You see them everywhere.... They rend the air and deafen
you with their shrill cries. They surround you on the sidewalk and
almost force you to buy their papers. They are ragged and dirty.
Some have no coats, no shoes, and no hat.[6]

In St. Louis, Missouri, in the first half of the 20th century, reformers and
child savers saw the newsboys as potential victims of the dangers and
temptations of the urban environment. They secured a law in 1903
which created the state's first juvenile courts with the ability to hear
criminal cases involving minors.[11]
In Cincinnati in 1919, charity workers found that a tenth of the teenage
boys were news hawkers, and they earned only 20 cents a day
(equivalent to $3 in 2021). They were twice as likely to be delinquents,
they gambled a great deal amongst themselves, and were often
attacked by thugs from other newspapers. The recommendation was to
replace newsboys under the age of 16 with crippled war veterans.[12]

The paintings of London artist Augustus Edwin Mulready (1844-1904)

told his audience that when they see a newsboy hawking papers they
should see him as a symptom of poverty and urban malaise.[13]

News butcher

"News butchers" worked on passenger railroads selling newspapers,

candy, and cigars to the passengers. Thomas Edison was a news
butcher in his youth, but he lost that job after he set a car on fire due
to white phosphorus igniting in a chemistry set he had onboard.[14]: 
22 
 Walt Disney worked as news butcher on the Missouri Pacific
 Railway as a teenager, and his memories of that experience influenced
his design of the Disneyland Railroad. [15]: 35–40, 222 

Ireland

Stephanie Rains examines the newsboy as a characteristic presence on

Irish streets in the early twentieth century and also necessary last link in
the chain of media production and distribution. He was little touched by
mechanization—the newspaper vending box came later. Publishers
depended on boys as young as eleven years old to sell copies,
especially in downtown areas. Newsboys were very visible and audible
figures on Irish city streets and were themselves the subject of frequent
newspaper stories which typically represented them as exemplars of the
urban working classes for middle-class readers.[16]

23.12.2021

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday

announced a financial aid of Rs 6,000 for every newspaper
hawker to help them tide over the COVID-19 crisis.

The Chief Minister also said that they would be given financial
cover for accidents. In case of death due to accident, the
government will pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the family.

Principal Secretary Information & Public Relations Bishnupada

Sethi coordinated the entire ceremony.

Hawkers will be entitled to anything between Rs 40,000 to Rs

80,000 if left incapacitated. Also, families of newspaper hawkers,
who die of natural causes, would be given Rs 1 lakh as
compensation, the CM stated.

According to an official release issued by the CMO, Odisha is the

“first state in the country to offer COVID-19 assistance for
newspaper hawkers”.

As many as 7,300 newspaper hawkers, who have been registered

under the state’s Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Board, will
get the benefits, officials said. The state will incur an expenditure
of Rs 4.38 crore for the purpose, they said.

Mr.Patnaik, after making the announcement, said the hawkers

have undertaken risks amid the pandemic to deliver newspapers
and their hard work should be acknowledged and appreciated.

He further said that a database of the eligible hawkers was being

prepared by the Information and Public Relations Department,
and each beneficiary will soon be provided with an identity card.

Information & Public Relation Minister Raghunandan Das hailed

the initiative of the Chief Minister and said that this will
immensely help the hawkers. Media Advisor Manas Mangaraj said
the initiative is unique and pioneering in the country.

The Chief Minister also interacted with some hawkers described

their plight during the pandemic and hailed the initiative.