 By becoming non-partisan they expanded their base to include the opposition party and the fast-growing number of consumers who read the ads but were less and less interested in politics.There was less political news after 1900, apparently because citizens became more apathetic, and shared their partisan loyalties with the new professional sports teams that attracted growing audiences.Whitelaw Reid, the powerful long-time editor of the Republican "New York Tribune", emphasized the importance of partisan newspapers in 1879