 Porter edited the Constellation , a newspaper in New York City that published humorous stories . Porter became interested in sports , and concentrated on the emerging sports journalism field . In December 1831 , Porter published the first issue of a new newspaper devoted to covering sports and other recreational activities , which he called The Spirit of the Times . Porter imitated Bell 's Life in London , a contemporary English publication covering the same subjects . The first attempt at Spirit of the Times failed quickly , and Porter sold the magazine to C. J. B. Fisher , who merged it into Fisher 's publication of the Traveller , and the Spirit was combined with the Traveller as the Traveller and Spirit of the Times . During the brief period that Porter operated the Spirit , he employed Horace Greeley as a typesetter . When Porter sold the Spirit , he then went to work at the New @-@ Yorker , which was edited at the time by Horace Greeley . In January 1835 Porter purchased the Traveller and Spirit of the Times and renamed the newspaper back to Spirit of the Times , returning to editing it . This version of the Spirit managed to survive , although with some initial financial difficulties . Porter focused on selling his paper in the south and west of the United States , and emphasized subjects of use to his readers , such as cattle breeding , farm methods , books of interest , as well as sports . The newspaper was published weekly . 
