Joseph Gales

Local reporters in Washington, D.C., have long counted Congress among their news beats. Joseph Gales Jr. helped set the standards for such reporting, first as a journalist for the National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser (founded in 1800), the “first Paper printed in Washington,” and later as its publisher. The newspaper and its offshoots, the Daily National Intelligencer and the Weekly National Intelligencer, were the go-to sources for government proceedings and congressional debates. Gales was also a politician and served as the city’s mayor from 1827 to 1830.