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The UK is small enough and with good railways so newspapers in the 19th century were (I think) printed in London and distributed by rail.

How did that work in the USA, before fast electronic communications? Or was it not possible to read the New York Times in, say, Texas?

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There’s actually a really interesting historical relationship between the U.S. postal service and newspapers in the early republic; basically, newspapers could be mailed at a rate far lower than then-expensive personal and business correspondence.

Check out David M. Henkin’s Postal Age [0] if you’re interested in learning more.

[0] https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo41...

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