News Gothic is a sans-serif typeface that was created in 1908 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders (ATF), in which he was the head designer there for several years. Benton is a renowned typographer who has also designed Bold Antique, Franklin Gothic, and Monotone Gothic. He originally drew two different weights, one being a medium weight, which is what News Gothic is, and the lighter weight titled Lightline Gothic. In 1958, two bold weights were added to the family. News Gothic follows a neo-grotesque model, in which certain letters, such as “a” and “g,” are two-story lettercases. Overall, the characters are considered to be somewhat “compact” and “shallow” for this time period. This typeface varies from other realist sans-serifs because there are subtle changes in stroke width, harkening back to Humanism. As the name implies, News Gothic was primarily used for newspapers and magazines throughout the 20th Century.
(Source: http://typedia.com/explore/typeface/news-gothic/)