Whimsical research can lead to interesting materials. First the quote:

In the years following the American Revolution, newspapers had stagnated; they
tended to be party papers, propaganda machines for the two dominant political parties, or
financial papers which reported on the marketplace. It was not until the 1830s that America
witnessed the rise of the Penny Press, a series of cheap daily papers that revolutionized and
revitalized American newspapers in Jacksonian America. Yet two years after the first penny
daily came the Moon Hoax of 1835, the most successful and sustained hoax in the history of
American journalism. Chapter Two looks at the Moon Hoax, a series of articles that appeared
in the New York Sun at the end of August, 1835. This hoax demonstrated, beyond doubt, that
sensational, fabricated stories could radically expand a newspaper’s sales and circulations.
The articles realistically mimicked early nineteenth century astronomical discourses, and
convinced readers, editors, and even some scholars, that the moon was inhabited by
fantastical living creatures, including a civilization of bat-like hominids. When the story was
exposed as a hoax, there was little public outrage; in fact, many readers and editors alike
commended the Sun for its ingeniousness and creativity.

And here is the link:

It seems to be a very interesting thesis on hoaxes in the American press. Be careful, an enormous PDF.