Park's concern for social issues, especially issues related to race in cities, led him to become a journalist. Franklin Ford and Park made plans for a newspaper, "Thought News", which would report public opinion. Although it was never published, Park still pursued a career as a journalist. From 1887 to 1898, Park worked as a journalist in Detroit, Denver, New York City, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Park's experience as a reporter led him to study the social function of the newspaper, "not as an organ of opinion, but as a record of current events". As a reporter Park learned a great deal about urban communities, which inspired his later sociological endeavors in race relations.