Photojournalism started as early as the nineteenth century.  Which was a way to document the battles in the wars.  Roger Fenton and Carol Szathmari were two photographers who documented the crimean war .  Mathew Brady captured multiple pictures of the American civil war which was first of many published in Harpers weekly 

By the lat 1930s publications like life magazine in the United states regularly published photo essays as an alternative way to tell narratives.  Events such as the great depression, world war ii and the Vietnam war led to the "golden age of photojournalism"

Today, photojournalism is present in weekly, daily and monthly publications. Along with publications dedicated directly to photo journalism such as Magnum photos, and word press photo.

Now at the present photojournalism is distributed out so much easier with papers using social media outlets to get them out much faster.

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-photojournalism#2kI2L7Fqwhw5ytbSjkw38t