Daily News (New York)

The New York Daily News is an American newspaper based in New York City. It is the fourth-most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States. It was founded in 1919, and was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. , it is owned and run by Mortimer Zuckerman, and is headquartered at 4 New York Plaza in Lower Manhattan.

History
The Daily News was founded by Joseph Medill Patterson in 1919. It was not connected to an earlier New York Daily News, which had been founded in the 1850s, flourished under the stewardship of Benjamin Wood, and faltered after his death in 1900, going through three owners (including his widow) before suspending publication in mid-December 1906. Patterson and his cousin, Robert R. McCormick were co-publishers of the Chicago Tribune and grandsons of Tribune founder Joseph Medill.

When Patterson and McCormick could not agree on the editorial content of the Chicago paper, the two cousins decided at a meeting in Paris that Patterson set on the project of launching a Tribune-owned newspaper in New York. On his way back, Patterson met with Alfred Harmsworth, who was the Viscount Northcliffe and publisher of the Daily Mirror, London's tabloid newspaper. Impressed with the advantages of a tabloid, Patterson launched the Daily News on June 26, 1919. The cover price was two cents (equivalent to ¢ in 2024).

The Daily News was not an immediate success, and by August 1919, the paper's circulation had dropped to 26,625. Still, New York's many subway commuters found the tabloid format easier to handle, and readership steadily grew. By the time of the paper's first anniversary in June 1920, circulation was over 100,000 and by 1925, over a million. Circulation reached its peak in 1947, at 2.4 million daily and 4.7 million on Sunday.

The News carried the slogan "New York's Picture Newspaper" from 1920 to 1991, for its emphasis on photographs, and a camera has been part of the newspaper's logo from day one. The paper's later slogan, developed from a 1985 ad campaign, is "New York's Hometown Newspaper", while another has been "The Eyes, the Ears, the Honest Voice of New York". The Daily News continues to include large and prominent photographs, for news, entertainment and sports, as well as intense city news coverage, celebrity gossip, classified ads, comics, a sports section, and an opinion section.

News-gathering operations were, for a time, organized using two-way radios, operating on 173.3250 MHz (radio station KEA 871) allowing the assignment desk to communicate with its personnel who utilized a fleet of "radio cars".

Prominent sports cartoonists have included Bill Gallo, Bruce Stark and Ed Murawinski. Columnists have included Walter Kaner. Editorial cartoonists have included C. D. Batchelor.

The paper briefly published between 1978 and 1981 Daily News Tonight, a Monday-Friday afternoon counterpart which competed with the New York Post, which had earlier launched a morning edition to complement the evening newspaper. Occasional "P.M. Editions" were published as extras in 1991 during the brief tenure of Robert Maxwell as publisher.

In 1982, and again in the early 1990s during a newspaper strike, the Daily News almost went out of business. In the 1982 instance, the parent Tribune offered the tabloid up for sale. In 1991, millionaire Robert Maxwell offered financial assistance to The News to help it stay in business. When Maxwell died shortly thereafter, The News seceded from his publishing empire, which eventually splintered under questions about whether Maxwell had the financial backing to sustain it. After Maxwell's death in 1991, the paper was held together in bankruptcy by existing management, led by editor James Willse, who became interim publisher after buying the paper from Tribune. Mort Zuckerman bought the paper in 1993.

From its founding until 1991, the Daily News was owned by the Tribune Company. In 1948 The News established WPIX (Channel 11 in New York City), whose call letters were based on The News' nickname of New York's Picture Newspaper; and later bought what became WPIX-FM, which is now known as WFAN-FM. The television station became a Tribune property outright in 1991 and remains in the former Daily News Building; the radio station was purchased by Emmis Communications.

For years, the News maintained an editorial line staunchly supportive of the Republican Party, not unlike its sister Chicago Tribune. This changed after the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, with the Tribune papers turning independent and increasingly liberal. This in contrast to the rival New York Post that turned from a Democrat stronghold to an arch-conservative bastion during the same time. The paper kept its liberal point-of-view after seceding from the Tribune syndicate, and to this day has become nationally known for advocating migrant reform and gun control.

The News also maintains local bureaux in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, at City Hall, within One Police Plaza, and at the various state and federal courthouses in the city.

In January 2012, former News of the World and New York Post editor Colin Myler was appointed editor-in-chief of the Daily News. Myler was replaced by his deputy Jim Rich in September 2015.

Headquarters


From its founding, it was based at 23 Park Place, a block from City Hall, and two blocks from Park Row, the traditional home of the city's newspaper trade. The cramped conditions demanded a much larger space for the growing newspaper.

From 1929 to 1995, the Daily News was based in the landmark skyscraper at 220 East 42nd Street near Second Avenue, designed by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. The paper moved to 450 West 33rd Street in 1995, but the 42nd Street location is still known as The News Building and still features a giant globe and weather instruments in its lobby. (It was the model for the Daily Planet building of the first two Superman movies). The former News subsidiary WPIX-TV remains in the building.

The third headquarters of the Daily News at 450 West 33rd Street straddled the railroad tracks going into Pennsylvania Station. The building is now the world headquarters of the Associated Press and also houses public-television station WNET.

In June 2011, the paper moved its operations to two floors at 4 New York Plaza in lower Manhattan. Sixteen months later, the structure was severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable by flooding from Hurricane Sandy. In the immediate aftermath, news operations were conducted remotely from several temporary locations, eventually moving to office space at the Jersey City printing plant. In early 2013, operations moved to rented space at 1290 Avenue of the Americas near Rockefeller Center—just four blocks north of its rival New York Post. The staff returned to the permanent 4 New York Plaza location in early November 2013.

Printing facilities
In 1993, the Daily News consolidated its printing facilities near Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey.

In 2009, the paper spent $150 million on printing presses as part of its move to full color.

In 2011, the company spent $100 million to buy three new presses, using a $41.7 million Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit from the State of New Jersey.

Noteworthy front pages
In 1928, a News reporter strapped a small camera to his leg, and shot a photo of Ruth Snyder being executed in the chair. The next day's newspaper carried the headline "DEAD!".

On October 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a speech denying federal assistance to spare New York City from bankruptcy. The front page of the October 30, 1975 Daily News read: “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.”

Following the 2015 San Bernardino attack, in which 14 people were shot dead, the December 3, 2015 front page displayed "GOD ISN'T FIXING THIS" along with tweets from Republican politicians offering thoughts and prayers.