Founded in 1919, the New York Daily News is one of the first tabloid newspapers in the United States. Its coverage of crime, sports, and politics helped it become a success. It later became a model for the tabloid depicted in the 1994 movie “The Paper.” The paper also won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its commentary in 2017.
Although it was a conservative, populist newspaper from the 1940s through the 1960s, the Daily News has been one of the top-selling newspapers in the country. In 1947, it reached peak circulation of 2.4 million copies a day. Since then, its circulation has dwindled to about 200,000. As the company’s fortunes have waned, the Daily News’ journalists have been anxious about their future workplace. Until recently, the company’s offices were located in Lower Manhattan. However, the Daily News building is now the world headquarters for the Associated Press.
The Daily News’s mission has always been to chronicle life in New York. The paper maintains local bureaus in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Additionally, the paper provides strong sports coverage, and features opinion formers.
In the book, author Andrew Conte explores the impact of losing a local newspaper. He provides a vivid picture of what a town goes through when a newspaper dies. Using compelling prose, he takes readers through the stages of grief.
Andrew has a deep understanding of the local and national news. His reporting has appeared in POLITICO, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. He has also written for Gothamist and CityLab. Currently, he works at the intersection of counter-mapping and data visualization.
Amid financial difficulties, the Daily News has been in a long-running circulation battle with the New York Post. During the early years, the Daily News emphasized social intrigue and political wrongdoing. With cartoons, lurid photographs, and sensational crime coverage, the paper attracted a loyal readership. But as World War II approached, the Daily News began to shift its editorial stance. Instead of espousing a conservative populism, it embraced a more flexible centrist position.
Despite its decline, the Daily News has continued to provide strong sports coverage. In 2016, the paper reached a circulation of more than 200,000. Currently, the Daily News offers an interactive version, which allows users to swipe between pages, read through the news, and share stories through email. Users can also download the newspaper’s edition to read offline.
When the Daily News moved to its current building in the mid-1970s, dozens of its mainstays sat on a bench. These included legendary boxing writer Jimmy Cannon. Bill Gallo wrote a piece for The Daily News about this. Throughout the years, a wooden bench has been positioned in the lobby of the Daily News’s building. This is a reminder that even when a local newspaper dies, its story lives on.
In the late 1990s, the Daily News was bought by Tronc, a Chicago-based media company. After Tronc purchased the paper, it cut its newsroom staff in half. Several Daily News mainstays sat on the bench, including Dick Young.