Founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson, who also published the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News was America’s first mass-circulation daily newspaper. The paper grew rapidly in the 1920s and became famous for its brassy pictorial style, and was credited with coining the phrase “the more you read, the more you want.” The Daily News found ample subject matter in political wrongdoing like the Teapot Dome scandal and social intrigue like the romance between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII that led to the latter’s abdication. It also devoted much attention to photography, and was an early user of the Associated Press wirephoto service, developing a large staff of photographers.
The Daily News is the oldest college daily in the United States, and its award-winning writers and columnists provide breaking national and local news, as well as New York exclusives, politics, sports and celebrity gossip. In addition, no one does New York Giants, Mets and Yankees coverage better than the Daily News.
Each Daily News article includes comprehension and critical thinking questions that are intended to encourage students to think about the news story in a deeper way. These questions can be found below the article, and teachers can access additional resources such as video clips, maps and links that further enhance student understanding of each news story.
In the late 1980s, the Daily News suffered a major blow when it lost 145,000 daily readers in just three months due to a strike by its printing workers. While the strike was a factor, other reasons for the loss were cost increases and production problems. The paper eventually lost its monopoly on city news, and was forced to rely on non-union replacement employees. In 1991, the Daily News was purchased by controversial British media mogul Robert Maxwell. Maxwell vowed to return the paper to its former glory, but he was unable to reverse circulation declines, and in 1992 the Daily News lost nearly half its circulation.
Today, the Daily News has a circulation of over a million copies per day. It has expanded its presence in television and the internet, with a web site that allows users to interact with the newspaper and its reporters. Its online version has interactive graphics, video and audio, as well as its own news blog. The Daily News also has its own television station, WPIX, which is primarily a local news channel.
As of September 2018, the Daily News is owned by Tronc, a publicly traded company. In October of 1996, the Daily News began publishing a quarterly insert called BET Weekend for African Americans, which by 1997 had grown to a monthly publication in fifteen different markets nationwide. The newspaper is known for its aggressively pro-American stance, and has been described as being for America and the people of New York, not just for the wealthy and powerful. Its slogan is “The Eyes, the Ears, the Honest Voice of New York.”