Daily News is a popular newspaper that covers politics, crime, celebrity gossip, classified ads, a large section for local events, and sports. It also has a large front-page photo and extensive color printing. The paper traces its roots back to 1919, when Joseph Medill Patterson founded the New York Daily News in Park Place, Manhattan, as a competitor to the Chicago Tribune.
The newspaper quickly found its niche with the city’s subway commuters, who appreciated the tabloid size and layout, as well as its sensational stories and titillating photographs. By the 1920s, the Daily News was one of the largest newspapers in the world and a major force in American journalism.
It remained so for more than half a century. However, the advent of television and later the Internet took a heavy toll on circulation. In the 1990s, under a series of editor-in-chiefs (first Pete Hamill and then Debby Krenek), the Daily News made efforts to address social issues, especially those concerning people who were perceived as not having a voice in the media or society at large. This helped the paper gain a reputation as an ally of the city’s poor, as well as a champion of First Amendment rights and free speech. The paper won Pulitzer Prizes for Distinguished Commentary in 1996 for E.R. Shipp’s articles on race, welfare and social issues and in 1998 for Mike McAlary’s coverage of police brutality against Haitian immigrant Abner Louima.
The Daily News also focuses on exposing corruption by government officials and other prominent figures in the city. It was one of the pioneers of investigative journalism in the United States, and it continues to be a leading source of such reports. The newspaper was a pioneer in using photography as a means of grabbing readers’ attention and increasing readership, and it was an early adopter of the Associated Press wirephoto service.
A typical weekly newspaper includes a section for city news, including stories on crime, government and education, as well as a community calendar. In addition, a family news section contains births, engagements and weddings, landmark birthdays and anniversaries and obituaries. Larger weeklies may also include lifestyle features, such as reviews of the local theater and arts and a food section that focuses on recipes.
Like daily newspapers, a weekly newspaper usually has a public-records section that includes summaries of police-incident reports, fire-department calls and court dispositions. Many also publish a list of building permits issued in their circulation area. Many newspapers also have a political-affairs column and an editorial page.