The Daily News is a morning tabloid newspaper published in New York City, the first successful one of its kind. Founded in 1919 as the Illustrated Daily News by Joseph Medill Patterson and a subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune Company, it lured readers with sensational coverage of crime, scandal and violence, lurid photographs and cartoons. The paper is known for its investigative journalism and its unflinching depictions of city life, and in particular for championing the rights of people deemed to have little voice in society, including the poor, minorities and the homeless. The News has won several Pulitzer Prizes, most notably in 1996 for E.R. Shipp’s articles on welfare and racism, and in 1998 for Mike McAlary’s coverage of police brutality against Haitian immigrant Abner Louima.
Most newspapers have four main departments devoted to publishing the newspaper itself: editorial, production/printing, circulation, and advertising. The overall manager or chief executive officer is the publisher. Journalists write the stories for the newspaper, although in many cases they may specialize in a subject area called a beat. Columnists are journalists who regularly write articles recounting their personal opinions and experiences. Photographers provide images and illustrations that accompany stories, and printers physically print the newspaper pages.
A common measure of a newspaper’s health is market penetration, or the percentage of households receiving the newspaper. At its peak in the 1920s, the News had a market penetration of 123 percent (meaning that every household received more than one copy per day). This figure began to fall as other media gained prominence and printing technology became cheaper.
In 1991, controversial British media mogul Robert Maxwell bought the News from the Tribune Company. Maxwell sought to reduce the newspaper’s labor costs and in 1990 he attempted to break the ten unions that controlled the Daily News by hiring non-union replacements for most of its workforce. This move backfired, and the resulting five-month strike cost the newspaper $470 million.
By the end of this era, the News was no longer able to frighten the city with headlines like “Ford to City: Drop Dead!”, but it remained an important source of local news and an important part of the community. It continued to focus on city news and politics, and also to publish celebrity gossip, classified ads, comics, a sports section and an opinion section.
The News moved from Park Place to 220 East 42nd Street in 1929, a 36-story freestanding Art Deco building designed by Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells. The building is known as the Daily News Building and is an official city landmark. It was later used as the model for the Daily Planet in the Superman franchise of films. The News remained in the building until 1995, when it relocated to 450 West 33rd Street, which is also home to the TV station WPIX. The NBC affiliate, WFAN-FM, is located in the former radio studios. Both the News and the radio station are now owned by CBS Corporation.