Founded in 1919, the Daily News is the oldest continuously published tabloid newspaper in the United States and was once the nation’s largest daily. Originally named the Illustrated Daily News, it lured readers with sensational stories of crime and corruption, lurid photographs and entertainment features. It is also known for its intense city news coverage, celebrity gossip, classified ads and sports section.
It is a newspaper of record for New York City, and maintains a presence throughout the metropolitan area with its headquarters in the art deco News Building. The News has a reputation for aggressively supporting the interests of its home city, with editorial positions on political candidates and ballot measure issues often differing sharply from those of its rivals in other cities. The News is also known for its investigative reporting, and was the first paper in the country to report on police corruption.
In the 1990s, the paper repositioned itself as a champion of civil rights and social justice issues, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for E.R. Shipp’s series on welfare reform, and a Pulitzer in 1998 for Mike McAlary’s work on the Abner Louima incident. The News is a member of the Newspaper Association of America, and was one of the first metro newspapers to develop a fully electronic publishing system.
By the end of the 1980s, however, the newspaper was losing a staggering $1 million a month. Several times in the course of the decade, it had yielded to union demands on rules and job numbers, which were eating into profits; in fact, by 1982, the News was on the verge of bankruptcy. Closing the newspaper was not an option, since severance pay and pensions would have cost an estimated $100 million.
Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman took a bold step in an attempt to revive the newspaper’s earning potential, investing $60 million towards color presses that allowed the News to match USA Today’s visual quality. In addition, he put an emphasis on investigative reporting and other hard-hitting stories that were attracting readers in droves. He was rewarded, and by 1993 the Daily News was back in profitability.
Today, the Daily News is still the most read English language newspaper in the United States. Its main competitors include The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and it has a strong international presence as well. It is a free, daily print newspaper and also is available online. The website is also used by teachers for their classrooms, and it offers a variety of interactive features to help students engage with the content. Students can submit news items and photos for consideration, and they can also access a wealth of resources for their research projects. The website is supported by donations, which make up a significant part of the funding needed to operate and improve the site. In addition, the site is an excellent resource for Common Core standards. Students can also subscribe to Student News Daily, a service that delivers short news digests each day directly to the classroom.