Daily News (New York)

The Daily News is an American newspaper based in Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States.^[2] It was founded in 1919, and was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. As of 2014, it is owned and run by Mortimer Zuckerman, and is headquartered at 4 New York Plaza in lower Manhattan.

History

The Daily News was founded by Joseph Medill Patterson in 1919. It was not connected to an earlier New York Daily News, which had been founded in the 1850s, flourished under the stewardship of Benjamin Wood, and faltered after his death in 1900, going through three owners (including his widow) before suspending publication in mid-December 1906. Patterson and his cousin, Robert R. McCormick were co-publishers of the Chicago Tribune and grandsons of Tribune founder Joseph Medill.^[3]

When Patterson and McCormick could not agree on the editorial content of the Chicago paper, the two cousins decided at a meeting in Paris that Patterson set on the project of launching a Tribune-owned newspaper in New York. On his way back, Patterson met with Alfred Harmsworth, who was the Viscount Northcliffe and publisher of the Daily Mirror, London's tabloid newspaper. Impressed with the advantages of a tabloid, Patterson launched the Daily News on June 26, 1919.^[3]

The Daily News was not an immediate success, and by August 1919, the paper's circulation had dropped to 26,625.^[3] Still, New York's many subway commuters found the tabloid format easier to handle, and readership steadily grew. By the time of the paper's first anniversary in June 1920, circulation was over 100,000 and by 1925, over a million. Circulation reached its peak in 1947, at 2.4 million daily and 4.7 million on Sunday.^[4]

Daily News Building, John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood, architects, rendering by Hugh Ferriss. The landmark building housed the paper until the mid-1990s.

The News carried the slogan "New York's Picture Newspaper" from 1920 to 1991, for its emphasis on photographs, and a camera has been part of the newspaper's logo from day one. The paper's later slogan, developed from a 1985 ad campaign, is "New York's Hometown Newspaper", while another has been "The Eyes, the Ears, the Honest Voice of New York". The Daily News continues to include large and prominent photographs, for news, entertainment and sports, as well as intense city news coverage, celebrity gossip, classified ads, comics, a sports section, and an opinion section.

News-gathering operations were, for a time, organized using two-way radios, operating on 173.3250 MHz (radio station KEA 871) allowing the assignment desk to communicate with its personnel who utilized a fleet of "radio cars".

Prominent sports cartoonists have included Bill Gallo, Bruce Stark and Ed Murawinski. Columnists have included Walter Kaner. Editorial cartoonists have included C. D. Batchelor.

In 1982, and again in the early 1990s during a newspaper strike, the Daily News almost went out of business. In the 1982 instance, the parent Tribune offered the tabloid up for sale. In 1991, millionaire Robert Maxwell offered financial assistance to The News to help it stay in business. When Maxwell died shortly thereafter, The News seceded from his publishing empire, which eventually splintered under questions about whether Maxwell had the financial backing to sustain it. After Maxwell's death in 1991, the paper was held together in bankruptcy by existing management, led by editor James Willse, who became interim publisher. Mort Zuckerman bought the paper in 1993.

From its founding until 1991, the Daily News was owned by the Tribune Company. The News established WPIX (Channel 11 in New York City), whose call letters were based on The News' nickname of New York's Picture Newspaper; and later bought what became WPIX-FM, which is now known as WFAN-FM. The television station became a Tribune property outright in 1991 and remains in the former Daily News Building; the radio station was purchased by Emmis Communications.

The News also maintains local bureaus in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, at City Hall, within One Police Plaza, and at the various state and federal courthouses in the city.

In January 2012, former News of the World and New York Post editor Colin Myler was appointed editor-in-chief of the Daily News.^[5]

Headquarters

Former headquarters at 450 West 33rd Street

From its founding, it was based at 23 Park Place, a block from City Hall, and two blocks from Park Row, the traditional home of the city's newspaper trade. The cramped conditions demanded a much larger space for the growing newspaper.

From 1929 to 1995, the Daily News was based in the landmark skyscraper at 220 East 42nd Street near Second Avenue, designed by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. The paper moved to 450 West 33rd Street in 1995, but the 42nd Street location is still known as The News Building and still features a giant globe and weather instruments in its lobby. (It was the model for the Daily Planet building of the first two Superman movies). The former News subsidiary WPIX-TV remains in the building.

The third headquarters of the Daily News at 450 West 33rd Street straddled the railroad tracks going into Pennsylvania Station. The building is now the world headquarters of the Associated Press and also houses public-television station WNET.

In June 2011, the paper moved its operations to two floors at 4 New York Plaza in lower Manhattan,^[6] only for the structure to be severely damaged 16 months later by flooding from Hurricane Sandy, rendering it uninhabitable. In the immediate aftermath, news operations were conducted remotely from several temporary locations, eventually moving to office space at the Jersey City printing plant.^[7] In early 2013, operations moved once again, this time to rented space at 1290 Avenue of the Americas near Rockefeller Center—just four blocks north of its rival New York Post. The staff returned to the permanent 4 New York Plaza location in early November 2013, after being displaced for over a year after Hurricane Sandy.

Printing facilities

In 1993, the Daily News consolidated its printing facilities in Jersey City, New Jersey^[8] at a location near Liberty State Park.^[9] A 150 million-dollar investment was made in printing presses when the paper went to full color.^[10][11] As of 2011, the facility is being upgraded with a $100 million investment of three new additional presses, made possible in part with State of New Jersey awarding the company a $41.7 million Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit. (UTHTC).^[12]

See also

• Lloyd Grove, gossip columnist
• Media in New York City

References

External links

• Official website