Newsday

Newsday

The February 21, 2012 front page of Newsday
Type Daily newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner(s) Patrick and Charles Dolan (75%)
Altice USA (25%)
Publisher vacant
Editor Debbie Henley
Founded September 3, 1940 (1940-09-03)
Headquarters 235 Pinelawn Road
Melville, New York 11747
USA
Circulation 437,000 Daily
495,000 Sunday[1]
ISSN 0278-5587
OCLC number 5371847
Website www.newsday.com
Melville, NY, headquarters
Newsday logo in 2009
Newsday logo in 2007

Newsday is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. As of 2009, its weekday circulation of 377,500 was the 11th-highest in the United States, and the highest among suburban newspapers.[2] In 2012, Newsday expanded to include Rockland and Westchester county news on its website. As of January 2014, Newsday's total average circulation was 437,000 on weekdays, 434,000 on Saturdays and 495,000 on Sundays.[1]

The newspaper's headquarters is in Melville, New York, in Suffolk County.

History

Founded by Alicia Patterson and her husband, Harry Guggenheim, the publication was first produced on September 3, 1940 from Hempstead.[3] For many years until a major redesign in the 1970s, Newsday copied the Daily News format of short stories and lots of pictures (Ironically, Patterson was fired as a writer at her father's Daily News in her early 20s, after getting the basic facts of a divorce wrong in a published report). After Patterson's death in 1963, Guggenheim became publisher and editor.

In 1967, Guggenheim turned over the publisher position to Bill Moyers and continued as president and editor-in-chief. But Guggenheim was disappointed by the liberal drift of the newspaper under Moyers, criticizing what he called the "left-wing" coverage of Vietnam War protests.[4][5] The two split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim signing an editorial supporting Richard Nixon, when Moyers supported Hubert Humphrey.[6]

Guggenheim sold his majority share to the then-conservative Times-Mirror Company over the attempt of newspaper employees to block the sale, even though Moyers offered $10 million more than the Times-Mirror purchase price; Moyers resigned a few days later.[4][7][8] Guggenheim, who died a year later, disinherited Moyers from his will.[9]

After the competing Long Island Press (not to be confused with the alternative weekly of the same name) ceased publication in 1977, Newsday launched a separate Queens edition, followed by a New York City edition dubbed New York Newsday. In June 2000, Times Mirror merged with the Tribune Company, partnering Newsday with the New York City television station WPIX (Channel 11), also owned by Tribune.

With the Times Mirror-Tribune merger, the newspaper founded by Alicia Patterson was now owned by the company that was founded by her great-grandfather, Joseph Medill — which owns the Chicago Tribune and, until 1991, also owned her father's Daily News. (Tribune sold the Daily News to British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell. After Maxwell's death in 1992, his publishing empire collapsed and Mortimer Zuckerman purchased the Daily News.) Chicago, Illinois, real estate magnate Samuel Zell purchased Tribune in 2007.[2]

News Corporation, headed by CEO Rupert Murdoch, attempted to purchase Newsday for US$580 million in April 2008.[10] This was soon followed by a matching bid from Zuckerman[11] and a $680 million bid from Cablevision.[12] In May 2008, News Corporation withdrew its bid,[13] and on May 12, 2008, Newsday reported that Cablevision would purchase the paper for $650 million.[14] The sale was completed July 29, 2008.[15]

Altice, a Netherlands multinational telecoms company, bought Cablevision, including Newsday and News 12 in 2016.[16][17]

On July 7, 2016, Newsday announced that Patrick Dolan and father Charles Dolan would purchase a 75 percent stake in Newsday and associated companies. They are now the majority owners of the paper.[18][19]

Editorial style

Despite having a tabloid format, Newsday is not known for being sensationalistic, as are other local daily tabloids, such as the New York Daily News and the New York Post.[20][21]

In 2004, the alternative weekly newspaper Long Island Press (which is not related to the defunct daily of the same name) wrote that Newsday has used its clout to influence local politics in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.[22]

Bill Moyers briefly served as publisher.[23] During the tenure of publisher Robert M. Johnson in the 1980s, Newsday made a major push into New York City. The paper's roster of columnists and critics has included Cathy Young, Jimmy Breslin, Barbara Garson, Normand Poirier, Murray Kempton, Gail Collins, Pete Hamill, Sydney Schanberg, Robert Reno (died 2012), Jim Dwyer, sportswriter Mike Lupica, music critic Tim Page, and television critic Marvin Kitman. The paper featured both advice columnists Ann Landers and Dear Abby for several years. From 1985 to 2005, Michael Mandelbaum wrote a regular foreign affairs analysis column for Newsday. Noted writer and biographer Robert Caro was an investigative reporter. Its features section has included, among others, television reporters Verne Gay and Diane Werts, TV/film feature writer Frank Lovece, and film critic Rafer Guzman. Newsday carries the syndicated columnist Froma Harrop. Pulitzer Prize winner Walt Handelsman's editorial political cartoons animation are a nationally syndicated feature of Newsday. In the 1980s, a new design director, Robert Eisner, guided the transition into digital design and color printing.

Newsday created and sponsored a "Long Island at the Crossroads" advisory board in 1978, to recommend regional goals, supervise local government, and liaison with state and Federal officials.[24][25][26] It lasted approximately a decade.

On March 21, 2011, Newsday redesigned its front page, scrapping the nameplate and font used since the 1960s.[27]

Circulation

In 2008, Newsday was ranked 10th in terms of newspaper circulation in the United States.[2]

A circulation scandal in 2004 revealed that the paper's daily and Sunday circulation had been inflated by 16.9% and 14.5%, respectively, in the auditing period September 30, 2002 to September 30, 2003.[28] The Audit Bureau of Circulation adjusted average weekday circulation to 481,816 from 579,599; average Saturday circulation to 392,649 from 416,830; and average Sunday circulation to 574,081 from 671,820, and instituted twice-yearly audits.[28]

On October 28, 2009, Newsday changed its web site to a paid-subscriber only model. Newsday.com would open its front page, classified ads, movie listings, and school closings to all site visitors, but access beyond this content would require a weekly fee – US$5 as of 2010. This fee would be waived for subscribers of the print edition of the paper, as well as for subscribers to parent-company Cablevision's Internet service.[29] Through its first three months only 35 non-Optimum, non-Newsday subscribers signed up for the paid web site.[30]

Awards

Pulitzer Prize

Newsday has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes and has been a finalist for 20 additional:[31] If no individual is listed, award is for Newsday staff.

References

  1. 1 2 "Cablevision Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission February 26, 2014". Securities and Exchange Commission. February 26, 2014. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Arango, Tim; Pérez-Peña, Richard (March 21, 2008). "3 Moguls in Talks to Buy Newsday". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Arlen, A., Arlen, M.J. The Huntress: The Adventures, Escapades, and Triumphs of Alicia Patterson: Aviatrix, Sportswoman, Journalist, Publisher (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2016) ISBN 9781101871133
  4. 1 2 "The Press: How Much Independence?". Time. April 27, 1970. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  5. ↑ Keeler, Robert F. (1990). Newsday: a candid history of the respectable tabloid. Morrow. pp. 460–61. ISBN 1-55710-053-5.
  6. ↑ "Newsday Goes For Nixon, But Moyers Balks". Chicago Tribune. October 17, 1968. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Moyers Resigns Post at Newsday". New York Times. May 13, 1970. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  8. ↑ Raymont, Henry (March 13, 1970). "Newsday Employes [sic] Seek to Block Sale of the Paper". New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  9. ↑ "$12 Million Left to Charity by Guggenheim". Chicago Tribune. January 30, 1971.
  10. ↑ Newsday (April 23, 2008): "Murdoch tells LI officials deal for Newsday close", by Ellen Yan and James T. Madadore
  11. ↑ Reuters (April 16, 2008): "Zuckerman submits $580 million Newsday bid: source", by Robert Macmillan and Kenneth Lee
  12. ↑ Reuters (May 2, 2008): "Cablevision submits $650 mln bid for Newsday: source" by Jui Chakravorty Das
  13. ↑ Reuters (May 11, 2008)
  14. ↑ Cablevision announces deal to buy Newsday, Newsday, May 12, 2008
  15. ↑ Cablevision Completes Newsday Buy from Tribune, Broadcasting and Cable, July 29, 2008
  16. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/altice-to-buy-cablevision-for-10-billion-1442472485
  17. ↑ http://www.newsday.com/business/gordon-mcleod-steps-down-as-publisher-of-newsday-media-group-1.11985883
  18. ↑ http://www.newsday.com/news/patrick-dolan-becomes-majority-owner-of-newsday-media-group-1.12014669
  19. ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-07/patrick-dolan-acquires-majority-stake-in-newsday-from-altice
  20. ↑ Stevens, John D., Sensationalism and the New York Press (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991) ISBN 0-231-07396-8
  21. ↑ Hamill, Pete, News Is a Verb: Journalism at the End of the Twentieth Century (New York: Ballantine Books, 1998) ISBN 0-345-42528-6
  22. ↑ Long Island Press, "Game Over: How the Paper's Monopoly Control Has Warped its Coverage and Hurt Long Island", by Christopher Twarowski, December 30, 2004: "Numerous politicians in both counties, county workers, directors of community groups and other sources claim that 'Newsday' uses its position as Long Island's only daily paper to strong-arm county officials, nonprofit directors, local leaders and rival publications and even to influence pieces of legislation — often through fear, intimidation and other anti-competitive practices — to further its political or commercial agenda".
  23. ↑ The Museum of Broadcast Communications: Moyer biography
  24. ↑ "A Decade Later, Still at Crossroads", by Tom Morris, Newsday (April 19, 1988):
  25. ↑ "L.I. Planners Need Cooperation, Not Competition" (editorial), Newsday (Dec. 13, 1988)
  26. ↑ "Back to the Future", Newsday (Feb. 4, 1991): by Greg Steinmetz
  27. ↑ "Meet the new Newsday" Newsday (March 21, 2011)
  28. 1 2 Audit Bureau of Circulation, "ABC Releases Newsday Audit", November 16, 2004
  29. ↑ Flamm, Matthew (October 22, 2009). "Newsday to begin charging for online articles". Crain's New York. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  30. ↑ Koblin, John (January 26, 2010). "After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday‘s Web Site". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  31. ↑ Pulitzer Prize official site: Newsday search results
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