The daily news, a term used for newspaper articles covering current events, is a major source of information about the world. It can be found in a variety of forms, from television and radio news to online and print newspapers. It also includes reports and commentary from other media sources, such as magazines and books. Whether it is a national or local source, the daily news helps keep citizens informed about the latest developments in their communities and countries.
The New York Daily News is a newspaper founded in 1919 and once had the largest circulation of any paper in the United States. It was the first American tabloid newspaper and appealed to readers with sensational coverage of crime, scandal, and violence; lurid photographs; and cartoons and other entertainment features. Its flamboyant style attracted the attention of Hollywood and became the model for many other tabloid newspapers. The News was a founding member of the Associated Press wirephoto service in 1930 and developed a strong staff of photographers.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Daily News fought a fierce circulation battle with rival tabloid newspapers in New York City and around the nation. The newspaper was a vocal critic of government wrongdoing, including the Teapot Dome scandal and the political machinations that led to the abdication of King Edward VIII. It also covered social intrigue, such as the romance between Wallis Simpson and her future husband, King George VI, and the scandal that brought down New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia.
Despite the newspaper’s decline in the later half of the 20th century, it remains one of the top-selling newspapers in the country and still covers stories of interest to its readers. In 2017, the newspaper was sold to Tronc, which publishes a number of other newspapers in the U.S. The Daily News’s headquarters, which were designed by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood and opened in 1929, straddled the railroad tracks that run into Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. The Daily News moved to 450 West 33rd Street (also known as Manhattan West) in 1995, but the former News building is now home to WPIX-TV.
Andrew Conte’s Death of the Daily News is a rich, fascinating, and necessary anatomy of what happens when a town loses its local newspaper. A longtime reporter and journalist, Conte writes with empathy and clarity while sounding a warning that local news is in trouble. This is a book that everyone should read.