The Daily News
The New York Daily News is an American newspaper founded in 1919 and published as a tabloid. It is currently the eleventh-highest circulated newspaper in the United States. The paper has a long history of controversy and controversies, including political sabotage, racial discrimination, nepotism, and financial mismanagement. The Daily News is a co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, with ProPublica, in 2017.
The paper has had several owners over the years, from New York publisher Mort Zuckerman to Tribune Publishing, which bought it in 1993. In 2017, it was sold to Tronc, the Chicago-based parent company of Tribune Publishing and other newspapers, for $1. The newspaper has been under a ferocious cost-cutting campaign since its sale, with buyouts, cuts and layoffs, as well as a drastic reduction in its physical size.
Its ruthless cost-cutting has led to a profound case of the jitters in its newsrooms, with staffers at the once-mighty tabloid complaining of being squeezed to death. It has also led to a number of campaigning campaigns, urging local benefactors to come forward and save the newspaper, from one in Los Angeles to another in Philadelphia.
This has led to some scathing criticism of the new owner, who was once seen as an ally of the newspaper and its journalists. One such critic was the Democratic mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, who called for a probe of the newspaper’s management after its circulation numbers declined and it began cutting staff and coverage in 2018.
At the height of its heyday, the Daily News had the highest circulation of any newspaper in the United States. Its resurgence after the Second World War saw it become known as “the paper of record,” and it won a reputation for its edgy, unapologetic style and focus on hard news.
Today, the newspaper remains in troubled times. Its once-mighty staff has been cut to a fraction of its size, and it has faced constant financial difficulties. Amid a wave of layoffs and cost-cutting, the paper has been losing money for months at a time. It has sparked a number of protests from staffers and has been the subject of a campaign by a group of investors to take over the newspaper.
In 2021, an anonymous Yale College alumnus made a significant gift to support the ongoing maintenance and development of the Yale Daily News Historical Archive. This gift facilitated the migration of the archive to a modern, user-friendly platform and allowed for additional issues to be added to the site. The Yale Daily News Historical Archive is now available for anyone to access and use. This resource is free of charge. The Yale Library would like to thank the donors of this collection for their generosity and commitment to preserving journalism in America. You can help us continue to provide this service by making a donation to the Library. Learn more here. For more information, please see the FAQ page.