Daily news is a broad term that refers to a newspaper, magazine or website that publishes information about current events on a regular basis. These outlets may focus on politics, local affairs, sports or celebrity gossip and can provide a range of viewpoints and opinions. Some are free, while others have a subscription fee.
In its 20th-century heyday, The New York Daily News was the brawny metro tabloid that dug into crime and corruption. It was a model for The Daily Planet in the first two Superman films, and earned Pulitzer Prizes for commentary and feature writing. It fought a circulation war with the rival New York Post and, until its sale to a hedge fund in 1995, was the largest-selling paper in the United States.
The Daily News is still published in the city of New York and covers national and local news, including New York exclusives, politics and the latest gossip and entertainment. Its staff includes award-winning writers and columnists and the paper’s storied history is a part of the city’s culture, having been home to such iconic figures as boxing legend Jimmy Cannon, newsroom boss Bill Gallo and legendary sports editor Dick Young.
Like other popular dailies of the time, The Daily News found abundant subject matter to cover in the United States of the 1920s: political wrongdoing such as the Teapot Dome scandal; social intrigue such as Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII’s romance that led to his abdication; and the beauty pageants of the era. It also devoted extensive coverage to photography.
In addition to the main edition, The Daily News provides several special issues throughout the year that celebrate Yale-Harvard game day and graduation, as well as a series of issues focusing on the city’s Indigenous, Black, Latino and Asian American communities in collaboration with Yale’s cultural centers and affiliated student groups. The paper’s staff is made up of full- and part-time employees, as well as a number of student interns.
Technology has brought about massive disruption in the field of American journalism, putting thousands of journalists out of work and closing many newsrooms, creating “news deserts” where citizens have little access to local journalism. Death of a Daily News is a rich, fascinating and necessary anatomy of what happens when a town loses its newspaper, how the citizens there attempt to make sense of their community on their own—and how some are trying to build a future for local journalism. It is a must-read for anyone concerned about the state of media and democracy.