Founded in 1919 as the Illustrated Daily News, the New York City tabloid newspaper quickly became the largest in the United States, drawing readers with sensational and titillating stories of crime, violence and scandal, lurid photographs, and cartoons. The News also offered city news coverage, celebrity gossip, classified ads and sports.
By the mid-20th century, the Daily News was a major player in the American media scene and even boasted of its own staff of Pulitzer Prize winners. Nevertheless, it began to experience difficulties with the emergence of new forms of mass communication such as television and the internet. In addition, the News suffered from declining circulation and a fractious relationship with its unions.
In 1975, the News rolled out what would become its most famous headline ever. After President Ford delivered a speech in which he vetoed a bailout for New York City, the front page of the Daily News read: “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.” The paper would later be credited with helping to defeat Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
After the fall of Communism, the News began to shift toward a more liberal stance in its politics and reporting, which was reflected in its slogans: “The Eyes, the Ears, the Honest Voice of New York” and “The most New York you can get.” The paper won a Pulitzer in 1996 for reporter E.R. Shipp’s piece on police brutality against Haitian immigrant Abner Louima and in 1998 for columnist Mike McAlary’s columns on crime, welfare and social issues.
The News has also been recognized for its extensive and in-depth coverage of the New York City homeless population, often using the term “The Forgotten”. It was in this role that the News pushed to establish safe injection sites as a way of preventing overdoses and deaths, while still respecting the rights of those who chose not to use them.
Today the New York Daily News is owned by Tronc and is printed at its single-story office at 5 Manhattan West in the historic News Building, a landmark on 42nd Street designed by architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. The paper has a large number of sections including the main news and entertainment section, classifieds, comics, a sports section and an opinion page.
Each news story is written using the Inverted Pyramid format with the most important information, the who, what, when, where and why being placed at the top of the article and less important information following. This allows readers to quickly identify the most pertinent information and save time.
Each news story on Student News Daily contains comprehension and critical thinking questions at the bottom of each article, which help students practice their reading skills. In addition, we provide “Background” and “Resources” (including video clips, maps and links) below the questions to give students more context for the question. Our goal is to make learning interesting and fun while addressing Common Core standards. Your donations help us fulfill this mission.