Founded in 1919, the Daily News was the first successful tabloid newspaper in the United States. It attracted readers with sensational crime and scandal coverage, lurid photographs, celebrity gossip, classified ads, comics, and a sports section. It was owned by Mortimer Zuckerman from 1993 until 2017, when it was sold to Tribune Publishing, now known as Tronc, for $1. The paper is still headquartered in New York City.
Most newspapers are published daily (although some are only published weekly or monthly) and are characterized by their emphasis on current events and issues of public concern. Many are also geared towards specific interest groups such as business people, sports enthusiasts, or local residents. Some are even tailored to a single city or region.
The newspaper industry is characterized by fierce competition for advertising revenue. The number of copies of a given newspaper distributed in a day, or over an average week is called circulation, and it is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Increasingly, however, online publication is replacing traditional print publications as the preferred medium for distributing information and news to the general public.
In the early modern period, increased cross-border interaction created a rising need for quick and reliable dissemination of political and military news. This was met by the development of concise handwritten news-sheets, or notizie scritte, which cost a small coin, the gazetta, to publish. These notizie scritte shared some characteristics of true newspapers, but were typically only intended for a narrow audience and had limited coverage.
Today, most newspapers are printed on high-quality paper and are distributed through mail or at newsstands. They may also be delivered to subscribers’ homes. A large portion of the public’s awareness of current affairs is derived from newspapers, and the most popular ones are often highly respected and influential.
A major daily newspaper is often staffed with professional journalists, and has its own staff of photographers, illustrators, and designers to produce high-quality content. Its editor, or, more accurately, its editorial board, selects stories to be included in the publication and writes articles that express the newspaper’s opinion of important public concerns. The publication usually includes a page dedicated to editorials and opinion pieces, called op-eds, that are written by guests.
The Yale Daily News, established on January 28, 1878, is the oldest college daily newspaper in the United States and is editorially and financially independent. It also publishes a weekly supplement, WEEKEND, and several special issues each year in collaboration with Yale’s cultural centers and affiliated student groups. The YDN Historical Archive provides access to digitized versions of a selection of its printed issues. The archive contains over 140 years of YDN reporting. Its collection of digitized issues is available to researchers worldwide. The Yale Daily News’ Historical Archive is funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional funding is provided by the Yale Center for British Studies. The Yale Daily News is a member of the Newseum Institute’s Library Partners Program.