Founded in 1919, the New York Daily News was the first successful tabloid newspaper in the United States. At its peak in the 1940s it was one of the highest circulated papers in the world, with 2.4 million readers each day. The tabloid was renowned for its sensational reporting of crime and scandal, lurid photographs, cartoons and celebrity gossip.
The paper also carried intense city news coverage, classified ads, sports news and opinions. By the turn of the 21st century, it was losing circulation to its more sensational rival, the New York Post, but it remained the largest selling metropolitan newspaper in the country.
In an attempt to recover its readership, the Daily News began publishing a series of investigative articles in early 2000. The articles were highly controversial and led to the resignation of several high-ranking officials in the city’s government. The paper also lowered its editorial standards and began running many stories without any fact-checking, which caused criticisms of the paper’s integrity and impartiality.
By the end of the decade, circulation had dipped to less than 800,000 copies per day, and the Daily News had fallen behind its competitors in terms of revenue. Attempts to reposition the paper as a serious tabloid failed, and in 2017 the Daily News was sold for $1 to Tronc, a Chicago-based media company. In 2018, the Daily News began to struggle financially, and in February of that year it was announced that it would lay off dozens of employees.
The Yale Daily News is published every weekday that the University is in session, and it is the oldest college daily newspaper in the United States. It is financially and editorially independent of the university, but it collaborates with student groups to produce special issues including the Yale-Harvard Game Day Issue and the Commencement Issue. It has a large staff of students, many of whom have gone on to prominent careers in journalism and public life. Notable alumni include William F. Buckley, Lan Samantha Chang, John Hersey, Sargent Shriver and Strobe Talbott.
Each article includes “Comprehensive” and “Critical Thinking” questions to help students develop a deeper understanding of the news story. A “Background” and “Resources” section is also included to give students additional information about the topic. Each question is followed by a suggested answer, which is intended to be unbiased and allow for a variety of viewpoints. Students can use the questions to generate discussion in class and to practice for standardized tests.