The Daily News is an American newspaper founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the Illustrated Daily News, the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. It has long been New York City’s most prominent and influential newspaper, reaching its highest circulation in 1947. The paper continues to attract readers with sensational crime and scandal coverage, lurid photographs and cartoons, celebrity gossip, classified ads and a robust sports section. The New York Times is a competing daily.
The Yale Daily News is the nation’s oldest college daily, publishing Monday through Friday during the academic year and serving the Yale and New Haven communities. The News is independent both financially and editorially, having been so since its founding on January 28, 1878. Each year the News publishes several special issues, including the Yale-Harvard Game Day Issue and the Commencement Issue, as well as a weekly supplement called WEEKEND and the News Magazine. The News also regularly partners with Yale’s cultural centers and affiliated student groups to produce editions celebrating their communities.
As a tabloid, the News has often been accused of titillation and sensationalism, but has also maintained a strong tradition of fact-based journalism and rigorous scrutiny of public affairs. Its editorial stance has varied over the years, from a pro-Iron Curtain position during World War II to a more centrist approach in the 1990s and later a conservative populist outlook.
It has been a major player in the development of city government and in the advancement of civic society. During the 1920s, for example, it helped to expose political corruption by the Teapot Dome scandal and the intrigue between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII that led to his abdication.
Throughout its history, the News has been the most read newspaper in New York City and in many cities across the United States. It is still one of the country’s top-selling newspapers and, as of 2016, was owned by Mortimer Zuckerman through his New York Media Group. It has a circulation of more than 200,000, although that figure is significantly lower than its peak in the mid-20th century.