How a tabloid newspaper became the voice of New York's working class

Music · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Founded in 1919 as a tabloid, the New York Daily News pioneered a visual style that defined city journalism. From its iconic front-page puns to its Pulitzer-winning investigations into municipal misconduct, the paper has long served as a populist, centrist force speaking directly to the city's working-class residents.

Launched by Joseph Medill Patterson on June 24, 1919, the Illustrated Daily News was the first U.S. daily printed in the tabloid format. Inspired by the British Daily Mirror, Patterson sought a paper that was easier for subway commuters to handle. While initial circulation was modest, the paper grew rapidly, reaching over a million readers by 1925 and peaking at 2.4 million daily copies in 1947. For decades, it operated out of the art deco News Building on 42nd Street, which famously served as the architectural model for the Daily Planet in the original Superman films.

The paper is renowned for its bold, often provocative front-page headlines. One of its most famous, 'FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD,' appeared in 1975 after President Gerald Ford denied federal aid to a bankrupt New York City. Other notable covers included a 1928 photo of an execution taken by a camera strapped to a reporter's leg and a 2016 response to Ted Cruz that featured the Statue of Liberty giving a middle finger. These headlines reflect a legacy of 'flexibly centrist' editorializing that avoids partisan divides to focus on city-centered issues, crime, and crusades against municipal corruption.

Despite its influence, the paper has faced significant turbulence. It nearly folded during strikes in 1982 and the early 1990s, eventually being sold to Mort Zuckerman in 1993. In 2017, Tribune Publishing acquired the paper for just $1, assuming its liabilities, before being bought by Alden Global Capital in 2021. Today, the Daily News continues to be recognized for its investigative rigor, having secured eleven Pulitzer Prizes, including a 2007 award for exposing the health struggles of 9/11 rescue workers and a 2017 award for uncovering police abuse of eviction rules.

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