The Daily News was a tabloid that once had the highest circulation of any newspaper in the United States. In recent years, it has struggled financially. Its parent company, Tribune Publishing (now Tronc), has cut staff and imposed pay cuts. It recently merged with the Chicago Tribune, and it was reported that it may close some newspapers. On Wednesday, the New York Daily News announced that it was closing its newsroom. This was a blow to the city’s journalism community, and it came just days after employees at two other newspapers owned by Tribune, including The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the Orlando Sentinel, were told that their offices would close as well.
Amid this turmoil, the newspaper industry has seen a small increase in digital circulation. But that growth has not yet been enough to offset losses from print advertising. The future of local newspapers is still unclear, but a number of communities are taking steps to support journalism and hold their politicians accountable.
In Death of the Daily News, journalist Andrew Conte chronicles the efforts of one such community — McKeesport, Pennsylvania — to keep itself informed after its local paper went bankrupt. A profoundly important and deeply reported work, it offers clues about what happens when local news dies in a community and how that might be prevented.
This article is part of a series on the state of journalism in the digital age. Read the full series here.
The Pew Research Center’s Michael Barthel and Kirsten Worden analyzed American newspaper data to determine the current state of print and digital newspaper readership in the United States. Their analysis is based on a combination of metrics, including print and digital subscription numbers, page views, monetized content, mobile traffic and social media reach. This report was commissioned by the Knight Foundation and produced in collaboration with the American Press Institute, which is housed at The Pew Research Center.
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The Yale Daily News is the oldest college daily newspaper in the United States. It publishes every weekday when the university is in session and has been the primary source of news for students at Yale since 1890. Its writers and editors have included William F. Buckley, Lan Samantha Chang, John Hersey, Joseph Lieberman, Strobe Talbott, and many others who have gone on to have prominent careers in the media and public life. The Yale Daily News has a AllSides Media Bias Rating of Left, which means it tends to favor perspectives that align with liberal or progressive thinking and/or policy agendas.