Newsday

''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and formerly it was "Newsday, the Long Island Newspaper". The newspaper's headquarters are located in Melville, New York.

Since its founding in 1940, ''Newsday'' has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes. Historically, it penetrated the New York City market. As of 2023, ''Newsday'' is the eighth-largest circulation newspaper in the United States with a print circulation of 86,850.

History

20th century

Founded by Alicia Patterson and her husband, Harry Guggenheim, the first edition of ''Newsday'' was September 3, 1940, published from Hempstead.

Until undergoing a major redesign in the 1970s, ''Newsday'' copied the '' Daily News'' format of short stories and numerous pictures. Patterson was fired as a writer at her father's ''Daily News'' in her early 20s, after getting the basic facts of a divorce wrong in a published report. She later went on the publish and edit ''Newsday''. Following Patterson's death in 1963, Guggenheim became publisher and editor.

In 1967, Guggenheim turned over the publisher position to Bill Moyers and continued as president and editor-in-chief. But Guggenheim was disappointed by the liberal drift of the newspaper under Moyers, criticizing what he called the "left-wing" coverage of the anti-Vietnam War protests.

The two ultimately split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim authoring an editorial supporting Richard Nixon when Moyers supported Hubert Humphrey.

In 1970, Guggenheim sold his majority share to the then-conservative Times-Mirror Company over the attempt of newspaper employees to block the sale, even though Moyers offered $10 million more than the Times-Mirror purchase price; Moyers resigned a few days later. Guggenheim, who died a year later, had Moyers removed from his will.

After the competing '' Long Island Press'' (not to be confused with the alternative weekly of the same name) ceased publication in 1977, ''Newsday'' launched a separate Queens edition, followed by a New York City edition dubbed ''New York Newsday''. In June 2000, Times Mirror merged with the Tribune Company, partnering ''Newsday'' with the New York City television station WPIX, also owned by Tribune.

With the Times Mirror-Tribune merger, the newspaper founded by Alicia Patterson was now owned by the company that was founded by her great-grandfather, Joseph Medill, who owned the ''Chicago Tribune'' and, until 1991, also owned her father's ''Daily News''. Tribune sold the ''Daily News'' to British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell.

Following Maxwell's death in 1992, the family publishing empire collapsed, and Mortimer Zuckerman purchased the ''Daily News''.

21st century

In April 2008, News Corporation, headed by CEO Rupert Murdoch, attempted to purchase ''Newsday'' for US$580 million. This was followed by a matching bid from Zuckerman and a $680 million bid from Cablevision.

In May 2008, News Corporation withdrew its bid, and on May 12, 2008, ''Newsday'' reported that Cablevision would purchase the paper for $650 million. The sale was completed July 29, 2008.

In 2016, Altice, a Netherlands-based multinational telecommunications company, acquired Cablevision, including ''Newsday'' and News 12. However, Altice then sold a majority (75%) stake in ''Newsday'' back to Cablevision's former owner Charles Dolan and his son Patrick, making Patrick the CEO of ''Newsday''. Altice disposed of its remaining stake in ''Newsday'' at the end of July 2018, which, combined with Charles Dolan's transfer of shares to son Patrick, made Patrick the sole owner of ''Newsday''.

In July 2020, ''Newsday'' received $10 million in federal government loans from Paycheck Protection Program during the COVID-19 pandemic to pay salaries for 500 employees.

In 2022, Don Hudson was named editor.

In March 2023, ''Newsday'' launched NewsdayTV, featuring former News 12 Networks anchor Elisa DiStefano. NewsdayTV is available online and through major streaming outlets. NewsdayTV takes a similar approach to news as other Long Island news outlets such as News12.

Editorial style

Despite having a tabloid format, ''Newsday'' is not known for being sensationalistic, as are other local daily tabloids, such as the New York '' Daily News'' and the ''New York Post''. This causes Newsday to sometimes be referred to as "the respectable tabloid".

In 2004, the alternative weekly newspaper '' Long Island Press'' (which is not related to the defunct daily of the same name) wrote that ''Newsday'' has used its clout to influence local politics in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Bill Moyers briefly served as publisher. During the tenure of publisher Robert M. Johnson in the 1980s, Newsday made a major push into New York City. The paper's roster of columnists and critics has included Cathy Young, Jimmy Breslin, Barbara Garson, Normand Poirier, Murray Kempton, Gail Collins, Pete Hamill, Sydney Schanberg, Robert Reno (died 2012), Jim Dwyer, sportswriter Mike Lupica, music critic Tim Page, and television critic Marvin Kitman. The paper featured both advice columnists Ann Landers and Dear Abby for several years.

From 1985 to 2005, Michael Mandelbaum wrote a regular foreign affairs analysis column for ''Newsday''. Writer and biographer Robert Caro was an investigative reporter. Its features section has included television reporters Verne Gay and Diane Werts, TV/film feature writer Frank Lovece, and film critic Rafer Guzman. ''Newsday'' carries the syndicated columnist Froma Harrop. Pulitzer Prize winner Walt Handelsman's editorial political cartoons animation are a nationally syndicated feature of ''Newsday''. In the 1980s, a new design director, Robert Eisner, guided the transition into digital design and color printing.

''Newsday'' created and sponsored a "Long Island at the Crossroads" advisory board in 1978, to recommend regional goals, supervise local government, and liaison with state and Federal officials. It lasted approximately a decade.

On March 21, 2011, ''Newsday'' redesigned its front page, scrapping the nameplate and font used since the 1960s in favor of a sans-serif wordmark.

Circulation

In 2004, a circulation scandal revealed that the paper's daily and Sunday circulation had been inflated by 16.9% and 14.5%, respectively, in the auditing period September 30, 2002 to September 30, 2003. The Audit Bureau of Circulation adjusted average weekday circulation to 481,816 from 579,599; average Saturday circulation to 392,649 from 416,830; and average Sunday circulation to 574,081 from 671,820, and instituted twice-yearly audits.

In 2008, ''Newsday'' was ranked 10th in terms of newspaper circulation in the United States.

On October 28, 2009, ''Newsday'' changed its web site to a paid-subscriber only model. Newsday.com would open its front page, classified ads, movie listings, and school closings to all site visitors, but access beyond this content would require a weekly fee – US$5 as of 2010. This fee would be waived for subscribers of the print edition of the paper, as well as for subscribers to parent-company Cablevision's Internet service. Through its first three months only 35 non-Optimum, non-''Newsday'' subscribers signed up for the paid website.

Pulitzer Prizes

''Newsday'' has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes and has been a finalist for 20 additional (if no individual is listed, award is for ''Newsday'' staff):

* 1954: Public Service (Winner)
* 1970: Public Service (Winner)
* 1970: Editorial Cartooning (Winner) — Thomas F. Darcy
* 1974: Public Service (Winner)
* 1974: Criticism (Winner) — Emily Genauer, Newsday Syndicate
* 1980: Local Investigative Specialized Reporting (Finalist) — Carole E. Agus, Andrew V. Fetherston Jr., and Frederick J. Tuccillo
* 1982: International Reporting (Finalist) — Bob Wyrick
* 1982: Criticism (Finalist) — Marvin Kitman
* 1984: Local General or Spot News Reporting (Winner)
* 1984: International Reporting (Finalist) — Morris Thompson
* 1984: Criticism (Finalist) — Dan Cryer
* 1985: International Reporting (Winner) — Josh Friedman, Dennis Bell, and Ozier Muhammad
* 1985: Commentary (Winner) — Murray Kempton
* 1986: Feature Writing (Finalist) — Irene Virag
* 1989: Investigative Reporting (Finalist) — Penny Loeb
* 1990: Specialized Reporting (Finalist) – Jim Dwyer
* 1991: Spot News Reporting (Finalist)
* 1991: Spot News Photography (Finalist)
* 1992: Spot News Reporting (Winner)
* 1992: International Reporting (Winner) — Patrick J. Sloyan
* 1993: International Reporting (Winner) — Roy Gutman
* 1994: Explanatory Journalism (Finalist)
* 1995: Investigative Reporting (Winner) — Brian Donovan and Stephanie Saul
* 1995: Commentary (Winner) — Jim Dwyer
* 1996: Explanatory Journalism (Winner) — Laurie Garrett
* 1996: Beat Reporting (Winner) — Bob Keeler
* 1996: International Reporting (Finalist) — Laurie Garrett
* 1997: Spot News Reporting (Winner)
* 1998: Beat Reporting (Finalist) — Laurie Garrett
* 1999: Criticism (Finalist) — Justin Davidson
* 1999: Editorial Writing (Finalist) — Lawrence C. Levy
* 2002: Criticism (Winner) — Justin Davidson
* 2004: Breaking News Reporting (Finalist)
* 2005: International Reporting (Winner) — Dele Olojede
* 2005: Explanatory Reporting (Finalist)
* 2007: Editorial Cartooning (Winner) — Walt Handelsman
* 2008: Public Service (Finalist) — Jennifer Barrios, Sophia Chang, Michael R. Ebert, Reid J. Epstein, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Eden Laikin, Herbert Lowe, Joseph Mallia, Jennifer Maloney, Luis Perez and Karla Schuster
* 2013: Editorial Writing (Finalist) — Editorial Board staff
* 2014: Public Service (Finalist)

In popular culture

* 1969: The novel '' Naked Came the Stranger'' is written as a literary hoax poking fun at contemporary American culture. Although credited to "Penelope Ashe", it was in fact written by a group of 24 journalists led by ''Newsday'' columnist Mike McGrady, who intended to author a deliberately terrible book with a lot of sex to illustrate the point that popular American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. The book fulfilled the authors' expectations and became a bestseller in 1969; they revealed the hoax later that year, further spurring the book's popularity.
* 1985: In the comedy/thriller '' Compromising Positions'', the lead character, played by Susan Sarandon, is a former ''Newsday'' journalist who is trying reestablish her career by selling a freelance story to the publication.
* 1986: In the '' Crocodile Dundee'' films, Linda Kozlowski's character, reporter Sue Charlton, works at ''Newsday''.
* 1996: The episode " The Homer They Fall" in season eight of ''The Simpsons'' quotes ''Newsday'' calling boxing "the cruelest sport".
* 1996 to 2005: In the CBS sitcom ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', the fictional character Ray Barone played by Ray Romano is employed by ''Newsday'' as a sportswriter.
*2016: In the documentary '' Three Identical Strangers'', former editor Howard Schneider discusses ''Newsday'''s coverage of three young men who discovered they were separated as infants.

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

1940 establishments in New York (state)
2008 mergers and acquisitions
Daily newspapers published in New York (state)
Guggenheim family
Huntington, New York
Newspapers established in 1940
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners
Pulitzer Prize–winning newspapers