In its heyday in the 1920s, when it was one of the most widely read newspapers in the United States, daily news had a brawny metro tabloid style that delved into crime and corruption. It became famous for its lurid photographs and its coverage of social scandals, including the relationship between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII that led to his abdication.
The newspaper was founded in 1919 as the Illustrated Daily News by Joseph Medill Patterson and later acquired by the Tribune Company of Chicago. It was the first successful American tabloid newspaper and attracted readers with sensational stories of crime, scandal, and violence. It also offered intense city news coverage, celebrity gossip, classified ads, and comics.
In the 21st century, the News lost market share to a rival, the New York Post, but still maintained high circulation and won Pulitzer prizes for reporting. The paper was bought in 1993 by real estate developer Mortimer Zuckerman and sold to Tribune Publishing, the parent company of the newspaper chain Tronc, for $1 in 2017.
Today the newspaper is based at 220 East 42nd Street near Second Avenue, an official city and national landmark designed by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. It was the model for the Daily Planet building in the first two Superman films. The News moved to 450 West 33rd Street (also known as 5 Manhattan West) in 1995, but the 42nd Street building retained its name. The former News subsidiary WPIX-TV remains in the building as well.