Newsday

For the Zimbabwean daily newspaper, see NewsDay.

The October 15, 2009 front page of Newsday
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner	Cablevision
Publisher	Fred Groser
Editor	Debbie Henley
Founded	1940
Headquarters	235 Pinelawn Road Melville, New York 11747  United States
Circulation	377,517 Daily[1] 433,894 Sunday[1]
Official website	Newsday.com

Melville, NY headquarters

Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. As of 2009, its weekday circulation of 377,500 was the 11th-highest in the United States, and the highest among suburban newspapers.^[2]

The newspaper's headquarters are in Melville, New York, in Suffolk County.

History

Founded by Alicia Patterson, with backing from her husband, Harry Guggenheim, the paper was first published on September 3, 1940 from Hempstead. After 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 Vietnam War protests.^[3][4] The two split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim signing an editorial supporting Richard Nixon, when Moyers supported Hubert Humphrey.^[5] 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.^[3][6][7] Guggenheim, who died a year later, disinherited Moyers from his will.^[8]

Newsday launched a separate Queens edition in 1977, followed by a New York City edition. In June 2000, Times Mirror merged with the Tribune Company, partnering Newsday with the New York City television station WPIX (Channel 11), also owned by Tribune. Chicago, Illinois, real estate magnate Samuel Zell purchased Tribune in 2007.^[2]

News Corporation, headed by CEO Rupert Murdoch, attempted to purchase Newsday for $580 million in April 2008.^[9] This was soon followed by a matching bid from New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman^[10] and a $680 million bid from Cablevision.^[11] In May 2008, News Corporation withdrew its bid,^[12] and on May 12, 2008, Newsday reported that Cablevision would purchase the paper for $650 million.^[13] The sale was completed July 29, 2008.^[14]

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.^[15][16]

In 2004, the alternative weekly newspaper Long Island Press wrote that Newsday has used its clout to influence local politics in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.^[17]

Bill Moyers briefly served as publisher.^[18] 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 included Jimmy Breslin, Barbara Garson, Murray Kempton, Gail Collins, Pete Hamill, Sydney Schanberg, Jim Dwyer, sportswriter Mike Lupica, music critic Tim Page, and television critic Marvin Kitman. Newsday featured both the advice columnists Ann Landers and Dear Abby for several years. Its features section has included television reporters Verne Gay and Diane Werts, reality TV columnist Frank Lovece, and film critics John Anderson, Rafer Guzman, Gene Seymour, and Jan Stuart. Newsday carries the syndicated columnist Froma Harrop.

Newsday's use of graphics has sometimes attracted national attention, particularly of the circa-1970 work of such longtime in-house illustrators as Gary Viskupic, Tony D'Adamo, and Ned Levine. 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.^[19][20][21] It lasted approximately a decade.

On March 21, 2011, Newsday remade its front page, scrapping the masthead and font used since the 1960s. ^[22]

Circulation

In 2008, Newsday was ranked 10th in terms of newspaper circulation in the United States.^[2]

A circulation scandal in 2004 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.^[23] 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.^[23]

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.^[24] Through its first three months, 35 non-Optimum, non-Newsday subscribers signed up for the paid web site.^[25][26]

Awards

Pulitzer Prize

As of 2008, Newsday has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes and has been a finalist for 18 additional:^[27] If no individual is listed, award is for Newsday staff.

• 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
• 2007: Editorial Cartooning (Winner) — Walt Handelsman
• 2005: International Reporting (Winner) — Dele Olojede
• 2005: Explanatory Reporting (Finalist)
• 2004: Breaking News Reporting (Finalist)
• 2002: Criticism (Winner) — Justin Davidson
• 1999: Criticism (Finalist) — Justin Davidson
• 1999: Editorial Writing (Finalist) — Lawrence C. Levy
• 1998: Beat Reporting (Finalist) — Laurie Garrett
• 1997: Spot News Reporting (Winner)
• 1996: Explanatory Journalism (Winner) — Laurie Garrett
• 1996: Beat Reporting (Winner) — Bob Keeler
• 1996: International Reporting (Finalist) — Laurie Garrett
• 1995: Investigative Reporting (Winner) — Brian Donovan and Stephanie Saul
• 1995: Commentary (Winner) — Jim Dwyer
• 1994: Explanatory Journalism (Finalist)
• 1993: International Reporting (Winner) — Roy Gutman
• 1992: Spot News Reporting (Winner)
• 1992: International Reporting (Winner) — Patrick J. Sloyan
• 1991: Spot News Reporting (Finalist)
• 1991: Spot News Photography (Finalist)
• 1990: Specialized Reporting (Finalist) - Jim Dwyer
• 1989: Investigative Reporting (Finalist) — Penny Loeb
• 1986: Feature Writing (Finalist) — Irene Virag
• 1985: International Reporting (Winner) — Josh Friedman, Dennis Bell, and Ozier Muhammad
• 1985: Commentary (Winner) — Murray Kempton
• 1984: Local General or Spot News Reporting (Winner)
• 1984: International Reporting (Finalist) — Morris Thompson
• 1984: Criticism (Finalist) — Dan Cryer
• 1982: International Reporting (Finalist) — Bob Wyrick
• 1982: Criticism (Finalist) — Marvin Kitman
• 1980: Local Investigative Specialized Reporting (Finalist) — Carole E. Agus, Andrew V. Fetherston Jr. and Frederick J. Tuccillo
• 1974: Public Service (Winner)
• 1974: Criticism (Winner) — Emily Genauer, Newsday Syndicate
• 1970: Public Service (Winner)
• 1970: Editorial Cartooning (Winner) — Thomas F. Darcy
• 1954: Public Service (Winner)

In popular culture

• In the 1985 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.
• On the 1996-2005 CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, the fictional character Ray Barone (played by Ray Romano) is employed by Newsday as a sportswriter.
• The lead female character in the "Crocodile" Dundee movies worked at Newsday.
• The episode "The Homer They Fall" in season eight of The Simpsons quotes Newsday in referencing boxing as "The cruelest sport".

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "2009 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. http://www.burrellesluce.com/top100/2009_Top_100List.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-13. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Three New York Moguls in Talks to Buy Newsday", by Tim Arango and Richard Pérez-Peña, March 21, 2008
3. ^ ^{a b} "The Press: How Much Independence?". Time. April 27, 1970. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909136,00.html. Retrieved 15 February 2010. 
4. ^ Keeler, Robert F. (1990). Newsday: a candid history of the respectable tabloid. Morrow. pp. 460–61. ISBN 1557100535. 
5. ^ "Newsday Goes For Nixon, But Moyers Balks". Chicago Tribune. October 17, 1968. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/608632712.html?dids=608632712:608632712&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+17%2C+1968&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=NEWSDAY+GOES+FOR+NIXON%2C+BUT+MOYERS+BALKS&pqatl=google. Retrieved 15 February 2010. 
6. ^ "Moyers Resigns Post at Newsday". New York Times. May 13, 1970. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F12FC3F5D137B93C1A8178ED85F448785F9. Retrieved 15 February 2010. 
7. ^ Raymont, Henry (March 13, 1970). "Newsday Employes Seek to Block Sale of the Paper". New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20815FA3C5A157493C1A81788D85F448785F9. Retrieved 15 February 2010. 
8. ^ "$12 Million Left to Charity by Guggenheim". Chicago Tribune. January 30, 1971. 
9. ^ Newsday (April 23, 2008): "Murdoch tells LI officials deal for Newsday close", by Ellen Yan and James T. Madadore
10. ^ Reuters (April 16, 2008): "Zuckerman submits $580 million Newsday bid: source", by Robert Macmillan and Kenneth Lee
11. ^ Reuters (May 2, 2008): "Cablevision submits $650 mln bid for Newsday: source" by Jui Chakravorty Das
12. ^ Reuters (May 11, 2008)
13. ^ Cablevision announces deal to buy Newsday, Newsday, May 12, 2008
14. ^ Cablevision Completes Newsday Buy from Tribune, Broadcasting and Cable, July 29, 2008
15. ^ Stevens, John D., Sensationalism and the New York Press (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991) ISBN 0-231-07396-8
16. ^ Hamill, Pete, News Is a Verb: Journalism at the End of the Twentieth Century (New York: Ballantine Books, 1998) ISBN 0-345-42528-6
17. ^ Long Island Press, "Game Over: How the Paper's Monopoly Control Has Warped its Coverage and Hurt Long Island", by Christopher Twarowski, Dec. 30, 2004: "Numerous politicians in both counties, county workers, directors of community groups and other sources claim that 'Newsday' uses its position as Long Island's only daily paper to strong-arm county officials, nonprofit directors, local leaders and rival publications and even to influence pieces of legislation — often through fear, intimidation and other anticompetitive practices — to further its political or commercial agenda".
18. ^ The Museum of Broadcast Communications: Moyer biography
19. ^ Newsday (April 19, 1988): "A Decade Later, Still at Crossroads", by Tom Morris
20. ^ Newsday (Dec. 13, 1988): "L.I. Planners Need Cooperation, Not Competition" (editorial)
21. ^ Newsday (Feb. 4, 1991): "Back to the Future", by Greg Steinmetz
22. ^ Newsday (March 21, 2011): "Meet the new Newsday"
23. ^ ^{a b} Audit Bureau of Circulation, "ABC Releases Newsday Audit", November 16, 2004
24. ^ Flamm, Matthew (October 22, 2009). "Newsday to begin charging for online articles". Crain's New York. http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20091022/FREE/910229988. Retrieved 2009-10-31. 
25. ^ Koblin, John (January 26, 2010). "After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday's Web Site". The New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/2010/media/after-three-months-only-35-subscriptions-newsdays-web-site. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
26. ^ . http://www.amirkurtovic.com/2010/01/paywalls-hit-a-wall-only-35-sign-up-to-pay-for-newsday. 
27. ^ Pulitzer Prize official site: Newsday search results

External links

• Newsday.com
• amNY.com