Founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the Illustrated Daily News, it was the first successful tabloid newspaper in the United States. It quickly attracted a loyal readership with sensational coverage of crime and scandal, lurid photographs, and comics. It also emphasized politics and social intrigue, including the romance between Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII that led to his abdication. The paper grew to be one of the best-circulated newspapers in the world at its peak. Today it is owned by Tronc, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune.
Its offices once occupied the landmark art deco Daily News Building at 220 East 42nd Street, designed by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. This was a city and national landmark, and served as the model for the Daily Planet building of the first two Superman films. Today the News is headquartered at 450 West 33rd Street (also known as Manhattan West) in a new building erected in 1995, and is anchored by a large globe in its lobby. The News also operates WPIX-TV, whose call letters are a play on its namesake newspaper, and an FM radio station, both of which remain in the original News Building.
The paper continues to be known for intense city news coverage, celebrity gossip, classified ads, a huge comics section, and sports. It has also shifted its political stance from one of conservative populism in the 1930s to a more moderately liberal one.