Newsday - History

History

Founded by Alicia Patterson -- the daughter of Joseph Medill Patterson, founder of the New York Daily News -- with backing from her husband, Harry Guggenheim, the paper was first published on September 3, 1940 from Hempstead. For many years, Newsday copied the Daily News format of short stories and lots of pictures (Ironically, 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). 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. The two split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim signing an editorial supporting Richard Nixon, when Moyers supported Hubert Humphrey.

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, disinherited Moyers from his will.

After its arch-rival, the 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 (Channel 11), also owned by Tribune.

The Times Mirror-Tribune merger was an ironic point in Newsday's history: In a sense, it returned the newspaper to its founding family. Tribune was founded by Joseph Medill, the great-grandfather of Newsday founder Alicia Patterson -- which also owned her father's Daily News until 1991, when Tribune sold the Daily News to British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell. Maxwell's ownership was short-lived, however; after his death in 1992, his publishing empire collapsed and the Daily News was purchased by Mortimer Zuckerman, who also owned the national newsmagazine U.S. News & World Report.

Chicago, Illinois, real estate magnate Samuel Zell purchased Tribune in 2007.

News Corporation, headed by CEO Rupert Murdoch, attempted to purchase Newsday for US$580 million in April 2008. This was soon 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.