The fifth anniversary April 24 of the passing of George E. McDonald, who led the New York Allied Printing Trades Council, closed the books on the glory days of New York City newspapers.
In the 1960s, NYC was blessed with over 12 daily newspapers sold at thousands of neighborhood newsstands. I still remember many of Long Island’s own Newsday’s competitors from decades ago, such as the Long Island Star Journal and Long Island Press based in Queens, along with the short-lived Suffolk Sun.
The 1962 newspaper strike lasted for 114 days before ending on March 31, 1963. Prior to that, New Yorkers had numerous newspapers. These included the New York Post, New York Daily News, New York Journal American, New York World Telegram & Sun, New York Mirror, The New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, Long Island Star Journal, Long Island Press and Staten Island Advance.
It was an era when a majority of citizens received their news from newspapers, as opposed to television news. The broadcasts were primarily local news, sports and weather, seldom more than 30 minutes. Budgets were not readily available to send reporters out for remote coverage of national or international stories. Readers could select from morning, midday and late afternoon editions, available at thousands of newsstands.
Today there are far fewer newspapers and only several hundred newsstands left in NYC, primarily in Manhattan. The profit margin for individual newspaper sales can be as little as pennies. Newsstand owners need additional revenues to survive. They provide newspapers and other products many New Yorkers depend upon on a daily basis.
As a result of the strike, the Daily Mirror ended publication in 1963. The remnants of three papers combined into one, the World Journal Tribune, which had the best reporters and features from the old New York Herald Tribune, World Telegram and Sun along with the Journal American. But the new venture could not survive and folded in 1967.
The continued demise of newsstands since the 1960s is bad news for our remaining papers. Excessive regulations from various NYC municipal agencies have contributed to the reduction in newsstands over past decades.
The relentless loss of newspaper across the nation is bad news for readers. Most American cities and suburbs are down to one local daily or weekly newspaper. Newspapers and magazines have to deal with increasing costs for newsprint, delivery and distribution along with reduced advertising revenues and declining readership due to competition from the Internet and other new information sources. We are fortunate to live in one of the few remaining free societies with a wealth of information sources available for all.
Today there is an ongoing circulation battle between the New York Post, New York Daily News and The New York Times. They face competition from other daily newspapers such as Newsday, Staten Island Advance, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. This war for readers is also taking place in Great Neck, New Hyde Park, Herricks, Williston Park, Albertson, Garden City, Manhasset, Roslyn and other neighborhoods in adjacent Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties.
There are also freebies such as AM New York and Metro New York.
More people turn to all news radio, national network news such as ABC, CBS and NBC, along with their local affiliates, NY1 (New York City), News 12 (Long Island), FOX-5, WOR-9, WPIX-11, WLNY 10/55, PBS, along with cable new stations such as CNBC, CNN, FOX, BBC and the Internet for late-breaking news, which can sometimes become stale by the time it reaches print the next day. A growing population of new immigrants support their own newspaper, radio and television stations.
In the marketplace of ideas, let us hope there continues to be room for everyone still publishing today along with our own Great Neck News and other Blank Media publications.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
