Media in New York City

New York City has been called the media capital of the world.^[1][2] The media of New York City are internationally influential and include some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, biggest record companies, and most prolific television studios in the world. It is a major global center for the book, magazine, music, newspaper, and television industries. The Pew Research Center report "One-in-five U.S. newsroom employees live in New York, Los Angeles or D.C." showcases 12 percent of all U.S. newsroom employees—reporters, editors, photographers, live in New York City while only 7 percent of the U.S. working-age population lives in New York City.^[3]

New York is also the largest media market in North America (followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto).^[4] Some of the city's media conglomerates include CNN (CNN Global), the Hearst Corporation, NBCUniversal, The New York Times Company, the Fox Corporation and News Corp, the Thomson Reuters Corporation, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount Global. Seven of the world's top eight global advertising agency networks are headquartered in New York.^[5] Three of the "Big Four" record labels are also headquartered or co-headquartered in the city. One-third of all American independent films are produced in New York.^[6] More than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines have an office in the city^[6] and the book-publishing industry employs about 25,000 people.^[7]

Two of the three U.S. national daily newspapers with the largest circulations in the United States are published in New York: The Wall Street Journal; and The New York Times, nicknamed "the Grey Lady", which has won the most Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and is considered the U.S. media's "newspaper of record".^[8] Major tabloid newspapers in the city include the New York Daily News, which was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson,^[9] and the New York Post, founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton.^[10] Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, is also widely circulated in the city. The city also has a major ethnic press, with 270 newspapers and magazines published in more than 40 languages.^[11] El Diario La Prensa is New York's largest Spanish-language daily and the oldest in the nation.^[12] The New York Amsterdam News, published in Harlem, is a prominent African-American newspaper. The Village Voice was the largest alternative newspaper until it ceased publishing in 2018.

The television industry developed in New York and is a significant employer in the city's economy. The four major American broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, are all headquartered in New York. Many cable channels are based in the city as well, including CNN, MSNBC, MTV, Fox News, HBO, and Comedy Central. In 2005 there were more than 100 television shows taped in New York City.^[13]

New York is also a major center for non-commercial media. The oldest public-access cable television channel in the United States is the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, founded in 1971.^[14] WNET is the city's major public television station and a primary provider of national Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) programming. WNYC, a public radio station owned by the city until 1997, has the largest public radio audience in the United States.^[15] The City of New York operates a public broadcast service, NYC Media, that produces several original New York Emmy Award–winning shows covering music and culture in city neighborhoods, as well as city government-access television (GATV).

New York City is home to a number of major online media companies, including Yahoo! and its operations under the AOL brand, along with news and entertainment companies like BuzzFeed and VICE Media.^[16]