New York City Newspapers And Magazines

As the undisputed literary capital of the US, New York is where many of the nation’s most important newspapers, magazines, and books are written, published, and subsequently torn to pieces by reviewers. Though the range of daily papers published in New York has shrunk drastically in recent years, the city still hosts some 100 daily and weekly newspapers—small and large, English and foreign-language. The New York Times (www.nytimes.com), nicknamed “the old gray lady” for its sedate restraint, aspires to be the nation’s paper of record, and despite a steady stream of scandals in recent years, it continues to provide sophisticated international, national, and municipal coverage. The paper’s Wednesday “Dining” and “Sunday Styles” sections are trendsetters in the city, and arts coverage throughout the week is extensive. There’s a common joke, though, that, while the brainy New York Times is written for people who think they should run the world, The Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com), with its financially focused coverage, is written for the people who actually do run the world. The city’s two major tabloids, the New York Post (www.nypost.com) and The Daily News (www.nydailynews.com) are great sources of local color, battling to outdo each other in the size of the headline on their front pages, the gruesomeness of the crimes they describe, and the number of pages they devote to sports. The Post tends to be politically conservative, and its gossip column, “Page Six,” is a salacious record of the lives of the rich and famous. The slim and free Metro newspaper (ny.metro.us) is ubiquitous in the subway.

King Kong, Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack (1933). So low-budget it was shot entirely in-studio, the film paints a grim picture of Depression-era New York and provides the unforgettable image of a humongous gorilla straddling the Empire State Building.

On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan (1954). An artful and unflinching portrait of oppressive working conditions, corruption, and mob violence in the dockyards and immigrant populations of New York City.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Blake Edwards (1961). Before Paris Hilton came to define the New York socialite, Audrey Hepburn did it with sophistication, class, and far less money. “I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I’m not sure where that is, but I know what it is like. It’s like Tiffany’s.”

West Side Story, Robert Wise and Gerome Robbins (1961). The story of Romeo and Juliet loosely transposed to the gang-dominated Upper West Side of the 1950s. Watch the Sharks and the Jets play out an ancient feud.

Annie Hall, Woody Allen (1977). A bittersweet break-up comedy demonstrating the eternal superiority of New York to L.A. “Don’t you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes, and I live here.”

Manhattan, Woody Allen (1979). A black-and-white paean to jazz, Manhattan, and the creative, neurotic lifestyle that Allen’s persona lives there. “‘He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Beneath his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat.’ (I love this.) ‘New York was his town, and it always would be..’”

Wall Street, Oliver Stone (1987). Profiling a young Wall Street trader and a savvy older broker, this film depicts the corporate world at its most unseemly—filled with all-consuming greed, lawlessness, and soullessness.

Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee (1989). Set in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, the film tracks the explosive race dynamics on a single neighborhood block on the hottest day of the summer.

When Harry Met Sally, Rob Reiner (1989). A romantic comedy following the rendezvous of Harry and Sally throughout New York, in hopes of answering the question of whether platonic friendship between men and women is possible. Long story short: it isn’t.

You’ve Got Mail, Nora Ephron (1998). An exploration of cyber-dating and chain stores on the Upper West Side. “Keep those West Side, liberal, nuts, pseudo-intellectuals.. — ‘Readers,’ Dad. They’re called ‘readers.’ — Don’t do that, son. Don’t romanticize them.”

The Village Voice (www.villagevoice.com), available free at many street corners and newsstands, is the country’s largest alternative newspaper. This left-leaning, Greenwich Village-based weekly stages lively political debates, sponsors excellent investigative reporting, and hosts the city’s most intriguing set of personal ads. The real estate and nightlife listings are indispensable. The widely respected New Yorker (www.newyorker.com) contains invaluable museum, concert, theater, and movie listings for the tourist.

Myriad ethnic papers cater to the African-American, Chinese, Greek, Hispanic, Indian, Irish, and Korean communities, among others. Highlights include El Diario (www.eldiariony.com), a Spanish-language daily; Haitian Times (www.haitiantimes.com); Irish Echo (www.irishecho.com); and Forward (www.forward.com), a Jewish weekly published in English, Russian, and Yiddish.