A daily newspaper is a periodical publication of news or articles. In the past, it was printed on paper and distributed in shops or at newsstands; since the 1990s, it has been widely published on the Internet with online newspaper websites. The main purpose of a newspaper is to present current events and news from around the world to the public. Most newspapers are based on a broad range of subject areas, such as politics, economy, sports and culture. Most have a general audience, but some specialize in particular groups of readers such as business people or sports fans. The term “daily” refers to the fact that the papers are published at a regular interval, often on a daily or weekly basis.

The term was first used in the 19th century to describe publications that were published daily and were generally able to be read on the same day. These were usually broadsheets, but later tabloids appeared, as did a number of weeklies, such as the Saturday Telegraph. The New York Daily News, founded in 1855, was a prominent example of this type of newspaper.

A major requirement of a daily newspaper is that it should be reasonably accessible to the public, both through sale or distribution in traditional ways (through newsstands and shops, or through libraries and schools) and now, since the 1990s, through the Internet with online newspaper websites. However, limited literacy is a significant impediment to the widespread reading of newspapers, both on paper and in electronic form.

Until the early 1920s, daily newspapers enjoyed high levels of market penetration – that is, they were read in almost all households, at least as a supplement to other forms of media such as television and radio. This was largely because the printing and publishing industries were relatively inexpensive, making it economical to produce a large volume of publications.

Some of the most well-known and influential newspapers in history are daily. Examples include The Times in London, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Others are less well-known, but still important, such as The Boston Globe and the Daily Telegraph.

In addition to general news coverage, some newspapers offer opinions on current issues in society. These are called editorials and are usually written by the editor or an editorial board, but may also be opinion articles submitted by guest writers. Other types of commentary are called columns and express personal views on a topic, such as a sport, religion or political issue.

In the case of the New York City-based Daily News, a famous columnist was Dick Young who wrote a regular series of articles on his bench in The News lobby, and it became a popular place for readers to wait for their morning train or bus. The New York Daily News has been owned by a variety of owners, most recently by Tronc in 2017. It has continued to publish and is one of the oldest American newspapers still in existence.