Daily Bugle

### Base of Operations

Daily Bugle Building (formerly Goodman Building) on 39th Street and Second Avenue, New York City

### Formation

1897- Founding of Daily Bugle1975- Purchase by Jameson Publications

## Summary

The Daily Bugle is a tabloid (referring to its compact page size being smaller than broadsheet) newspaper based in New York City. Operating from the Daily Bugle Building located on 39th Street and Second Avenue, it is one of the most widely read newspapers within the United States of America, though predominantly focused with the northeastern region of the nation.

The Daily Bugle was formally an independent paper, but was purchased by now-parent company Jameson Publishing, with its founder in J Jonah Jameson serving as chief editor and publisher of the paper alongside with NOW Magazine. Many various individuals have gotten their start in the paper or have been affiliated. Below is a list of prominent staff members during its iteration owned by Jameson Publications and still working:

* J. Jonah Jameson (chief editor, owner & publisher) 1960 - present day
* Joseph Robbie Robertson (editor-in-chief; recognized "second in command") 1975 - present day
* Elizabeth "Betty" Brant (secretary) 1993 - present day
* Benjamin Urich (employee, senior investigative journalist) 1985- present day
* Ned "Leeds" Lee (employee, reporter) 1992 - present day
* Philip "Phil" Benjamin Urich (employee, investigative journalist) 1992 - present day
* Peter Benjamin Parker (independent contractor- photographer; notable for quality Spider-Man photographs) 1995 - present

## History

### Origins

The Daily Bugle was founded in 1897 on the streets of New York City by a group of various journalists who quit before or around the time newspapers began utilizing yellow journalism to try and sell more newspapers and help propel te United States into the Spanish-American War. More thana few reporters and their affiliates found this to be a breach of ethics and thus would leave their papers. They would meet and unite, pulling their resources together and establish a new newspaper, the *Daily Bugle*. It would have a reputation for hiring anyone who was qualified and determined to work, including women and minorities, a pragmatic choice due to their low starting point, but would win them plenty of loyalty among their readership in the long term.The first chief editor and owner of the paper was Simon J. Goodman, who ran the paper its establishment in 1897 to 1920.

After his retirement, he would be replaced by one of his best reporters and was even a wartime reporter on the battlefields during the Great War, Walter Jameson. Walter Jameson ran the paper through the inter-war period and the beginnings of World War II. His time in the Daily Bugle would be notable for covering various aspects of the war and related topics at the time. One of his most famous works accredited to him was *Marvels*, a special column in the newspaper that ran in the 1930s. He and journalist photographer Phil Sheldon recorded many of the rising "marvels" (the term used to describe people with superpowers at the time) such as the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch, both of whom would join the Liberty Legion, the team of "marvels" that fought for the Allies in WW2 alongside other brave individuals, including those who worked for the Bugle such as Jeffery Mace/Patriot and Mary Morgan/Miss America. He also sent correspondent C. Thomas Sites on a story covering the Howling Commandos, and worked alongside other reporters such as Scoop Daly with the rise of vigilantism.

His most notable accomplishment was when he released the story that Captain America and Bucky had become lost at sea, despite official government denial and the continued presence of Captain America in active duty. This would end up causing controversy among the board and by 1947, he would be ousted from the Daily Bugle though he would be vindicated post-mortem when declassified government files revealed the Daily Bugle was correct and that the first Captain America had gone MIA though Bucky's files remained classified due to greater security clearances. Later patrots of valor went to assume the mantle of Captain America during the war, such as the Spirit of '76 before he was killed in action and later assumed by Jeffry Mace.

After Walter was forced out of his position, William Goodman would be promoted to publisher and chief editor, having already a prominent position within the paper due to being the son of Simon Goodman. William spent the next several years wrestling with the gradual decline in the paper's readership due to a variety of factors (with some noting that the Cap America story was likely what began the decline in prestige for the *Bugle*.) He would be notable for butting heads with a rising reporter that he hired, none other than J. Jonah Jameson, Walter's grand-nephew. Despite this, the paper would begin its downward spiral.

### Jameson Publications

By the time William Goodman would be ousted within 1975, the paper was in dire straits and considered floundering, with the board looking to sell the paper. Salvation would come in the form of none other than J. Jonah Jameson. Having starting Jameson Publications to publish NOW Magazine, he would use his own various assets and inheritance funds to buy a large number of stock within the company to have a controlling interest and by a few years, the Daily Bugle would be fully owned by Jameson Publications. He would move the Daily Bugle to its new headquarters, the Goodman Building on 39th Street and Second Avenue. Said building was used by Simon Goodman's father for his own business before passing it down to Simon upon his death. However, during the Great Depression, the Goodman building had to be renegotiated with Walter Jameson helping out his former boss, resulting in Walter having joint ownership of the building alongside his former boss. Upon his deathbed, Walter would bequeath to J. Jonah Jameson his partial ownership of the building in 1968. After the board forced William to sell the rest of the building to J. Jonah Jameson, he moved the entire editorial and publishing facilities there, giving the Goodman Building the additional name of the Daily Bugle building.

Jameson would reinvigorate the paper through reforms and his firebrand style of publishing, having been one of the first to note on the Watergate scandal within the Daily Bugle. Within a decade, the paper would return to being to its former prestige and popularity. The publication constantly edged out rival *The Daily Globe* to be one of the most read newspapers within the United States. For decades, Jameson used his newspaper to crusade in support of civil rights for minority groups and against organized crime. His efforts in the latter area led to his nearly being killed on orders of various crime bosses. However, Jameson's brush with death did not frighten him away from publishing attacks on, and exposes of, organized crime. The paper even would indulge in vindication with the rediscovery of Captain America and then the release of the declassified documents weeks later.

However, everything would change when New York would get its own predominant "Marvel" of its own and the one who would butt heads with J. Jonah Jameson... Spider-Man.

### Spider-Man: Threat or Meance?

Spider-Man would gain a notorious and complicated relationship with the Daily Bugle. The Daily Bugle quickly became known as the primary source of information on the webslinger, at least in the early years of the webslinger's crime-fighting career. The reasoning behind such attacks of character remain unknown though various theories from Jameson's own personal issues to the whole scheme being an elaboate ruse to lure Spider-Man in for for the interview he initially declined as a form of damage control.

## Trivia

* The *Daily Bugle* building is an office complex that is forty-six stories tall, and is capped by the Daily Bugle logo in 30-foot letter on the roof. There are loading docks in the rear of the building, reached by a back alley.

* Three floors are devoted to the editorial office of the Daily Bugle, two sub-basement levels for the printing presses, two floors devoted to *NOW* Magazine while the rest of the floors are rented.

* The *Daily Bugle* has a London affiliate, the *Daily Herald*. The arrangement between the two was the result of Walter Jameson's work during World War I and World War II, working alongside the British and using some connections there as a result.

* The *Daily Bugle* has a long-standing rivalry with the *The Daily Globe* regarding newspaper readership though said rivalry has intensified in the last few years. This is due to the *Daily Globe*'s current publisher and chief editor, Barney Bushkin, having been Jameson's rival since they worked together on their university's newspaper.

* Most of the members of the *Daily Bugle* are unionized, specifically under the Newspaper Guild (renamed the The NewsGuild-CWA in 2015), having done so since its foundation. Only a few members were not considered part of the union for varying reasons, namely for age or being independent contractors.