It has served the city of Jacksonville, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, and the surrounding parts of Onslow County including, Richlands, Swansboro, Sneads Ferry, Holly Ridge, and North Topsail since 1953.
The Daily News was owned by Freedom Communications until 2012, when Freedom sold its Florida and North Carolina papers including JD News in Jacksonville, Free Press in Kinston and the Sun Journal In New Bern[6] to Halifax Media Group.
Halifax Media Group owned a total of 36 newspapers which were acquired in 2015, by GateHouse.
In November 2022 Paxton Media Group acquired the Jacksonville Daily News and five other North Carolina newspapers from Gannett Co., Inc.[8] The paper is a member of the North Carolina Publishing Association.
In 2019, the paper won first place in News Enterprise Reporting, (Kelsey Stiglitz and Amanda Thames for their story on child abuse.