• Gregory Harrison as Jack Reilly
• Melina Kanakaredes as Angela Villanova
• Madeline Kahn as Nan Chase
• Kelli Williams as Ellie
• Anthony DeSando as Tony Amato
• Kevin Chamberlin as Victor
• Joe Morton as Mitch Cotter
• Mary Tyler Moore as Louise Felcott

New York News is the story of the fictional New York Reporter, a struggling tabloid in the US's largest, most competitive newspaper market, New York City. Major characters included Jack Reilly (Gregory Harrison), an old-style newspaperman (so old-style that he actually went sneaking around in a trench coat); Angela Villanova (Melina Kanakaredes), a young writer who seemingly alternated between admiring Reilly and being in love with him; Nan Chase (Madeline Kahn), a gossip columnist somewhat in the vein of Rona Barrett; and Tony Amato (Anthony DeSando), the paper's leading sports columnist.

Supervising all of these talented, high-strung people was Editor-in-Chief Louise Felcott (Mary Tyler Moore), the "Dragon", who kept the pressure up on these employees and others, including their immediate boss, Managing Editor Mitch Cotter (Joe Morton). The paper's budget cutting and the related attempt of ownership to sell it took their toll on Cotter, who suffered a minor heart attack in the early episodes.

Moore was reportedly very unhappy with how her character was written, as a tough, unsympathetic, and unglamourous woman who peered out at her subordinates through thick "Coke-bottle" glasses. She was reputedly in negotiations to get out of her contract to do the program when this was made unnecessary by CBS's cancellation of it due to low Nielsen ratings two months after its premiere.

• Brooks, Tim; Earle Marsh (1979). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 9780345282484. OCLC 4496779.

• New York News at IMDb