Gun control has been an important issue for The News since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, and the paper, which has long identified itself as the voice of New York City’s working class, has a rich history of championing particular causes. But even by tabloid standards, this was unusually pointed rhetoric.

Predictably, the News was denounced on the right and celebrated on the left for the way it chose to frame the story. But whatever one made of the paper’s San Bernardino covers, they demonstrated that the front-page headline — “the wood,” in tab-speak — can still pack a punch, even if most readers are encountering it on their smartphones. Like popular video clips from Jimmy Fallon or John Oliver, The News’s covers are finding a new set of viewers on a different platform. The art of tabloid headline writing may yet outlive the tabloid. (“How The New York Daily News Became Twitter’s Tabloid,” read a recent headline in New York magazine.)

“As someone who’s been at this in one form or another for quite a while, it’s surreal to think that 99 percent of the millions of people who will look at our Page 1 on a given day will actually never hold the paper in their hands,” said Mr. Rich.

The news has cooperated with The News’s efforts to attract notice. A vocal champion of immigrants’ rights, the paper has had a field day with Mr. Trump — “he makes it easy,” said Mr. Rich — as well as Ted Cruz, who committed the unpardonable sin of criticizing the city. The candidate’s attack on Mr. Trump’s “New York values” produced the headline “DROP DEAD, TED,” alongside an image of the Statue of Liberty raising a middle finger to Mr. Cruz. Even Rupert Murdoch, the owner of The News’s bitter tabloid rival, The New York Post, provided good fodder with his recent engagement to the former supermodel Jerry Hall. “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,” blared the next day’s front page, with a photo of the couple. (“Low-hanging fruit,” Mr. Rich said of the Murdoch cover.)

These covers can now reach more people than they ever did on the newsstand. The problem is that readers don’t have to pay to see them. For all of the attention The News’s recent front pages have drawn, it’s unlikely that they — or perhaps anything — can rescue the paper from its precarious financial position. It’s a familiar story. The News’s circulation has been plummeting for years; it sits at about 241,000 on weekdays. It seems far-fetched to imagine that the paper will ever capture enough digital advertising to offset the declining revenue from its shrinking print base.

The News, which was founded nearly 100 years ago, loses millions of dollars a year. When its owner, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, tried to sell the paper early last year, interest was light. One of the small handful of prospective buyers was John A. Catsimatidis, a supermarket billionaire who spent $11 million in a long-shot mayoral campaign two years ago. Six rumor-soaked months after putting the paper on the market, Mr. Zuckerman took it off. The layoffs, which claimed dozens of reporters, came soon after in September.