Eugene Roberts

Eugene L. Roberts Jr., one of the most honored newspaper editors in America, stunned his staff Tuesday by announcing that he will retire Sept. 1 as executive editor and president of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Roberts, 58, made his name as a champion of hard investigative reporting, editorial independence and the idea that an aggressive, even antagonistic product would win readers and eventually financial success.

For more than 20 years, Katharine Graham, head of the Washington Post and grande dame of American journalism, proudly displayed in her office the mechanical wringer from an old washing machine. It was a reminder that life entails risks--and that taking those risks can lead to greatness. During the early days of Watergate, when the Post labored almost alone to expose the improper and illegal actions that eventually forced President Richard M.

The media made a "big deal" of the O.J. Simpson case in less time than it used to take Simpson to run the length of a football field. The case became not just a media circus but a cultural event or, in the words of Frank Rich, a columnist for the New York Times, an event that "hijacked our culture." And not just "our" (i.e. American) culture.

When abortion opponents picketed Turner Broadcasting System last summer to protest the showing of a film promoting abortion rights, TBS Chairman Ted Turner called the demonstrators "bozos" and "idiots." Many in the anti-abortion movement say Turner was simply giving public voice to what many in the media privately think of their movement. Some reporters agree.

Early in the week of June 13, 1994, the editors of Time and Newsweek magazines knew they had a cover story for that week's editions. Over the next 10 months, Newsweek published six cover stories on the Simpson case and more than 100 Simpson stories and items all told. Many broke new ground and were quoted in other publications and applauded by other journalists. Time, meanwhile, published only one other Simpson cover until the issue before the verdict, 16 months later.

Newspaper managing editors who gathered in Detroit for a mid-October convention had plenty of horror stories to swap about the retailing recession, the advertising drought and the downward spiral in once-fat profits. They also endured a bit of shock therapy, in the form of a session looking at similarities between the Motor City's beleaguered auto industry and their own. "It's thought-provoking to hear a guy from Chrysler say, 'Here's how we screwed up,' " said Jerome M.

Last summer, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its controversial Webster abortion decision, the media responded with a barrage of apocalyptic stories predicting political and legislative revolution. Even before the court ruling--which ultimately gave states greater latitude in regulating abortion--the Boston Globe said in a Page 1 story that "a majority of states" would be expected to "ban abortion in all but extreme circumstances" if the court made such a ruling.

Stung by criticism that they either ignore minorities or cover them in a negative, superficial and sensationalized fashion, a number of major newspapers around the country have made serious efforts to present a more balanced picture of minority life. No paper has been more diligent or innovative in this than USA Today. Almost every day, in keeping with its basic design formula, USA Today publishes four photographs on the top half of Page 1.