In the last 40 years, the number of U.S. daily newspapers has dropped from 2,600 to 1,772. As a result, the number of "monopoly cities" (i.e., cities with no competitive dailies) has risen to a startling 1,300. Is this bad for journalism? Many newsmen, and such outside critics as the famed Hutchins Commission (TIME, March 31, 1947), have long said so. Last week an able defense of monopoly papers came from John Cowles, who, with his brother Gardner, owns the Des Moines Register (morning) and Tribune (afternoon) and the Minneapolis Star (afternoon) and...
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