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Some worthy papers might qualify for more national influence if they were not overshadowed by even better nearby competitors. The San Jose Mercury News (circ. 245,000) and Sacramento Bee (circ. 219,000) are outranked as voices of the West by the Los Angeles Times. The Orlando Sentinel (circ. 213,000) is one of the better papers in the country but places only third among Florida's dailies. Baltimore's venturesome Sun and Evening Sun (combined circ. 349,000), with a fine political staff and seven foreign bureaus, gamely fight against the Washington Post. Long Island's vigilant and bright Newsday (circ. 525,000), which was on TIME'S 1974 list, gives the New York Times a stiff battle in local and state coverage. Other regional papers simply cannot overcome the limited newsiness of the areas they cover. That description applies to such praiseworthy dailies as the Milwaukee Journal (circ. 303,000), the Louisville Courier-Journal (circ. 178,000)—both on TIME'S 1974 list— and to North Carolina's Charlotte Observer (circ. 177,000).
Two cities are particularly well served by a journalistic phenomenon that is sadly in decline: local daily competition. In Dallas, the Morning News (circ. 336,000) and Times Herald (circ. 270,000), both of which were somewhat listless until a few years ago, have spurred each other to make the city one of the best covered in the country. In Detroit, similarly happy results have come from the face-off between the Free Press (circ. 635,000) and News (circ. 651,000).
In this era of improvement, choosing America's ten best daily newspapers is pleasantly difficult. Here, in alphabetical order, is TIME'S review of them:
The Boston Globe
For nearly a century, the Globe was undistinguished even by the standards of Boston, a notoriously bad newspaper town. Thomas Winship, who took over as editor in 1965, has transformed the Globe into a feisty, eccentric, unpredictable paper that wavers, from day to day and even from page to page, between brilliance and bathos. Under Winship the paper has won eleven Pulitzer Prizes, two last week. Characteristically, however, almost all the Pulitzers have been for issue crusades, local investigative projects, or opinion, and only one has been for coverage of breaking local news, which remains perhaps the Globe's chief weakness.
The Globe is best when assaying politics, at which it has few peers outside New York and Washington, and sports, at which it may have no peers at all. Editorial Page Editor Martin Nolan has given the opinion columns the same grace and punch he gave the paper's Washington bureau, and Washington Reporters Tom Oliphant and Curtis Wilkie are highly respected. Baseball Writer Peter Gammons may be that sport's most influential daily chronicler. Among other assets: Columnist Ellen Goodman, Humorist Diane White, Music Critic Richard Dyer and Editorial Writer Kirk Scharfenberg.
But the paper is at a crossroads. Winship, 63, is due to retire next year, and his successor must determine whether to discipline the Globe at the risk of diminishing its undeniable heart. Still too much a writer's paper, the Globe may need a sterner master in its next phase than the puckish, avuncular Winship.
Chicago Tribune