Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore MD 21278.

For generations, the venerable Baltimore Sun exercised an influence over Maryland politics that suggested the moral authority of some great religious leader. When complicated state referenda loomed, thousands of Marylanders simply clipped out the Sun's editorial recommendations -- and carried them along into the voting booth.

But even though the Sun's stolid center-right politics remain in place, the paper's heyday is over. For one thing, Maryland's center of political gravity has shifted south from Baltimore city to the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. (where people read the Post). Downtown Baltimore, meanwhile, has declined into a dismaying real-life version of the set of the science fiction film "Blade-Runner": the Inner Harbor's yuppie theme park and the city's unnecessary new stadium glower down at hopeless neighborhoods that don't buy many papers, let alone generate much advertising revenue.

Furthermore, the L.A. Times syndicate, the Sun's new owner, seems intent on driving the paper into the ground. Price per copy is up, but other indicators are down. The paper's strengths remain its local and state news, and its diverse, talented gang of feature writers and columnists.

-- Steve Badrich

Extract the names from this source

Back to search page