I am surprised this hasn't happened in more cities, actually. The country on the whole is at least balanced 50/50 liberal/conservative (or more likely 60/40 liberal/conservative if you add in marginal, infrequent voters), yet nearly all the newspapers are conservative in outlook. Austin, Tx is a pretty liberal place, but the Austin American-Statesman is conservative; same with Seattle's crap paper (based on my brief, recent visit). Yadda yadda.
Also, I'll believe it when I read it. Talk about value is a lot easier than actually following one's professed precepts (David Vitter sound familiar to anyone?).
Chicago Sun-Times Looks to Redefine Itself as 'Liberal, Working-Class' Paper :
CHICAGO The Chicago Sun-Times is turning left.
The tabloid that shifted toward political conservatism under the brief ownership of Rupert Murdoch more than two decades ago now says that it is “rethinking our stance on several issues, including the most pressing issue facing Americans today: Bush's war in Iraq.”
Under marching orders from Publisher John Cruickshank and Editor in Chief Michael Cooke, new Editorial Page Editor Cheryl L. Reed introduced a new Commentary section Tuesday with a promise to turn the tabloid back into the liberal-leaning paper it was for decades before the Reagan administration.
“We are returning to our liberal, working-class roots, a position that pits us squarely opposite the Chicago Tribune -- that Republican, George Bush-touting paper over on moneyed Michigan Avenue,” Reed wrote. “We're rethinking our stance on several issues, including the most pressing issue facing Americans today: Bush's war in Iraq.”
... The Sun-Times was a liberal paper through the 1960s and 1970s, and turned right when it was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in 1984. “You may wake up one day, and the Chicago Tribune will be the liberal paper in town,” then-Publisher Robert E. Page told a news conference around that time. Though Murdoch soon sold the tabloid to an investment group fronted by Page, the conservative bent remained in the editorial pages.
To be fair, the Chicago Tribune is not quite of much of a Bush-toady as an Eisenhower Republican newspaper, which isn't so bad. All in all, the Tribune isn't a bad paper, and is much better than a lot I've read.
and this isn't really an auspicious start to the Sun-Times turning liberal:
Without being specific, Reed said the paper would be changing its mix of columnists. In recent years, the regular non-staff columnists on the opinion pages have included the conservatives George Will and Mark Steyn, who is an outspoken fan of Conrad Black, the former Hollinger International Chairman many at the paper blame for the Sun-Times' perilous financial state. It also regularly runs liberal commentators, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Father Andrew Greeley.One new columnist introduced Tuesday was the paper's previous editorial page editor, Stephen Huntley. Huntley identified himself as a conservative, though with “a more liberal or libertarian stance” on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, and embryonic stem cell research. His column will appear three times a week.
(h/t)
