Hightower Lowdown

Great American newspapers have prided themselves on solid, investigative muckraking, measuring success by stories that bring the arrogant and avaricious to account. But instead of competing against other papers on the basis of high journalistic standards, the newspaper-chain owners that now dominate the industry vie on the basis of high profit margins—and too much is never enough.

With newspapers having a hard time increasing sales, the profits have to come from cutting reporters and their investigative budgets.

For example, Knight Ridder, owner of the proud Philadelphia Inquirer, has made such cuts in order to more than double profits from that paper since 1995. But a 19% return is not enough, say the bosses at Knight Ridder, so they're now cutting another 100 people from the paper's staff, seeking to put a 21% profit margin into their own pockets.

And you can bet that this won't be enough, either. More cuts are sure to come to satisfy insatiable investors at the expense of readers, who'll get ever less muck- raking and ever more fluffmaking from their daily press.