The News ' circulation plummeted to 33,000 from 111,000 over the past decade, reflecting the trend toward morning readership, and Central backed off efforts to save the News four years ago. Some staffers said had it not been for longtime publisher Eugene S. Pulliam, who died in January, the end would have come sooner. James W. Brown, associate journalism dean of Indiana University, lamented the loss of an editorial voice.
Competition is good.
It makes everyone work harder and be more aggressive about news gathering. Meanwhile, the search continues for a new top editor at the Star to replace Frank Caperton, who is retiring. Publisher Dale Duncan said he hopes to name a replacement by early November. The World Association of Newspapers and the Committee to Protect Journalists got a curt response to their repeated efforts to free Murray Hiebert, the local bureau chief for the Far Eastern Economic Review, who was jailed in Malaysia on Sept. 11. Mahathir addressed the Asia Society in New York earlier this week.