The Eagle Tradition

Its staffers mutter about low salaries and heavy work loads but find brief reportorial stints stretching into lifelong careers at what they call "the tender trap." It has also been described as "40 freelance writers working under the same roof and (by Boston Globe Editor Tom Winship) as the best newspaper "of its size in the country." Such encomiums disturb the Yankee equanimity of Lawrence K. ("Pete") Miller, 65, owner, editor and publisher of the Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle, who attributes the paper's reputation for class to "accidents of inheritance, age, personality, location, and the like." Whatever the reasons, the Eagle, with a circulation of only 32,000, successfully struggles against the trend toward mediocrity among small-city papers. It offers literate, thorough coverage of its own area and responsible attention to national and international news.

As the only paper in town, the Eagle is required reading in Pittsfield (pop. 57,020) and in the surrounding 941 sq. mi. of Berkshire County, whose rural hills have lured many New Yorkers and Bostonians into seasonal or permanent residence. The paper often seems to be written for the city folk. In the summer, its entertainment pages become a sophisticated guide to music at Tanglewood, drama at the Berkshire Playhouse, and dance at Jacob's Pillow.

The paper's makeup is professional, its contents meaty. Its front page spreads four or five stories into eyecatching horizontal layouts, with few runovers into back pages and a generous use of pictures and white space.

Next to its editorial page, the Eagle reprints for its afternoon readers some material from the New York Times Op-Ed Page, but also publishes the work of nearly 20 local columnists; such notables as James MacGregor Burns and William Shirer contribute occasional book reviews. The second section is crammed with items from the 32 communities in Berkshire County, gathered by a network of 23 stringers. Political Editor A.A. Michelson's weekly column on Massachusetts affairs now runs in nine other New England papers, including the Boston Globe.

The Eagle keeps a close and critical eye on the local General Electric plant, employer of two-thirds of Pittsfield's work force. Last winter, Richard K. Weil, the Eagle's industry and labor reporter, was barred from a GE press conference in New York after he reported the destruction by GE officials of a company-published--and pessimistic--business forecast for 1972.

Angry Mayor. The full-time editorial staff of 35 is large for a paper of its circulation, and unusually literate. A number of the writers have published books and two--Columnist Hal Borland and Cultural Editor Milton Bass--have also done screenplays.

Salaries are modest ($216 a week for reporters with seven years or more experience), but staffers enjoy considerable freedom. Some who had planned to use the Eagle as a steppingstone decided to remain. Recalls Weil: "I walked in and got a summer job eleven years ago and I'm still here."

The paper was purchased 81 years ago by Pete Miller's father. Pete and his brother Donald, who died in November, made the Eagle and its three sister papers in the vicinity their life's work. "Neither of us," says Pete, "had any expensive interests, like keeping a yacht or a woman on the side. It isn't a large family full of cousins and in-laws bleeding the business dry."

The Millers have been able to maintain an editorial-advertising ratio of 45-55, providing a greater proportion of space for news than most papers. "The trouble with a lot of papers of our size," Miller says, "is that they become the worst kind of ragbags. They live off the wire services and the church notices, canned editorials, with no flair for politics or the printed word." The Eagle's generous editorial budget seems to be good business. The paper does not publicize its earnings, but it is understood to make moderate profits. Advertising in 1972 topped 1,000,000 column inches for the first time in the paper's history.

The consistently liberal Eagle hardly enjoys unanimous popularity. It endorsed Adlai Stevenson's two presidential bids and backed Senator George McGovern last fall. Twice it has supported the election of Pittsfield Mayor Donald Butler, but it also needles him frequently. Butler responds with periodic threats that he will refuse to talk to Eagle reporters. An attempt last year to give the community a conservative newspaper failed after six months. "The Eagle doesn't speak for the middle segment of American society because it doesn't understand us," says Leon Phelps, who edited the short-lived competitor. Under-35 readers complain about the Eagle's refusal to advertise or review X-rated films. The paper also refuses to abandon male-female distinctions in its help wanted ads.

Mild Joke. Press Critic Ben Bagdikian recently focused attention on the paper when he ranked the Eagle (along with the New York Times and Paris' Le Monde) as one of the world's three "great newspapers" (TIME, Aug. 28). Washington Post Editorial Writer Stephen Rosenfeld, an ex-Eagle staffer, thinks that Bagdikian was "charmed as an outsider to discover that there exists in the Berkshires a paper that appeals to the New York Times reader." Eagle Managing Editor Kingsley ("Rex") Fall says: "We're proud of what we do, and we hope we're getting better, but I prefer to treat the Bagdikian reference as some sort of mild joke." Joke or not, the commendation reminded other small-city papers of what they might become.

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