The Passing of an Era

Hard-nosed reporters rarely turn into emotional softies when appraising their bosses. But there were few dry eyes at last week's staff meeting after Philadelphia Inquirer executive editor Eugene Roberts Jr., 58, announced that he would retire from the paper that he had transformed from a second-rate daily into the crown jewel of the Knight-Ridder chain. "There were lots of eyes that were swimming and voices that broke," says reporter B.J. Phillips. "Everybody is here because of him."

When the quiet, slightly rumpled New York Times national editor took over the Inquirer in 1972, it was considered one of the 10 worst big-city newspapers in the country. He quickly assembled an enterprising staff and gave it generous amounts of time, money and column inches to tackle tough subjects and tangle with public figures. He permitted some reporters to work as long as two years on a single investigative project. The results were an impressive 17 Pulitzer Prizes in 18 years, including one this year for a five-part series on the safety of the nation's blood banks. "Roberts assembled a newsroom that was, pound for pound, better than anyone's," says Charles Eisendrath, director of the University of Michigan's Journalism Fellows Program.

Roberts says he is leaving to travel and teach, but several staff members contend that he is exiting primarily because he was worn down by his ongoing tug-of-war with Knight-Ridder officials. Worried about flat circulation (522,000) and flagging advertising revenue (despite respectable pretax profits), the corporate managers tightened Roberts' purse strings. This spring he lost a page of space on weekdays and twice that amount on Sundays. He also had to report to a publisher newly appointed to oversee both the news and business operations, a combined position that Roberts vigorously opposed. The biggest challenge facing the new editor, Roberts protege Maxwell E.P. King, 46, will be to maintain his predecessor's standards of excellence in an era of belt tightening and corporate control.