Sun Readers

Economic pressures have led many metropolitan newspapers to reallocate more resources to topics of local interest, leaving most national and international coverage largely to wire services. In Baltimore, a city less than an hour's drive from Congress and the White House, the shift in emphasis has in fact produced journalistic dividends for Sun readers. While many larger newspapers have sharply reduced or eliminated their Washington bureaus, The Sun has chosen to retain reporters in the capital to cover subjects and institutions of keen interest to Maryland - the National Security Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Pentagon.

Newspapers are often accused of printing only bad news, but you'd think a front-page report on an American's winning the Nobel Peace Prize would be considered good news. You would be wrong. Years ago, the news that an American had won the world's most prestigious award would have been cause for celebration and national pride. It would have been received as an especially good kind of good news. But that was then. Given the reaction of readers of The Sun and other newspapers across the country to the news that Al Gore will share this year's Nobel for his work on climate change, we can no longer assume such news is "good."

What is film noir? Is it a look? An era? A mood?Probably, it's all of the above, but TCM will explore the question to its fullest this summer with "Summer of Darkness," a 94-film series of classic noir films that begins Friday with a triumvirate of noir classics: "The Maltese Falcon" at 8 p.m., followed by "In a Lonely Place" at 10 and "High Sierra" at midnight.The series provides a good chance for fans to catch up on familiar favorites and discover overlooked gems. Some rarely seen movies include "Detour," by master of the form Edgar G. Ulmer; the heartbreaking "Woman in the Window," starring Edward G. Robinson; and Stanley Kubrick's "The Kill-ing," which features Sterling Hayden in a taut, nerve-rattling thriller.

Thanks for question asking Sun readers to express gratitudeIn response to The Sun's Nov. 16 question "What are you thankful for?" I would like to applaud and give thanks to the newspaper for its heartwarming idea.In the seemingly commercial and careless society we live in, it becomes all too easy to neglect the true meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday. The gratitude and love that is supposed to surround us today is often overlooked by thoughts of full stomachs and days off of work.Amid the numerous articles about government or crime during the holiday, readers can find contentment in the real-life accounts of happiness shared by others.

Always up for a challenge, always slavishly eager to follow the orders of his editor -- and covetous of the medal of a naked man on a tractor -- Sun staff writer Richard O'Mara is entering the Great American Think-Off contest. What follows is his essay entry. For Sun readers who also would like to enter, the rules are on Page 4E. If you'd like to share your essay with Sun readers, please send to: Think-Off Essays, Features Department, Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore Md. 21278:This year's Think-Off question: Is honesty ALWAYS the best policy?

Seven books by six Sun staff writers and one syndicated investment writer well known to Sun readers have just come on the market or are scheduled to arrive on shop shelves in short order. The editors of The Sun, including the book editor, are proud of the work of our colleagues and believe these books, some of which have grown from their expert labors for this newspaper, to be admirable.In alphabetical order by author, they are:***"The Fountain of Highlandtown," by Rafael Alvarez. (Woodholme.

Today, The Evening Sun writes its own obituary.Baltimore's last evening newspaper, which publishes its final editions today, is 85 and a victim of failing circulation.It was both a child and a casualty of changing times. Born in 1910, the new evening paper was a morning Sun gambit tosnatch readers, advertising and profits from its afternoon rivals, the News and the Star.This 'paper of the future' took breaking stories flashed across the nation or the ocean by the new telegraph news associations, set them in type and raced fresh editions all day long to Baltimore's eager readers.

Today is the first day without the twisted humor and the alien beings that once defined "The Far Side." Cartoonist Gary Larson announced in October that he was discontinuing the comic he had drawn for more than 15 years.Now the day is here -- and the quirky cartoon isn't.In its place -- but not replacing it -- will be two comics that some readers may already be familiar with.Bil Keane's "The Family Circus" depicts the humor and chaos of a houseful of youngsters. It has been a staple of The Evening Sun and now will appear in the morning Sun as well.

The Evening Sun elbowed into Baltimore journalism April 18, 1910, with the brash and lively self-confidence of an eager cub in an old-time city room.It breathes its last today, a fading echo of that fine lost time when afternoon newspapers were on the front line of the front page and big city dailies had power, energy and glamour, and city editors were played by Cary Grant and Humphrey Bogart and the reporters by Rosalind Russell and Clark Gable.The first edition of The Evening Sun - scheduled for 3 p.m., according to the horoscope on the editorial page, but actually an hour late in the pressroom - had the slapdash, insouciant impudence the paper displayed until the end.Volume 1 Number 1 looked pretty much as if the type were set with a sieve.

Last week, four of the regional Bell telephone companies filed a court motion to overturn the consent decree that has governed their actions since the breakup of the Bell system a decade ago. Administered by U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene, the decree prevents the seven Baby Bells from offering long distance service, manufacturing telecommunications servicesand, the Bells contend, prevents them from moving fully into information services.With the court action, the Bells are pursuing two paths to overturn the decree: one in the courts and one in Congress.

Seventeen years after he flew the coop, the Oriole bird has returned to The Baltimore Sun. Starting tomorrow, the whimsical cartoon - a stamp-sized favorite of Sun readers during the team's heyday 40 years ago - will regularly grace the sports pages. "Hopefully, in that one inch of space, this classic little Oriole can capture the essence of last night's game," said Mike Ricigliano, the cartoonist who will draw it. Ricigliano's oddball work has appeared in The Sun (and, previously, The Evening Sun)

Newspapers are often accused of printing only bad news, but you'd think a front-page report on an American's winning the Nobel Peace Prize would be considered good news. You would be wrong. Years ago, the news that an American had won the world's most prestigious award would have been cause for celebration and national pride. It would have been received as an especially good kind of good news. But that was then. Given the reaction of readers of The Sun and other newspapers across the country to the news that Al Gore will share this year's Nobel for his work on climate change, we can no longer assume such news is "good."

It was just a snapshot of a South African young man seated at his cluttered desk, smiling faintly. But the photo I took of Joshua Masekwameng last month captured him at a wonderful moment. He had just learned that his education in hotel management was secure, thanks to the generosity of Sun readers. Many readers responded to my short piece about Joshua on April 29. He used to live in a crowded shack and study by candlelight. He had passed the key high school "matric" exams and had started at Rosebank College.

Economic pressures have led many metropolitan newspapers to reallocate more resources to topics of local interest, leaving most national and international coverage largely to wire services. In Baltimore, a city less than an hour's drive from Congress and the White House, the shift in emphasis has in fact produced journalistic dividends for Sun readers. While many larger newspapers have sharply reduced or eliminated their Washington bureaus, The Sun has chosen to retain reporters in the capital to cover subjects and institutions of keen interest to Maryland - the National Security Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Pentagon.

Last week, The Sun produced a special series of articles about the abuse of ground rents - fees paid for the use of the ground under a number of Baltimore-area homes. The series, written by reporters Fred Schulte and June Arney, generated a groundswell of accolades from readers and promises from politicians to pursue legislation to correct abuses, in which unwitting owners have been forced out of their homes for missing relatively small ground-rent payments. Such strong local "enterprise" reporting is the kind of journalism that reporters and editors live for. It spotlights significant problems in the community and suggests solutions.

With the recent deaths of two CBS employees, the Iraq war officially became the deadliest ever for journalists, with 71 killed. This is more journalists than died in World War II, Korea or Vietnam. CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier was also badly injured in the May 29 attack that killed a cameraman and a soundman. Dozier graduated from St. Timothy's School in Baltimore County in 1984. The Sun and many other American newspapers gave prominent front-page play to the attacks on the CBS journalists.

Based on two weeks of e-mails and phone calls, it's clear that many Sun readers are still confused about the recent deal between Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and BGE that offers options to mitigate the large electric bill increases that take effect July 1. Is this partly the fault of The Sun's reporting and editing? Yes and no. With a deal so complex that only a few BGE executives (and Sun columnist Jay Hancock) seem to fully grasp it, providing readers with clear answers to all the questions has been difficult.

SUN EDITORS make dozens of decisions each day as they produce the newspaper. Some, such as what to put on the front page and on the section fronts, receive more attention than others. Most decisions are made with the best information available and under a daily deadline, which means editors have a limited amount of time to ponder the mix of stories and photographs before putting a page together. Some readers, however, see hidden agendas in the editors' decision-making. They believe that editors seek to impart subliminal messages via their presentation of articles and pictures.

THE SUN has a proud history of foreign reporting by its correspondents. Comprehensive and perceptive news and analysis are the goals for the daily paper. Although The Sun cannot offer as much foreign news as The Washington Post and The New York Times, the amount of space and the number of front-page positions devoted to reports from abroad have always compared favorably with other metropolitan dailies. Sun readers have a significant interest in world affairs. The newspaper's core readership includes people from the region's many international academic, business and government institutions - all of whom have a vested interest in The Sun's foreign coverage.

THOMAS FRIEDMAN's syndicated columns have been missing from The Sun's Opinion/Commentary page since the beginning of the year, a fact that has made a number of readers unhappy. Friedman is perhaps the nation's most expert and influential newspaper foreign affairs columnist and is particularly strong on the Middle East. He works for The New York Times, and other newspapers buy his column through subscriptions to that newspaper's news service. In the process of trimming the 2005 newsroom budget, Sun editors re-examined all of the paper's wire service subscriptions and decided to switch to a less extensive and expensive package from the Times.