Notes on the end of an era

Sometime in the next few days, the words "Locally Owned & Independent Since 2006" will come off the front pages of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News. That will signal the end of an era in Philadelphia journalism.

Looking back in gratitude, I would like to share some of the highlights of that era as I saw it.

The journalism: It's the reason we're here. And, simply put, the papers are better than they've been in years.

Our research shows that the readers think so. We hear it from you daily, and the Daily News' recent Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism added an exclamation point. The credit goes to Inquirer editor (and Havertown native) Bill Marimow, himself a two-time Pulitzer winner whom I was fortunate to recruit from National Public Radio, and Daily News editor Michael Days, an exceptional talent who was here when I arrived.

At a time when so many papers are retreating from good journalism, we stepped on the gas. In one series after another, our investigative reporting exposed corruption, inequity, and waste. We curried favor with no politician, business, or civic leader, calling them as we saw them. And beyond the investigations, our day-to-day reporting on sports, the arts, and science and health has shown renewed energy.

Philly.com: When my ownership group arrived, the website was starved for resources and leadership. I recruited two talented individuals - Eric Grilly, from MediaNews Group, and then Ryan Davis, from McKinsey & Co. - to lead our online efforts. We built a new team and a vibrant, unique culture, we redesigned the site from top to bottom, and our traffic grew by almost 600 percent.

In fact, from March 2009 to March 2010, Philly.com was the fastest-growing news website in the world, according to Nielsen. (Huffington Post was No. 2.) And I'm excited that the recently launched Philly Dealyo service is turning out to be a success.

The community: With the support of devoted local owners as diverse as the region - African American and white, male and female, Democratic and Republican - our partnerships with community nonprofits went from 50 to more than 200. We brought in tens of thousands of toys in a week to save the local Toys for Tots campaign, ensuring that more boys and girls would find something under the tree. Both in Center City and at our printing plant in Conshohocken, our lobbies were full of toys and smiles as a result.