????編者按：每周日，《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）都會(huì)從往期文章中精選出一篇最受讀者歡迎的文章。本周，我們選取的是發(fā)表于1944年的一篇特寫(xiě)，記述了《華盛頓郵報(bào)》的進(jìn)化史，回顧了位于華盛頓特區(qū)的這份優(yōu)質(zhì)新聞源在幾個(gè)時(shí)代中的變遷。2013年8月5日，華盛頓郵報(bào)集團(tuán)宣布，將旗下旗艦報(bào)紙和幾份地方報(bào)紙以2.5億美元的價(jià)格出售給了亞馬遜公司首席執(zhí)行官杰夫?貝佐斯，至此，這家有著輝煌歷史的報(bào)紙又掀開(kāi)了全新的篇章。

????奧斯瓦德?加里森?維拉德是一位孜孜不倦的美國(guó)報(bào)業(yè)批評(píng)家。20世紀(jì)初，他完成了對(duì)華盛頓地區(qū)報(bào)業(yè)的調(diào)查之后，用了一個(gè)短語(yǔ)作為結(jié)論：這是一個(gè)沒(méi)有一份像《泰晤士報(bào)》（Thunderer，《泰晤士報(bào)》外號(hào)——譯注）這樣報(bào)紙的首都。他認(rèn)為華盛頓的報(bào)紙要么“懦弱”，要么“粗鄙”，無(wú)法滿(mǎn)足民眾對(duì)于首都地區(qū)新聞報(bào)道的需求，他們不得不轉(zhuǎn)而去購(gòu)買(mǎi)在紐約、費(fèi)城、甚至是巴爾的摩出版的日?qǐng)?bào)。維拉德除了表示對(duì)華盛頓報(bào)業(yè)現(xiàn)狀的失望之外，他還質(zhì)疑“是否能在有生之年看到華盛頓能擁有一份真正的全國(guó)性報(bào)紙”。

????最近，維拉德先生再次調(diào)查華盛頓報(bào)業(yè)最近的狀況之后，他發(fā)現(xiàn)情況已經(jīng)大為改觀。這片曾經(jīng)的“報(bào)業(yè)荒漠”如今卻有了“一份這座城市真正為之驕傲和自豪的報(bào)紙，這份報(bào)紙的影響力與日俱增，已經(jīng)成為美國(guó)總統(tǒng)、國(guó)會(huì)議員以及高級(jí)官員們每日必讀的刊物”。它已經(jīng)超出了一份報(bào)紙的范疇，贏得了“報(bào)人們由衷地尊敬……還為國(guó)家福祉做出了杰出的貢獻(xiàn)”。此前，沒(méi)有任何一位合格的評(píng)論家曾像這樣評(píng)價(jià)過(guò)一份在華盛頓出版的報(bào)紙。

????令維拉德先生刮目相看的這份報(bào)紙就是《華盛頓郵報(bào)》（Washington Post）。報(bào)社老板并不是資深報(bào)人，而是尤金?邁耶。這位杰出的銀行業(yè)家在57歲退休之后，買(mǎi)下了這份報(bào)紙?？紤]到華盛頓是美國(guó)報(bào)業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)最為激烈的城市之一，邁耶先生和《華盛頓郵報(bào)》所取得的成績(jī)格外引人矚目。華盛頓有5家日?qǐng)?bào)【《華盛頓時(shí)代先驅(qū)報(bào)》（Times-Herald）早晚各出一份，可算作2份報(bào)紙】，而大部分與之規(guī)模相仿的城市都僅有3份日?qǐng)?bào)，而且這些報(bào)紙都是嚴(yán)肅可靠的報(bào)紙。

????《華盛頓明星報(bào)》（Washington Star）是一份頗受商人們歡迎的廣告發(fā)布媒介，而新聞報(bào)道的內(nèi)容主要是一些無(wú)關(guān)痛癢的本地新聞，輕而易舉地統(tǒng)治著午后晚報(bào)的市場(chǎng)。在報(bào)道方針上，《華盛頓明星報(bào)》奉行不偏不倚，不沾染任何黨派色彩的政策。僅僅是報(bào)道“惡人”時(shí)才會(huì)表現(xiàn)出尖銳的批評(píng)和諷刺，比如魯莽駕駛的司機(jī)、肆意踐踏野花的破壞狂，當(dāng)然也少不了德國(guó)人和日本人。《華盛頓每日新聞報(bào)》（Daily News）是斯克利普斯—霍華德報(bào)業(yè)集團(tuán)（Scripps-Howard）出版的一份下午小報(bào)。最初，在洛厄爾?梅里特出任主編的時(shí)期，這份報(bào)紙不遺余力地為羅斯福新政搖旗吶喊，但是如今卻強(qiáng)烈地反對(duì)羅斯福。盡管報(bào)道內(nèi)容很出色，但是這份報(bào)紙的訂閱量卻開(kāi)始下滑，有一半讀者只是在午飯、公交車(chē)或是電車(chē)上讀這份報(bào)紙。

????茜茜?帕特森是《華盛頓時(shí)代先驅(qū)報(bào)》的出版人。這份報(bào)紙的主要內(nèi)容是新聞、特寫(xiě)以及她哥和表兄的孤立主義者的偏見(jiàn)，他們分別是《紐約每日新聞》（New York Daily News）與《芝加哥論壇報(bào)》（Chicago Tribune）的出版人。人們注意到，茜茜的能力有余而耐性不足，但她也毫不掩飾地表現(xiàn)出自己的刻薄與難以捉摸的性格。《芝加哥論壇報(bào)》的漫畫(huà)名聲斐然，茜茜?帕特森從中獲利頗豐。而作為這份報(bào)紙的老板，她完全可以拿下《華盛頓郵報(bào)》。

??Editor's note: Every Sunday Fortune publishes a favorite story from its magazine archives. This week, we turn to a 1944 feature on the evolution of The Washington Post, D.C.'s gold-standard news source for several generations. On August 5, The Washington Post Co. (WPO) announced that it had sold its flagship paper and several of its local newspapers to Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos for $250 million, marking the start of a new chapter in the paper's impressive history.

????When Oswald Garrison Villard, that tireless critic of American journalism, surveyed the newspaper field in Washington in the early twenties, he summed it up in the phrase, "a capital without a Thunderer." He found the newspapers "timid" and "provincial," and so inadequate in presenting the news that the citizen desiring information of events originating in Washington was compelled to buy a New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore daily. Besides his disappointment with the then existing picture, Mr. Villard expressed doubt "whether it would ever be possible to have in Washington a really national newspaper."

????Taking a new look at journalistic Washington recently, Mr. Villard found the situation sharply changed; in contrast to the previous barrenness he found the city had acquired "a newspaper in which it takes genuine pride, whose influence is growing so steadily that it has to be watched day by day by the White House as well as by the members of Congress and the higher officeholders." It was a newspaper, moreover, that had "earned the hearty respect of the newspapermen ... and made notable contributions to the national welfare." No qualified judge had ever said anything like that about a Washington paper before.

????The newspaper that had Mr. Villard rubbing his eyes was the Washington Post, the creation not of any experienced genius in publishing, hut of Eugene Meyer, who acquired the paper at fifty-seven after a distinguished career in banking. What Mr. Meyer has done with the Post is all the more creditable for having been accomplished in one of the most fiercely competitive newspaper cities in the U.S. Washington has five dailies (counting the round-the-clock Times-Herald as two) against only three for most cities of this size, and they are none of them fly-by-nights.

????The Star, favorite advertising medium of the merchants and unoffending compendium of local news, dominates the afternoon field hands down. Editorially, the Star is not merely independent but colorless, reserving its sharpest barbs for such evils as the careless motorist, vandalism against the wildflower, and, of course, the Hun and the Jap. The Daily News, Scripps-Howard's afternoon tabloid, started out under Lowell Mellett as voice and prophet of the New Deal but is now strongly anti-Roosevelt. Although capably edited, the paper has had tough sledding; nearly half its papers are bought to be read at lunchtime or on the bus or trolley.

????"Cissie" Patterson publishes the Times-Herald, with the news services, features, and isolationist preconceptions of her brother and cousin, publishers respectively of the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune. It has been observed that Cissie has more ability than stability, but she puts on a good show of its vitriolic and unpredictable kind. She has the benefit of the highly valued Tribune comics, which, as a director of the Tribune, she was able to take away from the Post.