Media: The Free Press

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For amNewYork, the stakes are higher. Although backed by Tribune money, it is operationally independent, which means it can't piggyback on the parent company's publishing assets. In that sense, it's similar to other stand-alone urban papers like the ones London's Metro International publishes in Boston and Philadelphia or American Consolidated Media's A.M. Journal Express (circ. 140,000) in Dallas. With short, straightforward stories that seldom jump from one page to another, these papers focus on the busy commuter lifestyle, which happens to translate into younger readers. What those readers get is a mix of news stories from outside sources such as the Associated Press and ones by the papers' staff writers. Metro, which runs 34 papers in more than 70 cities, has had success abroad, but in Boston it has just earned its first quarterly profit--only after a cost-reduction program.

More tabloids are on the way. Metro is planning a New York City edition this year, while Gannett and others are considering launches of youth-oriented stand-alones. "It's too early to declare it a successful strategy," says John Morton, an independent newspaper analyst and president of Morton Research Inc. "But nothing has really worked well in the past. The chief quality here is that it's a different approach."