OFF THE RECORD: The Off the Record column in the "New York Observer" has a couple of good items today. The first is about the dominance of the Pulitizers by huge newspapers. (Just six papers won the 14 awards, only one of which was not among the top-10-circulating papers in the country.)

Dean Baquet, the managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, former New York Times national editor and a Pulitzer juror this year, agreed that the New York Times entries warranted awards, but said he saw a danger in concentrating so many awards in just a few papers. “This was the year of the big papers. The only papers that could compete on Sept. 11 were the biggest papers,” Mr. Baquet said, fully aware that the top-10 L.A. Times isn’t exactly the Nantucket Beacon. “The troublesome thing is the dominance of a handful of big papers. I think it’s probably an aberration, but we should be worried.”

Off the Record also has a piece about the recent redesign of the "Wall Street Journal."

Invariably, some will consider the new-look Journal the newspaper equivalent of Jennifer Grey, post–nose job: Sure, now it looks more like everyone else, but dang, there was something sexy about the original.

I like what I've seen of the updated Journal. It retains the same classic look, just with a touch of color. Very nicely done.

There's reaction in the industry, of course. Here's Al Neuharth taking credit for the idea.