First, there was reporter G.W. Schulz's award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for his "Scumlords" series. Now Mr. Bruce Brugmann's San Francisco Bay Guardian has been named to Editor & Publisher Magazine's "10 That Do It Right" list for this year. E&P selects a new list every summer from the nation's daily and weekly newspapers. E&P says it's not a "Top 10" list, but rather "a hat tip to a variety of publications which have, through excellence or innovation, shown the way in one area or another, such as news coverage, circulation, design, diversity or online."

The piece points to the Guardian's position as one of the few "crusading 'progressive' alt-papers left standing" as the reason for making this years' list. It's an interesting read, as are some of the other ones (The Onion made the list this year as well). It doesn't dig too deeply, but seems like a decent encapsulation of the pub's history -- if you're unfamiliar with the history of the SFBG, this story gives it to you in a neat little package.

If nothing else, here's a classic quote from Brugmann on blogging:

"Every good newspaper man ought to be controversial," the paper's leader declares. Why don't other publishers blog? "Because while they say they want to be close to their readers, they really don't."

Hmm. Wonder who he's calling out there. Any guesses?