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During the last five months of 2004, the Chicago Defender's revenue jumped 47.5% and its circulation increased 11% over the same period in 2003, the black-oriented paper's executive editor, Roland S. Martin, said Monday at a lecture sponsored by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Martin also said the paper would be rolling out two new niche products in February and March, and a new book section in the main paper. In recent weeks, he noted, the Defender has introduced a business section that has already expanded to eight pages in its Friday weekend editions. The five-day-a-week tabloid has also introduced new sections devoted to autos and homes. The editor, who took control of the historic paper's newsroom last July, was upbeat about the Defender's future -- and blunt about its recent past. "In the past several years, it has not been a good paper," he said. "It has let down the black people of this city. That's the worst thing, when [the black press] disrespects its audience." The Defender's quality reflected the general malaise of the black press, he said: "The reality is, the black press as an institution has let down the black community of this country. Its products are inferior, the writing is terrible, the ethics are not what they should be." But now, Martin said, the Defender has improved editorially to the point that people tell him, "I feel comfortable, and I don't have to cringe when I read it." [more]