Employing a "resource dependency" model from organizational theory, this paper explains the growth of newspaper cooperation out of publisher competition in Chicago (Illinois) journalism during the period 1880 to 1910. It suggests that publisher cooperation in business matters also resulted in a changed news coverage style and emphasis. It argues specifically that cooperation resulted in news coverage that was significantly more information oriented and less sensational over time and that was more concerned with citywide problems than with atypical events affecting individuals. A content analysis of the Chicago "Daily News" is used to illustrate these changes, and a content analysis of the St. Louis "Post-Dispatch," where the publisher spirit of cooperation was much less in evidence, is used to provide comparison and contrast with Chicago journalism during the period studied. The content analyses indicate that the "Daily News" changed significantly in the expected direction between 1880 and 1910, while the "Post-Dispatch" seemed to remain much the same. (Author/FL)