What I remember best about the Lou Grant show was that whatever issue an episode dealt with was presented from both sides. I haven't seen the show since it first aired (I just found it on Hulu a few minutes ago and am looking forward to revisiting it) but as I recall, the prototypical structure for an episode was to have the paper investigating someone while someone else was investigating someone at the paper - so the audience got to root for - or at least feel for - both sides of the debate over the public's right to know versus an individual's right to privacy.