The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Illinois, United States, owned by
Tribune Publishing
Tribune Publishing Company (briefly Tronc, Inc.) is an American newspaper print and online media publishing company. The company, which was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May 2021, has a portfolio that includes the ''Chicago Tribune'', the ...
. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the
Chicago metropolitan area
The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...
and the
Great Lakes region
The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...
. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.
In the 1850s, under
Joseph Medill
Joseph Medill (April 6, 1823March 16, 1899) was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, and Republican Party politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the ''Chicago Tribune'', and he was Mayor of Chicago from after the Great Ch ...
, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, and the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson,
Robert R. McCormick
Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick (July 30, 1880 – April 1, 1955) was an American lawyer, businessman and Anti-war movement, anti-war activist.
A member of the McCormick family of Chicago, McCormick became a lawyer, Republican Party (Unite ...
, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' and the ''
Washington Times-Herald
The ''Washington Times-Herald'' (1939–1954) was an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It was created by Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson of the Medill–McCormick–Patterson family (long-time owners of the ''Chicago Tribune'' ...
.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner,
Tribune Company
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
, reach into new markets. In 2008, for the first time in its over century-and-a-half history, its editorial page endorsed a Democrat, Illinoisan
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, for U.S. president.
Originally published solely as a
broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
, the ''Tribune'' announced on January 13, 2009 that it would continue publishing as a broadsheet for home delivery, but would publish in
tabloid format for newsstand, news box, and commuter station sales. This change, however, proved to be unpopular with readers, and in August 2011, the ''Tribune'' discontinued the tabloid edition, returning to its established broadsheet format through all distribution channels.
The ''Tribune''s
masthead displays the
American flag
The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...
, in reference to the paper's former motto, "An American Paper for Americans". The motto is no longer displayed on the
masthead, where it was placed below the flag.
The ''Tribune'' was owned by parent company, ''
Tribune Publishing
Tribune Publishing Company (briefly Tronc, Inc.) is an American newspaper print and online media publishing company. The company, which was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May 2021, has a portfolio that includes the ''Chicago Tribune'', the ...
''. In May 2021 Tribune Publishing was acquired by
Alden Global Capital
Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith. Its managing director is Heath Freeman. By mid-2020, Alden had stakes in roughly two hundred American newspapers. The company ...
, which operates its media properties through
Digital First Media
MNG Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado-based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. The company has been growing its portfolio and as of May 2021, owns over 100 newspa ...
.
History
Beginnings
The ''Tribune'' was founded by
James Kelly, John E. Wheeler, and Joseph K. C. Forrest, publishing the first edition on June 10, 1847. Numerous changes in ownership and editorship took place over the next eight years. Initially, the ''Tribune'' was not politically affiliated, but tended to support either the
Whig or
Free Soil
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into ...
parties against the
Democrats in elections. By late 1853, it was frequently running
xenophobic
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
editorials that criticized foreigners and
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. About this time it also became a strong proponent of
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
. However
nativist its editorials may have been, it was not until February 10, 1855, that the ''Tribune'' formally affiliated itself with the nativist American or
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...
party, whose candidate
Levi Boone
Levi Day Boone (December 6, 1808 – January 24, 1882) served as mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1855–1856) for the American Party (Know-Nothings).
Early life
Boone was born near Lexington, Kentucky, the seventh son of Squire and Anna Gru ...
was elected
Mayor of Chicago
The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...
the following month.
Medill editorship
![Cheer up](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Cheer_up.jpg)
By about 1854, part-owner Capt. J. D. Webster, later General Webster and chief of staff at the
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...
, and Dr. Charles H. Ray of
Galena, Illinois
Galena is the largest city in and the county seat of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, with a population of 3,308 at the 2020 census. A section of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Galena Historic District. The ci ...
, through
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressm ...
, convinced
Joseph Medill
Joseph Medill (April 6, 1823March 16, 1899) was a Canadian-American newspaper editor, publisher, and Republican Party politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the ''Chicago Tribune'', and he was Mayor of Chicago from after the Great Ch ...
of
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
's ''
Leader
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
'' to become managing editor. Ray became editor-in-chief, Medill became the managing editor, and
Alfred Cowles, Sr.
Alfred Cowles Sr. (1832–1889) was an American businessperson and newspaper publisher. During the 1860s to 1880s he was a bookkeeper, treasurer, and business manager of the ''Chicago Tribune'' of which he was part owner.
Biography
Alfred Cow ...
, brother of
Edwin Cowles
Edwin Cowles (1825–1890), born in Austinburg, Ohio, was notable as the publisher of '' The Cleveland Leader.'' During the President Abraham Lincoln administration and Civil War, he was appointed as US postmaster of Cleveland, serving April 4, ...
, initially was the bookkeeper. Each purchased one third of the ''Tribune''. Under their leadership, the ''Tribune'' distanced itself from the Know Nothings, and became the main Chicago organ of the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
. However, the paper continued to print anti-Catholic and anti-Irish editorials, in the wake of the massive
Famine immigration from Ireland.
The ''Tribune'' absorbed three other Chicago publications under the new editors: the ''
Free West
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything
* Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism
* Emancipate, to proc ...
'' in 1855, the ''
Democratic Press
The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863.
Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corpor ...
'' of
William Bross
William J. Bross (November 4, 1813 – January 27, 1890) was an American politician and publisher originally from the New Jersey–New York–Pennsylvania tri-state area. He was also elected as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.
He en ...
in 1858, and the ''
Chicago Democrat
The ''Chicago Democrat'' was the first newspaper in Chicago, Illinois. It was published from 1833 to 1861. In 2017 Atom, LLC restarteChicago Democratand has built a website aimed at statewide coverage of news, sports, weather and information in Il ...
'' in 1861, whose editor,
John Wentworth, left his position when elected as
Mayor of Chicago
The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...
. Between 1858 and 1860, the paper was known as the ''
Chicago Press & Tribune''. On October 25, 1860, it became the ''Chicago Daily Tribune''. Before and during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the new editors strongly supported
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, whom Medill helped secure the presidency in 1860, and pushed an
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
agenda. The paper remained a force in Republican politics for years afterwards.
In 1861, the ''Tribune'' published new lyrics by
William W. Patton
William Weston Patton (October 19, 1821 – October 21, 1889), was an abolitionist, academic administrator, and scholar. He served as the fifth president of Howard University, and one of the contributors to the words of "John Brown's Body". He was ...
for the song "
John Brown's Body
"John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of t ...
". These rivaled
the lyrics
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
published two months later by
Julia Ward Howe
Julia Ward Howe (; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the original 1870 pacifist Mother's Day Proclamation. She was also an advocate for abolitionism ...
. Medill served as mayor of Chicago for one term after the
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...
of 1871.
Years of McCormick
Under the 20th-century editorship of Colonel
Robert R. McCormick
Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick (July 30, 1880 – April 1, 1955) was an American lawyer, businessman and Anti-war movement, anti-war activist.
A member of the McCormick family of Chicago, McCormick became a lawyer, Republican Party (Unite ...
, who took control in the 1920s, the paper was strongly
isolationist
Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entangl ...
and aligned with the
Old Right in its coverage of political news and social trends. It used the motto "The American Paper for Americans". From the 1930s to the 1950s, it excoriated the
Democrats and the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
of
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, was resolutely disdainful of the British and French, and greatly enthusiastic for
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
and Sen.
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
.
When McCormick assumed the position of co-editor (with his cousin
Joseph Medill Patterson
Joseph Medill Patterson (January 6, 1879 – May 26, 1946) was an American journalist, publisher and founder of the '' Daily News'' in New York. At the time of his death the ''Daily News'' maintained a Sunday circulation of 4.5 million copi ...
) in 1910, the ''Tribune'' was the third-best-selling paper among Chicago's eight dailies, with a circulation of only 188,000.
["Robert R. McCormick," ''Current Biography 1941'', pp. 545–547.] The young cousins added features such as advice columns and homegrown comic strips such as ''
Little Orphan Annie
''Little Orphan Annie'' is a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on Aug ...
'' and ''
Moon Mullins
''Moon Mullins'' is an American comic strip which had a run as both a daily and Sunday feature from June 19, 1923 to June 2, 1991. Syndicated by the Tribune Media Services, Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate, the strip depicts the lives of d ...
''. They promoted political "crusades", with their first success coming with the ouster of the Republican political boss of Illinois, Sen.
William Lorimer.
At the same time, the ''Tribune'' competed with the Hearst paper, the ''
Chicago Examiner
The ''Chicago American'' was an afternoon newspaper published in Chicago, under various names until its dissolution in 1974.
History
The paper's first edition came out on July 4, 1900, as '' Hearst's Chicago American''. It became the ''Morning ...
'', in a
circulation war. By 1914, the cousins succeeded in forcing out Managing Editor William Keeley. By 1918, the ''Examiner'' was forced to merge with the ''
Chicago Herald''.
![Chicago Tribune, September 4, 1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Chicago_Tribune%2C_September_4%2C_1919.gif)
In 1919, Patterson left the ''Tribune'' and moved to New York to launch his own newspaper, the New York ''
Daily News''.
In a renewed circulation war with Hearst's ''Herald-Examiner'', McCormick and Hearst ran rival lotteries in 1922. The ''Tribune'' won the battle, adding 250,000 readers to its ranks. Also in 1922, the ''Chicago Tribune'' hosted an international
design competition
A design competition or design contest is a competition in which an entity solicits design proposals from the public for a specified purpose.
Architecture
An architectural design competition solicits architects to submit design proposals for a b ...
for its new headquarters, the
Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower is a , 36-floor neo-Gothic skyscraper located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Built between 1923 and 1925, the international design competition for the tower became a historic event in 20th-cen ...
. The competition worked brilliantly as a publicity stunt, and more than 260 entries were received. The winner was a
neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
design by New York architects
John Mead Howells
John Mead Howells, (; August 14, 1868 – September 22, 1959), was an American architect.
Early life and education
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of author William Dean Howells, he earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard Unive ...
and
Raymond Hood
Raymond Mathewson Hood (March 29, 1881 – August 14, 1934) was an American architect who worked in the Neo-Gothic and Art Deco styles. He is best known for his designs of the Tribune Tower, American Radiator Building, and Rockefeller Center. Thr ...
.
The newspaper sponsored a pioneering attempt at Arctic aviation in 1929, an attempted round-trip to Europe across
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
and
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
in a
Sikorsky amphibious aircraft. But, the aircraft was destroyed by ice on July 15, 1929, near
Ungava Bay
Ungava Bay (french: baie d'Ungava, ; iu, ᐅᖓᕙ ᑲᖏᖅᓗᒃ/) is a bay in northeastern Canada separating Nunavik (far northern Quebec) from Baffin Island. Although not geographically apparent, it is considered to be a marginal sea of the ...
at the tip of
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
, Canada. The crew were rescued by the Canadian science ship
CSS ''Acadia''.
The ''Tribune''s reputation for innovation extended to radio—it bought an early station, WDAP, in 1924 and renamed it
WGN (AM)
WGN (720 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, with studios on the 18th floor of 303 East Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WGN has a news/talk
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues an ...
, the station
call letters
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
standing for the paper's self-description as the "World's Greatest Newspaper".
WGN Television was launched on April 5, 1948. These broadcast stations remained ''Tribune'' properties for nine decades and were among the oldest newspaper/broadcasting cross-ownerships in the country. (The ''Tribune''s East Coast sibling, the New York ''Daily News'', later established
WPIX
WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
television and radio.)
The ''Tribune''s legendary sports editor
Arch Ward
Archie Burdette Ward (December 27, 1896 – July 9, 1955) was an American journalist who served as sports editor for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He was the creator of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the Golden Gloves amateur boxing tourna ...
created the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...
in 1933 as part of the city's
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...
exposition.
From 1940 to 1943, the paper supplemented its comic strip offerings with ''The Chicago Tribune Comic Book'', responding to the new success of
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s. At the same time, it launched the more successful and longer-lasting ''
The Spirit Section'', which was also an attempt by newspapers to compete with the new medium.
Under McCormick's stewardship, the ''Tribune'' was a champion of
modified spelling for simplicity (such as spelling "although" as "altho"). McCormick, a vigorous campaigner for the Republican Party, died in 1955, just four days before Democratic boss
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Chicago from 1955 and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee from 1953 until his death. He has been cal ...
was elected mayor for the first time.
One of the great scoops in ''Tribune'' history came when it obtained the text of the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
in June 1919. Another was its revelation of United States war plans on the eve of the
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
attack. The ''Tribune''s June 7, 1942, front page announcement that the United States had broken Japan's naval code was the revelation by the paper of a closely guarded military secret. The story revealing that Americans broke the enemy naval codes was not cleared by censors, and had U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
so enraged that he considered shutting down the ''Tribune''.
1948 U.S. presidential election
![Dewey Defeats Truman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Dewey_Defeats_Truman.jpg)
The paper is well known for a mistake it made during the
1948 presidential election
The following elections occurred in the year 1948.
Africa
* 1948 Mauritian general election
* 1948 South African general election
* 1948 Southern Rhodesian general election
Asia
* 1948 North Korean parliamentary election
* 1948 Republic of China ...
. At that time, much of its composing room staff was on strike. The early returns led editors to believe (along with many in the country) that the Republican candidate
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...
would win. An early edition of the next day's paper carried the headline "
Dewey Defeats Truman
"Dewey Defeats Truman" was an incorrect banner headline on the front page of the ''Chicago Daily Tribune'' (later ''Chicago Tribune'') on November 3, 1948, the day after incumbent United States president Harry S. Truman won an upset victory o ...
", turning the paper into a collector's item. Democrat
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
won and proudly brandished the newspaper in a famous picture taken at
St. Louis Union Station
St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark train station in St. Louis, Missouri. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 ...
. Beneath the headline was a
false article, written by Arthur Sears Henning, which purported to describe West Coast results although written before East Coast election returns were available.
Pulitzer Prizes
Colonel McCormick prevented the ''Tribune'' for years from participating in the
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
competition. But it has won 28 of the awards over the years, including many for
editorial writing.
The ''Tribune'' won its first post-McCormick Pulitzer in 1961, when
Carey Orr
Carey Cassius Orr (January 17, 1890 in Ada, Ohio – May 16, 1967) was an American editorial cartoonist.
In his youth, Orr was a semi-professional baseball pitcher, and he used the money he made from baseball to study at the Chicago Academy of ...
won the award for editorial cartooning. Reporter
George Bliss won a Pulitzer the following year for reporting, and reporter
Bill Jones another in 1971 for reporting.
A reporting team won the award in 1973, followed by reporter
William Mullen and photographer
Ovie Carter
Ovie Carter (born March 11, 1946) was an American photographer for the Chicago Tribune from 1969 to 2004. He won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of famine in Africa and India together with a reporter William Mullen ...
, who won a Pulitzer for international reporting in 1975. A local reporting team won the award in 1976, and architecture critic
Paul Gapp
Paul Gapp (1928 – July 30, 1992) was an architecture critic for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1979.
Early life and education
Born in Cleveland, Gapp graduated from Ohio University in 1950 with a bachelo ...
won a Pulitzer in 1979.
In 2022, Cecilia Reyes, ''Chicago Tribune'', and Madison Hopkins, Better Government Association, won a Pulitzer Prize in local reporting fo
a piercing examination of the city’s long history of failed building- and fire-safety code enforcement which let scofflaw landlords commit serious violations that resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths.
The Watergate years
In 1969, under the leadership of publisher
Harold Grumhaus
Harold may refer to:
People
* Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name
* Harold (surname), surname in the English language
* András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold"
Arts a ...
and editor
Clayton Kirkpatrick
Clayton Kirkpatrick (January 8, 1915 – June 19, 2004) was the editor of the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper from 1969 until 1979. He is credited with modernizing the ''Tribune'', shifting its news coverage and editorial page away from reflexive pa ...
(1915–2004), the ''Tribune'' began reporting from a wider viewpoint. The paper retained its Republican and conservative perspective in its editorials, but it began to publish perspectives in wider commentary that represented a spectrum of diverse opinions, while its news reporting no longer had the conservative slant it had in the McCormick years.
On May 1, 1974, in a major feat of journalism, the ''Tribune'' published the complete 246,000-word text of the
Watergate tapes
The Nixon White House tapes are audio recordings of conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and Nixon administration officials, Nixon family members, and White House staff, produced between 1971 and 1973.
In February 1971, a sound-ac ...
, in a 44-page supplement that hit the streets 24 hours after the transcripts' release by the
Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. Not only was the ''Tribune'' the first newspaper to publish the transcripts, but it beat the U.S.
Government Printing Office
The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...
's published version, and made headlines doing so.
A week later, after studying the transcripts, the paper's editorial board observed that "the high dedication to grand principles that Americans have a right to expect from a President is missing from the transcript record." The ''Tribune''s editors concluded that "nobody of sound mind can read
he transcripts
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
/nowiki> and continue to think that Mr. Nixon has upheld the standards and dignity of the Presidency," and called for Nixon's resignation. The ''Tribune'' call for Nixon to resign made news, reflecting not only the change in the type of conservatism practiced by the paper, but as a watershed event in terms of Nixon's hopes for survival in office. The White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
reportedly perceived the ''Tribune''s editorial as a loss of a long-time supporter and as a blow to Nixon's hopes to weather the scandal.
On December 7, 1975, Kirkpatrick announced in a column on the editorial page that Rick Soll
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
, a "young and talented columnist" for the paper, whose work had "won a following among many ''Tribune'' readers over the last two years", had resigned from the paper. He had acknowledged that a November 23, 1975 column he wrote contained verbatim passages written by another columnist in 1967 and later published in a collection. Kirkpatrick did not identify the columnist. The passages in question, Kirkpatrick wrote, were from a notebook where Soll regularly entered words, phrases and bits of conversation which he had wished to remember. The paper initially suspended Soll for a month without pay. Kirkpatrick wrote that further evidence was revealed came out that another of Soll's columns contained information which he knew was false. At that point, ''Tribune'' editors decided to accept the resignation offered by Soll when the internal investigation began.
After leaving, Soll married Pam Zekman
Pam Zekman (born October 22, 1944, in Chicago) is an American journalist who had been an investigative reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago from 1981 to 2020. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Zekman spent over a decade as a newspape ...
, a Chicago newspaper (and future TV) reporter. He worked for the short-lived ''Chicago Times'' magazine in the late 1980s.
In January 1977, ''Tribune'' columnist Will Leonard died at age 64.
In March 1978, the ''Tribune'' announced that it hired columnist Bob Greene
Robert Bernard Greene Jr. (born March 10, 1947) is an American journalist and author. He worked for 24 years for the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper, where he was a columnist. Greene has written books on subjects including Michael Jordan, Alice C ...
from the ''Chicago Sun-Times''.[
]
1980s and 1990s
Kirkpatrick stepped down as editor in 1979 and was succeeded by Maxwell McCrohon
Maxwell may refer to:
People
* Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist
* Justice Maxwell (disambiguation)
* Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of N ...
(1928–2004), who served as editor until 1981. He was transitioned to a corporate position. McCrohon held the corporate position until 1983, when he left to become editor-in-chief of the United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
. James Squires served as the paper's editor from July 1981 until December 1989.
Jack Fuller
Jack William Fuller (October 21, 1946 – June 21, 2016)Biography at th was an American journalist who spent nearly forty years working in newspapers and was the author of seven novels and two books on journalism.
Biography
Fuller was born in Ch ...
served as the ''Tribune'''s editor from 1989 until 1993, when he became the president and chief executive officer of the ''Chicago Tribune''. Howard Tyner
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
served as the ''Tribune'''s editor from 1993 until 2001, when he was promoted to vice president/editorial for Tribune Publishing.
The ''Tribune'' won 11 Pulitzer prizes during the 1980s and 1990s. Editorial cartoonist Dick Locher
Richard Earl Locher (June 4, 1929 – August 6, 2017) was an American syndicated cartoonist.
Early life and career
Locher was born in Dubuque, Iowa. After high school, he began studying art at the University of Iowa and the Chicago Academy of ...
won the award in 1983, and editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly
Jeffrey Kenneth "Jeff" MacNelly (September 17, 1947 – June 8, 2000) was an American editorial cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Shoe''. After ''Shoe'' had been established in papers, MacNelly created the single-panel strip '' Plu ...
won one in 1985. Then, future editor Jack Fuller
Jack William Fuller (October 21, 1946 – June 21, 2016)Biography at th was an American journalist who spent nearly forty years working in newspapers and was the author of seven novels and two books on journalism.
Biography
Fuller was born in Ch ...
won a Pulitzer for editorial writing in 1986. In 1987, reporters Jeff Lyon and Peter Gorner won a Pulitzer for explanatory reporting, and in 1988, Dean Baquet
Dean P. Baquet (; born September 21, 1956) is an American journalist. He served as the executive editor of ''The New York Times'' from May 2014 to June 2022. Between 2011 and 2014 Baquet was managing editor under the previous executive editor Ji ...
, William Gaines and Ann Marie Lipinski
Ann Marie Lipinski (born January 1956) is a journalist and the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. She is the former editor of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and Vice President for Civic Engagement at the University of Chicago.
...
won a Pulitzer for investigative reporting. In 1989, Lois Wille
Lois Jean Wille (; née Kroeber; September 19, 1931 – July 23, 2019) was a Chicago-based journalist, editor, and author. She won her first of two Pulitzer Prizes in 1963 for a series on local government's failure to provide contraceptive info ...
won a Pulitzer for editorial writing and Clarence Page
Clarence Page (born June 2, 1947) is an American journalist, syndicated columnist, and senior member of the ''Chicago Tribune'' editorial board.
Early years
Page was born in Dayton, Ohio, and attended Middletown High School in Middletown where ...
snagged the award for commentary. In 1994, Ron Kotulak Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald.
Ron or RON may also refer to:
Arts and media
* Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character
* Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character
*Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...
won a Pulitzer for explanatory journalism, while R. Bruce Dold won it for editorial writing. In 1998, reporter Paul Salopek
Paul Salopek (born February 9, 1962 in Barstow, California) is a journalist and writer from the United States. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and was raised in central Mexico.
Salopek has reported globally for the Chicago Tribune, Foreign ...
won a Pulitzer for explanatory writing, and in 1999, architecture critic Blair Kamin
Blair Kamin was the architecture critic of the ''Chicago Tribune'', for 28 years from 1992 to 2021. Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for ''The Des Moines Register''. He also serves as a contributing editor of ''Archit ...
won it for criticism.
In September 1981, baseball writer Jerome Holtzman
Jerome Holtzman (July 12, 1926 – July 19, 2008) was an American sportswriter known for his writings on baseball who served as the official historian for Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 until his death.
Newspaper career
Born in Chicago, Il ...
was hired by the ''Tribune'' after a 38-year career at the ''Sun-Times''.
In September 1982, the ''Chicago Tribune'' opened a new $180 million printing facility, Freedom Center.
In November 1982, ''Tribune'' managing editor William H. "Bill" Jones, who had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1971, died at age 43 of cardiac arrest as a result of complications from a long battle with leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
.
In May 1983, ''Tribune'' columnist Aaron Gold died at age 45 of complications from leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
. Gold had coauthored the Tribune's "Inc." column with Michael Sneed
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
and prior to that had written the paper's "Tower Ticker" column.
The ''Tribune'' scored a coup in 1984 when it hired popular columnist Mike Royko
Michael Royko Jr. (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago. Over his 30-year career, he wrote over 7,500 daily columns for the ''Chicago Daily News'', the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', and the ''Chicago ...
away from the rival ''Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
''.
In 1986, the ''Tribune'' announced that film critic Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
, the ''Tribune''s best-known writer, was no longer the paper's film critic, and that his position with the paper had shifted from being that of a full-time film critic to that of a freelance contract writer who was to write about the film industry for the Sunday paper and also provide capsule film reviews for the paper's entertainment sections. The demotion occurred after Siskel and longtime Chicago film critic colleague Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
decided to shift the production of their weekly movie-review show—then known as ''At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
''At the Movies'' (also known as ''At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert'') is an American movie review television program that aired from 1982 to 1990. It was produced by Tribune Entertainment and was created by Gene Siskel and Roger ...
'' and later known as ''Siskel & Ebert & The Movies
''At the Movies'' (originally ''Siskel & Ebert & the Movies'', and later ''At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper'') is an American movie review television program produced by Disney–ABC Domestic Television in which two film critics share the ...
''—from Tribune Entertainment
Tribune Entertainment (formerly Mid-America Video Tape Productions, WGN Continental Productions, Tribune Productions and Tribune Entertainment Company) was a television production and broadcast syndication company owned and operated by Tribune Br ...
to The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's Buena Vista Television
Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,[Dave Kehr
David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...]
.
In February 1988, Tribune foreign correspondent Jonathan Broder resigned after a February 22, 1988, Tribune article written by Broder contained a number of sentences and phrases taken, without attribution, from a column written by another writer, Joel Greenberg, that had been published 10 days earlier in ''The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
''.
In August 1988, ''Chicago Tribune'' reporter Michael Coakley died at age 41 of complications from AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
.
In November 1992, ''Tribune'' associate subject editor Searle "Ed" Hawley was arrested by Chicago police and charged with seven counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly having sex with three juveniles in his home in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
. Hawley formally resigned from the paper in early 1993, and pleaded guilty in April 1993. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
In an unusual move at that time, the ''Tribune'' in October 1993 fired its longtime military-affairs writer, retired-Marine David Evans, with the public position that the post of military affairs was being dropped in favor of having a national security writer.
In December 1993, the ''Tribune''s longtime Washington, D.C. bureau chief, Nicholas Horrock
Nicholas is a male given name and a surname.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...
, was removed from his post after he chose not to attend a meeting that editor Howard Tyner
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
requested of him in Chicago. Horrock, who shortly thereafter left the paper, was replaced by James Warren, who attracted new attention to the ''Tribune''s D.C. bureau through his continued attacks on celebrity broadcast journalists in Washington.
Also in December 1993, the ''Tribune'' hired Margaret Holt
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Indo-Iranian languages, Persian.
Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and r ...
from the ''South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...
'' as its assistant managing editor for sports, making her the first female to head a sports department at any of the nation's 10 largest newspapers. In mid-1995, Holt was replaced as sports editor by Tim Franklin and shifted to a newly created job, customer service editor.
In 1994, reporter Brenda You
Brenda is a feminine given name in the English language.
Origin
The overall accepted origin for the female name Brenda is the Old Nordic male name ''Brandr'' meaning both ''torch'' and ''sword'': evidently the male name Brandr took root in areas ...
was fired by the ''Tribune'' after free-lancing for supermarket tabloid newspapers and lending them photographs from the ''Tribune''s photo library. You later worked for the ''National Enquirer
The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years.
The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips, a common practice in tabl ...
'' and as a producer for ''The Jerry Springer Show
''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...
'' before committing suicide in November 2005.
In April 1994, the ''Tribune''s new television critic, Ken Parish Perkins
Ken or KEN may refer to:
Entertainment
* Ken (album), ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer.
* Ken (film), ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film.
* Ken (magazine), ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine ...
, wrote an article about then-WFLD
WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...
morning news anchor Bob Sirott
Robert "Bob" Sirott (born August 9, 1949) is an American broadcaster. He is the morning host at WGN in Chicago. He is also a former television news anchor, most recently working in that role at Chicago's WFLD.
Professional career
Sirott began ...
in which Perkins quoted Sirott as making a statement that Sirott later denied making. Sirott criticized Perkins on the air, and the ''Tribune'' later printed a correction acknowledging that Sirott had never made that statement. Eight months later, Perkins stepped down as TV critic, and he left the paper shortly thereafter.
In December 1995, the alternative newsweekly ''Newcity
Newcity is a media company based in Chicago, founded in 1986 by Brian and Jan Hieggelke." It started as the ''Newcity'' independent, free weekly newspaper in Chicago. Effective March 2017, the founders changed the newspaper into a glossy monthly ...
'' published a first-person article by the pseudonymous Clara Hamon (a name mentioned in the play ''The Front Page
''The Front Page'' is a Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times.
Plot
The ...
'') but quickly identified by ''Tribune'' reporters as that of former ''Tribune'' reporter Mary Hill that heavily criticized the paper's one-year residency program. The program brought young journalists in and out of the paper for one-year stints, seldom resulting in a full-time job. Hill, who wrote for the paper from 1992 until 1993, acknowledged to the ''Chicago Reader'' that she had written the diatribe originally for the Internet, and that the piece eventually was edited for ''Newcity''.
In 1997, the ''Tribune'' celebrated its 150th anniversary in part by tapping longtime reporter Stevenson Swanson to edit the book ''Chicago Days: 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City''.
On April 29, 1997, popular columnist Mike Royko
Michael Royko Jr. (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago. Over his 30-year career, he wrote over 7,500 daily columns for the ''Chicago Daily News'', the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', and the ''Chicago ...
died of a brain aneurysm
An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.
Aneurysms in the posterior circul ...
. On September 2, 1997, the ''Tribune'' promoted longtime City Hall reporter John Kass
John Kass (born June 25, 1956) is an American columnist and former editorial board member for the ''Chicago Tribune'' and radio broadcaster. Until summer 2020, his opinion pieces regularly appeared on page 2 of the main news section of the ''Tribun ...
to take Royko's place as the paper's principal Page Two news columnist.
On June 1, 1997, the ''Tribune'' published what ended up becoming a very popular column by Mary Schmich
Mary Theresa Schmich ( ; born November 29, 1953) is an American journalist. She was a columnist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' from 1992 to 2021, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. Her columns were syndicated nationally by Tribune Content Agency. S ...
called "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", otherwise known as "Wear Sunscreen
"Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", commonly known by the title "Wear Sunscreen", is an essay written as a hypothetical commencement speech by columnist Mary Schmich, originally published in June 1997 in the ''Chicago Tribune' ...
" or the "Sunscreen Speech". The most popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single released in 1999, accredited to Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962), known professionally as Baz Luhrmann, is an Australian film director, producer, writer and actor. With projects spanning film, television, opera, theatre, music and recording industries, he is re ...
.
In 1998, reporter Jerry Thomas was fired by the ''Tribune'' after he wrote a cover article on boxing promoter Don King
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing Promoter (entertainment), promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cas ...
for '' Emerge'' magazine at the same time that he was writing a cover article on King for the ''Chicago Tribune'' Sunday magazine. The paper decided to fire Thomas—and suspend his photographer on the ''Emerge'' story, Pulitzer Prize-winning ''Tribune'' photographer Ovie Carter
Ovie Carter (born March 11, 1946) was an American photographer for the Chicago Tribune from 1969 to 2004. He won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of famine in Africa and India together with a reporter William Mullen ...
for a month—because Thomas did not tell the ''Tribune'' about his outside work and also because the ''Emerge'' story wound up appearing in print first.
On June 6, 1999, the ''Tribune'' published a first-person travel article from freelance writer Gaby Plattner that described a supposed incident in which a pilot for Air Zimbabwe
Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd (operating as Air Zimbabwe) is the national carrier of Zimbabwe, headquartered on the property of Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, in Harare. From its hub at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, the carr ...
who was flying without a copilot inadvertently locked himself out of his cockpit while the plane was flying on autopilot
An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...
and as a result needed to use a large ax to chop a hole in the cockpit door. An airline representative wrote a lengthy letter to the paper calling the account "totally untrue, unprofessional and damaging to our airline" and explaining that Air Zimbabwe does not keep axes on its aircraft and never flies without a full crew, and the paper was forced to print a correction stating that Plattner "now says that she passed along a story she had heard as something she had experienced."
The ''Tribune'' has been a leader on the Internet, acquiring 10 percent of America Online
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...
in the early 1990s, then launching such web sites as Chicagotribune.com (1995), Metromix
Metromix LLC was a Chicago entertainment website at Chicago.Metromix.com, owned by the ''Chicago Tribune'' division of Tribune Publishing. It served the Chicago metropolitan area. The website now redirects to that of the Chicago Tribune.
History ...
.com (1996), ChicagoSports.com (1999), ChicagoBreakingNews.com (2008), and ChicagoNow
ChicagoNow was a blogging site managed by Tribune Publishing, owner of the print ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper. It featured a network of blogs of international, national, and local interest on a variety of topics ranging from crime to public scho ...
(2009). In 2002, the paper launched a tabloid edition targeted at 18- to 34-year-olds known as ''RedEye
Red eye, red-eye, redeye or variants may refer to:
Related to the eye
* Red-eye effect, in photographs
* Red eye (medicine), an eye that appears red due to illness or injury
* Red, an extremely rare eye color due to albinism
* Red eyeshine i ...
''.
2000s
Ann Marie Lipinski
Ann Marie Lipinski (born January 1956) is a journalist and the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. She is the former editor of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and Vice President for Civic Engagement at the University of Chicago.
...
was the paper's editor from February 2001 until stepping down on July 17, 2008. Gerould W. Kern Gerould is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bobby Gerould, American sports announcer
* Daniel C. Gerould (1928–2012), American playwright
* Gary Gerould, American sports announcer
* Gordon Hall Gerould (1877–1953), Ameri ...
was named the paper's editor in July 2008. In early August 2008, managing editor for news Hanke Gratteau Hanke or Hancke is a surname of Germanic or Scandinavian origin. It is most common in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, but now widely found in the United States, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Hanke is also a male first name in Germany.
Pe ...
resigned, and several weeks later, managing editor for features James Warren resigned as well. Both were replaced by Jane Hirt
Jane may refer to:
* Jane (given name), a feminine given name
* Jane (surname), related to the given name
Film and television
* ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd
* ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...
, who previously had been the editor of the ''Tribune''s ''RedEye
Red eye, red-eye, redeye or variants may refer to:
Related to the eye
* Red-eye effect, in photographs
* Red eye (medicine), an eye that appears red due to illness or injury
* Red, an extremely rare eye color due to albinism
* Red eyeshine i ...
'' tabloid.
In June 2000, Times Mirror merged with Tribune Company making ''The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
'' and its community papers Baltimore Sun Media Group / Patuxent Publishing a subsidiary of Tribune.
In July 2000, Tribune outdoors columnist John Husar, who had written about his need for a new liver transplant, died at age 63, just over a week after receiving part of a new liver from a live donor.
Tribune's Baltimore Community papers include ''Arbutus Times'', ''Baltimore Messenger'', ''Catonsville Times
The ''Catonsville Times'' is a weekly community newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgroun ...
'', ''Columbia Flier'', ''Howard County Times
''The Howard County Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Howard County, Maryland. Although it claims to trace its origins to 1840, it was founded in 1869 as ''The Ellicott City Times'', a weekly newspaper. In 1958 its name was changed to ''The H ...
'', '' The Jeffersonian'', ''Laurel Leader'', ''Lifetimes'', ''North County News'', ''Northeast Booster'', ''Northeast Reporter'', ''Owings Mills Times'', and ''Towson Times''.
The ''Howard County Times'' was named 2010 Newspaper of the Year by the Suburban Newspaper Association.
The ''Towson Times'' expands coverage beyond the Towson area and includes Baltimore County government and politics.
The ''Tribune'' won five Pulitzer prizes in the first decade of the 21st century. Salopek won his second Pulitzer for the ''Tribune'' in 2001 for international reporting, and that same year an explanatory reporting team—lead writers of which were Louise Kiernan
Louise or Luise may refer to:
* Louise (given name)
Arts Songs
* Louise (Bonnie Tyler song), "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005
* Louise (The Human League song), "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984
* Louise (Jett Rebel song), "Louise" (Jett ...
, Jon Hilkevitch
Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Laurie Cohen Laurie Cohen is a British academic. She is a professor of work and organisation at the Nottingham University Business School. Cohen is the editor-in-chief of ''Work, Employment & Society
''Work, Employment & Society'' is a peer-reviewed academic ...
, Robert Manor
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
, Andrew Martin, John Schmeltzer
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, Alex Rodriguez and Andrew Zajac
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...
—won the honor for a profile of the chaotic U.S. air traffic system. In 2003, editorial writer Cornelia Grumman Cornelia Grumman is an American Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. She is the Director of the Early Education Program at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation (http://mccormickfoundation.org/) in Chicago. From 2008–2012, she was the executive direc ...
snagged the award for editorial writing. In 2005, Julia Keller
Julia Keller is an American writer and former journalist. Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
Life
Keller was born in Huntington, West Virginia and lived there throughout her early life. Her father was a mathematics professo ...
won a Pulitzer for feature reporting on a tornado that struck Utica, Illinois. And, in 2008, an investigative reporting team including Patricia Callahan Patricia Callahan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist for ProPublica.
Early life and career
Callahan attended from Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois and graduated from Northwestern University's Medill Schoo ...
, Maurice Possley Maurice may refer to:
People
*Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr
*Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor
*Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...
, Sam Roe Sam Roe is a journalist who was part of a team of reporters at the ''Chicago Tribune'' that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for an examination of hazardous toys and other children's products. He is currently an editor for the ...
, Ted Gregory, Michael Oneal
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
, Evan Osnos
Evan Lionel Richard Osnos (born December 24, 1976) is an American journalist and author. He has been a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' since 2008, best known for his coverage of politics and foreign affairs, in the United States and China. His ...
and photojournalist Scott Strazzante Scott Strazzante (born March 11, 1964) is an American photojournalist at the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. As a member of the ''Chicago Tribune'' staff, he co-won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for a series about faulty governm ...
won the Pulitzer for its series about faulty government regulation of defective toys, cribs and car seats.
In late 2001, sports columnist Michael Holley
Michael S. Holley (born February 26, 1970) is an American television and radio sports commentator, sports reporter and author. He formerly wrote columns for the ''Boston Globe'', ''Chicago Tribune'', ''The Plain Dealer'', and '' Akron Beacon Jo ...
announced he was leaving the ''Tribune'' after just two months because he was homesick. He ultimately returned to ''The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', where he had been working immediately before the ''Tribune'' had hired him.
On September 15, 2002, Lipinski wrote a terse, page-one note informing readers that the paper's longtime columnist, Bob Greene
Robert Bernard Greene Jr. (born March 10, 1947) is an American journalist and author. He worked for 24 years for the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper, where he was a columnist. Greene has written books on subjects including Michael Jordan, Alice C ...
, resigned effective immediately after acknowledging "engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct some years ago with a girl in her late teens whom he met in connection with his newspaper column." The conduct later was revealed to have occurred in 1988 with a woman who was of the age of consent in Illinois. "Greene's behavior was a serious violation of ''Tribune'' ethics and standards for its journalists," Lipinski wrote. "We deeply regret the conduct, its effect on the young woman and the impact this disclosure has on the trust our readers placed in Greene and this newspaper."
In January 2003, Mike Downey
Mike Downey (born August 9, 1951 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and raised in the nearby village of Steger, Illinois) is a retired American newspaper columnist.
From 2003 to 2008, Downey wrote the "In the Wake of the News" column for the ''Chica ...
, formerly of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', was hired as new ''Tribune'' sports columnist. He and colleague Rick Morrissey would write the ''In the Wake of the News Column'' originated by Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wo ...
.
In March 2004, the ''Tribune'' announced that freelance reporter Uli Schmetzer
Uli may refer to:
*Uli, Iran, a village
*Uli, Anambra, a town in Nigeria
*Uli I of Mali
*Uli (design), by the Igbo people of Nigeria
*Uli figure, from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
*Uli (food), a rice-based food
* ISO 639 code for the Ulithian lang ...
, who retired from the ''Tribune'' in 2002 after 16 years as a foreign correspondent, had fabricated the name and occupation of a person he had quoted in a story. The paper terminated Schmetzer as a contract reporter and began a review of the 300 stories that Schmetzer had written over the prior three years.
In May 2004, the ''Tribune'' revealed that freelance reporter Mark Falanga
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fi ...
was unable to verify some facts that he inserted in a lifestyle-related column that ran on April 18, 2004, about an expensive lunch at a Chicago restaurant—namely, that the restaurant charged $15 for a bottle of water and $35 for a pasta entree. "Upon questioning, the freelance writer indicated the column was based on an amalgam of three restaurants and could not verify the prices," the paper noted. After the correction, the ''Tribune'' stopped using Falanga.
In October 2004, ''Tribune'' editor Ann Marie Lipinski
Ann Marie Lipinski (born January 1956) is a journalist and the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. She is the former editor of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and Vice President for Civic Engagement at the University of Chicago.
...
at the last minute spiked a story written for the paper's WomanNews section by freelance reporter Lisa Bertagnoli Lisa or LISA may refer to:
People
People with the mononym
* Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam
* Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer
* Lisa Komine (born 1978), ...
titled "You c_nt say that (or can you?)," about a noted vulgarism
In the study of language and literary style, a vulgarism is an expression or usage considered standard language, non-standard or characteristic of uneducated speech or writing. In colloquial or Lexical definition, lexical English, "vulgarism" or "v ...
. The paper ordered every spare body to go to the ''Tribune''s printing plant to pull already-printed WomanNews sections containing the story from the October 27, 2004, package of preprinted sections in the ''Tribune''.
In September 2008, the ''Tribune'' considered hiring controversial sports columnist Jay Mariotti
Jay Mariotti (; born June 22, 1959) is an American sports journalist and commentator who currently hosts the sports-related podcast ''Unmuted''. He previously spent 17 years as a ''Chicago Sun-Times'' columnist and eight years as a regular pan ...
, shortly after his abrupt resignation from ''Tribune'' archrival ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
''. Discussions ultimately ended, however, after the ''Sun-Times'' threatened to sue for violating Mariotti's noncompete agreement, which was to run until August 2009. Sports columnist Rick Morrissey defected to the ''Sun-Times'' in December 2009.
In April 2009, 55 Tribune reporters and editors signed their names to an e-mail sent to Kern and managing editor Jane Hirt, questioning why the newspaper's marketing department had solicited subscribers' opinions on stories before they were published, and suggesting that the practice raised ethical questions as well as legal and competitive issues. Reporters declined to speak on the record to the Associated Press about their issues. "We'll let the e-mail speak for itself," reporter John Chase told the AP. In the wake of the controversy, Kern abruptly discontinued the effort, which he described as "a brief market research project".
In the first decade of the 21st century, the ''Tribune'' had multiple rounds of reductions of staff through layoffs and buyouts as it has coped with the industrywide declines in advertising revenues:
* In December 2005, the ''Tribune'' eliminated 28 editorial positions through a combination of buyouts and layoffs, including what were believed to be the first layoffs in the paper's history. Among the reporters who left the paper in that round were Carol Kleiman, Bill Jauss and Connie Lauerman.
* In June 2007, about 25 newsroom employees took buyouts, including well-known bylines like Charles Madigan
Charles M. Madigan (born August 23, 1949) is an American educator who has been an editor, journalist and columnist in Chicago, Illinois.
Life
Madigan grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania and attended Pennsylvania State University.
He had his first ...
, Michael Hirsley and Ronald Kotulak, along with noted photographer Pete Souza
Peter Joseph Souza (born December 31, 1954) is an American photojournalist, the former Chief Official White House Photographer for Presidents of the United States Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama and the former director of the White House Photogra ...
.
* In March 2008, the paper gave buyouts to about 25 newsroom employees, including sportswriter Sam Smith
Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...
.
* On August 15, 2008, the ''Tribune'' laid-off more than 40 newsroom and other editorial employees, including reporters Rick Popely, Ray Quintanilla, Lew Freedman, Michael Martinez and Robert Manor.
* Also in August 2008, about 36 editorial employees took voluntary buyouts or resigned, including well-known bylines like Michael Tackett, Ron Silverman, Timothy McNulty, Ed Sherman, Evan Osnos, Steve Franklin, Maurice Possley, Hanke Gratteau, Chuck Osgood and Skip Myslenski.
* On November 12, 2008, five editorial employees in the paper's Washington, D.C. bureau were laid off, including John Crewdson
John M. Crewdson (born December 15, 1945) is an American journalist. He won a Pulitzer Prize for ''The New York Times'', where he worked for 12 years. He subsequently spent 26 years in a variety of positions at the ''Chicago Tribune''.
Early lif ...
.
* On December 4, 2008, about 11 newsroom employees were laid-off, with one sports columnist, Mike Downey
Mike Downey (born August 9, 1951 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and raised in the nearby village of Steger, Illinois) is a retired American newspaper columnist.
From 2003 to 2008, Downey wrote the "In the Wake of the News" column for the ''Chica ...
, having departed several weeks earlier when his contract was not renewed. Well-known bylines who were laid off included Neil Milbert, Stevenson Swanson, Lisa Anderson, Phil Marty, Charles Storch, Courtney Flynn and Deborah Horan.
* In February 2009, the ''Tribune'' laid off about 20 editorial employees, including several foreign correspondents, and some feature reporters and editors, although several, including Charles Leroux and Jeff Lyon, technically took buyouts. Among those who were let go were reporters Emily Nunn, Susan Chandler, Christine Spolar and Joel Greenberg.
* On April 22, 2009, the paper laid off 53 newsroom employees, including well-known bylines like Patrick Reardon, Melissa Isaacson, Russell Working, Jo Napolitano, Susan Diesenhouse, Beth Botts, Lou Carlozo, Jessica Reaves, Tom Hundley, Alan Artner, Eric Benderoff, James P. Miller, Bob Sakamoto, Terry Bannon and John Mullin. That number was less than the 90 newsroom jobs that Crain's Chicago Business previously had reported were to be eliminated.
The ''Tribune'' broke the story on May 29, 2009, that several students had been admitted to the University of Illinois based upon connections or recommendations by the school's Board of Trustees, Chicago politicians, and members of the Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...
administration. Initially denying the existence of a so-called "Category I" admissions program, university President B. Joseph "Joe" White and Chancellor Richard Herman later admitted that there were instances of preferential treatment. Although they claimed the list was short and their role was minor, the ''Tribune'', in particular, revealed emails through a FOIA finding that White had received a recommendation for a relative of convicted fundraiser Tony Rezko
Antoin Rezko (born 1955) is an American businessman and convict. He was a fundraiser for Illinois Democratic and Republican politicians. After becoming a major contributor to Rod Blagojevich's successful election for governor, Rezko assisted Blag ...
to be admitted. The Tribune also later posted emails from Herman pushing for underqualified students to be accepted. The ''Tribune'' has since filed suit against the university administration under the Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
to acquire the names of students benefited by administrative clout and impropriety.
2010s
On February 8, 2010, the ''Chicago Tribune'' shrank its newspaper's width by an inch. They said that the new format was becoming the industry standard and that there would be minimal content changes.
In July 2011, the ''Chicago Tribune'' underwent its first round of layoffs of editorial employees in more than two years, letting go about 20 editors and reporters. Among those let go were DuPage County reporter Art Barnum
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, Editorial Board member Pat Widder and photographer Dave Pierini Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
.
On March 15, 2012, the ''Tribune'' laid off 15 editorial staffers, including security guard Wendell Smothers Wendell may refer to:
Places in the United States
*Wendell, Idaho
* Wendell, Massachusetts
*Wendell, Minnesota
*Wendell, North Carolina
Wendell is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. It is a satellite town of Raleigh, the state ...
(Smothers then died on November 12, 2012). At the same time, the paper gave buyouts to six editorial staffers, including Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter William Mullen, Barbara Mahany and Nancy Reese.
In June 2012, the ''Tribune''s Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic Julia Keller
Julia Keller is an American writer and former journalist. Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.
Life
Keller was born in Huntington, West Virginia and lived there throughout her early life. Her father was a mathematics professo ...
left the paper to join the faculty of Ohio University
Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...
and to pursue a career as a novelist.
In September 2012, ''Tribune'' education reporter Joel Hood resigned from the paper to become a real estate broker, City Hall reporter Kristen Mack left the paper to become press secretary for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle
Toni Lynn Preckwinkle (née Reed; born March 17, 1947) is an American politician and the current County Board President in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was first elected as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the e ...
, and the ''Tribune'' hired Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer John J. Kim
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
from the ''Chicago Sun-Times''.
In October 2012, the ''Tribune''s science and medicine reporter, Trine Tsouderos, quit to join a public relations firm.
Also in October 2012, the ''Tribune'' announced plans to create a paywall for its website, offering digital-only subscriptions at $14.99 per month, starting on November 1, 2012. Seven-day print subscribers would continue to have unlimited online access at no additional charge.
In late February 2013, the ''Tribune'' agreed to pay a total of $660,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit that had been filed against the paper by 46 current and former reporters of its TribLocal local-news reporting group over unpaid overtime wages. The suit had been filed in federal court on behalf of Carolyn Rusin, who had been a TribLocal staff reporter from July 2010 until October 2011. The paper's TribLocal unit had been formed in 2007 and uses staff reporters, freelance writers and user-generated content to produce hyperlocal Chicago-area community news.
On June 12, 2013, the Boston Marathon bombing
The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...
moving tribute was posted again, which showed the words "We are Chicago" above the names of Boston sports teams. On the graphic on June 12, the word "Bruins" was ripped off and the comment was added, "Yeah, not right now we're not", in a reference to the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2013 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) season, and the conclusion of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference playoff champion Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Eastern Confer ...
, which play the Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...
against the Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
.[ Gerould Kern tweeted later that the ''Tribune'' "still supports ostonafter all you've been through. We regret any offense. Now let's play hockey."][
On November 20, 2013, the ''Tribune'' laid off another 12 or so editorial staffers.]
On April 6, 2014, the ''Tribune'' increased the newsstand price of its Sunday/Thanksgiving Day paper by 50 percent to $2.99 for a single copy. The newsrack price increased $0.75, or 42.9%, to $2.50. By January 2017 the price increased again, up $1 or 40% at newsracks, to $3.50. At newsstands it went up also $1, or 33.3%, to $3.99.
On January 28, 2015, metropolitan editor Peter Kendall was named managing editor, replacing Jane Hirt, who had resigned several months earlier. Colin McMahon was named associate editor.
On February 18, 2016, the Tribune announced the retirement of editor Gerould Kern and the immediate promotion of the paper's editorial page editor, R. Bruce Dold, to be the Tribune's editor.
On Jun 9, 2018 the Tribune ended their 93-year stint at Tribune Tower and moved to One Prudential Plaza
One Prudential Plaza (formerly known as the Prudential Building) is a 41-story structure in Chicago completed in 1955 as the headquarters for Prudential's Mid-America company. It was the first skyscraper built in Chicago since the Great Depr ...
. The tower was later converted to condo's.
2020s
On February 27, 2020, the Tribune announced that publisher and editor Bruce Dold will leave the Tribune on April 30, 2020, and would step down immediately as editor in chief. His replacement as editor was Colin McMahon. Also, the paper announced that one of the two managing editors of the paper, Peter Kendall, would leave the Tribune on February 28, 2020.
In January 2021, the Chicago Tribune moved out of One Prudential Plaza
One Prudential Plaza (formerly known as the Prudential Building) is a 41-story structure in Chicago completed in 1955 as the headquarters for Prudential's Mid-America company. It was the first skyscraper built in Chicago since the Great Depr ...
, and relocated their offices and newsroom to Freedom Center.
In May 2021 the paper was purchased by Alden Global Capital. Alden immediately launched a round of employee buyouts, reducing the newsroom staff by 25 percent, and the cuts continued. A former reporter said the paper is being "snuffed out, quarter after quarter after quarter".[ A report in '']The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' said that Alden's business model is simple: "Gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices, and wring as much cash as possible out of the enterprise until eventually enough readers cancel their subscriptions that the paper folds, or is reduced to a desiccated husk of its former self."
Mitch Pugh was named the ''Tribune's'' executive editor on Aug. 20, 2021, after eight years in the same role at The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina.
Editorial policy
In a 2007 statement of principles published in the ''Tribune''s print and online editions, the paper's editorial board described the newspaper's philosophy, from which is excerpted the following:
The ''Chicago Tribune'' believes in the traditional principles of limited government; maximum individual responsibility; minimum restriction of personal liberty, opportunity and enterprise. It believes in free markets, free will and freedom of expression. These principles, while traditionally conservative, are guidelines and not reflexive dogmas.
The ''Tribune'' brings a Midwestern sensibility to public debate. It is suspicious of untested ideas.
The ''Tribune'' places great emphasis on the integrity of government and the private institutions that play a significant role in society. The newspaper does this in the belief that the people cannot consent to be governed unless they have knowledge of, and faith in, the leaders and operations of government. The ''Tribune'' embraces the diversity of people and perspectives in its community. It is dedicated to the future of the Chicago region.
The ''Tribune'' has remained economically conservative, being widely skeptical of increasing the minimum wage and entitlement
An entitlement is a provision made in accordance with a legal framework of a society. Typically, entitlements are based on concepts of principle ("rights") which are themselves based in concepts of social equality or enfranchisement.
In psychology ...
spending. Although the ''Tribune'' criticized the Bush administration's record on civil liberties, the environment, and many aspects of its foreign policy, it continued to support his presidency while taking Democrats, such as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...
and Cook County Board President
The President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners is the chief executive of county government in Cook County, Illinois. They are the head of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
Office description
Officeholders
Recent election res ...
Todd Stroger
Todd H. Stroger (born January 14, 1963) is the former president of the Cook County, Illinois Board and a former alderman for the 8th Ward in Chicago. Stroger is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2001, he was appointed to the Chicago City Counc ...
, to task and calling for their removal from office.
In 2004, the ''Tribune'' endorsed President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
for re-election, a decision consistent with its longstanding support for the Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
. In 2008, it endorsed Democratic candidate and Illinois junior U.S. Senator Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
—the first time that it had ever endorsed a Democrat for president. The ''Tribune'' endorsed Obama once again for reelection in 2012, and in 2020 would endorse another Democrat, Joe Biden, who had served as vice president under Obama.
The ''Tribune'' has occasionally backed independent candidates for president. In 1872, it supported Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressm ...
, a former Republican Party newspaper editor, and in 1912 the paper endorsed Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, who ran on the Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Italy
...
slate against Republican President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
. In 2016, the Tribune endorsed the Libertarian Party
Active parties by country
Defunct parties by country
Organizations associated with Libertarian parties
See also
* Liberal parties by country
* List of libertarian organizations
* Lists of political parties
* Outline of libertarianism ...
candidate, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson
Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...
, for president, over Republican Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
and Democrat Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
.
Over the years, the ''Tribune'' has endorsed some Democrats for lesser offices, including recent endorsements of Bill Foster, Barack Obama for the Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and Democrat Melissa Bean
Melissa Luburich Bean (born January 22, 1962) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2005 to 2011. Bean is a member of the Democratic Party.
Early life, education, and business career
Bean attended Maine East H ...
, who defeated Philip Crane
Philip Miller Crane (November 3, 1930 – November 8, 2014) was an American politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 2005, representing the 8th District of Illinois in the northwestern su ...
, the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
' longest-serving Republican. Although the ''Tribune'' endorsed George Ryan
George Homer Ryan (born February 24, 1934) is an American former politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the 39th governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003.
Elected in 1998, Ryan received national attention for his 1999 mor ...
in the 1998 Illinois gubernatorial race, the paper subsequently investigated and reported on the scandals surrounding Ryan during his preceding years as Secretary of State. Ryan declined to run for re-election in 2002 and was subsequently indicted, convicted and imprisoned as a result of the scandal.
, the ''Chicago Tribune'' and ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' have taken down their websites in most European countries due to GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union regulation on data protection and privacy in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and of human rights law, in partic ...
.
Tribune Company
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is the founding business unit of Tribune Company
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
(since renamed ''Tribune Media''), which included many newspapers and television stations around the country. In Chicago, Tribune Media owns the WGN radio station (720 AM) and WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
(Channel 9). Tribune Company also owned the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''—which displaced the Tribune as the company's largest property—and the Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
team. The Cubs were sold in 2009;the newspapers spun off in 2014 as Tribune Publishing.
Tribune Company owned the New York '' Daily News'' from its 1919 founding until its 1991 sale to British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
. The founder of the ''News''Capt. Joseph Medill Patterson
Joseph Medill Patterson (January 6, 1879 – May 26, 1946) was an American journalist, publisher and founder of the '' Daily News'' in New York. At the time of his death the ''Daily News'' maintained a Sunday circulation of 4.5 million copi ...
, was a grandson of Joseph Medill and a cousin of ''Tribune'' editor Robert McCormick. Both Patterson and McCormick were enthusiasts of simplified spelling, another hallmark of their papers for many years. In 2008, the Tribune Company sold the Long Island newspaper ''Newsday
''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
''—founded in 1940 by Patterson's daughter (and Medill's great-granddaughter), Alicia Patterson
Alicia Patterson (October 15, 1906 – July 2, 1963) was an American journalist, the founder and editor of '' Newsday''. With Neysa McMein, she created the ''Deathless Deer'' comic strip in 1943.
Early life
Patterson was the middle daughter of A ...
—to Long Island cable TV company Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
.
From 1925 to 2018, the Chicago Tribune was housed in the Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower is a , 36-floor neo-Gothic skyscraper located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Built between 1923 and 1925, the international design competition for the tower became a historic event in 20th-cen ...
on North Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located within downtown, and one block ...
. The building is neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
in style, and the design was the winner of an international competition hosted by the Tribune. The Chicago Tribune moved in June 2018 to the Prudential Plaza office complex overlooking Millennium Park after Tribune Media sold Tribune Tower to developers.
Columnists
Current
* Amy Dickinson
Amy Dickinson (born November 6, 1959) is an American newspaper columnist who writes the syndicated advice column ''Ask Amy''. Dickinson has appeared as a social commentator on ABC's ''Good Morning America'' and NBC's ''The Today Show''.
Biograp ...
* Chris Jones
* Clarence Page
Clarence Page (born June 2, 1947) is an American journalist, syndicated columnist, and senior member of the ''Chicago Tribune'' editorial board.
Early years
Page was born in Dayton, Ohio, and attended Middletown High School in Middletown where ...
* Michael Phillips
* Nina Metz Nina may refer to:
* Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname
Acronyms
*National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq
* Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology
* No incom ...
* Laura Washington
Laura may refer to:
People
* Laura (given name)
* Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert
Places Australia
* Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula
* Laura, South Australia
* Laura Bay, a bay on ...
Past
* William Armstrong
* Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II) is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show '' First Take'' with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left ...
* Claudia Cassidy
Claudia Cassidy (1899 – July 21, 1996), was an influential, 20th-century American performing arts critic. She was a long-time critic for the ''Chicago Tribune.''
Starting in 1925 she was music and drama critic for The Journal of Commerce. Sh ...
* Steve Chapman
* Steve Daley
Steve Daley (born 15 April 1953) is an English former footballer, who played as a midfielder. His English record transfer to Manchester City in 1979 was later described as "the biggest waste of money in football history".Irish, Oliver"The 10 big ...
* Mike Downey
Mike Downey (born August 9, 1951 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and raised in the nearby village of Steger, Illinois) is a retired American newspaper columnist.
From 2003 to 2008, Downey wrote the "In the Wake of the News" column for the ''Chica ...
* Dahleen Glanton
* Bob Greene
Robert Bernard Greene Jr. (born March 10, 1947) is an American journalist and author. He worked for 24 years for the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper, where he was a columnist. Greene has written books on subjects including Michael Jordan, Alice C ...
* David Haugh
David Haugh (born May 22, 1968) is an American columnist, radio, and television personality. Haugh worked with the Chicago Tribune from 2002 to 2020, serving as the primary Chicago Bears columnist since 2009.
In July 2018, Haugh replaced Brian Ha ...
* Vernon Jarrett Vernon Daurice Jarrett (born Daurice Vernon Jarrett; June 19, 1918Jarrett's year of birth according to the 1920 United States Census, U.S. Social Security Death Index, and the U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index is 1918. Conflicting ...
* Blair Kamin
Blair Kamin was the architecture critic of the ''Chicago Tribune'', for 28 years from 1992 to 2021. Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for ''The Des Moines Register''. He also serves as a contributing editor of ''Archit ...
* John Kass
John Kass (born June 25, 1956) is an American columnist and former editorial board member for the ''Chicago Tribune'' and radio broadcaster. Until summer 2020, his opinion pieces regularly appeared on page 2 of the main news section of the ''Tribun ...
* Hugh Keough Hugh E. Keough (January 24, 1864 – June 9, 1912) was a Chicago sportswriter who worked as a journalist for 31 years,"Hugh E. Keough Dead", ''The New York Times'', June 10, 1912, pg. 9. from the age of 17 until his death. He was born in Hamilton, ...
* Ann Landers
Ann Landers was a pen name created by ''Chicago Sun-Times'' advice columnist Ruth Crowley in 1943 and taken over by Esther Pauline "Eppie" Lederer (July 4, 1918 – June 22, 2002) in 1955. For 56 years, the Ask Ann Landers syndicated ad ...
* Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Wo ...
* Charles Madigan
Charles M. Madigan (born August 23, 1949) is an American educator who has been an editor, journalist and columnist in Chicago, Illinois.
Life
Madigan grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania and attended Pennsylvania State University.
He had his first ...
* Steve Neal
* Jack Mabley
Jack Arnold Mabley (October 26, 1915 – January 6, 2006) was an American newspaper reporter and columnist.
Early life and career
Mabley was born on October 26, 1915, in Binghamton, New York, to Clarence Ware Mabley (born Clarence Ware Mable) ...
* Mike Royko
Michael Royko Jr. (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago. Over his 30-year career, he wrote over 7,500 daily columns for the ''Chicago Daily News'', the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', and the ''Chicago ...
* Mary Schmich
Mary Theresa Schmich ( ; born November 29, 1953) is an American journalist. She was a columnist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' from 1992 to 2021, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. Her columns were syndicated nationally by Tribune Content Agency. S ...
* Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
* Heidi Stevens
* Arch Ward
Archie Burdette Ward (December 27, 1896 – July 9, 1955) was an American journalist who served as sports editor for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He was the creator of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the Golden Gloves amateur boxing tourna ...
* Eric Zorn
Eric Zorn (born January 6, 1958) is a former American op-ed columnist and daily blogger for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who specialized in local news as well as politics.
Early life and education
Zorn is a graduate of the University of Michigan, wher ...
* Rex Huppke
Rex may refer to:
* Rex (title) (Latin: king, ruler, monarch), a royal title
** King of Rome (Latin: Rex Romae), chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom
People
* Rex (given name), for people with the given name
* Rex (surname), for people with th ...
2008 redesign
The September 2008 redesign (discussed on the ''Tribune'''s web site) was controversial and is largely regarded as an effort in cost-cutting. Since then the newspaper has returned to a more toned down style. The style is more a mix of the old style and a new modern style.
Zell ownership and bankruptcy
In December 2007, the Tribune Company was bought out by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell
Samuel Zell (born Shmuel Zielonka, September 28, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. A former lawyer, Zell is the founder and chairman of Equity Group Investments, a private investment firm, founded in 1968. He has ...
in an $8.2 billion deal. Zell was the company's new chairman. A year after going private, following a $124 million third-quarter loss, the Tribune Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on December 8, 2008. The company made its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, citing a debt of $13 billion and assets of $7.6 billion.
Sam Zell originally planned to turn the company into a private company through the creation of an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) within the company, but due to poor management that existed prior to his ownership, this did not work out as well as he intended.
As part of its bankruptcy plan, owner Sam Zell intended to sell the Cubs to reduce debt. This sale has become linked to the corruption charges leading to the December 9, 2008, arrest of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...
. Specifically, the ex-governor was accused of exploiting the paper's financial trouble in an effort to have several editors fired.
In the bankruptcy, unsecured bondholders of Tribune Co. essentially claimed that ordinary Tribune shareholders participated in a "fraudulent transfer" of wealth.
The law firm Brown Rudnick, representing the Aurelius group of junior creditors, filed fraudulent transfer claims and fraud claims against 33,000 to 35,000 stockholders who bought Tribune stock. Prolonged due to these claims against former officers, directors, and every former stockholder of the Chicago Tribune Company, the Tribune's bankruptcy-related legal and professional fees of $500 million were more than twice the usual amount for that size of company.
The Tribune Co. emerged from bankruptcy in January 2013, partially owned by private equity firms which had speculated on its distressed debt. The reorganized company's plan included selling off many of its assets.
Tribune Publishing divestment
Tribune Publishing
Tribune Publishing Company (briefly Tronc, Inc.) is an American newspaper print and online media publishing company. The company, which was acquired by Alden Global Capital in May 2021, has a portfolio that includes the ''Chicago Tribune'', the ...
, owning the ''Chicago Tribune'', ''Los Angeles Times'', and eight other newspapers, was spun off as a separate publicly traded company in August 2014. The parent Tribune Company was renamed Tribune Media
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
. Tribune Publishing started life with a $350 million loan, $275 million of which was paid as a dividend to Tribune Media. The publishing company was also due to lease its office space from Tribune Media for $30 million per year through 2017.
Spinning off Tribune Publishing avoided the capital gains taxes that would accrue from selling those assets. The shares in Tribune Publishing were given tax-free to stakeholders in Tribune Media, the largest shareholder was Oaktree Capital Management with 18.5%. Tribune Media, retaining the non-newspaper broadcasting, entertainment, real estate, and other investments, also sold off some of the non-newspaper properties.
See also
* Chicago Tribune Syndicate
Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media S ...
* ''Chicago Tribune'' Silver Basketball
* ''Chicago Tribune'' Silver Football
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* Mayer, Gordon. "Party Rags? Politics and the News Business in Chicago's Party Press, 1831–71." ''Journalism History'' 32#3 (2006): 138+
*
*
*
* Ziv, Nina. "The Chicagotribune. com: Creating a Newspaper for the New Economy" jn ''Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases'' (2002)
online
External links
*
*
*
''Chicago Tribune'' Archives (1849 to present)
Tribune Company
corporate web site
(external corporate profile)
Janet A. Ginsburg ''Chicago Tribune'' Collection (1880s to 1940s)
(searchable database of 12,000 images on 5,500 pages, digitized and available for all educational uses worldwide)
Institutions that own print and microfilm of this newspaper
at the Illinois Newspaper Project
The Illinois Newspaper Project (INP) began as part of the United States Newspaper Program (USNP), a cooperative effort between the states and the federal government designed to catalog and preserve on microfilm the nation's historic newspaper heri ...
John Tinney McCutcheon Editorial Cartoon Collection
Collection of editorial cartoons published in the Chicago Tribune in the early twentieth century. (At the University of Missouri.)
{{Authority control
1847 establishments in Illinois
Daily newspapers published in the United States
Newspapers published in Chicago
Old Right (United States)
Newspapers established in 1847
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners
Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners
Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers
Tribune Publishing