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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 = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, 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 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 tr ...
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 advertising, ...
are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, 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 Party ...
's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti- New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the '' New York Daily News'' and the '' Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company, 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, for U.S. president. Originally published solely as a broadsheet, the ''Tribune'' announced on January 13, 2009 that it would continue publishing as a broadsheet for home delivery, but would publish in
tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...
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, 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''. 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 compan ...
, which operates its media properties through Digital First Media.


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 parties against the Democrats in elections. By late 1853, it was frequently running xenophobic editorials that criticized foreigners and Roman Catholics. 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 dan ...
. 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 party, whose candidate Levi Boone was elected Mayor of Chicago the following month.


Medill editorship

By about 1854, part-owner Capt. J. D. Webster, later General Webster and chief of staff at the Battle of Shiloh, and Dr. Charles H. Ray of Galena, Illinois, through Horace Greeley, convinced Joseph Medill of Cleveland's '' Leader'' 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 Cowl ...
, brother of Edwin Cowles, 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 Party ...
. 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'' 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 Corporat ...
'' 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'' in 1861, whose editor, John Wentworth, left his position when elected as Mayor of Chicago. 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 Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
, the new editors strongly supported Abraham Lincoln, whom Medill helped secure the presidency in 1860, and pushed an abolitionist agenda. The paper remained a force in Republican politics for years afterwards. In 1861, the ''Tribune'' published new lyrics by William W. Patton for the song " John Brown's Body". These rivaled the lyrics published two months later by Julia Ward Howe. Medill served as mayor of Chicago for one term after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.


Years of McCormick

Under the 20th-century editorship of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, 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 entan ...
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 of Franklin D. Roosevelt, was resolutely disdainful of the British and French, and greatly enthusiastic for Chiang Kai-shek and Sen. Joseph McCarthy. When McCormick assumed the position of co-editor (with his cousin Joseph Medill Patterson) 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'' and '' Moon Mullins''. 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''. 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 for its new headquarters, the Tribune Tower. The competition worked brilliantly as a publicity stunt, and more than 260 entries were received. The winner was a neo-Gothic design by New York architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. The newspaper sponsored a pioneering attempt at Arctic aviation in 1929, an attempted round-trip to Europe across Greenland 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 ...
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 th ...
at the tip of Labrador, 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), the station call letters 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 television and radio.) The ''Tribune''s legendary sports editor Arch Ward created the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 1933 as part of the city's Century of Progress 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 books. 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 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 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 ...
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 so enraged that he considered shutting down the ''Tribune''.


1948 U.S. presidential election

The paper is well known for a mistake it made during the 1948 presidential election. 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 would win. An early edition of the next day's paper carried the headline " Dewey Defeats Truman", turning the paper into a collector's item. Democrat Harry S. Truman won and proudly brandished the newspaper in a famous picture taken at St. Louis Union Station. 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 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 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, who won a Pulitzer for international reporting in 1975. A local reporting team won the award in 1976, and architecture critic Paul Gapp 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 ...
and editor Clayton Kirkpatrick (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, in a 44-page supplement that hit the streets 24 hours after the transcripts' release by the Nixon
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 ...
. Not only was the ''Tribune'' the first newspaper to publish the transcripts, but it beat the U.S. Government Printing Office'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'' ...
/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 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 are ...
, 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 newspap ...
, 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 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 ...
(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 2 ...
. James Squires served as the paper's editor from July 1981 until December 1989. Jack Fuller 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 probab ...
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 won the award in 1983, and editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly won one in 1985. Then, future editor Jack Fuller 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, 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 inform ...
won a Pulitzer for editorial writing and Clarence Page 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 R. Bruce Dold is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the '' Chicago Tribune''. Early life and education Dold (full name Robert Bruce Dold) was born March 9, 1955, in Newark, NJ, to Robert Bruce Dold and ...
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, Fo ...
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 '' Arch ...
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, I ...
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 ...
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 away from the rival '' Sun-Times''. In 1986, the ''Tribune'' announced that film critic Gene Siskel, 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 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 E ...
'' and later known as '' Siskel & Ebert & The Movies''—from Tribune Entertainment 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 Octobe ...
's Buena Vista Television unit. "He has done a great job for us," editor James Squires said at the time. "It's a question of how much a person can do physically. We think you need to be a newspaper person first, and Gene Siskel has always tried to do that. But there comes a point when a career is so big that you can't do that." Siskel declined to comment on the new arrangement, but Ebert publicly criticized Siskel's ''Tribune'' bosses for punishing Siskel for taking their television program to a company other than Tribune Entertainment. Siskel remained in that freelance position until he died in 1999. He was replaced as film critic by Dave Kehr. 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''. In August 1988, ''Chicago Tribune'' reporter Michael Coakley died at age 41 of complications from AIDS. 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. 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 probab ...
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 Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...
from the '' South Florida Sun-Sentinel'' 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 area ...
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'' and as a producer for '' The Jerry Springer Show'' 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), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in t ...
, wrote an article about then- WFLD 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'') 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 Stevenson is an English language patronymic surname meaning "son of Steven". Its first historical record is from pre-10th-century England. Another origin of the name is as a toponymic surname related to the place Stevenstone in Devon, England. The ...
to edit the book ''Chicago Days: 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City''. On April 29, 1997, popular columnist Mike Royko 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 circ ...
. 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 ''Tribu ...
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 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. In 1998, reporter Jerry Thomas was fired by the ''Tribune'' after he wrote a cover article on boxing promoter Don King for ''
Emerge Emerge may refer to: * ''Emerge: The Best of Neocolours'', the fourth album of Neocolours * Emerge Desktop, a Desktop shell replacement for Microsoft Windows * Emerge (magazine), ''Emerge'' (magazine), a defunct news magazine * Emerge Stimulation ...
'' 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 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 who was flying without a copilot inadvertently locked himself out of his cockpit while the plane was flying on autopilot 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 in the early 1990s, then launching such web sites as Chicagotribune.com (1995), Metromix.com (1996), ChicagoSports.com (1999), ChicagoBreakingNews.com (2008), and ChicagoNow (2009). In 2002, the paper launched a tabloid edition targeted at 18- to 34-year-olds known as '' RedEye''.


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. Peo ...
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 fi ...
, who previously had been the editor of the ''Tribune''s '' RedEye'' tabloid. In June 2000, Times Mirror merged with Tribune Company making '' The Baltimore Sun'' 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'', ''Columbia Flier'', '' Howard County Times'', '' 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), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...
,
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''. She completed a B.A. at Colgate University. Cohen earned ...
,
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 '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, 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 E ...
, 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 snagged the award for editorial writing. In 2005, Julia Keller won a Pulitzer for feature reporting on a tornado that struck Utica, Illinois. And, in 2008, an investigative reporting team including Patricia Callahan,
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, 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 governme ...
won the Pulitzer for its series about faulty government regulation of defective toys, cribs and car seats. In late 2001, sports columnist Michael Holley announced he was leaving the ''Tribune'' after just two months because he was homesick. He ultimately returned to '' The Boston Globe'', 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, 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, 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 ...
'', 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. 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 ...
, 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 * Fin ...
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 non-standard or characteristic of uneducated speech or writing. In colloquial or lexical English, "vulgarism" or "vulgarity" may be synonymous with pro ...
. 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 pa ...
, shortly after his abrupt resignation from ''Tribune'' archrival '' Chicago Sun-Times''. 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, 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 Photogr ...
. * 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 li ...
. * On December 4, 2008, about 11 newsroom employees were laid-off, with one sports columnist, Mike Downey, 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 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 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 what ...
, 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 People *Wendell (name), a list of people with the name *Wendell (footballer, born 1947) (1947–2022), full nam ...
(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 left the paper to join the faculty of Ohio University 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, 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 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, 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 Divisio ...
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 ...
. 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 Dep ...
. 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 Dep ...
, 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 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 and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, to task and calling for their removal from office. In 2004, the ''Tribune'' endorsed President George W. Bush 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 Party ...
. In 2008, it endorsed Democratic candidate and Illinois junior U.S. Senator Barack Obama—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, a former Republican Party newspaper editor, and in 1912 the paper endorsed Theodore Roosevelt, who ran on the Progressive Party slate against Republican President William Howard Taft. In 2016, the Tribune endorsed the Libertarian Party candidate, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, for president, over Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Over the years, the ''Tribune'' has endorsed some Democrats for lesser offices, including recent endorsements of Bill Foster, Barack Obama for the Senate 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 ...
, who defeated Philip Crane, the House of Representatives' longest-serving Republican. Although the ''Tribune'' endorsed George Ryan 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 ...
'' have taken down their websites in most European countries due to GDPR.


Tribune Company

The ''Chicago Tribune'' is the founding business unit of Tribune Company (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 (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 ...
''—which displaced the Tribune as the company's largest property—and the Chicago Cubs
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 t ...
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. The founder of the ''News''Capt. Joseph Medill Patterson, 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''—founded in 1940 by Patterson's daughter (and Medill's great-granddaughter), Alicia Patterson—to Long Island cable TV company Cablevision. From 1925 to 2018, the Chicago Tribune was housed in the Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile. The building is neo-Gothic 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 * 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 income, ...
*
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 ...


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 i ...
* Claudia Cassidy * 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 * Dahleen Glanton * Bob Greene * David Haugh *
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 '' Arch ...
*
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 ''Tribu ...
* Hugh Keough * Ann Landers * Ring Lardner * Charles Madigan * 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 * Mary Schmich * Gene Siskel *
Heidi Stevens ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used ...
* Arch Ward * Eric Zorn *
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 t ...


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 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. 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, 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 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 * ''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