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Some good news for a change at the battered Sun-Times Media Group. In its previous incarnation as Hollinger International, the Media Group had purchased Chicago's storied Lerner chain of neighborhood weeklies in 2000 and folded it into the Pioneer Press chain in 2004. Now the Media Group's undergoing a massive retrenchment, trying to save $50 million, and Pioneer is pulling out of Chicago. Three northwest-side titles were shut down earlier this month, and the three other city papers, all on the north side, kept going only because Wednesday Journal Inc. was negotiating to buy them.
This week the deal was off and then it was on again, and Wednesday evening, appropriately, Wednesday Journal announced it was buying Skyline, the Booster, and the News-Star. The new owners have a reputation for quality -- the Wednesday Journal in Oak Park-River Forest, Chicago Parent -- as well as for staying within tight budgets by working talented young writers until they're ready to collapse (I'm thinking of the Chicago Journal). Publisher Dan Haley's a good guy and I wish him well.
the kind that is still practiced at The Reader,
will survive in the small independents. we depend
upon these communication channels and reporters
like Joravsky for the real news...the kind of digging
that requires a reporter do more than show for
a staged event and file within a couple of hours.
Damn you JOURNAL!!!!!!
sup mick!
Well, I have to wonder that if any of the laid off Reader writers go to the Journal, would some of the loyal advertisers follow suit? After all, these loyal advertisers were not loyal to Creative Loafing all these years- it was the stories, and what the Reader represented that these advertisers literally "bought" into.
Is it just me, or am I sensing a potential and exciting new shift in direction?
:)
Overworking- when one really believes in something- isn't even like working
The quality of your product is relative to what you're willing to invest in it. Seems to me that the Journal has thus far lucked out with their output in relation to what they've put into the paper. Working your staff ragged, for probably pennies, does nothing to foster dedication and loyalty in employees. It usually achieves the opposite effect. Unhappy employees equal unhappy customers (or readers) in most cases.
I am looking forward to seeing what happens to these papers, and I hope that it means better press and coverage for the citizens of Chicago.
but, then again, its hard to read sarcasm in print. lol
I am also looking forward to seeing what happens to these Chicago Journal papers. As someone else commented, they were "hyper local" before it was a trend, and as for the sweat equity put into it, nobody is forcing those underpaid and overworked writers to do what they are doing.
Maybe there is a way for the CJ to bring in more dollars, and better compensate its workers, yet take a look at the economy, and show me an honest business making money...
In regards to "Seems to me that the Journal has thus far lucked out with their output in relation to what they've put into the paper."
There's no such thing as luck. Whatever they are doing is resonating with the locals. I love their police blotter (though sometimes the headlines can be cruel), and Kristen Gehring gets pretty local in her column in terms of events and happenings.
What I DON'T like about the CJ...
They advertise a "buy an ad/get a story" program, which might bring in ad dollars short term, yet erodes its credibility with readers.
But there really was no competition in editorial--just advertising. Pioneer Press sucks.