Results tagged “michaelminer”

While we knew the New York Times was planning a local edition of its paper for the Chicago area, details emerged yesterday about the paper's specific plans. The news for the Chicago-centric paper will be handled by a group called Chicago News Cooperative. The CNC will include former Tribune editor James O'Shea and James Warren; the advisory board will be chaired by journalist Peter Osnos and another Tribune editor, Ann Marie Lipinski, is a board member. The group will receive a bulk of its funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation while also receiving assistance from WTTW. In fact, the CNC will start life as a non-profit affiliate of Window to the World Communications which happens to be WTTW's parent company. The Cooperative is also in talks with WBEZ for potential future collaboration. Two pages of Chicago-related news will appear twice a week (Friday and Sunday) in copies of the New York Times distributed in the Chicago area starting November 20.

The Sun-Times Media Group has announced that it is shuttering its Pioneer Press printing plant in Northfield. The closing will result in a loss of 70 jobs and there's no word where the small papers printed at that plant will be printed in the future. The closing comes amidst a growing buzz concerning the STMG's finances and a meeting today with union leaders. Yesterday, The Reader's Michale Miner spoke with Jeremy Halbreich, chairman and interim CEO of the Sun-Times Media Group, who Halbreich told Miner that today's meeting was just another of a series of "periodic updates."

Our pals at the Chicago Reader are now under new management. New York-based hedge fund Atalaya Capital Management bought the Reader's parent company Creative Loafing for $5 million. Atalaya managing partner Michael Bogdan told the Reader's Michael Miner, "It's absolutely our intention to run it. The Reader's a great publication and we want to make it even better." Whet Moser has more and Miner also spoke to former Tribune managing editor Jim O'Shea who will likely play a role under the new management.

Bad news out of the Reader offices: Harold Henderson, John Conroy, Tori Marlan and Steve Bogira were fired yesterday. Henderson and Conroy were two marquee names for the paper: Conroy has written the definitive chronicle of police torture in the City since 1990, and Henderson has written one jillion crotchety stories over the years. Sleep with one eye open, Ben Joravsky! According to editor Allison True's memo, Unfortunately the financial pressures of our industry continue...

"'Cause it's Friday, you ain't got no job ... and you ain't got shit to do." Well, you can go check out the New Orleans Social Club at Millennium Park. If you aren't, here's some stuff in the news. Buckingham Fountain is slated to undergo a complete overhaul in autumn 2008. Near West Side businesses get $1.5 million in TIF money intended for keeping manufacturing jobs in the area. Does Manny Flores have the...

The Tribune isn't the only paper to have a new owner, although that sale is still up in the air (fifth item). Yesterday the Tampa-based media company Creative Loafing purchased the Washington, DC alternative Washington City Paper and the Reader, which the City Paper also owns. So what does this mean for the future of the Old Gray Doorstop? Not much, at least immediately. Michael Miner blogs that Creative Loafing does have a reputation for...

Chicagoist picks up the Reader every week out of habit, more than anything. It's not that we don't have our gripes with the paper; we do. We also have more important things happening than to indulge in infrequent sophomoric commentary about Michael Miner, Liz Armstrong, and the music section - although Monica Kendrick always gets love from us for being a Motörhead fan. That said, if you consider yourself a gourmand, pick up this week's...

The Chicago Film Critics Association and Roger Ebert are engaged in a conspiracy. You heard it here…well, not first. Maybe fourth. Michael Miner addresses it in this week’s Chicago Reader, Zorn talked about it last week, and Ebert spent several column inches on it in Sunday’s Sun-Times. But wait! Don’t click on those links just yet or you’ll hate us forever.