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 Front page on November 19, 2008 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Chicago Public Media |
| Editor | Jennifer Kho[1] |
| Staff writers | 40 |
| Founded | 1948; 77 years ago (1948) |
| Headquarters | 848 East Grand Avenue Chicago,Illinois 60611 |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 57,222 average print circulation[2] |
| ISSN | 1553-8478 |
| OCLC number | 51500916 |
| Website | chicago.suntimes.com |
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TheChicago Sun-Times is a dailynonprofit newspaper published inChicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper ofChicago Public Media,[3] and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after theChicago Tribune.
TheSun-Times resulted from the 1948 merger of theMarshall Field III ownedChicago Sun and theChicago Daily Times newspapers.[a] Journalists at the paper have received eightPulitzer Prizes, mostly in the 1970s; one recipient was the first film critic to receive the prize,Roger Ebert (1975), who worked at the paper from 1967 until his death in 2013. Long owned by theMarshall Field family, since the 1980s ownership of the paper has changed hands several times, including twice in the late 2010s.
TheChicago Sun-Times has claimed to be the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city. That claim is based on the 1844 founding of theChicago Daily Journal,[4] which was also the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned byCatherine O'Leary was responsible for theChicago fire of 1871.[5] TheJournal, whose West Side building at 17–19 S. Canal was undamaged, gave theChicago Tribune a temporary home until it could rebuild.[6] Though much of the assets of theJournal were sold to theChicago Daily News in 1929, its last owner Samuel Emory Thomason also immediately launched the tabloidChicago Daily Illustrated Times from the same editorial offices of the discontinuedJournal.[4]
The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of theChicago Sun, founded byMarshall Field III on December 4, 1941, and theChicago Daily Times (which had dropped the "Illustrated" from its title) published from 1929 to 1948. The newspaper was owned byField Enterprises, controlled by theMarshall Field family, which acquired the afternoonChicago Daily News in 1959 and launchedWFLD television in 1966. When theDaily News ended its run in 1978, much of its staff, including Pulitzer Prize-winning columnistMike Royko, were moved to theSun-Times. During the Field period, the newspaper had a populist, progressive character that leanedDemocratic but was independent of the city's Democratic establishment. Although the graphic style was urban tabloid, the paper was well regarded for journalistic quality and did not rely on sensational front-page stories. It also typically ran articles fromThe Washington Post/Los Angeles Times wire service.
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Among the most prominent members of the newspaper's staff was cartoonistJacob Burck, who was hired by theChicago Times in 1938, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1941 and continued with the paper after it became theSun-Times, drawing nearly 10,000 cartoons over a 44-year career.
The advice column "Ask Ann Landers" debuted in 1943.Ann Landers was the pseudonym of staff writerRuth Crowley, who answered readers' letters until 1955. Eppie Lederer, sister of "Dear Abby" columnist Abigail van Buren, assumed the role thereafter as Ann Landers.
"Kup's Column", written byIrv Kupcinet, also made its first appearance in 1943.
Jack Olsen joined theSun-Times as editor-in-chief in 1954, before moving on toTime andSports Illustrated magazines and authoring true-crime books. Hired as literary editor in 1955 wasHoke Norris, who also covered the civil-rights movement for theSun-Times.
Jerome Holtzman became a member of theChicago Sun sports department after first being a copy boy for theDaily News in the 1940s. He andEdgar Munzel, another longtime sportswriter for the paper, both would end up honored by theBaseball Hall of Fame.
Famed for his World War II exploits, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonistBill Mauldin made theSun-Times his home base in 1962. The following year, Mauldin drew one of his most renowned illustrations, depicting a mourning statue ofAbraham Lincoln after the November 1963 assassination ofJohn F. Kennedy.
Two years out of college,Roger Ebert became a staff writer in 1966, and a year later was namedSun-Times's film critic. He continued in this role for the remainder of his life.
In 1975, a new sports editor at theSun-Times,Lewis Grizzard, spiked some columns written by sportswriterLacy J. Banks and took away a column Banks had been writing, prompting Banks to tell a friend at theChicago Defender that Grizzard was a racist.[7] After the friend wrote a story about it, Grizzard fired Banks. With that, the editorial employees union intervened, a federal arbitrator ruled for Banks, and 13 months later he got his job back.[7]
A 25-part series on theMirage Tavern, a saloon on Wells Street bought and operated by theSun-Times in 1977, exposed a pattern of civic corruption and bribery, as city officials were investigated and photographed without their knowledge. The articles received considerable publicity and acclaim, but a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize met resistance from some who believed the Mirage series represented a form of entrapment.[citation needed]
In March 1978, the venerable afternoon publication theChicago Daily News, sister paper of theSun-Times, went out of business. The two newspapers shared the same ownership and office building.James F. Hoge, Jr., editor and publisher of the Daily News, assumed the same positions at theSun-Times, which also retained a number of theDaily News's editorial personnel.[citation needed]
In 1980, theSun-Times hired syndicated TV columnist Gary Deeb away from the rivalChicago Tribune.[8] Deeb then left theSun-Times in the spring of 1983 to try his hand at TV. He joined Chicago'sWLS-TV in September 1983.[9]
In July 1981, prominentSun-Times investigative reporterPam Zekman, who had been part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team with theChicago Tribune in 1976, announced she was leaving theSun-Times to joinWBBM-TV in Chicago in August 1981 as chief of its new investigative unit. "Salary wasn't a factor," she told theTribune. "The station showed a commitment to investigative journalism. It was something I wanted to try."[10]
Pete Souza left theSun-Times in 1983 to become officialWhite House photographer for PresidentRonald Reagan until his second term's end in 1989. Souza returned to that position to be the official photographer for PresidentBarack Obama.[11][12]
Baseball writerJerome Holtzman defected from theSun-Times to theTribune in late 1981, whileMike Downey also leftSun-Times sports in September 1981 to be a columnist at theDetroit Free Press.[citation needed]
In January 1984, notedSun-Times business reporterJames Warren quit to join the rivalChicago Tribune. He became theTribune's Washington bureau chief and later its managing editor for features.[citation needed]
In 1984, Field Enterprises co-owners, half-brothers Marshall Field V andTed Field, sold the paper toRupert Murdoch'sNews Corporation, and the paper's style changed abruptly to mirror that of its suitemate, theNew York Post. Its front pages tended more to the sensational, while its political stance shifted markedly to the right. This was in the era that theChicago Tribune had begun softening its traditionally staunchly Republican editorial line, blurring the city's clear division between the two newspapers' politics. This shift was made all but official when Mike Royko defected to theTribune.[13]
Roger Ebert later reflected on the incident with disdain, stating in his blog,[14]
On the first day of Murdoch's ownership, he walked into the newsroom and we all gathered around and he recited the usual blather and rolled up his shirtsleeves and started to lay out a new front page. Well, he was a real newspaperman, give him that. He threw out every meticulous detail of the beautiful design, ordered up big, garish headlines, and gave big play to a story about a North Shore rabbi accused of holding a sex slave.The story turned out to be fatally flawed, but so what? It sold papers. Well, actually, it didn't sell papers. There were hundreds of cancellations. Soon our precious page 3 was defaced by a daily Wingo girl, a pinup in a bikini promoting a cash giveaway. TheSun-Times, which had been placing above theTribune in lists of the 10 best U.S. newspapers, never took that great step it was poised for.
Murdoch sold the paper in 1986 (to buy its former sister television stationWFLD to launch theFox network) for $145 million in cash in a leveraged buyout to an investor group led by the paper's publisher, Robert E. Page, and the New York investment firm Adler & Shaykin.[15]
In 1984,Roger Simon, who had been aSun-Times columnist for a decade, quit to joinThe Baltimore Sun, where he worked until 1995.[16][17] Simon quit the paper because of Murdoch's purchase of it.[17][18] Beginning in October 1984, Simon's columns from Baltimore began appearing in the rivalChicago Tribune.[19]
In November 1986, The Sun-Times acquired Star Publications, a chain of 12 south and southwest suburban papers published twice weekly, for an undisclosed sum.[20]
In December 1986, theSun-Times hired high-profile gossip columnistMichael Sneed away from the rivalChicago Tribune, where she had been co-authoring theTribune's own "Inc." gossip column with Kathy O'Malley. On December 3, 1986, O'Malley led off theTribune's "Inc." column with the heading "The Last to Know Dept." and writing, "Dontcha just hate it when you write a gossip column and people think you know all the news about what's going on and your partner gets a new job and your column still has her name on it on the very same day that her new employer announces that she's going to work for him? Yeah, INC. just hates it when that happens."[21]
In February 1987, the popular syndicated advice column "Ask Ann Landers" (commonly known as the "Ann Landers" column and written at that point byEppie Lederer) left theSun-Times after 31 years to jump to the rivalChicago Tribune, effective March 15, 1987.[22] The move sparked a nationwide hunt for a new advice columnist for theSun-Times. After more than 12,000 responses from people aged 4 to 85, the paper ultimately hired two:Jeffrey Zaslow, then a 28-year-oldWall Street Journal reporter, and Diane Crowley, a 47-year-old lawyer, teacher and daughter of Ruth Crowley, who had been the original Ann Landers columnist from 1943 until 1955.[23] Crowley left to return to the practice of law in 1993 and the paper decided not to renew Zaslow's contract in 2001.[24]
By the summer of 1988, Page and Adler & Shaykin managing partner Leonard P. Shaykin had developed a conflict, and in August 1988, Page resigned as publisher and president and sold his interest in the paper to his fellow investors.[25]
In January 1989, the Sun-Times company starts its plans to purchase ThePioneer Press and its 38 different weekly publications.[20]
In mid-1991, veteran crime reporterArt Petacque, who had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1974, left the paper. Almost ten years later, Dennis Britton, who had been the paper's editor at the time of Petacque's retirement, told theChicago Reader that Petacque's departure, which was described at the time as a retirement, was involuntary. "I had problems with some of the ways Art pursued his job," Britton told theReader.[26]
In September 1992, Bill Zwecker joined theSun-Times as a gossip columnist from the troubled Lerner Newspapers suburban weekly newspaper chain, where he had written the "VIPeople" column.[27]
In September 1992,Sun-Times sports clerk Peter Anding was arrested in theSun-Times' newsroom and held without bond after confessing to using his position to set up sexual encounters for male high school athletes.[28] Anding was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and possession of child pornography. In September 1993, Anding pleaded guilty to arranging and videotaping sexual encounters with several teenage boys and fondling others. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.[29]
In 1993, theSun-Times fired photographer Bob Black without severance for dozens of unauthorized uses of the company'sFederal Express account and outside photo lab, going back more than three years and costing the company more than $1,400[30] (equivalent to $3,000 in 2024.) In February 1994, however, Black rejoined the paper's payroll after an arbitrator agreed with the paper's union that dismissal was too severe a penalty.[31] At the same time, the arbitrator declined to award Black back pay.[citation needed]
In 1993, longtimeSun-Times reporter Larry Weintraub retired after 35 years at the paper.[32] Weintraub had been best known for his "Weintraub's World" column, in which he worked a job and wrote about the experience.[32] Weintraub died in 2001 at age 69.[32]
In February 1994, the Adler & Shaykin investor group sold theSun-Times toHollinger Inc. for about $180 million.[33] Hollinger was controlled, indirectly, by Canadian-born businessmanConrad Black. After Black and his associateDavid Radler were indicted for skimming money from Hollinger International, through retaining noncompete payments from the sale of Hollinger newspapers, they were removed from the board, and Hollinger International was renamed theSun-Times Media Group.[citation needed]
In 1994, noted reporterM.W. Newman retired from theSun-Times around the age of 77.[34] Newman, who died of lung cancer in 2001, had been with theSun-Times since theChicago Daily News closed in 1978 and had focused his efforts on urban reporting.[34] Among other things, Newman had been known for coining the term "Big John" to describe theJohn Hancock Center and the expression "Fortress Illini" for the concrete structures and plazas at theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago.[34]
On March 23, 1995, theSun-Times announced that beginning April 2, 1995, veteranSports Illustrated writerRick Telander would join the paper and write four columns a week.[35][36]
On March 24, 1995, theSun-Times published an editorial by Mark Hornung, then theSun-Times' editorial page editor, that plagiarized aWashington Post editorial that had appeared in that paper the day before.[37] Hornung attributed the plagiarism to writer's block, deadline pressures and the demands of other duties.[38] He resigned as editorial page editor, but remained with the paper, shifting to its business side and working first as director of distribution and then as vice president of circulation.[39] In 2002, Hornung became president and publisher of Midwest Suburban Publishing, which was a company owned by then-Sun Times parent company Hollinger International.[40] In June 2004, Hollinger International placed Hornung on administrative leave just two weeks after Hollinger revealed that the paper's sales figures had been inflated for several years.[41] Hornung resigned from the company four days later.[42]
On May 17, 1995, theSun-Times' food section published a bogus letter from a reader[43] named "Olga Fokyercelf" thatChicago Tribune columnist (and formerSun-Times columnist)Mike Royko called "an imaginative prank" in a column.[44] In that same column, Royko criticized the paper's food writer, who edited the readers' column at the time, Olivia Wu, for not following better quality control.The Wall Street Journal then criticized Royko with an article of its own, titled, "Has a Curmudgeon Turned Into a Bully? Some Now Think So...Picking on a Food Writer."[45] Although theSun-Times began hiring a freelancer to edit the space and look for double entendres,[46] another one made it into the same column on July 26, 1995, when the section published a letter from a "Phil McCraken."[47] "This one was a little more subtle," a reporter outside the food department told theChicago Reader.[46]
In 1998, theSun-Times demoted longtime TV critic Lon Grahnke, shifting him to covering education.[48] Grahnke, who died in 2006 at age 56 ofAlzheimer's disease, remained with the paper until 2001, when he retired following an extended medical leave.[49]
In 2000, theSun-Times new editors, Michael Cooke andJohn Cruickshank, tapped longtime staff reporter Mark Brown, who had considered himself an investigative reporter, to write a column that would anchor page two of the paper.[50]
In 2000, longtime investigative reporter Charles Nicodemus retired from the paper at age 69 and[51] died in 2008 at age 77.[52]
In 2001,Sun-Times investigative reporterChuck Neubauer quit the paper to join theLos Angeles Times' Washington bureau.[53] Neubauer and Brown had initiated the investigation into U.S. Rep.Dan Rostenkowski that uncovered a variety of misdeeds that ultimately had led to Rostenkowski's indictment, conviction and imprisonment.[54]
In April 2001,Sun-Times architecture criticLee Bey quit to join the administration of then-Chicago MayorRichard M. Daley as Daley's deputy mayoral chief of staff, responsible for downtown planning, rewriting the city's zoning code and affordable housing issues.[55]
In April 2001, longtimeSun-Times horse-racing writer Dave Feldman died at age 85 while still on the payroll.[56][57]
In May 2002,Sun-Times editors Joycelyn Winnecke andBill Adee, who were then husband and wife, both quit on the same day to join the rivalChicago Tribune. Winnecke had been theSun-Times managing editor, and she left for a new post, associate managing editor for national news, while Adee, who had been theSun-Times sports editor for nine years, became theTribune's sports editor/news.[58]
In October 2003,Sun-Times gossip columnistIrv Kupcinet began including the name of his longtime assistant of nearly 34 years,Stella Foster, as the coauthor of his column. After Kupcinet died the following month at age 91, theSun-Times kept Foster on and gave her the sole byline on the column, which became known as "Stella's Column." Foster retired from the newspaper in 2012.[citation needed]
In 2004, theSun-Times was censured by theAudit Bureau of Circulations for misrepresenting its circulation figures.[59]
In February 2004, longtimeSun-Times political columnistSteve Neal died at his home inHinsdale, Illinois, at age 54, of an apparent suicide.[60][61][62]
In August 2004, longtime Chicago broadcast journalistCarol Marin began writing regular columns in theSun-Times, mostly on political issues.[63]
In March 2005, theChicago Tribune hired away television criticPhil Rosenthal to become its media columnist.[64] He eventually was replaced as TV critic by Doug Elfman.[citation needed]
On September 28, 2005,Sun-Times columnist and editorial board memberNeil Steinberg was arrested in his home inNorthbrook, Illinois and charged with domestic battery and with interfering with the reporting of domestic battery.[65] With that, Steinberg, who had been at theSun-Times since 1987, entered a treatment facility for alcohol abuse.[65] On November 23, 2005, Cook County prosecutors dropped the charges against Steinberg after his wife said she no longer feared for her safety.[66] On November 28, 2005, Steinberg returned to theSun-Times' pages after going through a 28-day rehabilitation program at a nearby hospital, and he gave readers his version of the events that led to his arrest: "I got drunk and slapped my wife during an argument."[67] Steinberg also reported that he and his wife were "on the mend," and that he was working toward sobriety.[67]
In the spring of 2006, a variety of longtimeSun-Times writers and columnists took buyouts, including sports columnist Ron Rapoport, sports reporter Joe Goddard, society and gardening columnist Mary Cameron Frey, book editor Henry Kisor, page designer Roy Moody and photographer Bob Black.[68] Classical music critic Wynne Delacoma also took a buyout, and left the paper later.[68]
In August 2006, theSun-Times dismissed longtime Chicago Cubs beat writer Mike Kiley.[69] Then-Sun-Times sports editor Stu Courtney told theTribune that the dismissal of Kiley, who had joined theSun-Times from theTribune in 1996, was a "personnel matter I can't comment on." TheTribune's Teddy Greenstein called Kiley "a fierce competitor."[69]
In February 2007, notedSun-Times columnist Debra Pickett quit upon returning from maternity leave.[70] The reasons for her departure were differences with her editors over where her column appeared and the sorts of assignments being handed to her.[71]
On July 10, 2007, newly appointed Editorial Page EditorCheryl Reed announced: "We [theChicago Sun-Times editorial page] are returning to our liberal, working-class roots, a position that pits us squarely opposite theChicago Tribune—thatRepublican,George Bush—touting paper over on moneyedMichigan Avenue."[72]
In January 2008, theSun-Times underwent two rounds of layoffs. In its first round, theSun-Times fired editorial board members Michael Gillis, Michelle Stevens and Lloyd Sachs, along with Sunday editor Marcia Frellick and assistant managing editor Avis Weathersbee.[73]
On February 4, 2008, Editorial Page EditorCheryl Reed resigned saying in a front-page Chicago Tribune story that she was "deeply troubled" that the paper's presidential primary endorsements of Barack Obama and John McCain were subjected to "wholesale rewrites" by editorial board outsiders.[74] Cyrus Freidheim Jr., in his role as Sun-Times publisher, issued a statement reassuring staff that the endorsements did not change and that the rewrites only "deepened and strengthened the messages."[74]
Later that month, theSun-Times underwent more staff reductions, laying off columnist Esther Cepeda, religion reporter Susan Hogan/Albach, TV critic Doug Elfman, real estate editor Sally Duros,[75] and onetime editor Garry Steckles, while giving buyouts to assistant city editors Robert C. Herguth and Nancy Moffett, environmental reporter Jim Ritter, copy editors Chris Whitehead and Bob Mutter, editorial columnist Steve Huntley (who remained with the paper as a freelance columnist), and special Barack Obama correspondent Jennifer Hunter.[76] Also taking a buyout was longtime health and technology reporter Howard Wolinsky.[77] Two other staffers, business editor Dan Miller and deputy metro editor Phyllis Gilchrist, resigned.[76]
In August 2008, high-profile sports columnistJay Mariotti resigned from theSun-Times after concluding that the future of sports journalism was online.[78][79][80]
In October 2008, theSun-Times gave buyouts to noted TV/radio writerRobert Feder (a blogger withTime Out Chicago and then an independent writer on Chicago media) and longtime auto writer Dan Jedlicka.[81] The paper also laid off two members of its editorial board: Teresa Puente and Deborah Douglas.[81]
In November 2008, theSun-Times dropped its "Quick Takes" column, whichSun-Times columnistZay N. Smith had written since 1995.[82] Smith wrote the column from home, and theSun-Times discontinued the column and informed Smith that it needed him back in the newsroom as a general assignment reporter.[82] The paper's union complained, noting that Smith had permanent physical disabilities that made it difficult for him to be mobile.[82] Smith later left the paper.[citation needed]
In March 2009, sports columnist Greg Couch left theSun-Times after 12 years to join AOL Sports.[83]
On March 31, 2009, the newspaper filed for bankruptcy protection.[84]
On October 9, 2009, theSun Times unions agreed to concessions paving the way forJim Tyree to buy the newspaper and its 50 suburban newspapers. Of the $25 million purchase price, $5 million was in cash, with the other $20 million to help pay off past debts.[85]
In November 2009,Sun-Times sports editor Stu Courtney quit to join the rivalChicago Tribune's Chicago Breaking Sports website.[86]
In December 2009, theSun-Times hired sports columnist Rick Morrissey away from the rivalChicago Tribune.[87]
In April 2010, longtimeSun-Times pop music criticJim DeRogatis resigned from the paper to join the faculty ofColumbia College Chicago and to begin blogging atVocalo.org.[88]
In June 2010, theSun-Times laid off a group of editorial employees, including longtime sports media columnist Jim O'Donnell and features writer Delia O'Hara.[89]
In October 2010, theSun-Times laid off longtime sports columnist Carol Slezak, who by that point had shifted to feature reporting.[90]
At the end of June 2010, longtimeSun-Times sportswriter Len Ziehm, who covered many sports but largely focused on golf, retired after 41 years at the paper.[91][92]
Sun-Times Media group chairmanJames C. Tyree died under sudden circumstances in March 2011. Jeremy Halbreich, chief executive, said that Tyree's will be greatly missed and that his death will make no changes in the media company's strategy.[93]
Also in March 2011, theSun-Times laid off six editorial reporters and writers: high school sports reporter Steve Tucker, reporter Misha Davenport, general assignment reporter Cheryl Jackson, media and marketing columnist Lewis Lazare, feature writer Celeste Busk and sportswriter John Jackson.[94][95]
In May 2011, theSun-Times laid off real estate writer Bill Cunniff, features reporter Jeff Johnson and gaming writerJohn Grochowski, along with graphic designer Char Searl.[96]
In June 2011, theSun-Times fired longtime TV critic Paige Wiser after she admitted to fabricating portions of a review of aGlee Live! In Concert! performance.[97] She admitted to attending much of the concert but leaving early to tend to her children. The paper eventually tapped longtime travel writer Lori Rackl to replace Wiser as TV critic.[98]
TheSun-Times announced in July 2011 that it would close its printing plant on Ashland Avenue in Chicago—eliminating 400 printing jobs—and would outsource the printing of the newspaper to the rivalChicago Tribune.[99] The move was estimated to save $10 million a year. TheSun-Times already had been distributed by the Tribune since 2007.[99]
In August 2011, theSun-Times laid off three more reporters and writers: sportswriter Mike Mulligan, "Quick Hits" sports columnist Elliott Harris and photographer Keith Hale.[100]
In September 2011, theSun-Times fired longtime restaurant reviewer (and freelancer) Pat Bruno.[101][102]
In October 2011, theSun-Times discontinued the longtime comic stripDrabble (syndicated byNewspaper Enterprise Association), which the paper had run since the strip's inception in 1979. The comic strip was the victim of a reduced page size.[103]
At the end of May 2013, the publication's photography department was dissolved as part of a restructuring that involves the use of freelance photographers and non-photographer journalists to provide visual content.[104] Under the terms of a settlement with the paper's union, theSun-Times reinstated four of those photographers as multimedia journalists in March 2014: Rich Chapman, Brian Jackson, Al Podgorski and Michael Schmidt.[105]
In March 2014, pop culture reporter Dave Hoekstra left theSun-Times in a buyout after 29 years with the paper.[105] Concurrent with Hoekstra's departure, the company also laid off twoSun-Times editorial assistants, two editors at theSouthtownStar, a community editor at thePost-Tribune of Northwest Indiana and a weekend editor/designer at the company's west suburban newspaper group.[citation needed]
In March 2016, Shia Kapos signed on to bring her Taking Names column to the Sun-Times. She had been writing the gossip column since 2007 for Crain's Business.[106]
On July 13, 2017, it was reported that a consortium consisting of private investors and theChicago Federation of Labor led by businessman and former Chicago aldermanEdwin Eisendrath through his company ST Acquisition Holdings, had acquired the paper and its parent company,Sun-Times Media Group, from then-ownerWrapports, beating out Chicago-based publishing companyTronc (formerly Tribune Publishing Company) for ownership.[107][108]
In March 2019, a new ownership group took over and took control of the Sun-Times from the previous union ownership. The group, Sun-Times Investment Holdings LLC, was backed by prominent Chicago investors Michael Sacks andRocky Wirtz.[109]
On January 30, 2022, theSun-Times became not-for-profit when it was formally merged into the nonprofitChicago Public Media, longtime owner of the city'sNational Public Radio affiliateWBEZ. A nonbinding agreement for the deal had been announced in September 2021, and the board of Chicago Public Media had signalled its approval on January 18, 2022. The final arrangement was backed with $61 million from several philanthropic organizations.[110][111][112][113][3]
In June 2022, Jennifer Kho was appointed executive editor. She replaced veteran investigative reporter Steve Warmbir, who had shepherded the paper as interim editor during the Covid pandemic, ownership changes, and alliance with Chicago Public Radio newsroom.[1]
In October 2022, theSun-Times switched its digital subscription model to voluntary donations. Subscribers could read the online paper for free or pay what they chose. Since the Sun-Times had become a not-for-profit, subscription payments are tax deductible.[114]
In March 2025, 35 employees, including 23 journalists at theSun-Times and five business employees at WBEZ, took voluntary buyouts. This amounted to a loss of 20% of total staff at Chicago Public Media.[115] That same month, the paper announced it will no longer publisheditorials.[116]
The headquarters are in theChicago Navy Pier.[117]WBEZ, affiliated with the newspaper, is the lessee of 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) of space, which has radio and newspaper functions.[118]
Prior to 2004, the headquarters were on Wabash Avenue. The newspaper had its headquarters in350 North Orleans for a 13-year period, from 2004 to 2017. In 2017, theSun-Times moved to a facility on Racine, and in 2022 it was to open a facility in theOld Chicago Main Post Office.[118]
Journalists at theSun-Times have won eightPulitzer Prizes.
Doug Moench was nominated for a Chicago Newspaper Guild Award in 1972 for hisstream-of-consciousness story on violence in theChicago subway system. In 1978, the newspaper conducted theMirage Tavern investigation, in which undercover reporters operated a bar and caught city officials taking bribes on camera.[127]
In January 2004, after a six-month investigation written by Tim Novak andSteve Warmbir, the paper broke the story of theHired Truck Program scandal. After aSun-Times article byMichael Sneed erroneously identified the perpetrator of the April 16, 2007Virginia Tech massacre as an unnamed Chinese national, the People's Republic of China criticized theChicago Sun-Times for publishing what it called "irresponsible reports."[128] The newspaper later silently withdrew the story without making any apologies or excuses.[citation needed]
TheSun-Times' best-known writer wasfilm criticRoger Ebert, who died in April 2013.[129] Chicago columnistMike Royko, previously of the defunctChicago Daily News, came to the paper in 1978 but left for theChicago Tribune in 1984 when theSun-Times was purchased byRupert Murdoch'sNews Corp.Irv Kupcinet's daily column was a fixture from 1943 until his death in 2003. It was also the home base of famed cartoonistBill Mauldin from 1962 to 1991, as well as advice columnistAnn Landers and theWashington veteranRobert Novak for many years.Lisa Myers, the Senior Investigative Correspondent for NBC News, was the publication's Washington correspondent from 1977 to 1979.[130] AuthorCharles Dickinson worked as a copy editor for the publication from 1983 to 1989.[citation needed]
The newspaper gave a start in journalism to columnistBob Greene, while other notable writers such as Mary Mitchell,Richard Roeper,Gary Houston, Michael Sneed, Mark Brown,Neil Steinberg, sportswritersRick Telander and Rick Morrissey, theater critic Hedy Weiss,Carol Marin,Pulitzer Prize-winning reportersFrank Main andMark Konkol, and technology expertAndy Ihnatko have written for theSun-Times. As of October 2013,Lynn Sweet is the Washington Bureau Chief and Pulitzer Prize-winnerJack Higgins is the publication's editorial cartoonist.[131][132][133]
John Cruickshank became the publisher in 2003 afterDavid Radler, and on September 19, 2007, announced he was resigning to head theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation's news division.[134][135]
On May 30, 2013, theSun-Times laid off the vast majority of its photography staff as part of a change in its structure, opting instead to use photos and video shot by reporters, as well as content from freelancers, instead. Two staff photographers remained after the restructure: Rich Hein was named Photo Editor and Jessica Koscielniak, who was hired in January 2013, became the newspapers' only multimedia reporter.[citation needed] Among those photographers who were laid off wasPulitzer Prize winning photographerJohn White.[136] In an official statement, the newspaper explained: "TheSun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements."[104]
The paper was featured in the CBS showEarly Edition, where the lead character mysteriously receives eachChicago Sun-Times newspaper the day before it is actually published.[137]
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Pete Souza has been Barack Obama's chief White House photographer throughout the US president's two terms in office
Mailing address: Chicago Sun-Times Navy Pier, 848 E. Grand Ave. Chicago, IL 60611
