AAN News
Creative Loafing Starts to Make Changes at the Chicago Readernew
CEO Ben Eason recently told the paper's distribution drivers that they would be terminated as salaried employees and made independent contractors following this week's issue, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The change would result in both a drop in income and a loss of benefits, and the majority of the 20-plus drivers have thus far rejected the offer. "It's just not economically viable anymore, and I don't know of any other alternative paper that works that way now," says Eason, who indicated if the stalemate couldn't be resolved, he would bring on new drivers. There have also been staff changes, according to the Sun-Times. Advertising director Don Humbertson and art director Sheila Sachs, both longtime Reader employees, have left the paper. "I don't want people to think that because we were purchased that folks have come in and made decisions to act against our best interests," publisher Michael Crystal tells the Chicago Tribune. "It's very simple for people to point fingers at new ownership and all that kind of thing. We're just trying to wade through this in a way that makes sense."
Chicago Sun-Times (second item) | Chicago Tribune |
09-13-2007 8:33 am |
Industry News
Did a Lawsuit Help Force the Chicago Reader Sale?new
"It would be overstating it to say [it] forced the sale, but it certainly encouraged it," a former owner of the Chicago Reader tells Michael Miner. The suit in question was filed by co-founder and 19.1 percent stockholder Tom Rehwaldt against the remaining owners, and it charged that they had "taken steps to depress the value of the stock" in anticipation of a sale or merger for less than fair value, all with the purpose of pushing Rehwaldt out of the ownership picture, a charge one former owner called "completely bogus." This lawsuit, filed in December 2006, was the second that Rehwaldt filed against the other owners -- a 1988 suit came after he was fired from his position as operations director and alleged oppression, waste, and mismanagement. It was settled in 1991. "It was one of the things that made the future look bleak," a former owner says of the lawsuit. "At a time when we were supposed to be turning the company around, we'd be spending our money on legal fees. ... The sale was one of the things that would make it all go away and get [Rehwaldt] out of our lives forever."
Chicago Reader |
08-24-2007 7:51 am |
Industry News
Chicago Reader Ends Suburban Editionnew
Publisher Mike Crystal tells Crain's that as part of its redesign plans, the paper will distribute just one edition to both the city and suburbs starting this week. The suburban edition -- a smaller version of the paper called the Reader's Guide to Arts & Entertainment -- was launched in 1996. Crystal says the decision is part of the switch to a tabloid format (scheduled for the first week of October), and it likely would have happened with or without the paper's recent ownership change. The Reader's new circulation total of 135,000 will be the same as the combined circulation was for the two editions, but the paper is calling it a 15 percent increase in circulation for the main product and is raising ad rates six to seven percent, Crain's reports.
Crain's Chicago Business |
08-09-2007 8:34 am |
Industry News
CL's John Sugg: Our New Chain is More than a Balance Sheetnew
The columnist and Creative Loafing shareholder says his company's acquisition of the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper is neither an "idealistic foray" nor a "hostile takeover of independent papers." The way Sugg sees it, the two papers were caught up in a "broader crisis in the publishing business" that their former owners weren't nimble enough to navigate. He also defends CEO Ben Eason, who hasn't exactly been welcomed with open arms in Chicago and Washington. "He believes alt-weeklies can help readers strengthen their communities," says Suggs. "Eason loves to see controversy in his newspapers. He admits mistakes, takes risks and has an ambitious vision for new media. His lieutenants often disagree with him; he listens ... sometimes."
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
08-02-2007 3:41 pm |
Industry News
Reader Editor Says CL Acquisition Not a Sad Day for Chicago
In a staff message sent Friday, Alison True admits there "are reasons
to be distressed by a change this big," but claims there are also "reasons to be optimistic" about the sale to Creative Loafing, including the new owners' pledge to maintain editorial independence and enhance the paper's business operations. MORE FROM CHICAGO: In an anonymous post on a Reader blog, a recently hired salesperson remembers why s/he took a large pay cut to take a job at the paper: "I did it because I love the Reader, and I have loved it since I was 15 years old sneaking away from the burbs and into the city searching for the comforting yellow newspaper dispenser. ... I wanted to be around people that keenly observed the world and cared about the people living in it, the people other than themselves with stories to tell. And I found that. Here at the Chicago Reader."
(FULL STORY)
Alison True |
07-30-2007 2:11 pm |
Industry News
Who Will the New Creative Loafing Turn to For National Ads?new
CEO Ben Eason tells Editor & Publisher he's not sure if the now-six paper chain will continue to use the Alternative Weekly Network (AWN) for national ad sales or switch over to the competing Ruxton Group, which currently handles ad sales for the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper. "We have been longtime AWN folks," he says. Ruxton, which was founded by the Reader, is now owned by Village Voice Media. Eason says figuring this out is one of his top priorities. He also tells E&P that strength in the national ad market is a key aspect of this week's deal. "Now with Chicago and D.C., all of the sudden you have enough critical mass and it becomes a go-to place for ad agencies on Madison Avenue," he says.
Editor & Publisher |
07-26-2007 12:22 pm |
Industry News
Creative Loafing CEO Meets With Chicago Reader Staffnew
The Reader's Michael Miner reports that Ben Eason didn't focus on editorial matters in Wednesday's meeting, but rather on "web opportunities, regaining ground lost to Craiglist in classified advertising, and the efficiencies of centralizing the design work in Atlanta," a change Miner notes "is likely to cost a dozen or so Reader employees their jobs." After the meeting, when Miner asked Eason about editorial, he said "it's everything" -- but Miner isn't so sure that's Creative Loafing's approach. He thinks the Creative Loafing papers' design "doesn't respect the stories it ought to serve. If the centralized design staff makes this the look of the Reader ... I think readers will judge it as antithetical to what they've understood the Reader to be." According to Miner, Creative Loafing will turn the Reader into a one-section tabloid, a change the old owners were also planning.
Chicago Reader |
07-26-2007 11:01 am |
Industry News
Chicago Reader, Inc. President: 'I Guess it Was Time'new
"We've received so many overtures over the years and they’ve never come to pass," Bob Roth tells Reader media critic Michael Miner. "[But] we got a better offer than I expected." Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason tells the Washington Post it was an "eight-figure sale" and that he tried to buy the Reader's minority stakes in the Stranger, the Portland Mercury and the Amsterdam Weekly, but that Roth wouldn't sell. Miner tells the Chicago Tribune that the Reader staff is "discombobulated" at the moment. "This has been a very insular paper," Miner says. "We've seen other papers buffeted by change that hasn't affected us until now." Miner also reports that Reader publisher Mike Crystal and editor Alison True will remain with the paper, but production will be moved to Atlanta, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. Production of City Paper will also be moved to Atlanta, where all four of Creative Loafing's papers are currently produced. Back in Washington, editor Erik Wemple says that budget cuts that had already begun will continue, but "there's no fat in our newsroom that I can identify and so this is difficult process. I refuse to pay freelancers less money, and so we'll have to get terribly, terribly creative." MORE COVERAGE: Forbes; Crain's; St. Petersburg Times; Chicago Public Radio.
Chicago Reader |
07-25-2007 9:11 am |
Industry News
Creative Loafing Inc. Acquires Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper
The Reader and City Paper, which were both controlled by the founders of the Reader, were acquired today by Creative Loafing Inc., which owns alt-weeklies in Atlanta, Tampa, Sarasota and Charlotte. "Our expansion into Chicago and Washington reflects our confidence in the future of alternative publishing -- in print, on the web and in other media as they emerge," CEO Ben Eason says in a statement. "We've had a great ride," the Chicago Reader Inc. owners say in a separate press statement released by president Bob Roth. "Now we're happily handing the keys to a new generation, Creative Loafing and their CEO Ben Eason. We're confident they will build on what we've established and carry it ably into the future." The Reader statement also notes that most of the company's shareholders will retain their minority interests in The Stranger, Portland Mercury, and Amsterdam Weekly through a company to be called Quarterfold, Inc. MORE: City Paper's Mike DeBonis reports that Eason told the staff that publisher Amy Austin and editor Erik Wemple will remain in their posts but some financial, technology, and production operations will be shifted to offices in Atlanta and Tampa.
(FULL STORY)
Creative Loafing Inc. Press Release |
07-24-2007 2:04 pm |
Press Releases
Chicago Reader Inc. Statement on Sale to Creative Loafing
Chicago Reader Inc. Press Release |
07-24-2007 2:13 pm |
Press Releases
Did a Chicago Reader Columnist Twist His Facts?new
That's what the suburban Northwest Herald is saying about Reader media critic Michael Miner's recent column criticizing a Herald TV ad. Editor & Publisher has the entire letter exchange between Chris Krug, group editor of the Herald's parent company; Reader editor Alison True; and Miner. E&P also has comments on the column from Andy Schotz, chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists' Ethics Committee and a source in Miner's story.
Editor & Publisher |
07-19-2007 3:46 pm |
Industry News
Chicago Alt-Weekly Enlists Readers as Poll Watchersnew
In today's citywide election, the Chicago Reader will "try a little experiment in citizen journalism" and have readers send in dispatches from the polls as election day unfolds, E&P reports. On Clout City, the paper's politics blog, Executive Editor Mike Lenehan tells readers: "Keep your eyes and ears open, ask questions if you need to, carry your camera or picture phone, and e-mail your anecdotes and photos." The best of this user-generated content will be posted on Clout City, along with reports from the Reader's regular bloggers. While Lenehan promises that editors "will be manning the inbox...until 8 pm at least, longer if it gets interesting," E&P says the biggest race will likely be a snoozer. "Mayor Richard M. Daley looks to be a shoo-in," E&P writes, before noting there are a few "spirited aldermanic elections" to watch.
Editor & Publisher |
02-27-2007 9:27 am |
Industry News
Savage Shreds Green Candidate on Campaign Trailnew
Dan Savage, editor of Seattle's The Stranger and writer of the syndicated column Savage Love, continues to moonlight as a political activist, according to the Chicago Reader. (See second item.) His current efforts are focused on unseating arch-nemesis Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn. But in an interview with Stephen Morse, a reporter for the Daily Pennsylvanian, a University of Pennsylvania student newspaper, Savage reserves much of his invective for Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, a potential spoiler who could siphon off votes from Democratic candidate Bob Casey Jr. In a video clip of the session, Savage says, among other things, "Carl Romanelli should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there's nothing left but the rope." Savage later apologized for the remark on the Stranger's blog.
The Chicago Reader |
10-23-2006 9:48 am |
Industry News
Former Chicago Reader Staffer Gets Personal in New Book
Micheal Beaumier gleaned a cache of colorful anecdotes and bawdy tales while in charge of the Chicago Reader's personal ads from 1998 to 2005. Now he has parlayed them into a book, I Know You're Out There: Private Longings, Public Humiliations and Other Tales From the Personals. No lonely heart is spared in Beaumier's tell-all, not even his own. "I went from watching the freak show … to finding myself in the freak show," Beaumier admits. In a Chicago Tribune interview, Beaumier, 39 and single, says he is looking to take some of his own medicine.
10-03-2006 3:13 pm |
Industry News
Chicago Reader Staff Writer Has Spent 16 Years Exposing Torture by Police
John Conroy first embarked on the police brutality beat in 1989, when he covered the story of Andrew Wilson, a convicted cop killer who alleged that his confession had been coerced by electric shock torture. Conroy's subsequent reporting for the Chicago Reader has resulted in several awards -- and multiple subpoenas. "I bet you that there's not another paper in the country that has been willing to let one person do what I have done for so long, at such cost, in terms of every story we do involves extensive legal review," Conroy tells Editor & Publisher. The complete story is available to subscribers here.
09-05-2006 7:42 am |
Industry News
