CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

The '''Chicago Sun-Times''' is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago. Although its circulation (particularly home-delivery) and advertising revenue are smaller than those of the rival ''Chicago Tribune'', the ''Sun-Times'' makes more money on the newsstand. The ''Sun-Times'' is an urban tabloid, designed with hard-to-ignore front pages in an easily-carried format ideal for commuters on the 'L', Chicago's rapid transit.

Contents

History

Notable stories

Staff

The Sun-Times in popular culture

Trivia

Gallery

References

History

The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city. It began in 1844 as the Chicago ''Evening Journal''^[2] (which was the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned by Catherine O'Leary was responsible for the Chicago fire).^[3] The ''Evening Journal'', whose West Side building at 17-19 S. Canal was undamaged, gave the Chicago Tribune a temporary home until it could rebuild.^[4] In 1929, the newspaper was relaunched as the Chicago ''Daily Illustrated Times''.
The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of the ''Chicago Sun'', founded in 1941 by Marshall Field III, and the ''Chicago Daily Times''. Before Murdoch, the newspaper was for a time owned by Field Enterprises, controlled by the Marshall Field family, who also owned WFLD channel 32 since its inception in 1966. During the Field period, the newspaper had a populist, progressive character that leaned Democratic 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 typically ran articles from the ''Washington Post''/''Los Angeles Times'' wire service.
In 1984 Field sold the paper to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and the paper's style changed abruptly toward that of its suitemate ''New York Post''. Its front pages tended more toward the sensational, and its political stance shifted toward Republican. This was in the same era that the traditional Republican bulwark, the ''Chicago Tribune'', was softening its positions, ending the city's clear division between the two newspapers' politics. This shift was made all but official when long-time ''Sun-Times'' columnist Mike Royko defected to the ''Tribune''. However, on July 10th 2007 new editorial page editor, Cheryl Reed, announced that, "we [the Chicago Sun-Times editorial page] are returning to our liberal, working-class roots, a position that pits us squarely opposite the Chicago Tribune -- that Republican, George Bush-touting paper over on moneyed Michigan Avenue."^[5]
After Murdoch sold the paper (ironically, to buy its former sister TV station WFLD to launch the Fox network,) the ''Sun-Times'' was acquired by Hollinger International, controlled, indirectly, by controversial Canadian born businessman Conrad Black. After Black and his associate David 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 as the Sun-Times Media Group.
In 2004, the ''Sun-Times'' was censured by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for misrepresenting its circulation figures.^[6] As of April 2007, it had not yet resumed reporting.^[7]

Notable stories

In 1978, the newspaper conducted the controversial Mirage Tavern investigation, in which undercover reporters operated a bar and caught city officials taking bribes on camera. In 2005 Editor & Publisher named the ''Sun-Times'' as one of the "10 That Do It Right.".
In January 2004, after a six-month investigation, the paper broke the story of the Hired Truck Program scandal, led by Tim Novak.
After erroneously identifying the perpetrator of the April 16 2007 Virginia Tech massacre as an unnamed Chinese national, the People's Republic of China criticized the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' for publishing what it called "irresponsible reports".^[8] The newspaper later withdrew the story.
In August 2007 the Sun-Times printed a story about Michelle Obama which said in part:
:At another stop, in Atlantic, Michelle said she travels with her husband in part "to model what it means to have family values," adding "if you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House." She didn't elaborate, but it could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.^[9]
The next day Senator Obama denied that the remark was about Clinton, saying that: "The whole thing about Hillary has been completely fabricated."^[10]

Staff

The ''Sun-Times's best-known writers are the prominent Washington veteran Robert Novak and the influential film critic Roger Ebert. The newspaper gave a start in journalism to now disgraced Bob Greene. Legendary Chicago columnist Mike Royko, previously of the defunct ''Chicago Daily News'', came to the paper in 1978 but left for the ''Tribune'' in 1984 when the ''Sun-Times'' was purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Irv Kupcinet's daily column was a fixture from 1943 until his death in 2003. Current ''Sun-Times'' writers of note include Richard Roeper, Mary Mitchell, Zay N. Smith, Jay Mariotti, Neil Steinberg, Rick Telander, and Jim DeRogatis.
Lynn Sweet is the Washington Bureau Chief.

The Sun-Times in popular culture

★ The movie ''Continental Divide'' (1981) featured a ''Sun-Times'' columnist as a leading character.

★ In the television series ''Early Edition'', the main character mysteriously receives a copy of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' that will be published tomorrow, making him aware of the immediate future.

★ On the television series ''My Boys'', the main character P.J. Franklin is the Sun-Times' beat reporter for the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

★ In the film, ''Never Been Kissed'' (1999), Drew Barrymore plays a copy editor who works for the Chicago Sun-Times.

★ In the seventh season of ''Gilmore Girls'', Rory Gilmore is offered a job at the Chicago Sun-Times, but turns it down because she thinks she can get better offers from the New York Times. She is rejected from the NY Times and calls back the Sun-Times to see if the job is still open for her, but it is not.

Trivia

★ According to the 2005 World Almanac, the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is the 13th most widely distributed newspaper in the United States.

★ In 2002, with Kuczmarski & Associates, the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' co-founded the Chicago Innovation Awards.

★ To enable the construction of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the newspaper moved to the Apparel Center expansion of the Merchandise Mart.

Gallery

References

1. 2006 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation
2. Chicago Sun-Times
3. Did the Cow Do It? A New Look at the Cause of the Great Chicago Fire Richard F. Bales
4. Great Chicago Fire of 1871
5. Time to move these pages forward -- with a return to our past
6. Auditors: We'll be cracking heads
7. Circulation at the Top 20 Newspapers
8. US reports on 'Chinese killer' criticized
9. Michelle gets stronger all the time
10. Obama denies wife took swipe at Clinton