Chicago Trib biz columnist Greising leaves for cooperative

Chicago Tribune business columnist David Greising has left the paper to join a start-up news cooperative founded by former Tribune Managing Editor James O’Shea, reports Ann Saphir of Crain’s Chicago Business.

Saphir reports, “Mr. Greising, 49, adds to the star power at Mr. O’Shea’s Chicago News Cooperative, which already has on board former Tribune Managing Editor James Warren and, as a director, former Trib Editor Ann Marie Lipinski.

“The cooperative, funded in part by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and backed by WTTW-TV/Channel 11, aims to rejuvenate the news business at a time when many of the old-line for-profit newspapers, including the Trib, are struggling with plunging ad sales and declining circulation.

“‘Part of the attraction for me in this whole venture is approaching something in a way that hasn’t been tried before and we hope will rebuild a sustainable, commercial, socially beneficial journalism model,’ Mr. Greising said. ‘If it does turn out that the revenue streams that are developed are good, we could do something that will be successful not only in Chicago but can be replicated across the country.'”

Read more here. Greising had been with the Tribune for 11 years. Prior to that, he was Atlanta bureau chief for BusinessWeek.

Here’s more from Chicago Public Radio.