When the Chicago Tribune left its famous Tribune Tower office in June 2018, it seemed that local journalism was sure to decline. The move followed two rounds of layoffs, in which the newsroom lost more than two dozen staffers.
Bruce Dold, editor-in-chief and publisher blamed “significant financial pressure” for the move. Later, Marisa Kollias, vice president of communications, released a statement saying that “The Chicago Tribune is reshaping its newsroom and making important steps in our ongoing effort to become more a digital enterprise.”
Recently, Dold states that, “Having a breaking-news desk next to the audience team next to sports next to business, it’s easier communication than there was in the old place, with a lot of nooks and crannies in the newsroom.” Also, he is confident in the Tribune’s position at the center of local media in Chicago due to robust audience research tactics, dedicated statehouse coverage and a ramped-up social-media strategy.
In addition, the Tribune has crossed 110,000 digital subscribers placing it second only to the Los Angeles Times among regional papers.
“Chicago right now is one of the most entrepreneurial and experimental local news markets in the country,” says Tim Franklin, a senior associate dean at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and director of the Medill Local News Initiative. “I’m energized by it and excited by it. Chicago is this stew that has a lot of different journalism ingredients in it. And you’re beginning to see some of this experimentation start to bubble up.”
WBEZ, Chicago’s local NPR affiliate, is also growing its traditional operation while trying new things. “Public radio has the model to support local journalism in a way that no other commercial entity does,” Goli Sheikholeslami, who until recently served as CEO, says, referring to the station’s multistream revenue model, which combines advertising, memberships, and institutional giving.
In addition to giant revenue scaling media companies, The Chicago Reporter, now an online-only magazine housed and funded by the nonprofit Community Renewal Society, has covered race and poverty since 1972 – highlighting the non-profit aspect in Chicago city.
Many new journalism outlets are also interested in covering the city in ways that mainstream legacy media have never done.
However, not all is thriving in Chicago. For example. Chicago Reader, whose circulation model and literary journalism once influenced alt-weeklies around the country narrowly avoided closure several times.
Despite this, there is a lot of optimism brewing. “I just love that everybody here is connected in some way,” Bettina Chang, a founder of City Bureau, says. “It’s a big city, but sometimes it feels like a small town in that people know each other and they vouch for each other.”
