UPDATE: Sun-Times Owner Set to Acquire Weekly Chicago Reader

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)Crain's Chicago Business (Chicagobusiness.com) reports that Wrapports, LLC, owner of the daily Chicago Sun-Times tabloid, expects to complete its acquisition of the free weekly Chicago Reader  for roughly $3 million next week.

According to Crain's, Wrapports, which forked up $23 million last December to buy Sun-Times Media, publisher of The Chicago Sun-Times, along with seven suburban dailies and 30 suburban weekly newspapers, is close to tying up the deal to land the Reader. As previously reported here (see "TUOL" post 3/13/12), Texas-based Bulkey Capital LP was retained to oversee the unloading of the Reader, which presently is owned by New York investment banker Atalaya Capital Management L.P.

The Atalaya hedge fund came into the Reader in 2009 when it purchased it out of bankruptcy, along with The Washington City Weekly and Creative Loafing Atlanta, from an insolvent Florida company, Creative Loafing, Inc., for $5 million. The Reader, which distributes about 90,000 copies weekly through newspaper boxes, restaurants, bars and retail shops, is expected to compete against the Chicago Tribune-published RedEye for Chicago's younger audience.

Alternative Weekly Chicago Reader on the Block

Image via WikipediaThe Chicago Reader, the alternative weekly launched in 1971 by Carleton College grads and retrieved from the bankruptcy heap for $5 million in 2009 by the Atalaya Capital Management, L.P. New York hedge fund, is for sale.

Stories in Crain's Chicago Business and The Chicago Tribune report that Texas-based Bulkey Capital L.P. is advising Atalaya regarding the unloading of the Reader, which distributes about 90,000 copies weekly through bars, restaurants, retail outlets and newspaper boxes. Potential buyers include the Phoenix-based Village Voice Media Holdings LLC and The Chicago Sun Times, which itself emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 and was bought this year by Wrapports LLC (see "TUOL" post 12/21/11).

Atalaya also owns the Washington City Paper and Creative Loafing Atlanta weeklies, by virtue of the hedge fund acquirinq the bankrupt Florida company Creative Loafing Inc in 2009. Bulkey contends the Reader is operating in the black nowadays, though distribution of the 41-year-old weekly is down 40,000 copies from four years ago.

Cops Sue Chicago Sun Times Over Publishing Photo LIneups

Image via WikipediaIn a seven-page complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, five police officers have sued The Chicago Sun-Times for publishing photo lineups that depicted the officers and included personal information gleaned from the Secretary of State's motor vehicle records.

The complaint, Scott Dahlstrom, Hugh Gallagly, Peter Kelly, Robert Shea & Emmet Welch v. Sun-Times Media LLC d/b/a Chicago Sun-Times (Case No. 12-cv-00658), alleges the defendant violated the Drivers Privacy Protection Act ("DPPA") [18 U.S.C. secs. 2721-2725] by including information, such as the officers' birthdates, height, weight, hair color and eye color, in a story that included photo lineups of the plaintiffs along with Richard J. Vanecko, nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who was accused of striking David Koschman on April 25,2004, according to an account in The Chicago Tribune. Koschman died from brain injuries less than two weeks later. Vanecko was not charged in his death.

Police routinely participate in "perp lineups" standing alongside suspects whom witnesses are asked to identify. The complaint claims the plaintiffs are fearful for their safety because of the defendant's publishing their photos and personal data. Section 2722(a) of the DPPA makes it "unlawful for any person knowingly to obtain or disclose personal information, from a motor vehicle record, for any use not permitted under section 2721(b)" of the Act.

The plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief to remove identifying details and personal information from the defendant's publications, along with attorneys' fees, actual damages of at least $2,500 per officer as statutorily prescribed, and punitive damages. The Tribune reported that the Fraternal Order of Police last November unsuccessfully attempted in Cook County Circuit Court to prevent the Sun-Times online edition to continue publishing the five officers' personal information. That case has since been dismissed.

Chicago Sun Times Touts Its Irrelevance; Editorials Won't Endorse Candidates

Image via WikipediaWriting in an editorial this week that it has "come to doubt the value of candidate endorsements by this newspaper or any newspaper, especially in a day when a multitude of information sources allow even a casual voter to be better informed than ever before," The Chicago Sun Times announced it no longer will endorse political candidates at any level.

The Jan. 22 editorial in the tabloid daily, which is about to undergo an ownership change (see "TUOL" post 12/21/11), said readers have complained to the paper that they can make up their own minds and don't need to be told what to do. The paper has also expanded the journalistic code of ethics ban on staffers making financial contributions to political campaigns to  encompass Sun Times senior management.

The editorial cites research suggesting editorial endorsements do not sway voters, particularly in elections that garner considerable attention. Some may consider the new policy of the Sun Times, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, pragmatic and even, humble, in its tacit between-the-lines admission that what it says editorially doesn't matter. The tireless staff of "TUOL", which long ago resided in Chicago and maintains strong ties to the city, however, considers the decision a cop-out and an act of cowardice.

Not taking the time to endorse candidates for office is a clumsy attempt to mask that the depleted Sun Times newsroom lacks the bodies to perform the task and is a craven excuse to hide management's fear of alienating advertisers and an ever-shrinking readership by its choice of candidates.

Journalists have the proxy of their readers when they attend political gatherings and interview candidates. Citizens are obligated to inform themselves about the voting record and character of candidates, but should be able to look to the editorial board of their local newspaper for guidance, not fiat.

The Sun Times is shirking its responsibility by leaving it to partisan and nonpartisan bloggers to carry out its duty to vet candidates. Choosing to stay above the fray to avoid being branded "liberal" or "conservative" by online commenters and candidates does not benefit readers, who, especially in local elections, may lack the command of issues and the positions staked out by incumbents and challengers.

As a cost-savings measure, the Sun Times agreed last summer to allow its blood rival Chicago Tribune to print its editions (see "TUOL" post 7/20/11). With its latest decision, the paper has ceded its journalistic stewardship and the higher moral ground to the Tribune.

New Owners Take a Shine to Sun Times

Image via WikipediaThe Chicago Tribune reports that Sun Times Media, parent of the Trib's chief rival, The Chicago Sun Times, is about to change hands.

Former Newsday publisher and chief executive Timothy Knight is expected to take the helm of the tabloid Sun Times, whose origins date back to 1844 with the Chicago Evening Journal. Current Sun Times shareholders, such as Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz, are hanging around, but the new ownership will be fronted by Michael Verro of Merrick Ventures, a technology holding company based in Chicago, according to the Tribune account.

The Sun Times, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, is also entering the pay-for-a-peek at some of its online content era embraced by most  metro dailies. The tabloid remains home base for renowned film critic Roger Ebert.

The 'Front Page' Becomes the Same Page

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe rough-and-tumble journalism wars that made Chicago a great newspaper town and that were immortalized on Broadway and in Hollywood by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur in The Front Page (1928), lost a little more luster today with the announcement that beginning in September, The Chicago Tribune will print its rival Chicago Sun-Times and seven of the Sun-Times' suburban newspapers, the two papers reported.

The Sun-Times shuttering its $100 million printing center opened in 1999 on South Ashland Ave. will save the struggling daily $10 million, according to its Media Chair Jeremy Halbreich, but also means pink slips for more than 400 employees, most of whom are union members who are receiving state-mandated 60-day notices of termination.

Besides the Sun-Times, the Tribune will print and distribute from its downtown Freedom Center plant the Elgin Courier-News, the Naperville Sun, the Southtown Star, the Merrillville Post-Tribune, the Joliet Herald-News, the Aurora Beacon-News and the Lake County News-Sun.

Dis-Concerting: Sun-Times Staffer Fired for Embellishing Glee Live! Review

Image via WikipediaPaige Wiser, a 17-year veteran Chicago Sun-Times staffer and Northwestern University Medill Journalism School alumna, has been fired for submitting an untruthful review of a Glee Live! concert earlier this month.

Wiser, the tabloid's TV critic, attended the concert with her two pre-teen children in tow. When one of her kids complained of feeling ill, Wiser left the event before it ended. Rather than inform her readers that she skipped out early, Wiser submitted a review that discussed an encore performance of the song "Friday," that, unfortunately for her, the cast did not perform. Compounding the error, Wiser's review also described the cast's performance of another tune that she did not personally observe.

In terminating the long-time columnist, Sun-Times editor Don Haynor apologized to readers, writing: "accuracy and honesty in reporting are essential parts of the promise we make to our readers. We regret the incident and apologize."

Poor judgment for sure, but "TUOL" believes Wiser suffered enough by having sat through most of the concert.