Dave McKinney gets hired, Illinois Issues shuts down and mysterious white newsboxes
There are a couple of bits of news about Chicago (and Illinois) journalism that came across my newsfeeds that I wanted to touch on before they become completely irrelevant.
First of all, Dave McKinney, the former Chicago Sun-Times Springfield reporter, finally has a new rull-time job. For those of you who don't remember, he quit the paper out of concern that Wrapports higher-ups were willing to throw him to the wolves to appease a powerful politician. Since then, he's been freelancing for Chicago magazine, Crain's Chicago Business, Illinois Issues magazine and New York Times, so he wasn't starving, but there was no security of something more permanent (and I speak from experience).
So I was glad to hear that he got a job - and it Reuters, no less. According to McKinney's personal blog, it's going to involve covering "breaking news and analysis on Illinois and Chicago finance, government and politics." The position was created especially for him, which, as he points out, is kind of amazing in this day and age.
Me, I'm glad to see good guys (and talented reporters) win for a change.
The McKinney news inspired me to look up Illinois Issues magazine and see what's going on with it lately. The magazine is published by University of Illinois at Springfield, and, as the name implies, it deals with state politics, economics and other policy issues. A great source for people who care about such things, but not exactly something that flies off the newsstand.
Well, it turned out that Illinois Issues' upcoming issue is going to be its last. Because it was published by a university, it's not subject to the forces of capitalism the way most magazines are. But, as the editor explained, this means it's subject to financial pressures of a whole other kind.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has called for a 30 percent cut to state funding for higher education. The state does not a have a budget for the current fiscal year. As long as lawmakers and the governor fail to come to terms on a spending plan, all we have to work with are estimates of what our final budget might look like.
We are modeling a 20 percent cut in our state support, which is passed through the University of Illinois Springfield. This results in a $120,000 projected deficit for Illinois Issues
We cannot wait to see what will happen. We must make contract decision for the new fiscal year, which is already upon us. And we must make tough choices now to avoid what could be potentially deeper cuts later in the fiscal year, depending on the level of funding we eventually receive.
[...]
Eliminating print will not close our budget gap, but the choice protects us from having to consider staff cuts. It will also hopefully position us to eventually expand our online offerings to an app that would include news and a version of our Roster of State Government Officials.
It's still going to be publishing articles online, for free, and it's going to rely on UIS' funds and donations to help stay afloat.
To be perfectly honest, I'm not feeling that upset about this. Sad, sure, but in a way I feel sad about most magazines shutting down. I haven't really read that many issues of Illinois Issues, so I don't feel like I'd really miss it. You'd think that, given my interests, I would've bought more, but for some reason, I never need. I think part of it is that it's only available in libraries and a few speciality stores like the City Newsstand magazine store. Crain's, Chicago magazine, Chicago Reader and Newcity cover a lot of similar ground, and they are much easier to find. And while Chicago Reporter isn't easy to track down, it has a robust online presence, so I have at least been able to follow it that way.
I guess this means I'm part of the reason why Illinois Issues is shutting down.
Would focusing its efforts online increase the magazine's readership? Maybe. Would it increase it enough to allow it to continue to survive. I hope so.
We'll see.
And finally, in brighter news - I've been noticing plain white newspaper boxes popping up all over Chicago area. Some of them are locked, but some of them aren't. At first, I thought they were used newspaper boxes - Today's Chicago Women newsboxes were also white and looked pretty similar - painted over, but no. A closer examination suggested they're brand-new.
(Right - the mystery newsbox under Granville 'L' Station)
What the heck are they for? FW:Chicago magazine? The newest version of the Chicagoan magazine? The revivals of Time Out Chicago? Might be the revival of Chicago Scene magazine, but the previous version was more digest-sized.
Maybe it's some other newspaper or magazine I haven't heard of. But for now... it's fun to speculate
First of all, Dave McKinney, the former Chicago Sun-Times Springfield reporter, finally has a new rull-time job. For those of you who don't remember, he quit the paper out of concern that Wrapports higher-ups were willing to throw him to the wolves to appease a powerful politician. Since then, he's been freelancing for Chicago magazine, Crain's Chicago Business, Illinois Issues magazine and New York Times, so he wasn't starving, but there was no security of something more permanent (and I speak from experience).
So I was glad to hear that he got a job - and it Reuters, no less. According to McKinney's personal blog, it's going to involve covering "breaking news and analysis on Illinois and Chicago finance, government and politics." The position was created especially for him, which, as he points out, is kind of amazing in this day and age.
Me, I'm glad to see good guys (and talented reporters) win for a change.
The McKinney news inspired me to look up Illinois Issues magazine and see what's going on with it lately. The magazine is published by University of Illinois at Springfield, and, as the name implies, it deals with state politics, economics and other policy issues. A great source for people who care about such things, but not exactly something that flies off the newsstand.
Well, it turned out that Illinois Issues' upcoming issue is going to be its last. Because it was published by a university, it's not subject to the forces of capitalism the way most magazines are. But, as the editor explained, this means it's subject to financial pressures of a whole other kind.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has called for a 30 percent cut to state funding for higher education. The state does not a have a budget for the current fiscal year. As long as lawmakers and the governor fail to come to terms on a spending plan, all we have to work with are estimates of what our final budget might look like.
We are modeling a 20 percent cut in our state support, which is passed through the University of Illinois Springfield. This results in a $120,000 projected deficit for Illinois Issues
We cannot wait to see what will happen. We must make contract decision for the new fiscal year, which is already upon us. And we must make tough choices now to avoid what could be potentially deeper cuts later in the fiscal year, depending on the level of funding we eventually receive.
[...]
Eliminating print will not close our budget gap, but the choice protects us from having to consider staff cuts. It will also hopefully position us to eventually expand our online offerings to an app that would include news and a version of our Roster of State Government Officials.
It's still going to be publishing articles online, for free, and it's going to rely on UIS' funds and donations to help stay afloat.
To be perfectly honest, I'm not feeling that upset about this. Sad, sure, but in a way I feel sad about most magazines shutting down. I haven't really read that many issues of Illinois Issues, so I don't feel like I'd really miss it. You'd think that, given my interests, I would've bought more, but for some reason, I never need. I think part of it is that it's only available in libraries and a few speciality stores like the City Newsstand magazine store. Crain's, Chicago magazine, Chicago Reader and Newcity cover a lot of similar ground, and they are much easier to find. And while Chicago Reporter isn't easy to track down, it has a robust online presence, so I have at least been able to follow it that way.
I guess this means I'm part of the reason why Illinois Issues is shutting down.
Would focusing its efforts online increase the magazine's readership? Maybe. Would it increase it enough to allow it to continue to survive. I hope so.
We'll see.
And finally, in brighter news - I've been noticing plain white newspaper boxes popping up all over Chicago area. Some of them are locked, but some of them aren't. At first, I thought they were used newspaper boxes - Today's Chicago Women newsboxes were also white and looked pretty similar - painted over, but no. A closer examination suggested they're brand-new.
(Right - the mystery newsbox under Granville 'L' Station)
What the heck are they for? FW:Chicago magazine? The newest version of the Chicagoan magazine? The revivals of Time Out Chicago? Might be the revival of Chicago Scene magazine, but the previous version was more digest-sized.
Maybe it's some other newspaper or magazine I haven't heard of. But for now... it's fun to speculate