The unexpected re-re-re-rebirth of the Chicago Journal
When I was writing my final article for the final issue of the Chicago Journal, I mentioned that it wasn't the first publication to bear it's name, and that it wouldn't be the last.
To make a long story shorter, the first Chicago Journal (also known, at various times, as the Chicago Daily Journal and the Chicago Evening Journal) was one of the city's oldest newspaper, and the first newspaper to survive for more then 20 years. It was the only newspaper that kept publishing through the Chicago Fire without interruption. This is when a Chicago Journal reporter reported what became one of the city's most enduring myths - that Mrs. O'Leary's cow was responsible for the blaze. The paper eventually went out of business, with the owner selling the printing presses and other assets to the rival Chicago Daily News. But the owner then decided to start from scratch, launching the Chicago Illustrated Times, which eventually became the "Times" in the Chicago Sun-Times.
A completely unrelated Chicago Journal was launched in South Shore in 1977. Originally covering South Shore and Hyde Park, it went on to cover the entire South Side of Chicago until it shut down in 1984. And, in 2000, Wednesday Journal Inc owner Dan Haley launched his own Chicago Journal as the community newspaper for the communities that would soon become known as the South Loop and the West Loop. That was the Chicago Journal I wrote for until it shut down in December 2012.
In an article that was both a tribute and an obituary, I expressed hope that another Chicago Journal would rise eventually, in some shape or form. But I was still surprised when the old Chicago Journal Facebook page suddenly made a status update, changing its icon to what looked more like the J in the Chicago Daily Journal logo. Then, on Sunday evening, another status update popped up.
For a few hours, all of the old posts were visible. As of about 18:00 CST, they have been either hidden or purged.
The Chicago Journal's old official Twitter account, which was renamed from @ChiJournal to @ChicagoJournal, had a similar message.
The Chicago Journal is officially under new ownership and direction. Sign up to be notified when we're ready at https://t.co/K56Aphw30j.
- Chicago Journal (@chicagojournal) September 11, 2016
All of the old tweets were gone from that one too.
Interestingly, there is now a newer @ChiJournal account that was created back in June 2016. When I first saw it at around 18:30 CST, there were two test tweets from around the time it was created, but those have since been deleted.
The new new publication's site uses the Chicago Journal's old domain name, so either they bought it from Wednesday Journal Inc, or WJI let it expire and they bought it (I'm leaning toward the former since, as recently as last week, the old Chicago Journal site was up and running). This means that, yes - after a little over 3.5 years, all of the articles from previous version of the Chicago Journal have been nuked. I can't get too upset about it, since, back when the paper shut down, WJI promised to keep the archive up for at least a year in read-only mode, and guaranteed nothing beyond that. I still have copies of all of the Chicago Journal issues where my article appeared and clippings of all of the articles, and there are PDFs of those articles somewhere on my home laptop's hardrive. But part of me is still annoyed that my articles got nuked without any sort of warning.
As for the site itself, it's not very informative. There is a sign-up form for an e-mail list, links to the Twitter account, the (currently empty) Youtube page and the (just as empty) Instagram account. They don't seem to be aware of the Chicago Journal Flickr pool (which, amazingly, still gets submissions). Or its old Flickr stream.
The site does seem to be evoking the original Chicago Journal, what with the nameplate design and the photo of the early 20th century Chicago as a site background. But I don't even know if it's going to be a newspaper. Its instagram has "The Stories of Our Lives" slogan in its profile, which could mean all kinds of things. While the Chicago Journal's Facebook page used to be categorized as "Media/News/Publishing," the new owners changed the category to "News/Media Website." It could well be a Nashville Banner type of thing, where a person get the rights to an old newspaper's name and uses it for an online media outlet.
If so... it's certainly an interesting name to choose. Unless you are a Chicago history buff or a reporter, chances are you won't know about the original Chicago Journal. When people say Chicago Journal, they are much more likely to think of the third version, our version. Make no mistake - while WJI wasn't able to keep it going, our readers liked us. We had brand recognition. And when the word of our shutdown got out, there were plenty of mournful page comments, Facebook comments and tweets, to say nothing of comments I heard personally. I don't think it was a coincidence that when the publishers of New Eastside News monthly community newspaper tried to branch out and publish a paper that covered the same territory as the Chicago Journal, they called it South Loop Journal.
But at this point, there is just no way to know what is exactly the newest Chicago Journal is planning. For now, I'm inclined to give them a benefit of a doubt.
For now.
It would be nice to know a bit about who they are. There are no copyright notices or any signifiers of ownership on their website. I went so far as to look at the source code, and the only thing I found was that the site was built via WordPress (because of course it is). But singing up for the mailing list gave me this little bit of info.
Chicago Journal
161 S. Lincolnway
North Aurora, IL 60542
The address in question is an office building with multiple suites. If it weren't for my work commitments, I might be tempted to swing by, just to see what I could find out. But as it stands... I know that there are a few Chicago reporters that might be reading this. Think of this as a free tip.
To make a long story shorter, the first Chicago Journal (also known, at various times, as the Chicago Daily Journal and the Chicago Evening Journal) was one of the city's oldest newspaper, and the first newspaper to survive for more then 20 years. It was the only newspaper that kept publishing through the Chicago Fire without interruption. This is when a Chicago Journal reporter reported what became one of the city's most enduring myths - that Mrs. O'Leary's cow was responsible for the blaze. The paper eventually went out of business, with the owner selling the printing presses and other assets to the rival Chicago Daily News. But the owner then decided to start from scratch, launching the Chicago Illustrated Times, which eventually became the "Times" in the Chicago Sun-Times.
A completely unrelated Chicago Journal was launched in South Shore in 1977. Originally covering South Shore and Hyde Park, it went on to cover the entire South Side of Chicago until it shut down in 1984. And, in 2000, Wednesday Journal Inc owner Dan Haley launched his own Chicago Journal as the community newspaper for the communities that would soon become known as the South Loop and the West Loop. That was the Chicago Journal I wrote for until it shut down in December 2012.
In an article that was both a tribute and an obituary, I expressed hope that another Chicago Journal would rise eventually, in some shape or form. But I was still surprised when the old Chicago Journal Facebook page suddenly made a status update, changing its icon to what looked more like the J in the Chicago Daily Journal logo. Then, on Sunday evening, another status update popped up.
For a few hours, all of the old posts were visible. As of about 18:00 CST, they have been either hidden or purged.
The Chicago Journal's old official Twitter account, which was renamed from @ChiJournal to @ChicagoJournal, had a similar message.
The Chicago Journal is officially under new ownership and direction. Sign up to be notified when we're ready at https://t.co/K56Aphw30j.
- Chicago Journal (@chicagojournal) September 11, 2016
All of the old tweets were gone from that one too.
Interestingly, there is now a newer @ChiJournal account that was created back in June 2016. When I first saw it at around 18:30 CST, there were two test tweets from around the time it was created, but those have since been deleted.
The new new publication's site uses the Chicago Journal's old domain name, so either they bought it from Wednesday Journal Inc, or WJI let it expire and they bought it (I'm leaning toward the former since, as recently as last week, the old Chicago Journal site was up and running). This means that, yes - after a little over 3.5 years, all of the articles from previous version of the Chicago Journal have been nuked. I can't get too upset about it, since, back when the paper shut down, WJI promised to keep the archive up for at least a year in read-only mode, and guaranteed nothing beyond that. I still have copies of all of the Chicago Journal issues where my article appeared and clippings of all of the articles, and there are PDFs of those articles somewhere on my home laptop's hardrive. But part of me is still annoyed that my articles got nuked without any sort of warning.
As for the site itself, it's not very informative. There is a sign-up form for an e-mail list, links to the Twitter account, the (currently empty) Youtube page and the (just as empty) Instagram account. They don't seem to be aware of the Chicago Journal Flickr pool (which, amazingly, still gets submissions). Or its old Flickr stream.
The site does seem to be evoking the original Chicago Journal, what with the nameplate design and the photo of the early 20th century Chicago as a site background. But I don't even know if it's going to be a newspaper. Its instagram has "The Stories of Our Lives" slogan in its profile, which could mean all kinds of things. While the Chicago Journal's Facebook page used to be categorized as "Media/News/Publishing," the new owners changed the category to "News/Media Website." It could well be a Nashville Banner type of thing, where a person get the rights to an old newspaper's name and uses it for an online media outlet.
If so... it's certainly an interesting name to choose. Unless you are a Chicago history buff or a reporter, chances are you won't know about the original Chicago Journal. When people say Chicago Journal, they are much more likely to think of the third version, our version. Make no mistake - while WJI wasn't able to keep it going, our readers liked us. We had brand recognition. And when the word of our shutdown got out, there were plenty of mournful page comments, Facebook comments and tweets, to say nothing of comments I heard personally. I don't think it was a coincidence that when the publishers of New Eastside News monthly community newspaper tried to branch out and publish a paper that covered the same territory as the Chicago Journal, they called it South Loop Journal.
But at this point, there is just no way to know what is exactly the newest Chicago Journal is planning. For now, I'm inclined to give them a benefit of a doubt.
For now.
It would be nice to know a bit about who they are. There are no copyright notices or any signifiers of ownership on their website. I went so far as to look at the source code, and the only thing I found was that the site was built via WordPress (because of course it is). But singing up for the mailing list gave me this little bit of info.
Chicago Journal
161 S. Lincolnway
North Aurora, IL 60542
The address in question is an office building with multiple suites. If it weren't for my work commitments, I might be tempted to swing by, just to see what I could find out. But as it stands... I know that there are a few Chicago reporters that might be reading this. Think of this as a free tip.