Tribune to make RedEye weekly, fire staffers
RedEye actually broke yesterday afternoon, but I didn't notice it until this morning. And today's issue republished the announcement, adding a byline. Turns out it was written by Colin McMahon, the Chicago Tribune's associate editor.
So poor RedEye didn't even get to break its own news.
I've mentioned RedEye a number of times on this LJ, but as a little refresher, it was Chicago Tribune's commuter tabloid, filling a similar niche as Metro papers, AM New York, Washington Post's Express, etc. It came out on weekdays (except major holidays), and it was launched back in 2000 as a way to reach younger readers. It always republished some content from the Tribune, but it published plenty of its own, unique content. At its best, it offered a pretty good overview of the day's biggest news stories, while also doing feature pieces on issues such as gentrification and the effects of gun violence, while also covering sports, local music and arts, clubs and restaurants. Fittingly for a commuter tabloid, it had a good coverage of Chicago transit. It had columnists reviewing movies and TV shows, and its back page had a good round up of celebrity gossip. Its desierners had a neck for creating pretty striking covers (like this one).
RedEye wasn't allowed to push boundaries quite as far as alt weeklies like the Chicago Reader - for example, there was no swearing - but the many relationship columnists it had over the years could get pretty frank on sex issues. But what really set RedEye apart was that it never took itself too seriously. This was a paper that had an article rating Game of Thrones characters' (of both genders') hotness. It recently did an issue devoted entirely to Gilmore Girls. And, for a while, it was no for some entertaining characters of columnists - Soxman, the Bag Boy, the Great Burgarini.
Unfortunately, RedEye hasn't been at its best for quite some time. The last three years haven't been terribly kind to it. Columnist after columnist, reporter after reporter, staff member after staff member, kept getting cut. They did less and less local news, and feature stories vanished. The paper kept losing pages. Used to be that reading an entire paper took 30-40 minutes it took to get from my home in Edgewater to downtown Chicago. Now, it takes 15 minutes or less. The Thursday and Friday issues were meatier than the rest, but it still felt like they had 4-5 people juggling way too many plates as they tried to maintain some of the paper's soul despite ever-diminishing resources. And the advertising... Four years in this business, you learn to keep an eye on advertising, because it's usually a harbinger of things to come. And it was hard to noticed that there were less and less ads every month.
Crain's Chicago Business predicted RedEye's demise back in 2015 - and they weren't the only ones. I can't say I'm that surprised that Tribune decided to make the paper a weekly. Like I said earlier, Thursday and Friday issues tended to be the meatier ones, which suggests that the company thinks thy are the ones most people read. It makes sense to focus on the more profitable days.
The original post doesn't say it, but the follow-up Tribune article (which, uqite inexplicably, wasn't republished in today's RedEye) says that the new publication schedule will take effect on Friday, February 3. the first weekly issue comes out the following Thursday, February 9.
As it has been noted in the tribune article and elsewhere, this will put RedEye in the direct competition with the Chicago Reader - which I don't think is a battle RedEye can win. Even faced with a severely diminished Reader. When I first read the announcement, I thought that maybe Tribune would use whatever money it would save by reducing print frequency to return some of RedEye's old glory. But the Tribune article quotes the company spokesperson as saying that there would be "undisclosed number of layoffs at RedEye" quickly dashed that hope.
There is also a baffling decision to close the paper's own website and "migrate [its content] to the Chicago Tribune website." I have to wonder if it would be something like what they did with ex-Sun times Media papers (awkwardly wedged it into the Chicago Tribune website, like this), or if they wold do away with RedEye branding entirely, which is just... why?
But here is what to me, is the worst part. I've been to a few Chicago journalist gatherings where RedEye staffers gathered at their own table. While part of me resented it a little (in the "what, you think you're too good for us" way), it showed an obvious bond between them, a bond that went beyond co-workers. It was a bond that's visible in social media interactions between former and current staffers. When the news broke, many of those former staffers offered support.
@crepeau <3
- RedEye (@redeyechicago) January 10, 2017
@DanerMoran <3
- RedEye (@redeyechicago) January 10, 2017
@daveybridges <3 We're trying!
- RedEye (@redeyechicago) January 11, 2017
I interned for @redeyechicago as a student and started freelancing right after. To say its been formative to my career is an understatement.
- Samantha Nelson (@samanthanelson1) January 11, 2017
That legit made me tear up, ladies and gentlefolk.
RedEye has been a part of my Chicago experience since 2006. It was there when I explored Chicago to avoid the pain of heartbreak. It was there through trips to assignments in the city and the suburbs. It was there on my way to chemo, and it was there on bus trips to Madison and train riders to New York. It was the one great constant in my Chicago life.
Whatever happens to RedEye after February 3... it won't be the same thing. Even in its diminished state, it filled a unique niche that I don't think will be filled again.
I guess all I can say to the RedEye staffers and stringers, whether they're going to stay on or get laid off, is good luck. And godspeed.
So poor RedEye didn't even get to break its own news.
I've mentioned RedEye a number of times on this LJ, but as a little refresher, it was Chicago Tribune's commuter tabloid, filling a similar niche as Metro papers, AM New York, Washington Post's Express, etc. It came out on weekdays (except major holidays), and it was launched back in 2000 as a way to reach younger readers. It always republished some content from the Tribune, but it published plenty of its own, unique content. At its best, it offered a pretty good overview of the day's biggest news stories, while also doing feature pieces on issues such as gentrification and the effects of gun violence, while also covering sports, local music and arts, clubs and restaurants. Fittingly for a commuter tabloid, it had a good coverage of Chicago transit. It had columnists reviewing movies and TV shows, and its back page had a good round up of celebrity gossip. Its desierners had a neck for creating pretty striking covers (like this one).
RedEye wasn't allowed to push boundaries quite as far as alt weeklies like the Chicago Reader - for example, there was no swearing - but the many relationship columnists it had over the years could get pretty frank on sex issues. But what really set RedEye apart was that it never took itself too seriously. This was a paper that had an article rating Game of Thrones characters' (of both genders') hotness. It recently did an issue devoted entirely to Gilmore Girls. And, for a while, it was no for some entertaining characters of columnists - Soxman, the Bag Boy, the Great Burgarini.
Unfortunately, RedEye hasn't been at its best for quite some time. The last three years haven't been terribly kind to it. Columnist after columnist, reporter after reporter, staff member after staff member, kept getting cut. They did less and less local news, and feature stories vanished. The paper kept losing pages. Used to be that reading an entire paper took 30-40 minutes it took to get from my home in Edgewater to downtown Chicago. Now, it takes 15 minutes or less. The Thursday and Friday issues were meatier than the rest, but it still felt like they had 4-5 people juggling way too many plates as they tried to maintain some of the paper's soul despite ever-diminishing resources. And the advertising... Four years in this business, you learn to keep an eye on advertising, because it's usually a harbinger of things to come. And it was hard to noticed that there were less and less ads every month.
Crain's Chicago Business predicted RedEye's demise back in 2015 - and they weren't the only ones. I can't say I'm that surprised that Tribune decided to make the paper a weekly. Like I said earlier, Thursday and Friday issues tended to be the meatier ones, which suggests that the company thinks thy are the ones most people read. It makes sense to focus on the more profitable days.
The original post doesn't say it, but the follow-up Tribune article (which, uqite inexplicably, wasn't republished in today's RedEye) says that the new publication schedule will take effect on Friday, February 3. the first weekly issue comes out the following Thursday, February 9.
As it has been noted in the tribune article and elsewhere, this will put RedEye in the direct competition with the Chicago Reader - which I don't think is a battle RedEye can win. Even faced with a severely diminished Reader. When I first read the announcement, I thought that maybe Tribune would use whatever money it would save by reducing print frequency to return some of RedEye's old glory. But the Tribune article quotes the company spokesperson as saying that there would be "undisclosed number of layoffs at RedEye" quickly dashed that hope.
There is also a baffling decision to close the paper's own website and "migrate [its content] to the Chicago Tribune website." I have to wonder if it would be something like what they did with ex-Sun times Media papers (awkwardly wedged it into the Chicago Tribune website, like this), or if they wold do away with RedEye branding entirely, which is just... why?
But here is what to me, is the worst part. I've been to a few Chicago journalist gatherings where RedEye staffers gathered at their own table. While part of me resented it a little (in the "what, you think you're too good for us" way), it showed an obvious bond between them, a bond that went beyond co-workers. It was a bond that's visible in social media interactions between former and current staffers. When the news broke, many of those former staffers offered support.
@crepeau <3
- RedEye (@redeyechicago) January 10, 2017
@DanerMoran <3
- RedEye (@redeyechicago) January 10, 2017
@daveybridges <3 We're trying!
- RedEye (@redeyechicago) January 11, 2017
I interned for @redeyechicago as a student and started freelancing right after. To say its been formative to my career is an understatement.
- Samantha Nelson (@samanthanelson1) January 11, 2017
That legit made me tear up, ladies and gentlefolk.
RedEye has been a part of my Chicago experience since 2006. It was there when I explored Chicago to avoid the pain of heartbreak. It was there through trips to assignments in the city and the suburbs. It was there on my way to chemo, and it was there on bus trips to Madison and train riders to New York. It was the one great constant in my Chicago life.
Whatever happens to RedEye after February 3... it won't be the same thing. Even in its diminished state, it filled a unique niche that I don't think will be filled again.
I guess all I can say to the RedEye staffers and stringers, whether they're going to stay on or get laid off, is good luck. And godspeed.