October 23, 2009 Chicago News Venture to Sell Content to New York Times By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/business/media/23chicago.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print Former top editors of The Chicago Tribune and other journalists, backed by a public television station and a major foundation, on Thursday announced formation of a nonprofit news organization in Chicago, which will provide pages of local news for a Chicago edition of The New York Times, to be started next month. James E. O’Shea, a former editor of The Los Angeles Times and a former managing editor of The Tribune, will serve as editor of the new organization, the Chicago News Cooperative, and James Warren, another former managing editor of The Tribune, will write a regular column for the service. Peter Osnos, another well-known journalist and founder of PublicAffairs books, is the chairman of its advisory board, and one of the board members is Ann Marie Lipinski, former editor of The Tribune. The cooperative has start-up financing from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and assistance from WTTW, a Chicago public television station. It is in talks with WBEZ, the local public radio station, about collaboration. But the first paying customer is The New York Times, which has been looking for local partners to produce journalism for expanded versions of the paper in markets around the country. Last week, The Times began a San Francisco edition, and the paper is in talks with a newly formed news cooperative in that region about handing over responsibility for producing the local pages. The Chicago News Cooperative will produce two pages, twice a week, to appear in copies of The Times that are distributed in the Chicago area. The first Chicago edition will appear on Nov. 20, The Times said. The cooperative puts Tribune alumni in competition with their former paper, at a time when the resources of The Tribune and its competitor, The Chicago Sun-Times, have greatly diminished. Both papers’ corporate parents have been in bankruptcy this year. The Tribune Company sent Mr. O’Shea from Chicago to Los Angeles to take over The Los Angeles Times, then pushed him out last year when he refused to carry out one in a long series of newsroom budget cuts. In parting remarks, he sharply criticized the company’s management. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
