Why Kristen McQueary Didn’t Deserve a Pass from Her Readers
All you have are your words, and it’s your job to use them wisely at all times. That should be especially true for a Chicago Tribune editorial board member.
ABC Chicago’s Segregation Eve
Fifty years after Civil Rights, why does ABC Chicago think a New Year’s Eve telecast with separate parties in white and black neighborhoods is a good thing?
ChicagoNow You See It, Now You Don’t
Last week, ChicagoNow pulled a controversial post from popular blogger “Joe the Cop” after a day of protest personally led by Time Out Chicago editor-in-chief Frank Sennett. Sennett called Joe a racist on Twitter in a day-long stream of 100 tweets. I think the real question is whether that makes Sennett an Internet bully.
“The archives will remain online”: The Troubling History of Geoff Dougherty
Media entrepreneur Geoff Dougherty ran two multimedia news ventures into the ground. Now, the embattled Chicago Reader has hired him as associate publisher. Maybe they didn’t read his press. Here’s a look at the track record the Reader’s new owners may have missed.
The Status Quo Vs. The Local Blogger
In Chicago, how people feel privately about the status quo and what they say about it in public are rarely the same. That applies to Chicago’s blogosphere, too. In a new-media space where dissent makes people run for cover, how can local bloggers hope to make change happen?
The Past Imperfect of ChicagoNow
You can’t run a 21st-century blog network at the speed of a 19th-century newspaper. I wish someone would tell the Chicago Tribune. Here’s how institutional lethargy, inadequate tools, inscrutable navigation, and newsroom pushback make it hard to be a successful ChicagoNow blogger. (This post has now officially become the top-rated Windy Citizen story of all time.)
Chicago Weekly Aims to Cover Hyde Park
As major Chicago media increasingly search for inroads into community news on the Internet, some existing sites are doing a good job of covering neighborhood-level news all on their own, especially on the South Side. One of them is the University of Chicago-based Chicago Weekly, an alternative weekly taking on the responsibility of keeping the Presidential first-neighborhood informed.
You’re Invited to the Chicago Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!
This week, Windy Citizen editor & publisher Brad Flora (@bradflora) had a great idea–ask a group of local bloggers to throw their names behind a community Christmas party for our readers. It’s an all-inclusive community holiday meetup–and if you’re reading this post, you’re invited!
“Here’s a lesson from the media…” –Bill Leff, WGN Radio (Update)
(Update 2/23/10) Today, Bill Leff relinquished his weekend gig as host of WGN’s ChicagoNow Radio. Here’s a look back at my experience with Leff and his former radio show from last November. Back then, an angry Leff told me I was ‘replaceable’ a minute before air time. Ah, karma.
Yesterday Robert Feder Opened His Mouth to Change His Feet
This week, former Chicago Sun-Times TV columnist Robert Feder (@robertfeder) managed to stick his foot in his mouth while sticking his tongue in his cheek. The usually scrappy Feder slapped down ChicagoNow’s new WGN-AM Radio weekly show from the pulpit of his own new blog at the web-centric Vocalo Radio. Boy, could I say something about that. But fellow blogger Alexander Russo, the nationally prominent scribe of the popular District 299 Chicago Public Schools watchdog blog, got there first.