Uh, Did you notice that the more substantial threads on this board are already being the bulk of the articles they publish? 
…just a quick bump on this: compare the front pages of the two main Chicago newspapers in the wake of the Stanley Cup Finals.
You’d think that for something like winning the Stanley Cup, they could splurge on an image from Getty.
I think the editorial design staff (or whoever lays these covers out for the paper) is just giving a big middle finger to the top brass at the Sun Times over the layoffs.
It’s also possible that they just don’t care anymore. They must know that their paper is circling the drain. I worked in the auto industry at the depths of the “dark days” a few years ago, when both General Motors and Chrysler were bankrupt. After a while, a kind of fatalistic attitude sets in, and you’re basically just waiting for the day they tell you it’s over. In my case, the end never came, and things improved. In the Sun-Times’ case, I don’t see it having such a happy ending.
Yeah, it makes no sense they didn’t run a wire photo. I guess, according to the article, there was a wrap-around cover but, even so, as an inside cover that’s really piss-poor. ( I would check the actual paper, but my Sun-Times subscription ran out about three weeks ago (after being a subscriber for about 8 years or so) and I am not resubscribing.) I mean, how in the hell does that photo go with “Cup of Cheer”? Toews doesn’t look at all cheerful and victorious in that photo–more like he’s sick of lugging the damned thing around.
The only thing that really makes sense is that it is meant as a middle finger to management.
Someone quotes the Sun-Times circulation numbers in the comments and wow! I had no idea they were that low - less than 500k for a city this size?
It’s about the same for the Chicago Trib, too. Average weekday circulation for the Tribune is about 415K. That’s not too surprising for me. On my block, maybe 10% of folks get a paper. Maybe. And I currently do not, and I probably will not.
Here’s a list of newspapers by circulation. At 470K, the Sun-Times was the 9th most circulated paper in the US, and the 6th most circulated non-national paper (although I am including the NYTimes and Wall Street Journal in that definition). The only non-national papers ahead of it were from California (LA and San Jose), New York City, or DC.
Especially when you think about the market these papers have for reprinting display quality versions of covers like these (and other historical events). People love buying framed headlines of their favorite team winning a trophy. This shitty cover could be a way for them to passive aggressively hurt the Sun Times by making a cover nobody would want to hang in their man cave ever.
Actually, their desire to resell reprints of the cover might be a big reason they didn’t buy a wire image. Probably would get tricky with rights to reprint and sell.
Chicago Tribune Accidentally Publishes a Placeholder Cat Photo on Front Page
Huh and I thought their photography department was doing ok.
I’m surprised — and a little disappointed — it wasn’t porn.
Yes, but it’s a very good picture of a cat.
It keeps on happening.
My Akron(OH) Beacon Journal let go about half its employees about five years ago. The Cleveland Plain Dealer picked up most of the good news people at that time.
Today the Cleveland Plain Dealer laid off 1/3 of their news staff.
Who’ll be the last one standing?
Frankly, I’m shocked that the circulation of the San Jose Mercury News is so high. Higher than the San Francisco Chronicle? That’s surprising.
I still get the *Mercury News *every day, but hardly any of my neighbors do, and it’s a pale shadow of its former self. Just recently they started to combine the Business section into the Local section, resulting in yet fewer pages in each issue.