# Vax-skeptic column causes turmoil, jeopardizes Chicago Reader **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325 "2022-04-23T18:34:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/1 "2022-04-23T18:34:03Z")
(I’ve totally lost track of who owns whom anymore, so other posters or the mods will kindly tell me if this is totally irrelevant here or in the wrong forum.) Co-owner of Chicago Reader writes and publishes column expressing some Covid vax skepticism, leading to protests and upheaval at the Reader, jeopardizing the paper’s transition-in-progress to becoming a non-profit, and apparently causing enough immediate financial trouble as to jeopardize the paper’s continued existence. > **[A fight over a vaccine column could kill one of the oldest alt-weeklies](https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/04/22/chicago-reader-free-speech-goodman/)** > > The owner of the Chicago Reader objected when the staff raised concerns about the claims in his column. Now the paper faces financial ruin. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/2 "2022-04-23T18:43:16Z")
I posted about the co-owner’s “vax skepticism” (a.k.a. antivaccine nonsense) [awhile back](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-the-chicago-reader-goes-over-to-the-dark-side/955158) (link may be useful to those who can’t get past the Washington Post paywall). It’d be too bad if the paper crashes and burns as a result of this stupidity\*. It’d be another example of a business owner who’s intent on expressing dubious personal/political beliefs at the expense of his business and its employees. \*Example: “We have been kept in the dark about vaccine safety and efficacy by our government and its partners in Big Pharma, who tell us they have looked at the science and it supports vaccinating our children against a virus that presents them with only the most miniscule risk of serious illness. As a parent, I will demand more answers before simply taking their word.” Yeah, what’s 1000 or more pediatric deaths and many thousands more serious childhood illnesses, hospitalizations and I.C.U. stays from Covid-19. Miniscule, I tells you! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/3 "2022-04-23T18:48:06Z")
I moved it to the breaking news forum from ATMB. It seems like a better fit. To the best of my knowledge the SDMB & the Straight Dope itself are > **edited as I was wrong** > > owned by the Chicago Reader . But I thought they were bought out so I’m confused at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/4 "2022-04-23T18:48:30Z")
Okay, I see that @What_Exit has immediately moved this to MPSIMS, and the earlier thread by @Jackmannii explains: > [@In which the Chicago Reader goes over to the dark side](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-the-chicago-reader-goes-over-to-the-dark-side/955158/1): > > We should be grateful that the Straight Dope is no longer owned by the Reader, as it lessens the embarrassment of once having been connected to a publication whose quality standards have obviously plummeted. ETA: Simul-posted with @What_Exit 's post just above. So **Jackmanni** ’s post, if accurate, clarifies that. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/5 "2022-04-23T18:50:11Z")
I thought The SDMB was owned by whoever owns WBEZ and the Sun Times. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/6 "2022-04-23T18:53:12Z")
That makes sense, the Dope was sold and we’re not part of the Chicago Reader is good news it seems. I was able to verify, **"Chicago’s public radio station, WBEZ, has purchased Sun-Times Media (STM), which owns the Straight Dope, including the SDMB."** ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/7 "2022-04-23T18:57:35Z")
Okay, today’s WaPo article does mention that the whole dispute began last November. It does not explain, as far as I can tell, exactly what recent events have brought it back into the headlines just now. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/8 "2022-04-23T19:11:24Z")
It looks like the precipitating news event was an employee rally outside the home of the antivaccine co-owner. > **[Chicago Reader employees rally to save alternative newspaper as ownership...](https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-reader-rally-ownership-fight-delay-transition-nonprofit-20220421-64vwwaoxcvfullv7dec5iug3ai-story.html)** > > Chicago Reader employees organized a rally Thursday in front of a co-owner's Lakeview East home to “make some noise” and push him to let the alternative weekly transition to a nonprofit. The Tribune article suggests that Goodman was pissed off over the Reader’s attempt to replace his original column with a fact-checked revised version. Now they’re squabbling over the for-profit board’s power to select members for the non-profit board, including how many might be aligned with the paper’s for-profit owners (the unresolved “censorship” issue is also involved). Delays in getting the non-profit rolling supposedly are jeopardizing the paper’s future. What a stupid mess. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vax-skeptic-column-causes-turmoil-jeopardizes-chicago-reader/963325/9 "2022-04-26T20:39:21Z")
Update: Goldman has agreed to give up control of the _Reader_, and allow the non-profit plan to proceed, thus likely saving the paper. > [@](#): > > Ending an impasse that has threatened the future of the Chicago Reader, co-owner Leonard Goodman said Tuesday he will approve the publication’s transfer to nonprofit status and give up any control over it. > > Goodman, a Chicago attorney and member of the billionaire Crown family, co-owned the Reader with real estate developer Elzie Higginbottom. Angry about the Reader’s handling of a column he wrote for it last November, Goodman had demanded more representation on a nonprofit board set up to take over the alternative publication. > > The demand was likely to [kill plans for the nonprofit’s takeover of the money-losing Reader](https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/2/14/22927012/chicago-reader-future-tracy-baim-board-infighting-nonprofit-leadership). The fight threatened the jobs of about 35 employees, including 18 writers and editors who belong to the Chicago News Guild labor union. > **[Chicago Reader co-owner gives up scrap over column, agrees to nonprofit transfer](https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/2022/4/26/23042915/chicago-reader-coowner-leonard-goodman-agrees-nonprofit-transfer)** > > Co-owner Leonard Goodman had accused the publication of trying to censor a piece he wrote about COVID-19 vaccinations.