Chicago's Youth Newspaper War Underway

Posted Monday, October 28, 2002 12:00 am

By: Mark Fitzgerald Five days ahead of schedule, the Chicago Tribune launched its youth-oriented tabloid RedEye Friday by distributing for free several thousand copies of a paper it hopes young adults aged 18 to 34 will be willing to buy for a quarter starting this week.

By jumping the gun on its announced plans, the Tribune beat the Chicago Sun-Times to the street. The Sun-Times will launch its own youth paper this Wednesday, Jaclene Tetzlaff, the paper's vice president of marketing and promotions confirmed. She would not comment on reports that the Sun-Times product will be named Red Streak and be sold in the afternoon. RedEye is published on the morning cycle.

To the north, Gannett Co. Inc.'s Lansing (Mich.) State Journal last week also rolled out its own version of a youth-targeted paper, Noise. The free weekly is betting on entertainment-heavy content, magazine-style graphics, and writing with attitude in its quest for young readers.

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Chicago's Youth Newspaper War Underway

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