Opinion | Buyouts at the Sun-Times shrink the newsroom — and the dream

Big-name journalists are out as Chicago Public Media tightens its belt. The high-profile merger was supposed to be different.

Posted Thursday, March 20, 2025 11:42 am

Tom Jones, Rick Edmonds and Alex Mahadevan | Poynter

The financially troubled Chicago Sun-Times announced Tuesday that it is shedding 23 newsroom employees through buyouts, more than 20% of staff. Among those departing are some of the paper’s best-known journalists, including sports columnist Rick Telander and film critic Richard Roeper.

Chicago Public Media, which also operates the city’s NPR station, acquired the Sun-Times (it was donated for free) in January 2022. It was hailed as an exciting venture that could be a model elsewhere. But even merging the two operations took longer than expected, and it undershot business targets.

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Opinion | Buyouts at the Sun-Times shrink the newsroom — and the dream

Big-name journalists are out as Chicago Public Media tightens its belt. The high-profile merger was supposed to be different.

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