Two years ago the Chicago Tribune Media Group tweaked the chain of command at its monthly magazine, Chicago. Editor Elizabeth Fenner wasn’t getting along with the magazine’s publisher, Richard Gamble, so it was determined that she would report instead to Gerry Kern, editor of the Tribune newspaper. But Kern didn’t make himself seen, one of the magazine’s writers says, and the change barely registered on the staff.
Homan’s appointment looks harmful in almost too many ways to count. It’s harmful to Dold, who rose to the Tribune‘s highest position and then was given this demeaning assignment. Ferro essentially handed him a bucket of water and told him to carry it.
Fenner’s dismissal was even harmful to a couple of Tribune business writers, Robbert Channick and Becky Yerak. Their long profile of Ferro was published online on Thursday, and I heard from colleagues who expected me to rip them for sucking up. But Channick and Yerak are good reporters, and I thought their piece was informative—it gave Ferro a chance to speak his mind and dream his dreams. Besides, how critical can we expect any newspaper’s profile of its owner to be? When Ferro controlled the Sun-Times I didn’t see that paper drop the hammer. He controlled the Reader too, and I got snarky occasionally but I didn’t drop it either.
“The author makes it sound like Ferro couldn’t pour p.ss out of boot if the instructions were printed on the heel,” one commenter wrote. “Ferro is one big gas bag,” another said. “I went to college with this loser.”
