The Chicago Reader, the city’s storied alternative weekly newspaper, may be on the brink of extinction again. Driven by an “urgent need to reduce costs” and the “imminent risk of closure” amid financial challenges, the Reader announced the immediate layoffs of six non-union employees, organizational restructuring and the resignation of CEO Solomon Lieberman in a news release this week. The half-century old publication, which converted with great optimism to a nonprofit nearly three years ago, has continued to struggle under the new business model, falling short of its ambitious fundraising goals and sinking deeper into the red. Operating on an upwardly revised but “razor-thin” $4.75 million budget, the Reader lost close to a half-million dollars last year, according to Ellen Kaulig, the newspaper’s recently installed chief of staff. “We are out of reserves, and so what we have done are the drastic cuts necessary for survival,” Kaulig said Thursday. The Reader, which resumed weekly print publication last summer after scaling back to biweekly for several years, still delivers 60,000 free, advertising-supported newspapers across the city every Thursday, leaning into coverage of the local arts scene as its core mission. It also offers a 24/7 digital product heavy with concert and theater reviews, with a smattering of long-form journalism that was once its bread and butter. After Tuesday’s announced layoffs, the Reader has 34 employees, including 20 union journalists.

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BING NEWS:
  • Chicago Reader announces layoffs and CEO exit as alternative weekly struggles to survive
    Driven by an “urgent need to reduce costs” and the “imminent risk of closure” amid financial challenges, the Reader announced the immediate layoffs of six non-union employees, organizational ...
    01/16/2025 - 10:00 pm | View Link
  • Chicago Reader at ‘imminent risk of closure,’ announces layoffs
    Six non-union staff members were laid off, the Reader’s publisher, Reader Institute for Community Journalism, announced Tuesday.
    01/16/2025 - 1:42 am | View Link
  • Chicago Reader, facing 'imminent risk of closure,' undergoes layoffs
    The alt-news weekly also announced that Solomon Lieberman, who was replaced as publisher in November after serving in the post less than two years, has submitted his resignation.
    01/15/2025 - 10:35 am | View Link
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