Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune, formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", remains the principal daily newspaper of the midwestern United States and one of the ten largest daily newspapers in the nation.

History

Founded in 1847, the Tribune published its first edition on June 10, as a Know Nothing paper. It consisted mostly of columns that were xenophobic, with constant foreigner and Roman Catholic bashing. The xenophobia was toned down, but the paper began promoting temperance. Eight years later when "Long" John Wentworth entered his second term as mayor of Chicago, he sold The Chicago Democrat to Joseph Medill and five partners. Before and during the American Civil War, Joseph Medill pushed an abolitionist agenda and strongly supported Abraham Lincoln, whom he persuaded to run for the Presidency in 1860. The paper remained a strong force in Republican politics for years afterwards. Medill served as mayor of Chicago for one term after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Under the 20th century editorship of Colonel Robert R. McCormick the paper was strongly isolationist and actively biased in its coverage of political news and social trends, calling itself "The American Paper for Americans," excoriating the Democrats and the New Deal, resolutely disdainful of the British and French, and greatly enthusiastic for Chiang Kai-shek and Sen. Joseph McCarthy. McCormick died in 1955, just four days before Richard J. Daley was elected mayor for the first time.

One of the great scoops in Tribune history came when it obtained the text of the Treaty of Versailles in June of 1919. Another was its revelation of United States war plans on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The paper is also well known for a mistake it made during the 1948 presidential election. At that time, much of its composing room staff was on strike, and early returns led the paper to believe that the Republican candidate Thomas Dewey would win. An early edition of the next day's paper carried the headline "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN", turning the paper into a collector's item when it turned out that Harry S. Truman won and proudly brandished it in a famous photo.

The Tribune's legendary sports editor Arch Ward created the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 1933 as part of the city's Century of Progress exposition.

The Tribune's reputation for innovation extended to radio — it bought an early station, WDAP, in 1924 and renamed it WGN (AM), the station call letters standing for the paper's self-description as the "World's Greatest Newspaper." WGN Television was launched April 5, 1948. These broadcast stations remain Tribune properties to this day and are among the oldest newspaper/broadcasting cross-ownerships in the country. (Later, the Tribune's East Coast sibling, the New York Daily News, would establish WPIX television and radio.)

In 1969 under the leadership of Publisher Harold Grumhaus and editor Clayton Kirkpatrick, the Tribune's past conservative partisanship became history; though the paper continued its Republican and conservative perspective, the paper's news reporting no longer had the conservative slant it had in the McCormick years. The paper began to publish perspectives that represented a spectrum of diverse opinions, while its editorials presented the Tribune's own views.

In early 1974, in what was a major feat of journalism, the Tribune printed the complete 246,000-word text of the Watergate tapes in a 44-page supplement that hit the streets a mere 24 hours after the transcripts' release by the Nixon White House. Not only was the Tribune the first newspaper to publish the transcripts, but it beat the Government Printing Office's own printed version, and made headlines doing so.

A week later, after studying the transcripts, the paper's editorial board observed that "the high dedication to grand principles that Americans have a right to expect from a President is missing from the transcript record." The Tribune's editors concluded that "nobody of sound mind can read transcripts and continue to think that Mr. Nixon has upheld the standards and dignity of the Presidency." and called for Nixon's resignation. The Tribune call for Nixon to resign made news, reflecting not only the change in the type of conservativism practiced by the paper, but as a watershed event in terms of Nixon's hopes for survival in office. The White House reportedly saw the Tribune's editorial as a loss of a long-time supporter and as a blow to Nixon's hopes to weather the scandal.

Although under Colonel McCormick, the Tribune for years refused to participate in the Pulitzer Prize competition, it has won 24 of the awards over the years, including many for editorial writing.

Subsequently the Tribune has been a leader on the Internet, acquiring 10 percent of America Online in the early 1990's, then launching such Web sites as chicagotribune.com (1995), metromix.com (1996), and ChicagoSports.com (1999). In 2002 it launched a tabloid newspaper targeted at 18- to 34-year-olds known as RedEye.

Editorial policy

In a recent statement of principles published in the Tribune's print and online editions, the paper's editorial board described the newspaper's philosophy, from which is excerpted the following:

The Chicago Tribune believes in the traditional principles of limited government; maximum individual responsibility; minimum restriction of personal liberty, opportunity and enterprise. It believes in free markets, free will and freedom of expression. These principles are guidelines, not reflexive dogmas.

The Tribune brings a Midwestern sensibility to public debate. It is suspicious of untested ideas.

The Tribune places great emphasis on the integrity of government and the private institutions that play a significant role in society. The newspaper does this in the belief that the people cannot consent to be governed unless they have knowledge of, and faith in, the leaders and operations of government. The Tribune embraces the diversity of people and perspectives in its community. It is dedicated to the future of the Chicago region.

In 2004, the Tribune endorsed President Bush for re-election, a decision at odds with the paper's reporting but consistent with its unwaivering support for the Republican Party (it has not endorsed a Democrat for President since 1872, when it backed Horace Greeley). It has endorsed Democrats for lesser offices, including recent endorsements of Barack Obama for the Senate and Democrat Melissa Bean, who defeated Philip Crane, the House of Representatives' longest-serving Republican. The Tribune also reported on the scandals surrounding Illinois governor George Ryan (a Republican) during Ryan's previous term as Secretary of State.

The Tribune Company

The Chicago Tribune is the founding business unit of The Tribune Company, which includes many newspapers and television stations around the country. In Chicago, Tribune owns the WGN radio station (720 AM) and WGN-TV (Channel 9). The Tribune Company also owns the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Rumors swirled in 2005 that the Cubs will be sold. Comcast SportsNET CHICAGO with Chicago Tribune Live with host Dan Jiggetts debuted on October 1, 2004.

The Tribune Company owned The New York Daily News from its 1919 founding until its 1991 sale to Robert Maxwell. The founder of the News, Capt. Joseph Patterson and Col. McCormick, were both descendants of Medill. Both were also enthusiasts of simplified spelling, another hallmark of their papers for many years.

Since 1925, the Chicago Tribune has been housed in the Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue. The building is neo-Gothic in style, and the design was the winner of an international competition hosted by the Tribune.

Columnists

Past

Current
	Steve Chapman	Clarence Page	Dawn Turner Trice
	Ed Hinton	Phil Rosenthal	Don Wycliff
	John Kass	Mary Schmich	Eric Zorn
	Charlie Madigan	Mark Steyn

	Bob Greene	Mike Royko

References

External links

Chicago Tribune Tribune newspaper web site
Tribune Company Tribune corporate web site
Chicago Cubune Watch Monitors Tribune coverage of its own assets
Tribune Group Overview External corporate profile

Newspapers of Chicago | The Chicago Tribune | 1847 establishments | Tribune Company subsidiaries | Conservative newspapers

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