Pioneer Press

This article is about the Illinois newspaper chain. For the Minnesota newspaper, see St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The Pioneer Press publishes 32 local newspapers in the metropolitan Chicago area. It is a division of the Chicago Tribune Media Group. Pioneer Press is based out of Chicago.

The community newspapers are the main source of local news in affluent communities like Winnetka, Highland Park and Lake Forest.

Unrest among staffers has marred Pioneer Press' reputation. In March 2002, a sportswriter covering Highland Park High School basketball learned his beat would switch to covering the village of Lake Bluff and the city of Lake Forest, effective immediately. It meant he would not be afforded the chance to cover the high school's first-ever trip to Illinois' boys basketball quarterfinals in Peoria. Angry with that and stung by several other actions by the newspaper, including the paper allowing Chicago Sun-Times publisher David Radler to overturn endorsement decisions made by staff, the sportswriter wrote an angry letter to then-Executive Editor Paul Sassone. The letter was distributed and the letter-writer was terminated.[1] Pioneer's lead editorials and political endorsements now "represent the view of the Sun-Times News Group of 100 papers in Metropolitan Chicago" rather than the voice of the community paper.

In August 2003, the company made headlines after longtime arts and entertainment editor Virginia Gerst ran a negative review of a restaurant that had previously advertised in the papers. Although the place had ceased to advertise before the time of the review, Gerst was reportedly reprimanded and told the papers were "not in the business of bashing business." She was given a puffed-up new review of the same restaurant to run, this time written by Kyle Leonard, a former restaurant reviewer and managing editor who had since moved to the newspaper's marketing department. Gerst refused to run the review and resigned, earning several ethics awards, among them the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism, as a result.[2]

In 2005, Hollinger merged the 80-year-old Lerner Newspapers chain into Pioneer Press, Pioneer's first real inroads into the city of Chicago. Despite announcements by Publisher Larry Green that Pioneer intended to "grow" the Lerner Papers, over the course of the next six months, Pioneer dumped the venerable Lerner name, shut down most of its editions and laid off most of its employees. Subsequently, the Sun-Times ceased production of Skyline, the Booster and News-Star, the remaining members of the Lerner group, eliminated the jobs, and sold the titles to Oak Park-based Wednesday Journal, Inc.[3] In 2014, the Pioneer Press newspapers were sold to the Chicago Tribune Media Group. [4]

The following is a listing of all Pioneer Press Chicago newspapers as of 2014:[5]

Barrington Courier-Review[6]
Buffalo Grove Countryside[7]
Deerfield Review [8]
The Doings Clarendon Hills[9]
The Doings Hinsdale[10]
The Doings La Grange[11]
The Doings Oak Brook[12]
The Doings Weekly[13]
The Doings Western Springs[14]
Elm Leaves[15]
Evanston Review[16]
Forest Leaves[17]
Franklin Park Herald Journal[18]
Glencoe News[19]
Glenview Announcements[20]
Highland Park News[21]
Lake Forester[22]
Lake Zurich Courier[23]
Libertyville Review[24]
Lincolnshire Review[25]
Lincolnwood Review[26]
Morton Grove Champion[27]
Mundelein Review[28]
Niles Herald-Spectator[29]
Norridge Harwood Heights News[30]
Northbrook Star[31]
Oak Leaves[32]
Park Ridge Herald Advocate[33]
Skokie Review[34]
Vernon Hills Review[35]
Wilmette Life[36]
Winnetka Talk[37]

Cultural references

We can see an article extract from a Pioneer Press newspaper in the video-game Portal 2. It's talking about an entrepreneur building a science laboratory in a salt mine, in Idaho.

References

  1. ↑ Radler Steals the Show, chireader.com. Retrieved on 3 January 2008.
  2. ↑ Pioneer Press Aims at Foot, Fires, chireader.com. Retrieved on 3 January 2008.
  3. ↑ Rosenthal, Phil (January 25, 2008). "Sun-Times stories end on the phone". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  4. ↑ Feder, Robert (October 31, 2014). "Tribune buys suburban newspapers from Sun-Times — and Sun-Times buys more time". RobertFeder.com. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Pioneer Local". Pioneerlocal.com. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  6. ↑ "Barrington Courier-Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  7. ↑ "Buffalo Grove Countryside". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  8. ↑ "Deerfield Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  9. ↑ "The Doings Clarendon Hills". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  10. ↑ "The Doings Hinsdale". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  11. ↑ "The Doings La Grange". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  12. ↑ "The Doings Oak Brook". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  13. ↑ "The Doings Weekly". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  14. ↑ "The Doings Western Springs". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  15. ↑ "Elm Leaves". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  16. ↑ "Evanston Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  17. ↑ "Forest Leaves". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  18. ↑ "Franklin Park Herald Journal". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  19. ↑ "Glencoe News". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  20. ↑ "Glenview Announcements". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  21. ↑ "Highland Park News". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  22. ↑ "Lake Forester". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  23. ↑ "Lake Zurich Courier". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  24. ↑ "Libertyville Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  25. ↑ "Lincolnshire Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  26. ↑ "Lincolnwood Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  27. ↑ "Morton Grove Champion". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  28. ↑ "Mundelein Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  29. ↑ "Niles Herald-Spectator". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  30. ↑ "Norridge Harwood Heights News". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  31. ↑ "Northbrook Star". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  32. ↑ "Oak Leaves". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  33. ↑ "Park Ridge Herald Advocate". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  34. ↑ "Skokie Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  35. ↑ "Vernon Hills Review". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  36. ↑ "Wilmette Life". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  37. ↑ "Winnetka Talk". Sun-Times Media Local. Retrieved 2014-07-21.

External links