Tracy Baim named new publisher of Chicago Reader

SHARE Tracy Baim named new publisher of Chicago Reader
img_0627_e1536884676663.jpg

Sun-Times file photo

Tracy Baim, publisher of Windy City Times, has been named the new publisher of the Chicago Reader.

Baim will step away from her duties at the Times, which she co-founded in 1985, to take over at the Reader in October, she said Thursday. A relaunch of the alternative weekly’s brand is expected to follow.

“As a native Chicagoan who grew up with the Reader, I’m really excited about this new opportunity,” Baim said.

Tracy Baim is the new Publisher of The Chicago Reader. | Provided

Tracy Baim is the new Publisher of The Chicago Reader. | Provided

The Chicago Sun-Times’ announced a partnership in June with a private investment group that includes Chicago Crusader newspaper publisher Dorothy Leavell in order to ensure the famed alt-weekly’s long-term survival.

“The Chicago Sun-Times worked hard to save the Chicago Reader these past 14 months,” Sun-Times CEO Edwin Eisendrath said in a statement. “This deal is good for the Reader, good for the Sun-Times, and good for Chicago.”

The Reader’s staff, which shares office space with the Sun-Times in the West Loop, will move to the Bronzeville neighborhood, according to Baim.

Baim said that she hopes to boost the Reader’s coverage with “limited staffing enhancements,” partnerships with local media organizations and by recruiting more freelancers. An editor-in-chief for the paper could be named as early as next week, she said.

“We’re going to be listening a lot to our readers, to the communities and to the staff for their vision,” Baim said of the paper’s future direction. “Mostly it’s about enhancement.

“Our core mission and what we cover is not going to change,” she added.


The Latest
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”
That the Bears can just diesel their way in, Bronko Nagurski-style, and attempt to set a sweeping agenda for the future of one of the world’s most iconic water frontages is more than a bit troubling.