“We are excited about what lies ahead for this unique model of nonprofit news and raising the bar for supporting, preserving, and strengthening local journalism,” said Nykia Wright, the CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times. “We hope to grow our community of members and donors who will invest in journalism from both WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times so we can expand our service and deepen our impact for the public good in Chicago.” “People are willing to support news they value and trust,” said Moog. WBEZ will continue to rely on funding from the community to sustain its day-to-day news operations, just as the Chicago Sun-Times will shift to a community-funded model. For example, WBEZ is more than 60 percent listener-supported, with nearly 90,000 members making mostly modest, affordable individual donations to support WBEZ’s programming and journalism. Together we have created a model for sustaining local journalism which we know is vital,” said Sacks.Ĭommunity support, through both individual memberships and philanthropy, is essential for sustaining local journalism and has long been a cornerstone of public media. I would like to thank Chicago Public Media, all those who got behind this vision with their support going forward, and the Sun-Times team including all current and prior investors for making this possible. “I am proud to have played a part in securing the future of the Chicago Sun-Times and honoring its great legacy. We aim to connect Chicagoans more deeply to each other, to their communities, and to the issues and solutions that shape their lives.” “With their support, our talented team will tell the stories that matter and serve more people than ever before with human-centered, solutions-oriented journalism. “The response from the philanthropic community has been tremendous, and we are deeply indebted to this community of donors leading the way to invest in and protect journalism in Chicago,” said Matt Moog, CEO of Chicago Public Media. Knight Foundation Mansueto Foundation Robin Steans and Leonard Gail, and an anonymous donor. New donors announced as part of the closing include Builders Initiative Chicago Community Trust Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation Joyce Foundation John S. MacArthur Foundation and the Pritzker Traubert Foundation. Chicago Public Media will continue to raise funding from individual members, major donors, and corporate sponsors to provide long-term, sustainable funding for the Sun-Times.įounding donors for this effort who have previously been announced include Sun-Times’ investor Michael Sacks, who helped secure the acquisition agreement and who has also committed significant future financial support the John D. These dollars will be directed toward investments in the Chicago Sun-Times to deepen and broaden its journalism, maintain the print newspaper, invest in a digital transformation, and support collaborations. The funding is comprised of multi-year commitments mostly pledged over a five-year period. This creates one of the largest nonprofit news organizations in the country and the organization will reach more than 2 million Chicagoans a week.Ĭhicago Public Media also announced that it has raised $61 million in philanthropic support for this transformational opportunity for Chicago from national and local foundations and individual donors who share a belief in journalism’s critical role in informing the public, strengthening local communities, and safeguarding democracy. But Foxx hasn’t forgotten the unrelenting scrutiny the case inspired, devoting a significant portion of her announcement Tuesday to mockingly rebuffing it as a “class 4 nonviolent felony for a crime he committed on himself” and comparing the case to weightier issues that prosecutors handled during her tenure.CHICAGO (January 31, 2022) – Chicago Public Media announced today that the Chicago Sun-Times is now a nonprofit, as a subsidiary of Chicago Public Media – marking the beginning of a landmark partnership between two storied news brands, the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ Chicago, to grow and strengthen local journalism in Chicago. Smollett is appealing his 2022 conviction for lying to police and was released from the Cook County jail in March as that effort continues.Īmid the backlash, Foxx still handily won reelection in 2020 as the area’s top prosecutor, overcoming a well-financed primary challenge on the way to a second term. At the time, Smollett was a popular cast member of the hit show “Empire.” Foxx’s office first prosecuted Smollett before dropping the charges weeks later, and a review later found that Foxx and others in her office made multiple false statements about the case. Smollett, who is Black and gay, claimed in January 2019 that he had been attacked by two men shouting racial and homophobic slurs. Her handling of the case against Smollett triggered the harshest criticism of Foxx’s tenure.
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