HOW DOES IT FEEL IN CHICAGO AFTER A DAY WITHOUT A PRINTED NEWSPAPER?

Not to rehash cruel times, but I told the Sun-Times years ago that it wouldn’t survive as a print-first operation — and after a power outage killed all papers, America's third-largest city had no ink

     My anniversary is approaching, minus a cake or streamers. I informed the Chicago Sun-Times, which couldn’t post our stories online from the Summer Olympics without multiple-hour delays, that it couldn’t function as a print-first operation. Otherwise, the newspaper would die.

     That’s when I resigned and handed back about a million dollars in guarantees, at the time a bigger financial deal than today. The editor-in-chief, a crappy Englishman, called me an evil cretin. He had his movie critic, Roger Ebert, describe me as a “rat” in a front-page column. I didn’t want to waste my life working at a hellhole, knowing I couldn’t wait eight and nine hours — or longer — for immediate content from Beijing or Bridgeport.

     Now, it’s beyond a hellhole.

     Tuesday was the first time, in anyone’s memory at the Sun-Times, when a newspaper wasn’t printed or delivered. No longer functioning with a digital paywall, the editors pondered not making a dime from a traditional product. Readers didn’t have a paper on their doorsteps, at the drug store, on the train or at the airport. A continuing lack of revenue means no employee will be paid, and, as I said, the paper will die.

     The Sun-Times does not own a printing press. It relies on a so-called competitor, the Chicago Tribune, to publish papers after the Tribune purchased a press from a suburban paper, the Daily Herald. When storms knocked out power, the Tribune couldn’t publish its own papers and said no to the Sun-Times and the Daily Herald. In history, or infamy, we’ll remember the day — July 16, 2024 — as the first time people in a massive market could not buy a modern print paper.

     Readers were forced to go online, or find something else, which is why I told the crappy Englishman that he had nothing to sell if he didn’t massively upgrade the digital site. Assuming the press is fixed, papers from Tuesday and Wednesday will be delivered in the next run. The Tribune is owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which the Sun-Times refers to as a “vendor.” In truth, people in New York who own the press will determine the future of Chicago renters, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

     No wonder a letter to readers described the situation as “unexpected.” Don’t be stunned, in a new world, if expectations keep changing in shocking ways.

     This is a rotten time to let down subscribers. The Republican National Convention is 90 miles from Chicago in Milwaukee, where Donald Trump carries a presumed lead in the presidential election race. The Democrats arrive in Chicago next month. As it is, print papers suffered Saturday during Trump’s attempted assassination. The days of weekend print coverage are all but gone at most papers, even for major developments. The San Francisco Chronicle had nothing, with editor-in-chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz telling Poynter, “Our print deadline is Friday night. We got zippo.” The Tampa Bay Times had a 4:49 p.m. deadline, an hour and 25 minutes before the shooting. The McClatchy chain shifted to postal service delivery in Saturday’s mail for the Sunday edition.

     So, as I told the Sun-Times years ago, digital is king. The bosses, from one set to another, ignored me in the 2010s and have lost almost all the print circulation. Wrote executive editor Jennifer Kho, who arrived two years ago: “We’re disappointed that this happened, and I want to apologize to you, our readers. Whether you get the newspaper delivered or pick it up on the newsstands, we know you count on getting the newspaper every morning — and we pride ourselves on being there for you daily.”

     She added: “This is the first time the newsroom can remember the newspaper not being printed and delivered on the intended day.”

     Either buy a printing press, difficult for a nonprofit publication supported by donors. Or go out of business in Chicago, which is what I did, sadly and thankfully.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.