Thirty employees of the Chicago Sun-Times — around one in five on its payroll — have agreed to resign under buyout terms the paper’s nonprofit ownership offered in hopes of stanching persistent financial deficits.
The departures consist mostly of writers and editors — many with decades of experience. The cuts are the most drastic the oft-imperiled Sun-Times has faced in several years and will bring about recognizable changes to its content, although top leaders said the buyouts ensure there will be no layoffs in the near future.
Those leaving include most of the paper’s editorial board. Editorial Page Editor Lorraine Forte and board members Tom Frisbie and Marlen Garcia are leaving, causing staff speculation that the Sun-Times will no longer post editorials reflecting management’s views of various issues. Company leadership would not confirm that plan. If implemented, it would be a major break with newspaper tradition.
Sports columnists Rick Morrissey and Rick Telander accepted buyouts. Their work typically has led the daily sports coverage, a traditional stronghold for a tabloid and a huge source of digital readership. Bears beat writer Mark Potash and White Sox beat writer Daryl Van Schouwen will also be departing. Separately, Annie Costabile, who has deepened coverage of women’s sports, has resigned.
Other departures also include advice columnist Ismael Perez and Assistant Features Editor Darel Jevens.
Those listed in this story confirmed their departures either in interviews or social media posts. Other prominent staffers are expected to make their own announcements. Tuesday was the deadline for the company to tell people if their buyout offer was accepted.
Chicago Public Media, owner of the Sun-Times and public radio station WBEZ, opened the buyouts in late January to deal with a fiscal cliff: an expected expiration of grant support at the end of 2026.
The company’s count of employees taking the buyout breaks down as follows: 35 Chicago Public Media workers are leaving, 30 of them with the Sun-Times and five working with WBEZ.
Of the Sun-Times’ cuts, 23 are within the newsroom. The Sun-Times’ current editorial staff is around 107, counting union and nonunion personnel.
The operations of the Sun-Times and WBEZ were combined in 2022, netting $61 million from foundations and individuals. The money was intended to stabilize operations for five years while revenue strategies took shape. An advisor in the deal called it a “marriage with a dowry.” And media analysts said it was a fresh attempt to nurture local journalism. The idea was to unite WBEZ’s fundraising prowess with the Sun-Times’ far larger audience.
Melissa Bell, CEO of Chicago Public Media, said in an interview Tuesday that the Sun-Times — reliant on memberships, print subscriptions and advertising income — has yet to see enough money from everyday donors to offset losses. In 2022, the paper eliminated its online paywall in hopes of boosting audience and encouraging contributions to ensure its coverage remained free for all readers.
Bell, who co-founded the explanatory journalism site Vox.com, became CEO this past September and after a few months, began discussing the need for cutbacks.
Bell confirmed the number of people leaving but declined to say who they are. She said the exits will save the company $4.2 million annually, a target that satisfies its board. She said that no layoffs are planned.
She had warned employees that layoffs were possible if not enough staffers grabbed for the buyout, in which companies offer extra benefits for those who volunteer to step aside. In the Sun-Times’ case, workers were offered up to 24 weeks of severance and a bonus of up to $12,500, depending on seniority.
“I feel very grateful that we’ve been able to hit our target,” she said. “We need to ensure independent public journalism for the city, and I believe we can do it.”
Bell would not discuss specific content changes at the Sun-Times.
“We need to reflect this week and then make decisions about how we move forward,” she said. Asked about the resignations of editorial writers and sports columnists, Bell said, “Strong analysis and opinion has always been a part of the Sun-Times. We still very much believe in those two missions.”
But her manner and tactics have drawn criticism from employees in a workforce that is heavily unionized. Sun-Times newsroom staffers, members of the Chicago News Guild, criticized Bell for pressing for buyouts while ignoring a management structure they view as top-heavy.
Bell has said in employee meetings that certain Chicago Public Media managers will get raises this year, although she said some empty C-suite positions will go unfilled. She said raises for employees at various levels will help the company move toward long-term objectives.
Nader Issa, co-chair of the News Guild’s bargaining unit at the Sun-Times, said employees have concerns about revenue strategies. “We’ve certainly been disturbed by the amount of cuts,” he said, calling the buyouts “a dramatic downsizing.”
Mitch Armentrout, also a unit co-chair, said, “A lot of folks feel like the powers that be don’t have full familiarity with the Sun-Times and what it offers.” Issa and Armentrout are Sun-Times reporters and did not take the buyout.
Monday, they led more than 40 union members, including WBEZ workers who belong to SAG-AFTRA, in a protest at the company’s Navy Pier offices. They lined up outside a Chicago Public Media board meeting with signs protesting the cutbacks.
“The message was you’ve already cut enough and we’re now losing long-valued, beloved colleagues. We’re sort of done losing people,” Issa said. Last year, the WBEZ newsroom sustained significant layoffs.
In a whirlwind of departures, most are expected to leave their jobs Friday. Some have been asked to continue working until May 15 or later to help with the transition.
Through several close calls over many years, the Sun-Times has endured numerous staff cuts. But with more stable and public-spirited ownership — first from private investors and then the 2022 conversion to nonprofit status — staff counts have slowly ticked upward.
The new round of buyouts, however, are the steepest reductions the paper has faced since 2013-2014, a period that included the one-day purging of 28 staff photographers, almost the entire staff, of the Sun-Times and suburban papers it formerly owned. The mass sacking made national news.
Getting far less attention was a union-led legal fight that led to some photographers being rehired. But in 2014, the Sun-Times made a buyout offer that caused many senior staff members to depart.
In the current crop of buyouts, news editing at the Sun-Times saw experienced staffers opt to leave. Assistant Breaking News Editor Scott Fornek, Public Safety and Justice Editor Dan Haar and Deputy Editor, Politics and Government John O’Neill, all involved in assignments and editing of copy, said they are among those exiting the paper.