Chicago Reader employees protest outside home of Leonard C. Goodman.
The next time some rich guy offers to rescue your newspaper, run the other way.
That’s one of the lessons from the fiasco that nearly destroyed the Chicago Reader after 50 years as the city’s premier alternative publication. It also could have cost the jobs of 35 employees.
On Tuesday Leonard C. Goodman finally ended a monthslong fight over a column he wrote questioning whether children should be vaccinated for COVID-19. In resigning from the board of the Reader (along with three like-minded members), he allowed the paper to move to nonprofit status — its only path to survival.
“We are now at the end of the road,” Goodman said in a statement. “We cannot continue the fight without destroying the Reader. I am stepping aside. I will sign off on the sale so that the Reader can transition immediately to NFP [not-for-profit] status. I wish it every success. It was an honor to be part of the Chicago Reader.”
• Get the full report, and more Chicago media news, at robertfeder.com.
