"A Love Letter to Chicago Journalism"
The Chicago Reader is counting on the gratitude and generosity of local journalists to help jump-start its latest fundraising effort.
The independently-owned alternative weekly will host a 12-hour telethon August 23 during which journalists will be invited to pay tribute to those who inspired their work and careers. The salutes will come in the form of written testimonials to be read by the hosts or delivered by the journalists themselves live on the program.
Billed as “A Love Letter to Chicago Journalism,” the event will be streamed on the Reader’s website and on Facebook Live, starting at 7 a.m.
The telethon will coincide with the launch of a monthly donor model in which supporters will be asked to contribute five dollars a month or more to secure the Reader's future. About 2,500 people made one-time donations last year after a local investment group bought the Reader from Sun-Times Media.
Tracy Baim
Tracy Baim, publisher of the Reader, said the idea for the “Love Letter” came to her as she was thinking of “the great work of Reader writers past and present" and their part in the larger history of Chicago journalism.
"I remember going to parties as a kid with my folks [the late Joy Darrow and Steve Pratt] and meeting some of the legends of Chicago journalism, including Bernie Judge and my stepdad Steve’s good friend Jon Van, plus many early women pioneers such as Michael Sneed and Sheila Wolfe," Baim told me. "I think a lot about those legends, and how they inspired not just me but generations of journalists. We’re all in this together now, and I wanted to show that by honoring others doing this work now—and those from the past. Legends I personally am going to pay tribute to are Ida B. Wells, Leanita McClain, Lois Wylie and Georgie Anne Geyer, but also so many more."
Hosts of the telethon will include Baim, Reader columnist and podcaster Ben Joravsky, and vice president of sales Amy Matheny. Producer will be social media editor Brianna Wellen.
Wednesday’s comment of the day: Kenneth C. McReynolds: Ryan Baker is a very talented young man. He has been outstanding doing the morning news this week.