Rich Miller
Rich Miller, the Illinois political reporter, editor, blogger and pundit whose Capitol Fax newsletter has been a must-read among power brokers for more than 20 years, is joining Crain’s Chicago Business as a contributing columnist.
Starting Friday, Miller’s column will appear twice monthly on chicagobusiness.com and eventually will be seen in Crain’s weekly print publication as well.
The move marks a return to Chicago media for Miller, 51, whose eight-year run as a free-lance columnist for the Sun-Times ended in January.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my years writing for the Sun-Times and I'm looking forward to a new challenge with Crain’s,” Miller said Thursday. [Crain’s political columnist] Greg Hinz has been a good friend for a very long time, and his encouragement convinced me that I should embrace this change. So far, I've totally enjoyed dealing with the management, and I'm looking forward to the publication of my inaugural column.”
Miller’s crossing coincides with major initiatives at both Crain’s and the Sun-Times to boost coverage of government, politics and public affairs. As reported here earlier, the Sun-Times is about to marshal all of its political and government content in a new digital platform, sponsored by Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications.
Crain’s also is expanding its political coverage with the addition of personnel and resources under recently named government and politics editor Tom Corfman.
“This is a very competitive beat, and we understand that we are going into this fight as the challenger,” Corfman said. “While we have some strengths in terms of our business reporting that we bring to this, we see that we are facing a big challenge in coverage of government and politics. We are the underdog, but we think the opportunity for us to expand our relationship with our existing readers is really compelling.”
When Miller became available, Corfman and his colleagues at Crain’s didn’t have to think twice. “We looked at each other and said yes right away,” he said. “We’re really grateful for the opportunity.”
Corfman said he has come to appreciate Miller as more than just a savvy political analyst. “I’m impressed with the job he does as a businessman, as someone who has navigated the challenging times that we face. He’s very thoughtful about it, as evidenced by his success.”
In addition to his work for Crain’s, Miller will continue to write his daily blog, his premium subscription newsletter and the syndicated newspaper column he distributes free throughout the state.