{"id":13242,"date":"2017-01-24T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13242"},"modified":"2017-01-24T16:31:44","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T22:31:44","slug":"mark-konkol-leaves-dnainfo-see-comes-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/01\/24\/mark-konkol-leaves-dnainfo-see-comes-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Konkol leaves DNAinfo to \u2018see what comes next\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mark<\/a>

<\/a> Mark Konkol (Photo: WTTW\/Chicago Tonight)<\/p><\/div>\n

Mark Konkol, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who helped put DNAinfo Chicago<\/a> on the map, has parted ways with the hyperlocal digital news operation.<\/p>\n

Konkol said Monday he was grateful for his four-year run as the website\u2019s star columnist, but was ready for new challenges \u2014 including an upcoming cable documentary series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an unforgettable, life-changing experience to be part of the DNAinfo team that launched an exciting digital startup news organization that became a must read and scored a Lisagor Award for 'best news website' in this competitive news town,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of the work I've done at DNAinfo, and all the great reporters who I've had the chance to collaborate with to produce important stories about Chicago. It was a tough decision to leave DNAinfo, but right now it\u2019s the right one for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His last post,<\/a> a column about Mary Wisniewski\u2019s biography of the late Chicago writer Nelson Algren, appeared on December 15.<\/p>\n

Shamus Toomey, managing editor of DNAinfo Chicago, confirmed Konkol\u2019s amicable departure. \"Mark played a huge role in getting DNAinfo Chicago off the ground and keeping us rising,\u201d he said. \u201cIt's been an honor working with him and we\u00a0wish him all the best.\"<\/p>\n

No word on whether Konkol will be replaced.<\/p>\n

Although his prominently featured column, \u201cMy Chicago,\u201d focused on Chicago\u2019s neighborhoods and personalities, Konkol spent much of last year living in Brooklyn, where he worked as senior producer and writer of a documentary series about a 16-year-old student who spent three years at Rikers Island Prison without ever being convicted of a crime.<\/p>\n

The six-part series, \u201cTime: The Kalief Browder Story,\u201d<\/a> executive produced by Jay Z and Harvey Weinstein, will have its debut Wednesday at Sundance Film Festival. It\u2019s expected to air in March on Spike <\/a>cable network.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to work on the series was too good to pass up,\u201d Konkol said. \u201cIt was exciting work and I learned a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2014 Konkol served as producer, writer and narrator of \u201cChicagoland,\u201d a\u00a0controversial<\/a> eight-part documentary\/reality series on CNN.<\/p>\n

Now that he has returned full-time to Chicago, Konkol said he plans to \u201cconsider some new career opportunities,\u201d adding: \u201cI still love writing about Chicago. So you will probably see my byline again. Still, I've decided that it's time for me to shift gears a bit and see what comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Konkol joined DNAinfo at its inception in 2012 after eight years at the Sun-Times,<\/a> where he shared the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in 2011 with Frank Main and John J. Kim for a series on violence in Chicago neighborhoods. His hiring was considered a coup by DNAinfo, signifying its plans to compete for news seriously and aggressively.<\/p>\n

A native of Chicago\u2019s south suburbs and graduate of Thornwood High School and Western Illinois University, Konkol previously wrote for the Star Newspapers and covered City Hall for the Daily Southtown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Konkol, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who helped put DNAinfo Chicago on the map, has parted ways with the hyperlocal digital news operation. Konkol said Monday he was grateful for his four-year run as the website\u2019s star columnist, but was ready for new challenges \u2014 including an upcoming cable documentary series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13242"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13258,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13242\/revisions\/13258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}