{"id":14641,"date":"2017-06-19T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T21:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=14641"},"modified":"2017-06-19T16:06:49","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T21:06:49","slug":"exclusive-eisendrath-wants-sun-times-serve-99-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/06\/19\/exclusive-eisendrath-wants-sun-times-serve-99-percent\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Eisendrath wants Sun-Times to serve \u2018the 99 percent\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Edwin Eisendrath<\/p><\/div>\n

Armed with $15 million from an investment group that includes organized labor and about a dozen well-heeled individuals, Edwin Eisendrath made a stronger than expected bid for the Chicago Sun-Times<\/a> and the Chicago Reader<\/a> Monday to secure what he sees as a progressive voice for working men and women.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly coming out of Chicago could we put together something that\u2019s progressive but not elite,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cGreat journalism in a great democracy means that the 99 percent should recognize themselves in what gets written.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first public comments since he was reported<\/a> to be a potential bidder, Eisendrath said he began looking into buying the Sun-Times late last year, but he chose not to pursue it until Chicago Tribune owner tronc signed a letter of intent<\/a> in May to acquire Wrapports Holdings LLC, parent company of the daily Sun-Times and alternative weekly Reader.<\/p>\n

Hoping to preserve competitive ownership in a two-newspaper town, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division encouraged Wrapports to solicit other bidders. That\u2019s when Eisendrath renewed his interest and moved into high gear. The Chicago Federation of Labor became his first and most committed backer.<\/p>\n

To Eisendrath, it was a natural fit to align with the umbrella organization for about 320 unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO in Cook County. \u201cI went to them and said you have all these members whose lives matter, who went through an awful lot when the economy collapsed, and whose stories have not really been told,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CFL is 500,000 members in the metro area. They will begin the community organizing work of saying to people: \u2018Why buy Glenview telling Winnetka what to think when there\u2019s a voice that\u2019s more recognizably ours in the Sun-Times?\u2019 It will do the alliance building that organized labor is very, very good at for the newspaper, while we begin the transition to a different set of media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisendrath declined to name other investors in his group because some of them did not want to be identified publicly until Wrapports agrees to move forward with their bid.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chicago Sun-Times<\/p><\/div>\n

A native Chicagoan with a Harvard education, Eisendrath, 59, represented the 43rd Ward in the Chicago City Council from 1987 to 1993. As a 32-year-old rookie alderman, he unsuccessfully challenged Sidney Yates, the venerated Democratic congressman from the North Side. Years later he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor against incumbent Rod Blagojevich. In between he headed the Chicago regional office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He\u2019s now managing partner of StrateSphere Global Initiatives, an international consulting firm.<\/p>\n

Eisendrath's business plan for the Sun-Times still has a few details to work out, but it appears to have the most important element in place: money. Would-be bidders were required to have minimum capitalization of $11.2 million. The fact that Eisendrath stepped up with $15 million Monday can only strengthen his hand as the Justice Department and Wrapports evaluate his proposal.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not known how much Wrapports will be paid and how much will be retained to operate and invest in the company (which still may be saddled with an onerous printing and distribution contract with tronc). Eisendrath agrees with respected media analyst Ken Doctor, who wrote: <\/a>\u201cWhat's a money-losing property, owning no hard assets like buildings like the Sun-Times worth? Figure a dollar.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key to Eisendrath\u2019s bid is the simultaneous acquisition of Answers Media,<\/a> a film and video, design, animation and digital production center located at 30 North Racine Avenue in Chicago\u2019s West Loop. Equipped with state-of-the-art digital media capability, it will serve as the new headquarters of the Sun-Times when the newspaper\u2019s lease expires at 350 North Orleans Street in November. Jeff Bohnson, founder and CEO of Answers Media, is believed to be getting equity in the new company.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Day One, we\u2019ll have all the equipment we need to make this digital transition, and we will save $1 million a year in rent,\u201d Eisendrath said. \u201cNot only do we come with the money, but we come with an answer to their enormously pressing problem of what happens when their lease is up. The whole deal goes together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisendrath hasn\u2019t decided on a role for himself in the new company, although he didn\u2019t rule out serving as chief executive officer on an interim basis. \u201cHow this ultimately needs to be structured is not completely clear,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I\u2019m committed to is making sure the best talent gets where they need to be. I know what I\u2019m good at and I know what I\u2019m not good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s motivating Eisendrath to take on a challenge that many others believe to be hopeless? Here\u2019s what he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can run a really first-rate, good business. I want to be clear about that. But some of this was generated for me personally in the post-election trauma. When you look at where most Americans are on issue after issue \u2014 whether it\u2019s health care or gay rights \u2014 most of us are in the same place. But people are so angry at the leadership that they tune it out. That\u2019s a weird dynamic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start to heal if we go back to what Americans do best and stop paying attention to the celebrities and start paying a little more attention to ourselves and tell the news of our lives. Real news of our<\/em> lives \u2014 not the news of somebody else\u2019s. I don\u2019t mind telling celebrity stories, but they have to matter to us in some way. If we do that, it\u2019s not only good business, but it\u2019s healing for the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, news is about community. It goes back to community [gathering around] fire in front of the cave. Fox News built a community of people around a shared view of the news. That\u2019s not a view that resonates with me, but I think there is a community of people that are a little bit progressive but don\u2019t like or want the elite part. Nothing that comes out of the East Coast of the United States is ever going to pass the test of non-elite. I do love the Washington Post. I do love the New York Times. But they are<\/em> elite. They\u2019re proud of that. But that\u2019s not where we want to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to do great journalism. It\u2019s not going to be completely unrecognizable. I think the Sun-Times actually does a lot of this today. Now we have to use these platforms and we have to be clear about who we are. I think Chicago is the right place to start to tell the heartland story of America in a way that\u2019s everything we are. And we don\u2019t have to have the resentment and the anger that\u2019s out there because we\u2019re going to be talking about what we\u2019re actually thinking about, which is us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know why we\u2019re doing it. We know who we are. And that \u2018we\u2019 is a big \u2018we.\u2019 That \u2018we\u2019 is 99 percent of everybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve told everybody: An enormous amount of humility is required to be successful now in the news business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armed with $15 million from an investment group that includes organized labor and about a dozen well-heeled individuals, Edwin Eisendrath made a stronger than expected bid for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader Monday to secure what he sees as a progressive voice for working men and women. \u201cOnly coming out of Chicago could... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/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\/14641"}],"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=14641"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14649,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14641\/revisions\/14649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}