{"id":20173,"date":"2018-12-13T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=20173"},"modified":"2018-12-13T09:59:06","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T15:59:06","slug":"robservations-npr-reports-tribune-payment-ferros-slur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2018\/12\/13\/robservations-npr-reports-tribune-payment-ferros-slur\/","title":{"rendered":"Robservations: NPR reports Tribune payment over Ferro\u2019s slur"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a> Michael Ferro (Photo: Christopher Michel)<\/p><\/div>\n

Robservations on the media beat:<\/p>\n

As if it were possible to think any less of Michael Ferro,<\/strong> a bombshell report<\/a> Wednesday claimed the former chairman of Tribune Publishing<\/a> was heard making an anti-Semitic slur to a gathering of company executives. NPR <\/a>reported that Ferro was caught on tape referring to California billionaire Eli Broad<\/strong> as part of a \u201cJewish cabal\u201d that ran Los Angeles. NPR\u2019s David Folkenflik<\/strong> reported that Tribune Publishing made secret payments of more than $2.5 million to keep a former publisher and editor of the Los Angeles Times from disclosing Ferro\u2019s comments. Recent financial reports show Ferro's infamous $15 million \u201cconsulting fee\u201d<\/a> on his way out was reduced by $2.5 million to $12.5 million in the second quarter this year, according to NPR. Ferro resigned as chairman in March, hours before sexual harassment accusations<\/a> against him were published. But he remains the largest shareholder of the Chicago Tribune\u2019s parent company (which he\u2019d earlier stuck with the hideous name tronc<\/a>). A spokesman for Ferro denied he made the slur. Tribune Publishing declined to comment.<\/p>\n

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Jennifer Schulze<\/p><\/div>\n

Once Edwin Eisendrath<\/strong> exited<\/a> as chief executive officer of the Chicago Sun-Times,<\/a> it was only a matter of time before his wife, Jennifer Schulze,<\/strong> left the company too. On Wednesday, Schulze departed as\u00a0executive producer \u2013 new media. \u201cI am forever grateful for the opportunity to help create interesting new content for the Sun-Times,\u201d she tweeted,<\/a> citing shows she produced on city neighborhoods, high school sports, food and cannabis. Carol Fowler,<\/strong> the digital news exec who hired Schulze, saw her position eliminated<\/a> last week. Both Schulze and Fowler are former Chicago television news directors. No comment on Schulze from the Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Charles Thomas<\/p><\/div>\n

Charles Thomas,<\/strong> former political reporter at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7,<\/a> has joined the Chicago mayoral campaign of Amara Enyia<\/strong> as senior adviser. \u201cUnlike most of the other contenders, she is truly the independent, \u2018change\u2019 candidate,\u201d Thomas said of Enyia. \u201cShe has a base of millennials \u2014 inspired by Chance the Rapper's<\/strong> endorsement \u2014 that is adding Chicagoans of all ages including \u2018graybeards\u2019 like myself. I see this campaign as a beachhead for the next generation of this city's political leadership, and I am excited to be involved.\u201d Thomas, who retired from ABC 7 after 25 years in 2017, most recently co-hosted Maze Jackson\u2019s<\/strong> morning show on WVON 1690-AM,<\/a> the Midway Broadcasting African-American news\/talk station.<\/p>\n

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Phil Ponce<\/p><\/div>\n

Phil Ponce,<\/strong> host of WTTW-Channel 11\u2019s \u201cChicago Tonight,\u201d<\/a> has been named a visiting lecturer at Loyola University\u2019s School of Communication.<\/a> He'll conduct a series of lectures and workshops on interviewing. Calling Ponce \u201ca highly respected journalist and a great colleague,\u201d John Slania,<\/strong> acting dean of the School of Communication, said in a statement: \u201cHe brings a new degree of sophistication and energy to our program. He has deep knowledge and experience, and our students will benefit from his lectures.\u201d Ponce will continue two days a week with the nightly news program he has hosted since 1999 on the Window to the World Communications public television station.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u201cWait, Wait . . . Don\u2019t Tell Me!\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWait, Wait . . . Don\u2019t Tell Me!\u201d<\/a> as a TV series? The popular NPR news-quiz show, produced by Chicago Public Media WBEZ 91.5-FM, is being developed as a series by NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment\u2019s Wilshire Studios, according to Deadline.<\/a> The weekly radio series is hosted by Peter Sagal<\/strong> (with Bill Kurtis<\/strong> as judge and scorekeeper), but no host or production schedule has been announced for the TV adaptation. Michael\u00a0Lutzky,<\/strong> vice president of business development for NPR, said in a statement: \u201cWe are thrilled that one of the longest-running and most listened to radio and podcast franchises in history will now entertain television audiences with a fresh and fun look at the week\u2019s news.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Crain's Chicago Business<\/p><\/div>\n

Crain's Chicago Business<\/a> is converting its twice-weekly newsletter on health care to its first paid-subscription newsletter offering. (Here is the link.<\/a>) Starting January 7, Health Pulse Chicago<\/a> will be delivered Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, \u201coffering subscribers a more robust \u2014 and more frequent \u2014 dose of inside news and data, including developments that could change the competitive landscape.\u201d Jim Kirk,<\/strong> publisher and executive editor of Crain\u2019s Chicago Business, said in a statement: \"We understand how busy health care professionals are today. And the need to stay on top of the latest news and information in this growing industry has never been greater. . . . Powered by the great reporting from Crain's, Health Pulse is the definitive word on the health care industry in Chicago, and we couldn't be more excited about this launch.''<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robservations on the media beat: As if it were possible to think any less of Michael Ferro, a bombshell report Wednesday claimed the former chairman of Tribune Publishing was heard making an anti-Semitic slur to a gathering of company executives. NPR reported that Ferro was caught on tape referring to California billionaire Eli Broad as... 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\/20173"}],"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=20173"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20190,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20173\/revisions\/20190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}