The `Chicago Tribune's Hidden History--Part 2

(The following article appeared in the April 13, 1994 issue of the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative newsweekly, Downtown).

After Medill’s death, day-to-day management of the Chicago Tribune was handled by a journalist named James Keeley, until two of Medill’s grandsons—Robert “Colonel” McCormick and Robert “Captain” Patterson—began to make all the main day-to-day operational policy decisions in 1914. But as An American Dynasty noted:

“The gradual transfer of power only modified and did not change the Tribune’s basic principles. It was still vituperative in behalf of big business. It still opposed union labor, government regulation of business, and any politician who appeared to be on the people’s side.”

By adding comic strips like “Andy Gump,” “Moon Mullins” and “Little Orphan Annie” to the Chicago Tribune’s newspaper and printing a daily directory of what was playing at local movie theaters, McCormick and Patterson were able to increase the Chicago Tribune’s daily circulation from 261,000 to 450,000 and its Sunday circulation from 408,000 to 827,000 between 1914 and 1921. During this same period, McCormick “leased the Canadian forest lands and built the Quebec and Ontario paper mills which enabled the Tribune to save a paper manufacturer’s profit and compete more successfully with Hearst, who got papers for five dollars a ton less than the standard price,” according to An American Dynasty. As a result, Tribune/Times-Mirror owned over 2.7 million acres of Canadian timberland for most of the 20th Century.

In imitation of British press baron Lord Northcliffe’s London Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper, the Chicago Tribune launched the New York Daily News in 1919 and Patterson soon moved from Chicago into a Manhattan office building to handle day-to-day management of the New York Daily News. This newspaper remained linked to the Chicago Tribune until it was sold by the Tribune Company for $295 million to the now-deceased British global media baron Robert Maxwell in 1991, prior to it being purchased by U.S. News & World Report Owner Mort Zuckerman in 1993. In Chicago, McCormick remained to manage the day-to-day affairs of the Chicago Tribune in an autocratic way until his death in 1955.

(Downtown 4/13/94)

Next: The Chicago Tribune’s Hidden History—Part 3

The `Chicago Tribune's Hidden History--Part 1

(The following article appeared in the April 13, 1994 issue of the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative newsweekly, Downtown).

After World War II, one of my grandfathers spent his nights lifting newspapers onto Chicago Tribune delivery trucks for over 20 years. But even before he began working for the Chicago Tribune the newspaper had already been around for a century.

The Chicago Tribune was founded in 1847 by James Kelly, John Wheeler and Joseph Forest. But in 1855 a 32-year-old Cleveland publisher named Joseph Medill purchased it and he ran the newspaper autocratically until the 1890s. Medill used the Chicago Tribune in the late 1850s as a political weapon of the newly created Republican Party and, according to An American Dynasty: The Story of the McCormicks, Medills and Pattersons by John Tebbel, “by 1859 his paper was surpassed in power nationally only by the New York Tribune, and it completely dominated his own part of the country.” The same book also noted that “the Tribune pushed the doubtful Western states into the Lincoln camp, and Medill himself, in collaboration with Dr. Ray and the Illinois politicians, was largely responsible for getting Lincoln nominated in the [Republican] convention” of 1860.

Despite its opposition to the extension of U.S. slavery and its support of Lincoln, however, “The Tribune was seldom on the side of democracy after the Civil War” and “Medill in those years set the pattern for individual, irresponsible journalism,” according to An American Dynasty. And even during the Civil War Medill privately expressed imperialist ambitions in relation to Mexico and proposed that emancipated African-Americans be exploited as cannon fodder in support of Northern white corporate interests. In a May 24, 1863 letter to his brother, William Medill, for instance, the Chicago Tribune owner wrote the following:

“We shall permit no nation to abuse Mexico but ourselves. We claim the right to turn her up on Uncle Sam’s knee and spank her bottom for not behaving herself as in 1846, but will permit no one else to touch her…In future wars, black and yellow men will be freely used to fight. We will not be so careful about spilling the blood of n—gers. England holds India with Sepoy troops who hate her. How easy for us to defeat the South with black troops who love the North…Old Abe says, `Bring on your n—gers. I want 200,000 of them to save my white boys as soon as I can get them.’"

During the 1870s and 1880s Medill’s Chicago Tribune continued to prosper and its daily circulation jumped from 40,000 to 80,000 as the newspaper apparently began functioning as a classist, anti-labor propaganda instrument in Chicago. As An American Dynasty recalled, “The decade of the 1880s in Medill history is notable chiefly for the Tribune’s bitter opposition to labor in any and all disputes” and the Chicago Tribune opposed “any politician who appeared to be on the people’s side.” Medill’s Chicago Tribune, for instance, opposed U.S. labor’s demand for an eight-hour day. When he died in 1899, Medill left $2 million to his two daughters--Elinor Medill Patterson and Katherine Medill-McCormick—while his stock in the Tribune Company was left in trust to his sons-in-law and his attorney.

(Downtown 4/13/94)

Next: The Chicago Tribune’s Hidden History—Part 2

Corporate Chicago's `Tribune/Los Angeles Times' Company--Part 2

(Portions of the following article appeared in the April 13, 1994 issue of the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative newsweekly, Downtown).

Tribune-Times-Mirror’s Chicago Tribune Newspaper Connection

The Chicago-based media conglomerate that has controlled New York City’s WPIX-TV/Channel TV station since 1948 also owns the Chicago Tribune newspaper. In the 1990s over 715,000 copies of the Chicago Tribune were still sold each day and over 1.1 million copies of its Sunday edition were still circulated. During the 1980s about 100,000 copies of the Chicago Tribune were circulated outside Chicago’s metropolitan area, indicating the newspaper’s increasing national influence.

The Chicago Tribune newspaper operation was an extremely profitable operation during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1984, for instance, about 70 percent of all newspaper ad sales revenues in the Chicago area were obtained by the Chicago Tribune newspaper. And in a Nov. 7, 1984 article, titled “The Prosperous Tribune Co.,” the New York Times reported that “although company officials decline to disclose earnings for individual newspapers, analysts estimated that The Tribune had an operating profit of about $35 million last year…” In the 1990s over $619 million/year in gross earnings were taken in by the Tribune Company from its Chicago Tribune newspaper operation.

(Downtown 4/13/94)

Next: The Chicago Tribune’s Hidden History—Part 1

Corporate Chicago's `Tribune/Los Angeles Times' Company--Part 1

(Portions of the following article appeared in the April 13, 1994 issue of the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative newsweekly, Downtown).

“The Newspaper Guild of New York which represents most writers, editors and technicians at WPIX, Channel 11, has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to deny the station’s request for the renewal of its license…

“The union has also said Channel 11’s coverage of public affairs, required by law, has fallen off in New Jersey…” (The New York Times on 5/4/89)

“Available to 18.7 percent of United States households the Tribune Stations—including WPIX in New York, WGN in Chicago and KTLA in Los Angeles—have a reach even wider than that of Fox and one that is exceeded only by the three big commercial networks…

“Despite its $2.45 billion in sales last year—a revenue figure that makes the company larger than other media groups like Knight-Ridder, McGraw-Hill, Washington Post, Dow Jones and The New York Times—Tribune has managed to keep a generally low profile at least until the Daily News was struck…” (The New York Times on Nov. 12, 1990)

“Television stations in Houston and San Diego were acquired in 1996, followed in 1997 by Tribune’s largest television acquisition ever -- Renaissance Communications for $1.1 billion. Six stations joined the Tribune group, including KDAF-TV in Dallas and WBZL-TV in Miami.

“…The merger with The Times Mirror Company, completed in June 2000, effectively doubled the size of Tribune and secured its position among the top tier of major media companies. The $8.3 billion transaction was the largest acquisition in newspaper industry history.

“The Times Mirror merger added seven daily newspapers to the Tribune fold, headlined by the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant. Tribune was now the only media company with newspapers and television stations in the top three markets…

“On April 2, 2007, Chicago-based investor Sam Zell announced plans to buy out the media company for $34.00 a share, totaling $8.2 billion. Zell's intentions were to turn the company private. The deal was approved by 97% of the Company's shareholders on August 21, 2007. Privatization of the Tribune Company occurred on December 20, 2007 with termination of trading in Tribune stock at the close of the market….” (Wikipedia)

Tribune/Times-Mirror’s TV Connections

The Chicago-based media conglomerate that has backed 2008 Democratic Party Presidential candidate Barack Obama throughout his political career, Tribune/Times-Mirror, today controls 23 television stations in the United States. During the 1990s, in addition to controlling an “independent” New York City TV station (WPIX-Channel 11), the Tribune-Times Mirror media conglomerate also controlled “independent” TV stations in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Denver, New Orleans and Boston. The Tribune Company’s eight “independent” TV stations in the early 1990s made it the seventh-largest TV broadcasting group operation in the United States in 1994. Around 20 percent of all U.S. homes could be tuned into an “independent” local TV station that was owned by the Chicago-based Tribune media conglomerate in 1994.

The Tribune Company also operated a 24-hour Chicago area pay-TV cable news programming service for over 600,000 subscribers in 1994. And its Tribune entertainment subsidiary produced the tabloid-TV “Geraldo” show for over 144 stations around the U.S. in 1994. Eight years before its 2000 merger with the Times-Mirror media conglomerate, Chicago’s Tribune Company took in about $477 million in gross earnings from its TV broadcasting operations alone.

Tribune-Times-Mirror’s Radio Connections

In addition to owning WPIX-TV/Channel 11 in New York City, the Tribune-Times-Mirror media conglomerate owned radio stations in the U.S. during the early 1990s, including WQCD in New York City. In the Denver area, the Tribune Company owned two radio stations, in addition to owning its Denver, Colorado TV station in 1994. Both a radio station and a TV station were also owned in Chicago by the Tribune Company in 1994. And in Sacramento, California in 1994, the Tribune Company also owned another two radio stations. About 33 percent of the Tribune Company media conglomerate’s gross profits in 1994 came from its radio and TV broadcasting/entertainment division.

(Downtown 4/13/94)

Next: Corporate Chicago’s Tribune/Los Angeles Times Company—Part 2

`Enemy Number One'

They call her “Public Enemy Number One”
They say she’s done wrong, they seem to want her hung
For many, many years she’s been fast on the run
It sure is “fun” being “Public Enemy Number One.”

John Dillinger was “Public Enemy Number One”
Like Billy the Kid, he learnt to use his gun
They jailed him ten years for robbing a small sum
It’s better than working, being “Public Enemy Number One.”

The men are all in love with “Public Enemy Number One”
Whenever she’s around, they each give her a hug
The sheriff and his posse, they often are quite stunned
For they can’t seem to locate “Public Enemy Number One.”

The courtroom is waiting for “Public Enemy Number One”
They’ve listed all the crimes the bankers say she’s done
To protect their stocks and bonds, they’ve spilt a lot of blood
Yet seriously they still hunt for “Public Enemy Number One.”

She sure does confuse me, “Public Enemy Number One,”
She seems very friendly and full of lots of love
I hope they don’t kill her for being kind to bums
She seems so symbolic, this “Public Enemy Number One.”

The Enemy Number One protest folk song (which was originally titled “Public Enemy Number One”) was written in the early 1970s for Bernardine Dohrn and the other Weatherpeople--when the FBI was attempting to capture the Weatherpeople for continuing to fight for revolutionary democratic change in the United States, in solidarity with people around the globe and within the U.S. who are oppressed by U.S. imperialism. While the Weatherpeople were underground in the early 1970s, I supported the demand for amnesty for the Weatherpeople.

Federal charges against most of the Weatherpeople were finally dropped by the end of the 1970s because of the illegal COINTELPRO methods used by the FBI in attempting to capture the former SDS activists who went into Weather, such as authorizing FBI agents to illegally break into Movement offices and the apartments of above-ground supporters of the Weatherpeople.

To listen to the "Enemy Number One" protest folk song, click on the following link:

http://www.last.fm/music/Bob+A.+Feldman/Protest+Folk+Songs/Enemy+Number+One


(To listen to other "Columbia Songs for a Democratic Society" protest folk songs, click on the following link: http://www.myspace.com/bobafeldman68music )

Next: Corporate Chicago’s Tribune/Los Angeles Times Company—Part 1

Chicago Police Spying and `The Chicago Tribune' Historically

Some Chicago Tribune reporters collaborated, historically, with the Chicago Police red squad when it spied on U.S. political activists. As the book Protectors Of Privilege by Frank Donner noted in a section entitled “The Red Squad And The Media”:

“Both the Chicago Tribune and its offspring Chicago Today `cooperated’ with the unit in a familiar trade-off by which reporters…received information about targets…in disfavor with the red squad. In some cases press people were…more cooperative: they supplied information or photographs to the intelligence unit…Others worked as moonlighters for the police…A prosecution witness in the Chicago conspiracy trial, Dwayne Oklepek, infiltrated preconvention protest circles on behalf of Jack Mabley, reporter for Chicago Today.

“The undisputed dean of red squad collaboration was the Tribune’s Ronald Koziol…Koziol became…part of the intelligence system, used not merely to create a favorable image of the red squad’s operations but to discredit its targets, including those…in disfavor with the Daley Administration. When the police came under attack because of their convention-week brutality, the Daley Administration’s response included sharing of the intelligence unit’s files with Koziol…”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 8/14/96)

Next: Enemy Number One lyrics

Where Was The `Change' During The Clintons' First Two Terms?--Part 23

In their current campaign to secure a third term in the White House, in violation of the spirit of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which limits U.S. Establishment politicians who become the U.S. president to two terms in office), the Clintons are claiming that a third Clinton Administration in Washington, D.C. will bring democratic political “change” to U.S. society. Yet as the following historical column items from Downtown indicate, when Bill Clinton was the U.S. President during the 1990s the Clintons failed to bring democratic political change to U.S. society:

19 Days Before 1996 Chicago Dem Convention: Where’s The Change?

The Older Corporatist Male candidate is expected to be nominated at the GOP Convention; after an Aug. 10th [1996] National Raza March in San Diego demands that the “Clinton Crime Bill” be annulled. And 19 days before the Chicago Democratic National Convention, there’s not much sign of African-American empowerment or full respect for the right to assemble in Chicago.

Nor has hemp been legalized or amnesty been granted to all U.S. political prisoners. And the Media Monopoly hasn’t yet scheduled a Nader vs. Clintons debate on television; or allowed any [radical] feminists to ask Bill Clinton why he governs like a Republican, backs the ban on lesbian marriages, and can’t protect airline passengers or music fans, without wiretapping his political opponents.

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 8/7/96)

5 Days Before 1996 Chicago Dem Convention: Where’s The Change?

Even if Bill “NAFTA” Clinton makes a campaign speech at the Crosby, Stills & Nash concert in Chicago [in 1996] to promise folks “change,” his record of governing like a GOP president since 1993 cannot be erased. And five days before the 1996 Chicago Democratic National Convention, the Clintons have still not legalized hemp, freed Leonard Peltier, fully empowered African-Americans, restored [permanent] economic prosperity to the Big Apple, passed a federal civil rights bill for gay males and lesbians or debated [1996] Green Prez Candidate Nader on TV.

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 8/21/96)

Next: Chicago Police Spying and `The Chicago Tribune’ Historically