Brain Drain
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Ohen writers and editors start leaving the Sun-Times en masse something’s up, and it’s not employee morale. The exodus technically began in 1994, when the paper was bought by Hollinger International, but the bloodletting really picked up last December, when five staffers packed their bags. Since then 22 more editorial employees, or approximately 10 percent of the staff, have been fired or given good reason to quit. That includes 35-year veteran Basil Talbott, laid off three years before he could collect a full pension, editorial board member Cindy Richards, and columnist Carl Rowan, who resigned. Editor Nigel Wade said Rowan “retired,” but he seems to find the energy for his nationally syndicated column, no longer running in the Sun-Times. The contradiction in terms is in the hands of lawyers.
One person who left says he was upset by management memos during last year’s contract negotiations: “I’d be scared to death to work for that company without a union.” Then there’s the notorious comment Wade made to some high school students during a Loyola University panel discussion in October: “If you’re not a star somewhere by age 30, you’re probably not going to be one.” His encouraging words were distributed not just by word-of-mouth, but in the Chicago Headline Club’s newsletter Chicago Journalist.
Tami Bickley, secretary
Ginger DeShaney, copy editor
Pablo Martinez Monsivais, photographer
Susy Schultz, reporter
