I’m apparently out of the loop. What’s going on??

www.npr.org/2025/05/20/n...

Found the link to the 😱scandal! Thanks.

Unbelievable that they didn't ask an actual librarian to write this

Sun-Times thing??

Ah, the criminal ownership days were far worse, I assure you. The editorial page editor of the Sun-Times who was allegedly plagiarized a Washington Post *editorial* was “pretend” fired and sent to Edmonton to keep him out of sight and so he could learn more about the business. 1/5

When they brought him back to *Chicago* they made him circulation VP. It was learned years later, while he was publisher of a major south suburban group, where circulation growth had become the envy of the Hollinger chain, that said numbers appeared to be… inflated. 2/5

It was determined that the methods found to be improperly inflating the south suburban market’s numbers had also been responsible for increased circulation at the CST since… some time after they brought this guy back from Edmonton to run circulation. 3/5

When Audit Bureau of Circulation invalidated their circulation figures and suspended them for a number of years, CST and the south suburban group were prohibited from using circulation numbers had no verifiable means to charge advertisers for the reach they once boasted. 4/5

Those businesses would never fully recover. I’m a big fan of the Sun-Times (I was neutral during the years I spent “across the street”), and I support Chicago Public Media monthly, but this is just terrible. There’ll be hell to pay to earn trust back, but it can be done. I’ve seen it. 5/5

But think of all the money they saved

Now all that money can go toward … hmm

The heyday of Mike Royko and Roger Ebert has gone the way of all flesh, alas.

Royko was a genius!

Agreed. I'm just so sick of AI.

That's bad.

Finishing my summer reading just got easier.

Good luck finishing a book that doesn't exist!

Just have to check it out from the Library of Babel.

That's the one I'm writing.

I had to search the webs for context. I saw a lot about resignations related to a buyout deal back in March. I can't help thinking the booklist story is related to the loss of skilled and seasoned staff.

Its been dying since Mike Royko left..

Did you see that the insert was also apparently in the Philadelphia Inquirer?

Ack!

This suggests to me that the insert was produced by some other entity that makes deals for their stuff to be included in newspapers? I can't wait for the part where we find out what the hell happened. bsky.app/profile/elec...

Money. It's always money.

They ran what they were sent, because it was spon-con and who has the time to check the thing the client sends you, it's obviously what the client wants to run, and then it's the paper's credibility that's shredded, not the client's. Which is, remarkably enough, the CORRECT reaction.

Oh sure, that's the motive. But I mean, did they buy it and shove it between the folds sight unseen? Did the insert have any editing involvement at ALL?

Not from the paper, I don't think. Things like this usually come from the client's agency. Spon-con, where the paper's staff are credited (even if it's just as "Sun-Times Staff"), might be copy edited internally but will still be run by the client for final signoff, and they can screw with the text.

... whoops, I misused "spon-con" in my initial response -- the Sun-Times supplement is more of an advertorial thing, where the paper isn't involved at all.

"Spon-con" sounds like something your dermatologist would prescribe an anti-fungal cream to treat...

It kind of is!

I see your answer crossed :)

And I just did it again! I AM UNSTOPPABLE

😂

Sponsored inserts are a long-standing revenue vehicle for newspapers. They are printed by the advertiser and sent to the newspaper's printer for collation into the issue. The newspaper doesn't exercise editorial control. And yes, they can go into multiple publications as part of a campaign.

And what happens when the newspaper puts its name at the top of the page, thus passing off the material as its own?

If it's a paid-for insert, it's called an "advertorial". When I was a journalist (back when Jesus rode dinosaurs), it was strictly forbidden without a clear sponsorship line. Could just be a syndicated thing though. The paper pays for content knowing it'll appear elsewhere.

Syndicated columnists are pretty much the norm. Op-ed pages would be blank without them. And, of course, all cartoons in the funny pages, horoscopes, and advice columns are syndicated. Oft times, there is a copyright mark somewhere, but not always.

Hi, I actually copy-edit inserts as my day job. There are ones like mine, which is produced by a department of the paper and runs in more than one pub, and there are ones that are produced entirely by an outside entity. That's what I was asking.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I appreciate your expertise.

ICYMI chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/05...

I can just imagine management sending out a bunch of junior office workers to try to get all those papers back. 🤣

I had one experience where my paper stopped the presses and recalled papers already on the trucks. It was a BFD. Trial of the century. Copy editor inserted the word "not" into the lede. Why she wasn't fired on the spot is beyond me. This doesn't nearly rise to that level of importance.

That event would make a great documentary short!

The whole case would make a great true-crime novel. Serial rapist, caught in the act, turned out to be a highly respected physician; pillar of the community. The kicker: a different guy, look-alike was in prison for his early crimes. And they had the same name!

Okay, now I want to read that story.

I always wondered why our courts reporter didn't cash in. Different era, I guess, we didn't do side hustles.

You mean I won't be able to find those books at my library?

yup…

Jenrick up next.

It’s very very bad.

Too bad; my reading slump could really use a new Andy Weir book out this summer.

They usually pick up book news from the AP. I wonder where this was syndicated from?