125-584: Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune who co-hosted movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert . Siskel started writing for the Chicago Tribune in 1969, becoming its film critic soon after. In 1975, he was paired with Roger Ebert to co-host a monthly show called Opening Soon at a Theater Near You airing locally on PBS member station WTTW . In 1978,
250-462: A Washington Post editorial that had appeared in that paper the day before. Hornung attributed the plagiarism to writer's block, deadline pressures and the demands of other duties. He resigned as editorial page editor, but remained with the paper, shifting to its business side and working first as director of distribution and then as vice president of circulation. In 2002, Hornung became president and publisher of Midwest Suburban Publishing, which
375-682: A "Dog of the Week", a feature of the TV show in which each critic would single out the very worst movie they had seen that week. Both critics had specific sensitivities and feelings that would often vary in extremes to certain kinds of bad films. Ebert was very sensitive to films about race and ethnicity; Siskel was sensitive to films about families and family relationships, and had a special hatred for films like House Arrest (1996) and Like Father Like Son (1987), both of which were about parents and their children. Following Siskel's death in 1999, Ebert wrote: Gene
500-447: A "together and separately" interview with them, which at one point had each of them wear Walkman-style headphones, playing loud music, while the other commented on his partner. When asked what he thought was the biggest difference between himself and Ebert, Siskel unhesitatingly replied: "I'm a better reviewer than he is", but a few moments later, he said that anyone who read an Ebert review would read "an extremely well-written review". At
625-498: A 47-year-old lawyer, teacher and daughter of Ruth Crowley, who had been the original Ann Landers columnist from 1943 until 1955. Crowley left to return to the practice of law in 1993 and the paper decided not to renew Zaslow's contract in 2001. By the summer of 1988, Page and Adler & Shaykin managing partner Leonard P. Shaykin had developed a conflict, and in August 1988, Page resigned as publisher and president and sold his interest in
750-527: A Curmudgeon Turned Into a Bully? Some Now Think So...Picking on a Food Writer." Although the Sun-Times began hiring a freelancer to edit the space and look for double entendres, another one made it into the same column on July 26, 1995, when the section published a letter from a "Phil McCraken." "This one was a little more subtle," a reporter outside the food department told the Chicago Reader . In 1998,
875-454: A Democrat, Barack Obama , a U.S. Senator from Illinois, for U.S. president. Originally published solely as a broadsheet , the Tribune announced on January 13, 2009, that it would continue publishing as a broadsheet for home delivery, but would publish in tabloid format for newsstand , news box, and commuter station sales. The change, however, proved unpopular with readers; in August 2011,
1000-497: A Pulitzer Prize in 1971, died at age 43 of cardiac arrest as a result of complications from a long battle with leukemia . In May 1983, Tribune columnist Aaron Gold died at age 45 of complications from leukemia . Gold had coauthored the Tribune's "Inc." column with Michael Sneed and prior to that had written the paper's "Tower Ticker" column. The Tribune scored a coup in 1984 when it hired popular columnist Mike Royko away from
1125-509: A Pulitzer for editorial writing in 1986. In 1987, reporters Jeff Lyon and Peter Gorner won a Pulitzer for explanatory reporting, and in 1988, Dean Baquet , William Gaines and Ann Marie Lipinski won a Pulitzer for investigative reporting. In 1989, Lois Wille won a Pulitzer for editorial writing and Clarence Page snagged the award for commentary. In 1994, Ron Kotulak won a Pulitzer for explanatory journalism, while R. Bruce Dold won it for editorial writing. In 1998, reporter Paul Salopek won
1250-472: A Pulitzer for explanatory writing, and in 1999, architecture critic Blair Kamin won it for criticism. In September 1981, baseball writer Jerome Holtzman was hired by the Tribune after a 38-year career at the Sun-Times . In September 1982, the Chicago Tribune opened a new $ 180 million printing facility, Freedom Center . In November 1982, Tribune managing editor William H. "Bill" Jones, who had won
1375-405: A chain of 12 south and southwest suburban papers published twice weekly, for an undisclosed sum. In December 1986, the Sun-Times hired high-profile gossip columnist Michael Sneed away from the rival Chicago Tribune , where she had been co-authoring the Tribune ' s own "Inc." gossip column with Kathy O'Malley. On December 3, 1986, O'Malley led off the Tribune ' s "Inc." column with
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#17328440946981500-448: A closely guarded military secret. The story revealing that Americans broke the enemy naval codes was not cleared by censors, and had U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt so enraged that he considered shutting down the Tribune . The paper is well known for a mistake it made during the 1948 presidential election . At that time, much of its composing room staff was on strike. The early returns led editors to believe (along with many in
1625-521: A column Banks had been writing, prompting Banks to tell a friend at the Chicago Defender that Grizzard was a racist. After the friend wrote a story about it, Grizzard fired Banks. With that, the editorial employees union intervened, a federal arbitrator ruled for Banks, and 13 months later he got his job back. A 25-part series on the Mirage Tavern , a saloon on Wells Street bought and operated by
1750-466: A column that would anchor page two of the paper. In 2000, longtime investigative reporter Charles Nicodemus retired from the paper at age 69 and died in 2008 at age 77. In 2001, Sun-Times investigative reporter Chuck Neubauer quit the paper to join the Los Angeles Times ' Washington bureau. Neubauer and Brown had initiated the investigation into U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski that uncovered
1875-732: A company other than Tribune Entertainment. Siskel remained in that freelance position until he died in 1999. He was replaced as film critic by Dave Kehr . In February 1988, Tribune foreign correspondent Jonathan Broder resigned after a February 22, 1988, Tribune article written by Broder contained a number of sentences and phrases taken, without attribution, from a column written by another writer, Joel Greenberg, that had been published 10 days earlier in The Jerusalem Post . In August 1988, Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Coakley died at age 41 of complications from AIDS . In November 1992, Tribune associate subject editor Searle "Ed" Hawley
2000-446: A daily Wingo girl, a pinup in a bikini promoting a cash giveaway. The Sun-Times , which had been placing above the Tribune in lists of the 10 best U.S. newspapers, never took that great step it was poised for. Murdoch sold the paper in 1986 (to buy its former sister television station WFLD to launch the Fox network ) for $ 145 million in cash in a leveraged buyout to an investor group led by
2125-437: A factor," she told the Tribune . "The station showed a commitment to investigative journalism. It was something I wanted to try." Pete Souza left the Sun-Times in 1983 to become official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan until his second term's end in 1989. Souza returned to that position to be the official photographer for President Barack Obama . Baseball writer Jerome Holtzman defected from
2250-496: A few weeks during his recovery, he participated on Siskel & Ebert by telephone, calling in from his hospital bed while Ebert appeared in the studio. Siskel did not disclose the severity of his illness to anyone outside of his family; publicly, he said that the surgery removed an unspecified "growth" on his brain, and that he was recovering well. He eventually returned to the studio, but was noted to appear more lethargic and mellow than usual. On February 3, 1999, he announced that he
2375-516: A full crew, and the paper was forced to print a correction stating that Plattner "now says that she passed along a story she had heard as something she had experienced." The Tribune has been a leader on the Internet, acquiring 10 percent of America Online in the early 1990s, then launching such web sites as Chicagotribune.com (1995), Metromix .com (1996), ChicagoSports.com (1999), ChicagoBreakingNews.com (2008), and ChicagoNow (2009). In 2002,
2500-512: A great big stick and sometimes he touched us with a velvet glove. I'm talking about Gene Siskel. He was a critic but more importantly, he really loved movies, so, Gene, wherever you are, honey, here's to you. She included the iconic "thumbs-up" gesture; it received a great round of audience applause. Chicago Tribune The Chicago Tribune is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago , Illinois . Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as
2625-451: A great job for us," editor James Squires said at the time. "It's a question of how much a person can do physically. We think you need to be a newspaper person first, and Gene Siskel has always tried to do that. But there comes a point when a career is so big that you can't do that." Siskel declined to comment on the new arrangement, but Ebert publicly criticized Siskel's Tribune bosses for punishing Siskel for taking their television program to
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#17328440946982750-621: A member of the Chicago Sun sports department after first being a copy boy for the Daily News in the 1940s. He and Edgar Munzel , another longtime sportswriter for the paper, both would end up honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame . Famed for his World War II exploits, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin made the Sun-Times his home base in 1962. The following year, Mauldin drew one of his most renowned illustrations, depicting
2875-492: A month without pay. Kirkpatrick wrote that further evidence was revealed came out that another of Soll's columns contained information which he knew was false. At that point, Tribune editors decided to accept the resignation offered by Soll when the internal investigation began. After leaving, Soll married Pam Zekman , a Chicago newspaper (and future TV) reporter. He worked for the short-lived Chicago Times magazine, by Small Newspaper Group Inc. of Kankakee, Illinois , in
3000-482: A mourning statue of Abraham Lincoln after the November 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy . Two years out of college, Roger Ebert became a staff writer in 1966, and a year later was named Sun-Times ' s film critic. He continued in this role for the remainder of his life. In 1975, a new sports editor at the Sun-Times , Lewis Grizzard , spiked some columns written by sportswriter Lacy J. Banks and took away
3125-525: A movie during the review. He initially gave the film Broken Arrow a "thumbs up", but after hearing Ebert's criticism, Siskel changed his mind to "thumbs down". However, he had changed his opinions on films years after his initial reviews, as with Tremors , which he gave a negative review to in 1990 but later gave a glowing positive review in 1994, stating, "I wasn't sure what I missed the first time around, but it just didn't click." Siskel said that he walked out on three films during his professional career:
3250-580: A nationwide audience in 1977 when WTTW offered it as a series to the PBS program system. Siskel and Ebert left WTTW and PBS in 1982 for syndication . Their new show, At the Movies , was produced and distributed by Tribune Broadcasting , the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV . Sneak Previews continued on PBS for 14 more years with other hosts until its cancellation in 1996. In 1986, Siskel and Ebert left Tribune Broadcasting to have their show produced by
3375-452: A person can do physically. We think you need to be a newspaper person first, and Gene Siskel always tried to do that. But there comes a point when a career is so big that you can't do that." Siskel declined to comment on the new arrangement, but Ebert publicly criticized Siskel's Tribune bosses for punishing Siskel for taking their television program to a company other than Tribune Entertainment. Ebert privately suggested that Siskel join him at
3500-408: A reader named "Olga Fokyercelf" that Chicago Tribune columnist (and former Sun-Times columnist) Mike Royko called "an imaginative prank" in a column. In that same column, Royko criticized the paper's food writer, who edited the readers' column at the time, Olivia Wu, for not following better quality control. The Wall Street Journal then criticized Royko with an article of its own, titled, "Has
3625-406: A schoolmate gave him a piece of toast on which jam was spread in the shape of a swastika. Siskel graduated from Yale University with a degree in philosophy in 1967. While at Yale, Siskel was classmates with poet Paul Monette and future New York Governor George Pataki . Siskel studied writing under Pulitzer Prize -winning author John Hersey , whose reference would later help Siskel get a job at
3750-658: A strong proponent of temperance . However nativist its editorials may have been, it was not until February 10, 1855, that the Tribune formally affiliated itself with the nativist American or Know Nothing party, whose candidate Levi Boone was elected Mayor of Chicago the following month. Around 1854, part-owner Capt. J. D. Webster, later General Webster and chief of staff at the Battle of Shiloh , and Charles H. Ray of Galena, Illinois , through Horace Greeley , convinced Joseph Medill of Cleveland 's Leader to become managing editor. Ray became editor-in-chief, Medill became
3875-458: A strong supporter of the Film Center mission. He wrote hundreds of articles applauding the Film Center's distinctive programming and lent the power of his position as a well-known film critic to urge public funding and audience support. In 2000, the Film Center was renamed The Gene Siskel Film Center in his honor. Only once during his long association with Ebert did Siskel ever change his vote on
Gene Siskel - Misplaced Pages Continue
4000-491: A supposed incident in which a pilot for Air Zimbabwe who was flying without a copilot inadvertently locked himself out of his cockpit while the plane was flying on autopilot and as a result needed to use a large ax to chop a hole in the cockpit door. An airline representative wrote a lengthy letter to the paper calling the account "totally untrue, unprofessional and damaging to our airline" and explaining that Air Zimbabwe does not keep axes on its aircraft and never flies without
4125-712: A tenth, but Ebert declined to rank the 9 + 1 ⁄ 2 -hour documentary Shoah as 1985's best film because he felt it was inappropriate to compare it to the rest of the year's candidates. Six times, Siskel's number one choice did not appear on Ebert's top ten list at all: Straight Time , Ragtime , Once Upon a Time in America , The Last Temptation of Christ , Hearts of Darkness , and The Ice Storm . Six times, Ebert's top selection did not appear on Siskel's; these films were 3 Women , An Unmarried Woman , Apocalypse Now , Sophie's Choice , Mississippi Burning , and Dark City . In 1980, Siskel married Marlene Iglitzen, who
4250-480: A variety of misdeeds that ultimately had led to Rostenkowski's indictment, conviction and imprisonment. In April 2001, Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey quit to join the administration of then-Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley as Daley's deputy mayoral chief of staff, responsible for downtown planning, rewriting the city's zoning code and affordable housing issues. In April 2001, longtime Sun-Times horse-racing writer Dave Feldman died at age 85 while still on
4375-663: Is interred at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois . Siskel was a Chicago sports fan, especially of his hometown basketball team, the Chicago Bulls , and would cover locker-room celebrations for WBBM-TV news broadcasts following Bulls championships in the 1990s. Siskel was also a member of the advisory committee of the Film Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago , and
4500-459: The Chicago Sun-Times , but Siskel remained a freelancer for the Tribune until his death in 1999. He was replaced as film critic by Dave Kehr . The last review published by Siskel for the Chicago Tribune was for the film She's All That , published on January 29, 1999, in which he gave a favorable review, giving it three stars out of four and wrote that " Rachael Leigh Cook as Laney,
4625-402: The Chicago Tribune in 1969. Siskel's first print review, written one month before he became the Tribune ' s film critic, was for the film Rascal . His review of the film was not favorable ("Because of the excessive gimmickry, most kids will miss the tenderness," he wrote). Prior to this, he served in the U.S. Army Reserve ; he was a military journalist and public affairs officer for
4750-563: The New York Daily News . In a renewed circulation war with Hearst's Herald-Examiner , McCormick and Hearst ran rival lotteries in 1922. The Tribune won the battle, adding 250,000 readers to its ranks. The same year, the Chicago Tribune hosted an international design competition for its new headquarters, the Tribune Tower . The competition worked brilliantly as a publicity stunt, and more than 260 entries were received. The winner
4875-416: The 1999 Academy Awards ceremony, after its in memoriam montage of deceased stars and film contributors (which did not include Siskel), host Whoopi Goldberg gave a brief impromptu tribute to Siskel: I want to take a moment to acknowledge someone we lost too recently to include in our film tribute. He wasn't a filmmaker, but he definitely was a member of our film community. Now he clobbered some of us with
5000-625: The Chicago Sun , founded by Marshall Field III on December 4, 1941, and the Chicago Daily Times (which had dropped the "Illustrated" from its title) published from 1929 to 1948. The newspaper was owned by Field Enterprises , controlled by the Marshall Field family , which acquired the afternoon Chicago Daily News in 1959 and launched WFLD television in 1966. When the Daily News ended its run in 1978, much of its staff, including Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mike Royko , were moved to
5125-560: The Chicago Sun-Times . Kirkpatrick stepped down as editor in 1979 and was succeeded by Maxwell McCrohon (1928–2004), who served as editor until 1981. He was transitioned to a corporate position. McCrohon held the corporate position until 1983, when he left to become editor-in-chief of the United Press International . James Squires served as the paper's editor from July 1981 until December 1989. Jack Fuller served as
Gene Siskel - Misplaced Pages Continue
5250-568: The Chicago Tribune Sunday magazine. The paper decided to fire Thomas—and suspend his photographer on the Emerge story, Pulitzer Prize-winning Tribune photographer Ovie Carter for a month—because Thomas did not tell the Tribune about his outside work and also because the Emerge story wound up appearing in print first. On June 6, 1999, the Tribune published a first-person travel article from freelance writer Gaby Plattner that described
5375-570: The Defense Information School . For a time afterwards, he was acquainted with Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner . In 1986, the Chicago Tribune announced that Siskel was no longer the paper's film critic, and that his position with the paper had been shifted from that of a full-time film critic to that of a freelance contract writer who was to write about the film industry for the Sunday paper and also provide capsule film reviews for
5500-615: The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In the 20th-century, Colonel Robert R. McCormick , who took control in the 1920s, the paper was strongly isolationist and aligned with the Old Right in its coverage of political news and social trends. It used the motto "The American Paper for Americans". From the 1930s to the 1950s, it excoriated the Democrats and the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt ,
5625-543: The New York Daily News and the Washington Times-Herald . Through much of the 20th century into the early 21st, it employed a network of overseas news bureaus and foreign correspondents. In the 1960s, its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company began expanding into new markets buying additional daily papers. For the first time in its over-a-century-and-a-half history, in 2008, its editorial page endorsed
5750-428: The Sun-Times demoted longtime TV critic Lon Grahnke, shifting him to covering education. Grahnke, who died in 2006 at age 56 of Alzheimer's disease , remained with the paper until 2001, when he retired following an extended medical leave. In 2000, the Sun-Times new editors, Michael Cooke and John Cruickshank , tapped longtime staff reporter Mark Brown, who had considered himself an investigative reporter, to write
5875-604: The Sun-Times in 1977, exposed a pattern of civic corruption and bribery, as city officials were investigated and photographed without their knowledge. The articles received considerable publicity and acclaim, but a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize met resistance from some who believed the Mirage series represented a form of entrapment. In March 1978, the venerable afternoon publication the Chicago Daily News , sister paper of
6000-565: The Sun-Times in the spring of 1983 to try his hand at TV. He joined Chicago's WLS-TV in September 1983. In July 1981, prominent Sun-Times investigative reporter Pam Zekman , who had been part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team with the Chicago Tribune in 1976, announced she was leaving the Sun-Times to join WBBM-TV in Chicago in August 1981 as chief of its new investigative unit. "Salary wasn't
6125-403: The Sun-Times to Hollinger Inc. for about $ 180 million. Hollinger was controlled, indirectly, by Canadian-born businessman Conrad Black . After Black and his associate David Radler were indicted for skimming money from Hollinger International, through retaining noncompete payments from the sale of Hollinger newspapers, they were removed from the board, and Hollinger International was renamed
6250-528: The Sun-Times to the Tribune in late 1981, while Mike Downey also left Sun-Times sports in September 1981 to be a columnist at the Detroit Free Press . In January 1984, noted Sun-Times business reporter James Warren quit to join the rival Chicago Tribune . He became the Tribune ' s Washington bureau chief and later its managing editor for features. In 1984, Field Enterprises co-owners, half-brothers Marshall Field V and Ted Field , sold
6375-467: The Sun-Times , went out of business. The two newspapers shared the same ownership and office building. James F. Hoge, Jr. , editor and publisher of the Daily News, assumed the same positions at the Sun-Times , which also retained a number of the Daily News ' s editorial personnel. In 1980, the Sun-Times hired syndicated TV columnist Gary Deeb away from the rival Chicago Tribune . Deeb then left
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#17328440946986500-481: The Sun-Times . During the Field period, the newspaper had a populist, progressive character that leaned Democratic but was independent of the city's Democratic establishment. Although the graphic style was urban tabloid, the paper was well regarded for journalistic quality and did not rely on sensational front-page stories. It also typically ran articles from The Washington Post / Los Angeles Times wire service. Among
6625-531: The Sun-Times Media Group . In 1994, noted reporter M.W. Newman retired from the Sun-Times around the age of 77. Newman, who died of lung cancer in 2001, had been with the Sun-Times since the Chicago Daily News closed in 1978 and had focused his efforts on urban reporting. Among other things, Newman had been known for coining the term "Big John" to describe the John Hancock Center and
6750-505: The Tribune ' s editor from 1989 until 1993, when he became the president and chief executive officer of the Chicago Tribune . Howard Tyner served as the Tribune' ' s editor from 1993 until 2001, when he was promoted to vice president/editorial for Tribune Publishing. The Tribune won 11 Pulitzer prizes during the 1980s and 1990s. Editorial cartoonist Dick Locher won the award in 1983, and editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly won one in 1985. Then, future editor Jack Fuller won
6875-504: The Tribune ' s photo library. She later worked for the National Enquirer and as a producer for The Jerry Springer Show before committing suicide in November 2005. In April 1994, the Tribune ' s new television critic, Ken Parish Perkins , wrote an article about then- WFLD morning news anchor Bob Sirott in which Perkins quoted Sirott as making a statement that Sirott later denied making. Sirott criticized Perkins on
7000-507: The Tribune discontinued the tabloid edition, returning to its established broadsheet format through all distribution channels. The Tribune was owned by parent company Tribune Publishing . In May 2021, Tribune Publishing was acquired by Alden Global Capital , which operates its media properties through Digital First Media ; since then, the newspaper's coverage has evolved away from national and international news and toward coverage of Illinois and especially Chicago-area news. The Tribune
7125-564: The Tribune hired Margaret Holt from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel as its assistant managing editor for sports, making her the first female to head a sports department at any of the nation's 10 largest newspapers. In mid-1995, Holt was replaced as sports editor by Tim Franklin and shifted to a newly created job, customer service editor. In 1994, reporter Brenda You was fired by the Tribune after free-lancing for supermarket tabloid newspapers and lending them photographs from
7250-439: The "Ann Landers" column and written at that point by Eppie Lederer ) left the Sun-Times after 31 years to jump to the rival Chicago Tribune , effective March 15, 1987. The move sparked a nationwide hunt for a new advice columnist for the Sun-Times . After more than 12,000 responses from people aged 4 to 85, the paper ultimately hired two: Jeffrey Zaslow , then a 28-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter, and Diane Crowley,
7375-483: The "SNL Film Festival" for their last appearance. In 1991, Siskel, along with Ebert, appeared in a segment on the children's television series Sesame Street entitled "Sneak Peek Previews" (a parody of Sneak Previews ). In the segment, the critics instruct the hosts Oscar the Grouch and Telly Monster on how their thumbs up/thumbs down rating system works. Oscar asks if there could be a thumbs sideways ratings, and goads
7500-528: The "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN television received their call letters. As of 2023, it is the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and the ninth-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill , the Chicago Tribune became closely associated with
7625-443: The 1948 merger of the Chicago Sun and the Chicago Daily Times newspapers. Journalists at the paper have received eight Pulitzer Prizes , mostly in the 1970s; one recipient was the first film critic to receive the prize, Roger Ebert (1975), who worked at the paper from 1967 until his death in 2013. Long owned by the Marshall Field family , since the 1980s ownership of the paper has changed hands several times, including twice in
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#17328440946987750-498: The 1971 comedy The Million Dollar Duck starring Dean Jones , the 1980 horror film Maniac , and the 1996 Penelope Spheeris film Black Sheep . When he mentioned walking out on Black Sheep in 1996, he said it was the first time he walked out on a movie he was reviewing since Million Dollar Duck in 1971; he later explained that he did not include Maniac because he did not review Maniac as an assignment for his newspaper or part of his and Ebert's weekly TV reviews but only as
7875-629: The 2009 documentary film, For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism . In the film, he is seen debating with Ebert over the merits of the film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . Gene Siskel had an abrasive review style, and claimed his film criticism was an individual exercise that should not be swayed by public taste. In an interview for the Academy of Television and Radio, his TV co-host said of him, "I think Gene felt that he had to like
8000-467: The Canadian science ship CSS Acadia . The Tribune ' s reputation for innovation extended to radio; it bought an early station, WDAP, in 1924 and renamed it WGN , the station call letters standing for the paper's self-description as the "World's Greatest Newspaper". WGN Television was launched on April 5, 1948. These broadcast stations remained Tribune properties for nine decades and were among
8125-465: The Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln , and the then new Republican Party 's progressive wing. In the 20th century, under Medill's grandson 'Colonel' Robert R. McCormick , its reputation was that of a crusading newspaper with an outlook that promoted American conservatism and opposed the New Deal . Its reporting and commentary reached markets outside Chicago through family and corporate relationships at
8250-639: The McCormick years. On May 1, 1974, in a major feat of journalism, the Tribune published the complete 246,000-word text of the Watergate tapes , in a 44-page supplement that hit the streets 24 hours after the transcripts' release by the Nixon White House . Not only was the Tribune the first newspaper to publish the transcripts, but it beat the U.S. Government Printing Office 's published version, and made headlines doing so. A week later, after studying
8375-638: The Oscar for Best Picture: The Silence of the Lambs and Unforgiven . Yet, Ebert also noted in a memoriam episode of Siskel and Ebert that when Siskel found a movie that he truly treasured, he embraced it as something special. Directly addressing his late colleague, Ebert said: "I know for sure that seeing a truly great movie made you so happy that you'd tell me a week later your spirits were still high." Some of Siskel's most treasured movies included My Dinner with Andre (1981), Shoah (1985), Fargo (1996), and
8500-500: The air, and the Tribune later printed a correction acknowledging that Sirott had never made that statement. Eight months later, Perkins stepped down as TV critic, and he left the paper shortly thereafter. In December 1995, the alternative newsweekly Newcity published a first-person article by the pseudonymous Clara Hamon (a name mentioned in the play The Front Page ) but quickly identified by Tribune reporters as that of former Tribune reporter Mary Hill that heavily criticized
8625-460: The animated TV series The Critic entitled "Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice". In the episode, Siskel and Ebert split and each wants protagonist Jay Sherman, a fellow movie critic, as his new partner. The episode is a parody of the film Sleepless in Seattle . An early appearance of Siskel, taken from Opening Soon at a Theater Near You , the predecessor to Sneak Previews , is included in
8750-517: The book Chicago Days: 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City . On April 29, 1997, popular columnist Mike Royko died of a brain aneurysm . On September 2, 1997, the Tribune promoted longtime City Hall reporter John Kass to take Royko's place as the paper's principal Page Two news columnist. On June 1, 1997, the Tribune published what ended up becoming a very popular column by Mary Schmich called "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on
8875-432: The change in the type of conservatism practiced by the paper, but as a watershed event in terms of Nixon's hopes for survival in office. The White House reportedly perceived the Tribune ' s editorial as a loss of a long-time supporter and as a blow to Nixon's hopes to weather the scandal. On December 7, 1975, Kirkpatrick announced in a column on the editorial page that Rick Soll , a "young and talented columnist" for
9000-585: The country) that the Republican candidate Thomas Dewey would win. An early edition of the next day's paper carried the headline " Dewey Defeats Truman ", turning the paper into a collector's item. Democrat Harry S. Truman won and proudly brandished the newspaper in a famous picture taken at St. Louis Union Station . Beneath the headline was a false article , written by Arthur Sears Henning, which purported to describe West Coast results although written before East Coast election returns were available. In 1969, under
9125-399: The documentary Hoop Dreams (1994). One of Siskel's favorite films was Saturday Night Fever ; he even bought the famous white disco suit that John Travolta wore in the film from a charity auction. Another all-time favorite was Dr. Strangelove . A favorite from childhood was Dumbo , which he often mentioned as the first film that had an influence on him. Siskel compiled "best of
9250-671: The eventual replacement for Siskel, Richard Roeper . Siskel and Ebert were known for their many appearances on late-night talk shows, including appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman sixteen times and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson fifteen times. They also appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show , The Arsenio Hall Show , Howard Stern , The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , and Late Night with Conan O'Brien . In 1982, 1983, and 1985, Siskel, along with Ebert, appeared as themselves on Saturday Night Live . For their first two appearances, they reviewed sketches from that night's telecast and reviewed sketches from
9375-492: The expression "Fortress Illini" for the concrete structures and plazas at the University of Illinois at Chicago . On March 23, 1995, the Sun-Times announced that beginning April 2, 1995, veteran Sports Illustrated writer Rick Telander would join the paper and write four columns a week. On March 24, 1995, the Sun-Times published an editorial by Mark Hornung, then the Sun-Times' editorial page editor, that plagiarized
9500-465: The heading "The Last to Know Dept." and writing, "Dontcha just hate it when you write a gossip column and people think you know all the news about what's going on and your partner gets a new job and your column still has her name on it on the very same day that her new employer announces that she's going to work for him? Yeah, INC. just hates it when that happens." In February 1987, the popular syndicated advice column " Ask Ann Landers " (commonly known as
9625-431: The late 1980s. Soll was born in 1946, in Chicago, to Marjorie and Jules Soll. Soll graduated from New Trier High School , received a Bachelor of Arts in 1968 from Colgate University , and a master's degree from Medill School of Journalism , Northwestern University in 1970. In January 1977, Tribune columnist Will Leonard died at age 64. In March 1978, the Tribune announced that it hired columnist Bob Greene from
9750-485: The late 2010s. The Chicago Sun-Times has claimed to be the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city. That claim is based on the 1844 founding of the Chicago Daily Journal , which was also the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned by Catherine O'Leary was responsible for the Chicago fire of 1871. The Journal , whose West Side building at 17–19 S. Canal
9875-405: The leadership of publisher Harold Grumhaus and editor Clayton Kirkpatrick (1915–2004), the Tribune began reporting from a wider viewpoint. The paper retained its Republican and conservative perspective in its editorials, but it began to publish perspectives in wider commentary that represented a spectrum of diverse opinions, while its news reporting no longer had the conservative slant it had in
10000-658: The managing editor, and Alfred Cowles, Sr. , brother of Edwin Cowles , initially was the bookkeeper. Each purchased one third of the Tribune . Under their leadership, the Tribune distanced itself from the Know Nothings, and became the main Chicago organ of the Republican Party . However, the paper continued to print anti-Catholic and anti-Irish editorials, in the wake of the massive famine immigration from Ireland . The Tribune absorbed three other Chicago publications under
10125-564: The most prominent members of the newspaper's staff was cartoonist Jacob Burck , who was hired by the Chicago Times in 1938, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1941 and continued with the paper after it became the Sun-Times , drawing nearly 10,000 cartoons over a 44-year career. The advice column "Ask Ann Landers" debuted in 1943. Ann Landers was the pseudonym of staff writer Ruth Crowley , who answered readers' letters until 1955. Eppie Lederer, sister of " Dear Abby " columnist Abigail van Buren, assumed
10250-448: The new editors strongly supported Abraham Lincoln , whom Medill helped secure the presidency in 1860, and pushed an abolitionist agenda. The paper remained a force in Republican politics for years afterwards. In 1861, the Tribune published new lyrics by William W. Patton for the song " John Brown's Body ". These rivaled the lyrics published two months later by Julia Ward Howe . Medill served as mayor of Chicago for one term after
10375-748: The new editors: the Free West in 1855, the Democratic Press of William Bross in 1858, and the Chicago Democrat in 1861, whose editor, John Wentworth , left his position when elected as Mayor of Chicago . Between 1858 and 1860, the paper was known as the Chicago Press & Tribune . On October 25, 1860, it became the Chicago Daily Tribune . Before and during the American Civil War ,
10500-531: The new success of comic books . At the same time, it launched the more successful and longer-lasting The Spirit Section , which was also an attempt by newspapers to compete with the new medium. Under McCormick's stewardship, the Tribune was a champion of modified spelling for simplicity (such as spelling "although" as "altho"). McCormick, a vigorous campaigner for the Republican Party, died in 1955, just four days before Democratic boss Richard J. Daley
10625-625: The oldest newspaper/broadcasting cross-ownerships in the country. (The Tribune ' s East Coast sibling, the New York Daily News , later established WPIX television and FM radio .) The Tribune ' s legendary sports editor Arch Ward created the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 1933 as part of the city's Century of Progress exposition. From 1940 to 1943, the paper supplemented its comic strip offerings with The Chicago Tribune Comic Book , responding to
10750-672: The ouster of the Republican political boss of Illinois, Sen. William Lorimer . At the same time, the Tribune competed with the Hearst paper, the Chicago Examiner , in a circulation war . By 1914, the cousins succeeded in forcing out William Keeley, the newspaper's managing editor. By 1918, the Examiner was forced to merge with the Chicago Herald . In 1919, Patterson left the Tribune and moved to New York City to launch his own newspaper,
10875-427: The paper launched a tabloid edition targeted at 18- to 34-year-olds known as RedEye . Chicago Sun-Times The Chicago Sun-Times is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media , and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the Chicago Tribune . The Sun-Times resulted from
11000-473: The paper to Rupert Murdoch 's News Corporation , and the paper's style changed abruptly to mirror that of its suitemate, the New York Post . Its front pages tended more to the sensational, while its political stance shifted markedly to the right. This was in the era that the Chicago Tribune had begun softening its traditionally staunchly Republican editorial line, blurring the city's clear division between
11125-500: The paper to his fellow investors. In January 1989, the Sun-Times company starts its plans to purchase The Pioneer Press and its 38 different weekly publications. In mid-1991, veteran crime reporter Art Petacque , who had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1974, left the paper. Almost ten years later, Dennis Britton, who had been the paper's editor at the time of Petacque's retirement, told the Chicago Reader that Petacque's departure, which
11250-425: The paper's entertainment sections. The demotion occurred after Siskel and longtime Chicago film critic colleague Roger Ebert decided to shift the production of their weekly movie review show, then known as At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and later known as Siskel & Ebert & The Movies from Tribune Entertainment to The Walt Disney Company 's Buena Vista Television unit. "He has done
11375-469: The paper's entertainment sections. The demotion occurred after Siskel and Ebert decided to shift production of their weekly movie-review show, then known as At the Movies (later known as Siskel & Ebert ), from Tribune Entertainment to the Walt Disney Company 's Buena Vista Television unit. Editor James Squires stated on the move, "He's done a great job for us. It's a question of how much
11500-547: The paper's one-year residency program. The program brought young journalists in and out of the paper for one-year stints, seldom resulting in a full-time job. Hill, who wrote for the paper from 1992 until 1993, acknowledged to the Chicago Reader that she had written the diatribe originally for the Internet, and that the piece eventually was edited for Newcity . In 1997, the Tribune celebrated its 150th anniversary in part by tapping longtime reporter Stevenson Swanson to edit
11625-625: The paper's publisher, Robert E. Page, and the New York investment firm Adler & Shaykin. In 1984, Roger Simon , who had been a Sun-Times columnist for a decade, quit to join The Baltimore Sun , where he worked until 1995. Simon quit the paper because of Murdoch's purchase of it. Beginning in October 1984, Simon's columns from Baltimore began appearing in the rival Chicago Tribune . In November 1986, The Sun-Times acquired Star Publications,
11750-541: The paper, whose work had "won a following among many Tribune readers over the last two years", had resigned from the paper. He had acknowledged that a November 23, 1975, column he wrote contained verbatim passages written by another columnist in 1967 and later published in a collection. Kirkpatrick did not identify the columnist. The passages in question, Kirkpatrick wrote, were from a notebook where Soll regularly entered words, phrases and bits of conversation which he had wished to remember. The paper initially suspended Soll for
11875-505: The payroll. In May 2002, Sun-Times editors Joycelyn Winnecke and Bill Adee , who were then husband and wife, both quit on the same day to join the rival Chicago Tribune . Winnecke had been the Sun-Times managing editor, and she left for a new post, associate managing editor for national news, while Adee, who had been the Sun-Times sports editor for nine years, became the Tribune ' s sports editor/news. In October 2003, Sun-Times gossip columnist Irv Kupcinet began including
12000-705: The plain Jane object of the makeover, is forced to demonstrate the biggest emotional range as a character, and she is equal to the assignment. I look forward to seeing her in her next movie." In 1975, Siskel teamed up with Ebert, film reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times , to host a show on local Chicago PBS station WTTW which eventually became Sneak Previews . Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" system soon became an easily recognizable trademark, popular enough to be parodied on comedy shows such as Second City Television , In Living Color , Bizarre , and in movies such as Hollywood Shuffle and Godzilla . Sneak Previews gained
12125-571: The position was being replaced by a national security writer. In December 1993, the Tribune ' s longtime Washington, D.C. bureau chief, Nicholas Horrock , was fired after he chose not to attend a meeting that editor Howard Tyner requested of him in Chicago. Horrock, who shortly thereafter left the paper, was replaced by James Warren , who attracted new attention to the Tribune ' s D.C. bureau through his continued attacks on celebrity broadcast journalists in Washington. In December 1993,
12250-407: The rival Sun-Times . In 1986, the Tribune announced that film critic Gene Siskel , the Tribune ' s best-known writer, was no longer the paper's film critic, and that his position with the paper had shifted from being that of a full-time film critic to that of a freelance contract writer who was to write about the film industry for the Sunday paper and also provide capsule film reviews for
12375-427: The role thereafter as Ann Landers. "Kup's Column", written by Irv Kupcinet , also made its first appearance in 1943. Jack Olsen joined the Sun-Times as editor-in-chief in 1954, before moving on to Time and Sports Illustrated magazines and authoring true-crime books. Hired as literary editor in 1955 was Hoke Norris , who also covered the civil-rights movement for the Sun-Times . Jerome Holtzman became
12500-746: The show, renamed Sneak Previews , was expanded to weekly episodes and aired on PBS affiliates across the United States. In 1982, Siskel and Ebert left Sneak Previews to create the syndicated show At the Movies . Following a contract dispute with Tribune Entertainment in 1986, Siskel and Ebert signed with Buena Vista Television , creating Siskel & Ebert & the Movies (renamed Siskel & Ebert in 1987, and renamed again several times after Siskel's death). Known for their biting wit, intense professional rivalry, heated arguments, and trademark "Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down" movie ratings system, Siskel and Ebert became celebrated in American pop culture. Siskel
12625-547: The show, they reviewed At First Sight , Another Day in Paradise , The Hi-Lo Country , Playing by Heart , and The Theory of Flight . Siskel gave thumbs up to all of them, except for Playing by Heart . Following Siskel's death, Ebert continued the series with rotating guest hosts, which included Martin Scorsese , Janet Maslin , Peter Bogdanovich , Todd McCarthy , Lisa Schwarzbaum , Kenneth Turan , Elvis Mitchell , and
12750-419: The syndication arm of the Walt Disney Company . The new incarnation of the show was originally titled Siskel & Ebert & the Movies , but later shortened to Siskel & Ebert . At the Movies also continued for a few more years with other hosts until its cancellation in 1990. The last five movies Siskel reviewed with Ebert on the show before his death aired during the weekend of January 23–24, 1999. On
12875-541: The transcripts, the paper's editorial board observed that "the high dedication to grand principles that Americans have a right to expect from a President is missing from the transcript record." The Tribune ' s editors concluded that "nobody of sound mind can read [the transcripts] and continue to think that Mr. Nixon has upheld the standards and dignity of the Presidency," and called for Nixon's resignation. The Tribune call for Nixon to resign made news, reflecting not only
13000-535: The two men into an argument about whether or not that would be acceptable, as Ebert likes the idea, but Siskel does not. The two were also seen that same year in the show's celebrity version of " Monster in the Mirror ". In 1993, Siskel appeared as himself in an episode of The Larry Sanders Show entitled "Off Camera". Entertainment Weekly chose his performance as one of the great scenes in that year's television. In 1995, Siskel and Ebert guest-starred on an episode of
13125-406: The two newspapers' politics. This shift was made all but official when Mike Royko defected to the Tribune . Roger Ebert later reflected on the incident with disdain, stating in his blog, On the first day of Murdoch's ownership, he walked into the newsroom and we all gathered around and he recited the usual blather and rolled up his shirtsleeves and started to lay out a new front page. Well, he
13250-481: The whole picture to give it a thumbs up." In particular, he often gave negative reviews to films that became box office champs and went on to be considered mainstream classics: Poltergeist , Scarface , Beverly Hills Cop , The Terminator , Aliens , Predator , Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , Thelma & Louise , and Independence Day . This even extended to several films that went on to win
13375-507: The year" film lists from 1969 to 1998, which helped to provide an overview of his critical preferences. His top choices were: From 1969 until his death in February 1999, he and Ebert were in agreement on nine annual top selections: Z , The Godfather , Nashville , The Right Stuff , Do the Right Thing , Goodfellas , Schindler's List , Hoop Dreams , and Fargo . There would have been
13500-415: The young", otherwise known as " Wear Sunscreen " or the "Sunscreen Speech". The most popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single released in 1999, accredited to Baz Luhrmann . In 1998, reporter Jerry Thomas was fired by the Tribune after he wrote a cover article on boxing promoter Don King for Emerge magazine at the same time that he was writing a cover article on King for
13625-404: Was a neo-Gothic design by New York architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood . The newspaper sponsored a pioneering attempt at Arctic aviation in 1929, an attempted round-trip to Europe across Greenland and Iceland in a Sikorsky amphibious aircraft. But, the aircraft was destroyed by ice on July 15, 1929, near Ungava Bay at the tip of Labrador , Canada. The crew were rescued by
13750-399: Was a company owned by then- Sun Times parent company Hollinger International. In June 2004, Hollinger International placed Hornung on administrative leave just two weeks after Hollinger revealed that the paper's sales figures had been inflated for several years. Hornung resigned from the company four days later. On May 17, 1995, the Sun-Times' food section published a bogus letter from
13875-499: Was a lifelong friend, and our professional competition only strengthened that bond. I can't even imagine what will it be like without him. ...As a critic, Siskel was passionate and exacting. I think it was important to Gene that this was the only serious film criticism on television. That made him proud. We had a lot of big fights. We were people who came together one day a week and, the other six days, we were competitors on two daily newspapers and two different television stations. So there
14000-479: Was a lot of competition and a lot of disagreement. Ebert once said of his relationship with Siskel: Gene Siskel and I were like tuning forks. Strike one, and the other would pick up the same frequency. When we were in a group together, we were always intensely aware of one another. Sometimes this took the form of camaraderie, sometimes shared opinions, sometimes hostility. When both men appeared together on The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers , Joan Rivers conducted
14125-411: Was a real newspaperman, give him that. He threw out every meticulous detail of the beautiful design, ordered up big, garish headlines, and gave big play to a story about a North Shore rabbi accused of holding a sex slave. The story turned out to be fatally flawed, but so what? It sold papers. Well, actually, it didn't sell papers. There were hundreds of cancellations. Soon our precious page 3 was defaced by
14250-538: Was arrested by Chicago police and charged with seven counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly having sex with three juveniles in his home in Evanston, Illinois . Hawley formally resigned from the paper in early 1993, and pleaded guilty in April 1993. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison. In October 1993, the Tribune fired its longtime military affairs writer, retired Marine David Evans, saying publicly that
14375-399: Was arrested in the Sun-Times' newsroom and held without bond after confessing to using his position to set up sexual encounters for male high school athletes. Anding was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and possession of child pornography. In September 1993, Anding pleaded guilty to arranging and videotaping sexual encounters with several teenage boys and fondling others. He
14500-448: Was described at the time as a retirement, was involuntary. "I had problems with some of the ways Art pursued his job," Britton told the Reader . In September 1992, Bill Zwecker joined the Sun-Times as a gossip columnist from the troubled Lerner Newspapers suburban weekly newspaper chain, where he had written the "VIPeople" column. In September 1992, Sun-Times sports clerk Peter Anding
14625-560: Was diagnosed with brain cancer in May 1998 but remained in the public eye as Ebert's professional partner until his death the following year. Siskel was born in Chicago on January 26, 1946, the youngest of three children born to Ida (née Kalis) and Nathan William Siskel, who were Russian Jewish immigrants. His father died when he was four and his mother died when he was nine; thereafter, he was raised by his aunt and uncle. He attended Culver Academies , where he experienced anti-Semitism firsthand when
14750-551: Was elected mayor for the first time. One of the great scoops in Tribune history came when it obtained the text of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919. Another was its revelation of United States war plans on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack. The Tribune ' s June 7, 1942, front page announcement that the United States had broken Japan's naval code was the revelation by the paper of
14875-543: Was founded by James Kelly , John E. Wheeler, and Joseph K. C. Forrest, publishing the first edition on June 10, 1847. Numerous changes in ownership and editorship took place over the next eight years. Initially, the Tribune was not politically affiliated, but tended to support either the Whig or Free Soil parties against the Democrats in elections. By late 1853, it was frequently running editorials that criticized foreigners and Roman Catholics . About this time, it also became
15000-664: Was resolutely disdainful of the British and French, and greatly enthusiastic for Chiang Kai-shek and Sen. Joseph McCarthy . When McCormick assumed the position of co-editor with his cousin Joseph Medill Patterson in 1910, the Tribune was the third-best-selling paper among Chicago's eight dailies, with a circulation of only 188,000. The young cousins added features such as advice columns and homegrown comic strips such as Little Orphan Annie and Moon Mullins . They promoted political crusades, and their first success came with
15125-413: Was sentenced to 40 years in prison. In 1993, the Sun-Times fired photographer Bob Black without severance for dozens of unauthorized uses of the company's Federal Express account and outside photo lab, going back more than three years and costing the company more than $ 1,400. In February 1994, however, Black rejoined the paper's payroll after an arbitrator agreed with the paper's union that dismissal
15250-487: Was taking a leave of absence from the show, but that he expected to be back by the fall, stating, "I'm in a hurry to get well because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than I." Siskel died at a hospital in Evanston, Illinois , on February 20, 1999, nine months after his diagnosis and surgery; he was 53 years old. His funeral was held two days later at the North Suburban Synagogue Beth El . He
15375-407: Was then a producer for CBS in New York. They had two daughters, Kate and Callie, and a son, Will. Their daughters graduated from Siskel's alma mater, Yale University. He is the uncle of Ed Siskel , a lawyer and current White House Counsel under U.S. President Joe Biden . Siskel was diagnosed with a malignant, terminal brain tumor on May 8, 1998. He underwent brain surgery three days later. For
15500-462: Was too severe a penalty. At the same time, the arbitrator declined to award Black back pay. In 1993, longtime Sun-Times reporter Larry Weintraub retired after 35 years at the paper. Weintraub had been best known for his "Weintraub's World" column, in which he worked a job and wrote about the experience. Weintraub died in 2001 at age 69. In February 1994, the Adler & Shaykin investor group sold
15625-449: Was undamaged, gave the Chicago Tribune a temporary home until it could rebuild. Though much of the assets of the Journal were sold to the Chicago Daily News in 1929, its last owner Samuel Emory Thomason also immediately launched the tabloid Chicago Daily Illustrated Times from the same editorial offices of the discontinued Journal . The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of
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