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Question of the day

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Illinois

Tribune or Sun-Times? Why?

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 9:55 am

Comments

Sun-Times. It’s easier to read on the move — especially the “L”.

Comment by Greg Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 9:57 am
Tribune on paper, Sun-Times on PDA. Mostly because the Trib has better comics.

Comment by Viator Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 9:59 am
Trib for Tempo and national news.
Sun-times for city coverage.

and the SJ-R (and Capitol fax) for state news.

Comment by Objective Dem Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:04 am
The Sun-Times is just way more fun.

Comment by DeepFriedOnAStick Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:05 am
Does not matter, niether provide consistant coverage of the national, state and local issues.

They act like a cat chasing a beam of light on the ground. Great concentration and focus for a while, but get bored…..

Comment by Plutocrat03 Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:11 am
Tribune for National news & metro section
Sun-Times for Sports & Susanna Homan.

Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:12 am
Hmm…

I enjoy writers in both papers. I get my national and international news elsewhere. The Trib used to absolutely thump the S-T on the comics pages, but “Raising Hector” has lowered the Tribune’s average down to S-T levels.

But despite parity elsewhere, there can be no doubt that the Tribune’s television critic, Maureen Ryan, is in a different class than Doug Elfman in the Sun-Times.

So, in overtime, the nod goes to the Trib.

– SCAM

Comment by so-called "Austin Mayor" Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:16 am
Tribune, SunTimes endorsements of candidates lack commonsense and sufficient explanation. Take a look at their endorsement of Stroger, ’nuff said.

Comment by ChiCountryGuy Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:20 am
I have to go with the Trib. The writing is just much better…plus they tear Blago apart. The Sun Times is good if you want some light entertainment. Neither is good for international news-you have to go with the New York Times on that.

Comment by Nick Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:23 am
Tribune — usually larger, more absorbent. soaks up spills better, More coupons

Comment by ElijahLovejoy Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:23 am
I subscribe to both papers because I feel it is important to support “print” journalism. I’m glad Chicago still has two papers.

I think the Sun Times does a better job on “Chicago” political stories. Carol Marin and Mark Brown are clearly the best columnists in Chicago. Although, Kadner and McQueary would be in contention if they were in a “Chicago” paper.

I’ve always gotten the sense that the Tribune would like to move out to Naperville and rename itself the “Chicagoland Tribune”. That way John Kass could save himself on the commute to various downtown steakhouses.

Comment by irishpirate Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:26 am
Tribune. And Daily Herald. And CapFax.

I know people like to rag on it, but the Trib is the closest thing to an NYT of the Midwest we have. As a suburban dweller, Daily Herald covers state govt. news from a suburban perspective, so I get to figure out how my region is being screwed or rewarded, depending…

Comment by Jacques Strappe Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:30 am
Tribune. Bird pee leaks right through the Sun-Times, but the Tribune is super-absorbent.

Now, if you’re more interested in political coverage than lining your bird cage, I recommend The Reader.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:37 am
I favor the Sun-Times but it was better politically when Steve Neal was alive and writing. Carol Marin and Mark Brown always want to find the “stink” in local politics and Steve Neal was a much better informative journalist.

Comment by Orland (D) Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:45 am
TRIBUNE … better coverage of the 08 presidential campaign … but SUN-TIMES is pretty damn good, too

Comment by values matter Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:50 am
Like it really matters?

With Conrad Black having looted one and Sam “Carrion Man” Zell now on the scene with the other, the two GOPs (grand old papers) will be merged — whether they like it or not — within thirty-six months.

Comment by Dooley Dudright Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:50 am
Tribune. They run Doonesbury and Dilbert. I have my priorities.

For a city like Chicago, we have pretty bad local coverage. Neither paper does much with local issues, which is unfortunate (although Blair Kamin’s articles are worth reading, and I hear that the Sun-Times does a decent job of covering Springfield).

Both papers do a terrible job of reporting on the local food scene (I suspect that Phil Vettel would give three stars and a glowing review to the local McDonald’s).

Comment by Skeeter Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:51 am
Both are biased against consumers on utility issues, but the Trib seems to really loathe the Citizens Utility Board. What’s the connection?

Comment by News Junkie Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:52 am
It is not just consumers on utilities that the Tribune despises.

The Tribune also loathes anything involving unions, to the extent that they endorsed Natarus over Reilly. That endorsement of Natarus was a low point for a paper that claims to desire clean government.

Comment by Skeeter Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:58 am
Sun Times. Controversy is a very smart and witty
section. And there’s always Fluff for snark.

Comment by amy Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:10 am
Tribune only because it is available locally every day and the Sun Times does not come to my part of the state.

Comment by zatoichi Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:21 am
Sun-times…better political coverage then Trib, they haven’t screwed up the Cubbies, and they have Sneed & Miller!

Comment by Scoot Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:22 am
News Junkie — some folks think the connection might be advertising dollars spent by ComEd/Excelon. Cynics!

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:33 am
Tribune has better comics, but Sun-Times always has the gratuitous “hot chick” shot in the sports section, so its a tuff call

Comment by pickles!! Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:33 am
The Reader.

Comment by Ferdy Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:42 am
I think they both kind of stink. Their some good writers on both papers, sure, and the Trib wil usually have a one or two really great in-de[th stories a year, but they’re dinosaurs. The daily political reporting here is far more interesting and far more in depth than anything on either paper, and they have no excuse. Rich Miller is one guy, yet manages to post several entries a day. It’s not like the Trib and Sun Times don’t have reporters covering Springfiield and Chicago politics.

The way the Trib and the Sun-Times cover Obama and Daley respectively says a lot. Both papers have relished their role as part of the Obama hype juggernaut, but both papers have enthusiastically pushed stories about the shocking revelations from Obama’s past, be it Rezko or whatever. With Daley, an early commentator pointed out the obsession with corruption at the Trib, yet really refuse to hold the Mayor accountable. And some of those Sun-Times columnists just love to play around with the folks at City Hall.

I’m ranting, but I just feel like with these papers, and so much of the older media, they stopped doing real journalism and just focused on selling papers.

Comment by Nobody Sent Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:44 am
I subscribe to the Tribune on Sundays only. Everything else is read online, including the newspaper websites.

Comment by Jake from Elwood Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 11:49 am
Suntimes, Trib for the crossword puzzle online and the Southtown.

Comment by anon Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:06 pm
I choose the Sun-Times for ease of reading on the move. Tribune is better to sit down at home and read.

Comment by Levois Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:13 pm
It’s like comparing apples and oranges. One is a real paper, respected worldwide (the Trib), the other a nice, local rag. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against the Sun-Times. It’s just they are in two different leagues in terms of what they can and do offer readers.

On a side-note, congratulations Rich for getting a shout-out on Newsbusters as Illinois’ best political site.

Comment by Anon Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:18 pm
I don’t read Colonel McCormick’s rag and I think the Sun Times would be good if it was judged next to my university’s newspaper. No matter, print is dead. I get my news on-line.

Comment by Ravenswood Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:21 pm
Daily Herald - They are not intimidated by Blagojevich or his administration.

Comment by Drowning Quicksand Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:22 pm
Tribune and the News Sun…the combo provides a fairly comprehensive mix of national, state and local news for the northern suburbs. I think the Daily Herald is a waste of space…it tries to be too much and ends up doing nothing.

Comment by Gurnee_dem Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:35 pm
The Trib’s got the ST beat on analysis, big trend stories, comprehensive coverage. They’ve got the money to do it.

But on just straight out, breaking investigative journalism in the political sphere, the Sun-Times more than holds its own. It wins. Brown, Marin, McKinney, Speilman, Novak, etc. tie or beat the Trib on that with about a 10th of the manpower.

Plus, Sun-Times reporters aren’t afraid to admit that their story’s only worth 300 word sometimes.

Comment by anonymous409 Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:38 pm
I agree with anon409’s assessment, but I want to add Chris Fusco to the list. Great investigative reporter. The Sun-Times is lucky to have him. Loved his piece recently on the veteran affairs liaison in Pat Quinn’s office who was let go.

Comment by poli sci guy Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:48 pm
ST wins on city/county coverage although I find Marin and Brown less than insightful. Both papers have few “up and coming” reporters with both writing and investigative skills. Zorn, Kass and Steinberg are equally lame … Zay Smith may be the wittiest writer currently on the scene. For serious and comprehensive coverage for political junkies, it’s strictly on line with Capitol Fax blog … CS Monitor .. W Post and NY Times. And Rich, Paul is doing a terrific job. Congratulations to you both for your current Springfield coverage — it’s the only breaking news “work in progess” information available in the state.

Comment by jaundiced eye Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:54 pm
NY Times..this state isn’t worth following anymore.

Comment by Roger Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 12:59 pm
Neither. Both are garbage (shallow, inaccurate, biased, etc.).

Comment by m Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 1:10 pm
I read both selectively. I think the Sun Times has better political columnists. I concur with those who really miss Steve Neal - but he wasn’t always objective or fair (e.g. Dick Durbin). I think the Tribune has really done an outstanding job advocating for reform of County governmnet the last 4 years. They really wrotw some powerful editorials on County government.

Who can forget the infamous ST publisher decision to endorse Blago rather than Vallas in 2002. We’ve all been paying the price of that decision since 2003

Neither one does that great of job on international and national news sompared to the NYT, but the Tribune is much stronger.

I think it would be tragedy if Chicago were to becme a one newspaper town.

Both could do a much better job on local and state government.

Capital fax definitely fills a real void on State politics - wish I could afford to subscribe.

Comment by Captain America Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 1:33 pm
Hey all you listing Capitol Fax, quit kissing up! (though personally Rich, I think its the best thing going….really..smooch, smmoch).

Comment by Slice & Dice Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 2:07 pm
A pox on both houses. But I do go to the trib’s website more frequently.

The Sun-Times did good work back during Hired Truck but, anymore, there’s nothing to read in that rag.

The trib is better for cleaning my windows, too.

Comment by Jerry Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 2:13 pm
The Tribune…the Sun-Times is a tabloid, and The Reader sucks…YDD, shouldn’t you be worrying about your new ward?

Comment by Curt Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 2:59 pm
It used to be the Tribune, but they lost me over the past four years. Now it is the Sun-Times by default.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 3:24 pm
Sun-Times. Only because it does a great job as a cat box liner.

Comment by Papa Legba Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 3:28 pm
The Sun-Times’s coverage of the city is better. On the other hand, they continue to employ Mariotti. That ranks with the Tribune’s ‘04 endorsement of Bush as indefensible affronts to journalistic integrity.

Comment by Boone Logan Square Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 3:34 pm
Sun-Times, Rich Miller’s column!

Comment by Bill Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 7:16 pm
Skeeter, I love Phil Vettel, and Boone is right-on with Mariotti. Neither are great. Mark Brown is the best columnist ( aside from Rich ) in the city right now. I used to read the S-T and NYT and skip the Trib but now I’m back to both locals. Just knowing how biased they are on certain points makes it easier to skip those pieces, whether they are editorials or columns or whatever. The Trib has gotten better with their editorials with Bruce there, but…

Comment by babs Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 7:50 pm
Living out in the corn fields near Starved Rock, the Trib doesn’t have much news. For some reason, there is a change in the published editions once you get past Marseilles. I have to get the thinner version. I get the Trib for the comics and the cross word puzzle.

For any “real news”, I get the Sun Times.

Comment by Huh? Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 8:45 pm
Trib, The dog likes to crap on Mary Schmich more than Jay Mariotti.

Comment by Wumpus Thursday, May 31, 07 @ 10:03 pm
Huh? living near the cornfields…that explains his detachment from reality.

Comment by Roger Friday, Jun 1, 07 @ 8:28 am
I know it is late but I was away from the computer until now. Tradition is one thing (hence the nickname), but I have to say Sun-Times. They have more of a consistent conservative balance to their liberal columnists with writers such as Mark Steyn, George Will, Betsy Hart and John O’Sullivan. They even ran Pat Buchanan’s column at one time. Although I sometimes agree with columnists such as Chapman (Libertarian? Can’t always tell) and Parker (sometimes hits it out of the park), the Tribune is much more bereft of conservative voices than the Sun-Times is. If John Kass was in the Sun-Times, I would probably never buy the Tribune again; and this is for a myriad of other reasons that I will not detail here–they run the gamut from bad reporting to biased reporting (fairness:sometimes it is wire services) to illusory, non-solution editorial stances (fairness: it is a committee) to dropping certain comic strips. (How could Hi and Lois be controversial?) Like all readers of any columnist, I do not agree with him 100% of the time, but Kass regularly writes effective columns that hit home beyond the political world, as well. The column he wrote after the Virginia Tech shootings hit me especially. I myself played football (no soccer back then) at that park when I was that age. College was years away (or so it seemed)for me and my contemoraries back then, as it is for those kids now. I am sure many parents had to have felt something after reading that. And maybe he was reflecting their own feelings in print as well.

Comment by Man Who Grew Up Reading Chicago Today Wednesday, Jun 6, 07 @ 7:26 pm