“Does journalism have a future?” Jill Lepore asked in the most recent issue of the New Yorker, as prankster turned media innovator Jonah Peretti laid off 15 percent of his workforce at BuzzFeed and then refused to pay most former employees their paid time off. Meanwhile, we’re over here adding pages to our print edition, launching a podcast, and tracking gains in Web traffic month after month (after month). (We also expanded our staff—Davon Clark, welcome to the graphic design team!)
But the real appreciation for your support shines through our pages and on our website. Listen to our first-ever podcast the Back Room Deal at chicagoreader.com/backroomdeal (or Spotify, Stitcher, or Apple) for the complete scoop on the Chicago elections from Ben Joravsky and Maya Dukmasova. Read their in-depth, ward-level reporting on our pages. Check out our photographic essay on the rent-control ban referendum in the First and 26th Wards. Read up on Toni Preckwinkle’s mayoral campaign. And don’t overlook our coverage of what makes this city truly great: performers like Angel Bat Dawid, playwrights like Ike Holter, and eateries like Irving Park cafe Finom.
