Journalism is an incredibly important public service and a crucial component of a democracy. Good journalism provides the public with information about the world around them and equips them with the tools to make informed choices about their lives. Journalism provides people with the information to help them decide who to vote for in elections, informs them about events in their local city, and lets them know when they might be in danger or otherwise affected by something.
The practice of journalism is not a new concept, the first historical reference to journalism was in Rome around 59 B.C., through what was called the Acta Diurna. The Acta Diurna was essentially a daily notice board, recording political and social news. There were certainly no news apps, online journalism degrees, or live social media feeds, in those days. In the years since, journalism has come a long way, and just one of the thousands of newspapers founded in the United States at that time is the Chicago Tribune. Founded in 1847, the paper has a long history of serving Chicagoans their daily news, with many defining moments over the years. The newspaper was founded by three Chicagoans: James Kelly, Joseph K.C. Forrest, and John E. Wheeler. On June 10 1847, the first edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune was published.
The Tribune was close to bankruptcy, so it was sold to Canadian-born editor Joseph Medill, and five partners. Medill transformed the paper into a profitable publication and also used it as a platform to advocate for political issues he believed in, including abolitionist and Free Soil beliefs. The publication also became an advocate for Abraham Lincoln in his candidacy for the US presidency.
The Chicago Tribune gained a loyal readership when it reported on the Civil War, when it wasn’t afraid to call for government reform. During this time, writer Horace White rose to become a key member of the newspaper’s staff, eventually being named editor and part-owner.
As competition from other papers, such as the Chicago Daily News increased, the Tribune had to shake things up. The publication started to incorporate more illustrations, and the price of a paper dropped from five cents to one.
The Chicago Tribune installed its first color press - a bit of a game changer for print media.
Medill’s son-in-law, Robert Patterson, led the Tribune alongside editor James Keeley. The paper shifted its focus to political reform, targeting both democrat and republican politicians in investigations and editorial pieces.
The Tribune had another leadership change in this period, and again, it stayed within the family. Medill’s grandson Robert R. McCormick took over and led the publication to more success. McCormick's term saw the newspaper's circulation rise from 230,000 in 1912 to 650,000 in 1925, making it Chicago’s most-read paper. In 1925, the Tribune moved to the Tribune tower, housing its 2000 employees.
The Tribune got the text of the Treaty of Versailles, the primary treaty that formally ended World War I, making for an incredibly important and sought-after story for the paper, and setting it apart from others. The Tribune also presented the US Senate with the treaty. This was a significant, and arguably defining, moment in the Tribune’s history.
The Tribune published a mistake when reporting on the 1948 presidential election. Early election returns suggested that presidential candidate Thomas Dewey was going to defeat the then President, Harry S. Truman. A printers’ strike meant that the first edition of the paper had to go to the press hours earlier than usual, and Chicago Tribune managing editor J. Loy Maloney had to make a call about the next day’s headline. Banking on the available results and the paper’s Washington correspondent, Arthur Sears Henning, a decision was made to publish the headline “Dewey defeats Truman”. Soon, it came out that the race was much closer than originally anticipated, and the second edition headline was changed to “Democrats make sweep of state offices.” In the end, Dewey did not beat Truman. As the saying goes: ‘Today’s news is tomorrow’s history’. In many circumstances, this might have been the case and the Tribune may have quickly moved on, but this time wasn’t so simple. Days after the election, Truman ended up with a copy of the first edition of the paper, and a photo of him holding it up and laughing was taken - a photo that would go down in history. After McCormick’s passing in 1955, the Tribune became a little more center-aligned in its politics (although still leaned Republican) and took more editorial risks, as it increasingly became representative of a large corporation rather than individual beliefs. Despite changes, the publication continued to see success, particularly through its coverage of government and politics, and industry, commerce, and agriculture news.
The Tribune was awarded its first Pulitzer Prizefor Carey Orr’s editorial cartoons. The following year, reporter George Bliss earned the paper’s second prize for his initiative in uncovering scandals in the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago. A significant achievement and event in journalism, the Chicago Tribune was the first newspaper to publish the transcripts of the 246,000 word Watergate tapes on May 1, 1974, doing so in a 44 page supplement, only 24 hours after the transcripts were released by the White House. Naturally, the paper made headlines for its impressive work. In the week following, the Tribune called for Richard Nixon’s resignation.
The creation of Tribune broadcasting was a sign that television was an increasingly important platform for news, as well as a crucial step forward for the Tribune company. Only a year later, the Tribune Entertainment Company was established.
In a few short years, the Tribune Company acquired Los Angeles station KTLA-TV, a 12.5 per cent stake in Warner Bros. Television Network, and Renaissance Communications Corp.
The Chicago Tribune, like many print publications, had suffered from declines in circulation, losing 5.8 per cent of its weekday readership. The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection. After over four years in a bankruptcy case, the company emerged under new owners, free from its previous debt. It remains a successful and well-respected newspaper.
With over 175 years of history, and 28 Pulitzer Prizes, the Chicago Tribune has earned its reputation, as it continues to be the most highly circulated newspaper in the state of Illinois. It would be near impossible to document this media giant’s entire history, but there are some noteworthy moments worthy of reflection and recognition.