Chicago Sun-Times Editor Resigns Over "Wholesale Rewrites" of Obama, McCain Endorsements

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein, Majikthise at 6:38 AM on February 6, 2008.

Editorial page editor Cheryl L. Reed has resigned from the Chicago Sun Times, alleging that the editorial board's endorsements for Obama and McCain were rewritten by people outside the editorial board:

Meanwhile, check out what happened when the Chicago Sun-Times pulled the level for Obama and McCain, clearly the choices of America's newspapers:

The Chicago Sun-Times today named Tom McNamee its editorial page editor after Cheryl L. Reed resigned, saying in a note to her staff she was "deeply troubled" the paper's presidential primary endorsements of Barack Obama and John McCain were subjected to "wholesale rewrites" by people outside the editorial board.

Here's what Reed claims happened:

Reed's note said such the rewriting did more than undermine her. "It devalues and patronizes the editorial board writers who wrote the original endorsements: an African-American, a Latino and two white women," she wrote, alleging the rewritten endorsements "were rewritten by white men."

Attytood wrote last summer about Reed's plan to remake the Sun-Times with an appeal to the working class. This story notes:

In it, she vowed to return the paper to its "liberal, working-class roots" and to add "seats to our editorial board so that board members -- the paper's brain trust -- reflect the ethnic and social diversity" of Chicago.

"My goal is to make us more relevant and irreverent," Reed wrote. "There will be no sacred cows here."

Your liberal media -- not very liberal, is it?--[Will Bunch]

Good catch by Will.

Tagged as: media, racism, obama, mccain, newspapers, chicago sun-times

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.