''RedEye'' was a publication put out by the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' geared toward 18 to 34-year-olds. It was published every weekday since its inception in 2002 until February 3, 2017. Publication was reduced to weekly starting February 9, 2017. Daily circulation was 250,000 as of December 2, 2009.
[
] The final issue was published March 19, 2020, a coronavirus edition.
Competition
''RedEye'' was created because of the ''Chicago Tribune'' and other major newspapers' loss of readership among young people.
Tribune Company
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
began publishing the ''RedEye'' in an effort to pull readers back into readership and eventually migrate them into the big edition (''Tribune'').
When ''RedEye'' appeared, it was in direct competition with another paper ''
Red Streak
The ''Red Streak'' was a tabloid format newspaper published in Chicago from October 2002 to December 2005. It was published by the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', as a competitor to ''RedEye'', which was published by the ''Chicago Tribune''.
Defunct new ...
'', which the ''Tribune's'' Chicago competitor the ''
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 ...
'' began publishing at the same time. Initially, both papers were handed out for free by "
hawkers" on street corners, usually with one vendor from each paper directly next to each other.
After about six months of the free papers, both companies placed vending boxes throughout the city with the papers thereafter costing 25 cents. At the end of 2005, the ''Sun-Times'' discontinued ''Red Streak''. According to ''Sun-Times'' publisher John Cruickshank, ''Red Streak'' was only launched "to stop
he ''Tribune''
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads
* He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English
* He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana)
* Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...
from gaining a foothold in the paid tabloid market". Its only purpose was to undermine ''RedEyes attempt at drawing commuters, customers which have historically belonged to the ''Sun-Times''.
At the beginning of 2006, ''RedEye'' became a free paper once again, with vending boxes being unlocked and coin slots covered over.
In February 2007, after
NewsCorp
The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Formerly inc ...
launched a late-night talk television program on
Fox News
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
entitled ''
Red Eye'', the Tribune Company filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit.
Content
As compared with mainstream newspapers, ''RedEye'' strongly emphasized
pop culture
Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...
and entertainment news, humorous or lighthearted rather than serious
columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
, and flashy graphics and large pictures. Like the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', ''RedEye'' is a
tabloid-format newspaper, oriented vertically rather than horizontally and with a front page consisting only of a large picture and a banner headline.
Publication changes
After 15 years of daily distribution, ''RedEye'' shifted to a weekly format in 2017
before it stopped publishing in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notes and references
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redeye
Free daily newspapers
Chicago Tribune
Newspapers published in Chicago
Newspapers established in 2002
2002 establishments in Illinois