Saturday, December 5, 2009
Media / News Bites Rick Morrissey Moves Across the Street and Down the River
Posted by Michael Miner on Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Rick Morrissey just did the unthinkable, jumping from the Tribune to the Sun-Times because the opposition felt to him like a more exciting place to be. That used to happen in the late 60s and early 70s, when both papers prospered but the Sun-Times was the young, hard-charging one. But since Rupert Murdoch took over the Sun-Times in 1984 the traffic's been almost all the other way — the Tribune was the more respectable paper, the more prosperous and secure paper, and lately, when the Sun-Times and Tribune both found themselves in bankruptcy, the paper more likely to go under last because the water would take longer to reach the rail.
But financier Jim Tyree and his friends just took over the Sun-Times Media Group and brought the company out of bankruptcy. Morrissey's the first sign of Tyree putting money where his mouth was.
The Tribune's senior sports columnist tells me that Sun-Times editor Don Hayner called him about two and a half weeks ago. "We want to get you over to the Sun-Times," he said. Morrissey says he replied, "Why would I do that?" And, he continues, "It kind of went from there."
Hayner brought something old-fashioned to the table — actual enthusiasm about the future. Morrissey met with Tyree, who had it too. Tyree pointed out that the Sun-Times was out from under a huge tax bill. Thanks to the investors, there was money in the bank. He said it was a new company.
"I kind of got more excited about it," says Morrissey. "They pursued me hard. I'd been at the Tribune 12 years. I always wanted to work at the Tribune. It's been gut-wrenching for me. Nobody could tell me the future. Nobody could tell me at either paper what the world would look like in five years and who'd be around. So I went with my gut feeling."
That gut feeling was supplemented by the generous and guaranteed contract the Sun-Times offered him that the Tribune wouldn't match. Morrissey has a daughter in college and two other kids approaching it, so stability matters. "They tried pretty hard to keep me," he says, "but they reached a point where they weren't willing to go where the Sun-Times was going. I was perfectly OK with that. All things being equal, I probably would have gone anyway.
Because?
"I was really impressed with Jim Tyree and Don Hayner. They're really excited about making this work. There's some vision here. I wanted to be a part of it. Maybe it has something to do with being 49 years old."
This is a big loss for the Tribune. Morrissey wasn't the most heralded Tribune sports columnist but he's been the most consistent, turning in solid steady work while more ballyhooed writers such as Bernie Lincicome, Skip Bayless, and Mike Downey had their hour and disappeared.
Morrissey signed his new contract Friday night. He expects his first Sun-Times column to appear sometime next week.
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
i'd be interested in knowing what his motivations are. has anyone reported on what's happening inside the trib lately?
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morrissey is less informed than the average local blogger about chicago sports. his bears coverage this year has been especially terrible. hopefully his next move is out of town.
Wow, this is huge and a huge shocker.....I respect Rick's writing ability and creativity a ton, first noticing his work for the Trib when our alma mater, Northwestern, had its big football season in 1995 and he did a great job of covering the Cinderella Cats....(so that would mean his tenure at Trib was more than 12 years?) In any event, luring Rick is an indication of real intent on the part of the Sun-Times to compete.
So much for killing all the columnists ... I thought this was a pretty strange move for a paper that's still not out of the woods, no matter what Tyree says. Frankly, Morrissey is not that good of a columnist that he'll drive a spike in readership. He's a heck of a reporter, though, and can be a decent writer at times, though not so much as a columnist (kind of like Rick Telander). Like Michael's column suggested a couple months ago, they should have used that money to hire a few more reporters.
Didn't the Tribune's new sports editor issue some statement a few weeks ago about going forth and being the best darned sports section in the city? And then in quick succession they lose Dan McGrath and Rick Morrissey. Is all, then, going according to plan? Doesn't look like it.
I can see Morrissey's point. At least for the moment, all the energy is with the Sun-Times. The Tribune has played its card. With the new shock jock CEO, the company and paper appear to have settled into a comfortable (for them) and low state of degradation, content as they are to lose people to the CNC, Sun-Times and even the New York Times. The Tribune is no longer a metropolitan paper with national standing but rather a community paper, with more than a whiff of Glenn Beck-style maudlin, tabloidy appeal aimed squarely at that vital demographic sweet spot of "frenzied families," "carefree couples" and "chipper chipmunks."
Those oddballs among us who don't fall into one of those categories can go elsewhere. Let's wait a little while and see what shakes out at the Sun-Times.
I personally like Morrissey as a columnist, but I wonder how many people will start reading the Sun-Times because of him? Because if that doesn't happen then I'd rather see the company invest in people who will write every day and produce the basic content that many papers in the group are stuggling to still churn out. I don't know how much Morrissey makes, but I'm betting you could hire more than a few entry-level reporters with that money.
Yup. The Sun-Times wants to compete.
Or so they say.
Many people have taken a pay cut -- did it go to Morrissey's salary? And what about the new offices for Mesirow -- sorry, still can't remember how to spell that name -- Financial? Did the pay cut help out there, too? I know they are unrelated companies, but you get my point.
At one of the S-T's papers, the phones are about to be cut because the bill hasn't been paid. The phone company doesn't care that the old bill goes to the old company, not the new one. The phone company just wants the dough. And the new company won't pay up.
Same with the phone-in IT service for that paper. Bill hasn't been paid, so the service is about to be cut.
Merry Christmas!
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