http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2007/05/01/jeff-mccourt-dead-51 Comments On: Jeff McCourt dead at 51 by Michael Miner en-us Copyright 2009 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Chicago Reader readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Chicago Reader. wil@desert.net (Chicago Reader Webmaster) Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0600 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:30:00 -0600 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
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(2) Jeff was out of town the weekend of the mutiny because two staffers, a couple, who were among the Free Press founders, had encouraged him to go to his Michigan summer house. This same couple had encouraged Jeff to indulge in his excesses of choice and supplied him with their favorite contact # for that purpose. One of these same 2 staffers had offered me K [which I refused] during work hours as I was laying out pages for the IML issue in May of 1999, and he and his partner had used Jeff’s office to smoke more than cigarettes. These two staffers played on Jeff’s insecurities, purported to be great friends of Jeff’s – often partying with him, going to dinner and events unrelated to the paper. The staff plotted, and plotted, before they left many months in the making.– shopping for retail space, selling ads space and copying electronic files for the Free Press, encouraging Jeff to stay away from the office by manipulating his trust. Though the list of comments on this blog have been generally reflective, some touching; there is also a degree of REVISIONIST HISTORY by former staffers. I have a hard time understanding how cold a person must be to want to jam ONE MORE KNIFE into the back of a dead man who helped launch their careers. A blog comment will not undo the karmic imprint on your conscience of what you know you did and the malice with which you conducted yourselves over the year you sought to bury Jeff and his business. Here are a few FACTS that should not be ignored in the pious hand-wringing of those who sought end of Jeff’s publication through their malicious efforts: (1.) I worked for Jeff from December 1998 through August alongside the mutineers before their walkout, and I collected paychecks on the same day they were dispersed to all. Jeff was very hands-on with the financial administration of the publication *(no rubber stamp was there, fortunately for him), so occasionally there were delays in paydate. During that time, there were a couple of paychecks that were a few (no more than 3) days late. My checks were always good, never bounced. So the Free Press mayrtr routine regarding fear of destitution is bullshit and really must stop. (2.) Jeff paid exceptionally well, and was a very generous man who hired top talent. He paid more than any of the alternative papers in town, more than many national magazines or metropolitan newspapers pay their rank-and-file writing and design staff. ** As art director, I made $50,000, and the editors and writers made mid-$30- to mid $40,000. *(Check out MediaBistro.com’s salary surveys and you can see that this is very atypical of its publishing niche.) (3.) Jeff was one of the most hands-off managers in the publishing business. Period. He hired talented people and trusted them to do quality work. In fact, he encouraged us to even shake it up more than we had hoped. Creative carte blanche, but adhering to the journalistic standards which had led his publication to its tenured and revered status in the industry. He loved to brainstorm, but he did not micromanage. Furthermore, he spent much time out of the office, entrusting his staff with his baby. (4.) The Free Press mutiny had begun its initial planning in 1998, even before I joined the staff in December. (5.) Timmy Samuel’s first words to me as I interviewed to join the staff replacing him including many disparaging and lurid SECOND-HAND tales of Jeff’s alleged debauchery, perhaps one of the most unprofessional interview comments I have ever heard. He didn’t care he was burning a bridge, because he was already building one with the Free Press mutineers. That Timmy would comment on this blog to defame Jeff once again after his death says more about Timmy than it does about Jeff. (6.) The Windy City Times team that we built from scratch were some of the most talented and dedicated journalists, designers, and sales staff in the publication’s history. Writer/editors Karen Hawkins, Neda Ulaby, photographer/designer Aaron Anderson, production assistant Mark Bazant, and sales staffers Marco, Phil, Jennifer, even Suzy, the former Vogue model turned receptionist – gave the reinvented publication a lifeforce that made it a viable product one year later when sold back to a founding staffer Tracy Baim, the Darrow family heiress, who publishes quality, but pays poorly. (7.) Baim’s newspaper group picked up Jeff’s publication for just under $400k, which was approximately the combined value of the guaranteed Rivendell agency national advertising bookings for the year, so it was a no-brainer. ** In the end, I am grateful it went to someone who cherished the journalistic ideals that Jeff came to trumpet as leader of the paper. Jeff lives on in each issue of the paper which he so spiritedly ran for nearly 15 years of its award-winning history. (8) The staff of Karen, Aaron, Neda, Mark, Marco and myself worked 3-day, 40-hour workweeks for much of that year to keep the paper on top of its game because we had the strength of our convictions. We believed in Windy City Times, its mission, and Jeff as our leader, in the way he was able to inspire us and trust us to produce the best paper possible for the community. Most of that staff, sans Gary, who have remained in Chicago have remained great friends both during and ever since our tenure at WCT. The bond we formed fighting the good fight and helping Jeff save his baby were reward more than money. It was an ethical and moral choice to stay and fight the Free Press. What the FreePress mutineers had done was not only unprofessional and unethical in the way it was executed; the way they had conducted themselves as human beings, moreso than journalists, in wishing ill will on Jeff and reveling in his personal problems then AND, for some, now, is one reason I am proud that I stayed, and I would do it all over again knowing that year would be the final year of Jeff’s publishing career, a bittersweet victory indeed. It was an honor to work with him. He was inspiring, and eccentric. He was sometimes a bit mad, but fought his disease bravely as one of the survivors of his era, never letting himself be defined by a virus, but instead persevering in spite of it. Most of all, Jeff had heart. The FreePress backstabbers had talent, but no heart, and that is why their ill-spirited experiment failed, publishing now as a pale shadow of its founding incarnation. Yes, Mimi, karma indeed! We will miss you, Jeff. Goodbye old friend ! · If anyone wishes to have a benefit in Jeff’s name, I would be proud to help, as would others on the 1999-2000 staff. Please contact us – via my email is dpageil@earthlink.net. I am also currently getting my 2nd Master’s degree currently (the 1st in writing, the 2nd in digital filmmaking) and would love to entertain the idea of a doc about Jeff and the history of the alternative newsweeklies in Chicago. Let me know if anyone would be interested in being interviewed on camera. *[ If honest, I welcome all, even the FreePress folks if they are willing to tell the truth about their defection.] Best wishes, Dan Page
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