Mission Accomplished
How Gary Lost Its Newspaper
In 1999, the Region gasped in bewilderment at The Post-Tribune’s (TGPT) relocation of most of its operations to Merrillville. There was no warning. The business informed no one that this was in the works. Instead, the City of Gary, the paper’s namesake, found out with the broader public.
Part of the story involved Hollinger International, a now bankrupt Canadian publisher. Sometime between 1997 and 1999, Hollinger built and opened a $110 million printing plant at 2800 S. Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL.
In 1998, Hollinger bought TGPT from Knight-Ridder, the second largest news publisher in the country at the time. Even then, there were plans to remove the Region from the printing process altogether. Yet, for some reason, this was not executed at the time. There is no real explanation for why the Chicago printing relocation effort got delayed until the late 2000s.
Hollinger was lazily-ran and needlessly serpentine. Larger media conglomerates deemed Hollinger a “junk status” and “entertainment wannabe.” However, no one in Gary knew what Hollinger was, nor did they know their role in removing TGPT to Merrillville. Everyone was hyper-focused on whom they could see and reach in the immediate. That meant the local staff of TGPT.
The primary operations moving out of Gary would be its core elements: newsroom, offices, advertising, and circulation. A new building would house these departments at 83rd & Louisiana Streets in Merrillville. Because Hollinger would not remove printing duties to Chicago, the original Gary building and a handful of maintenance workers remained for the time being.
GREENER PASTURES
TGPT staff is the second part of the story. They were not innocent in this decision to move. For some reason, TGPT was having problems attracting talent; that was the excuse. The talent problem got depicted as “marketplace factors.” Since at least 1995, TGPT had discussed moving out of Gary behind closed doors. However, they never formally solicited Knight-Ridder of this nor mentioned such a motion to any Gary officials.
These “marketplace factors” were never genuinely vetted in public. However, one should not think too hard to crack that code. TGPT felt moving to Merrillville would rid themselves of the social burden of operating in Gary. In addition, they hoped this would attract new white talent that would otherwise not dare step foot in Gary, not even to work.
Metropolitan newspapers in the Chicagoland area became singularly focused on increasing profits. They started dropping city names from their headings to create a perception of broader reach, which suddenly mattered for some reason. However, at the time, TGPT was the ONLY one to completely snatch its operations out of its home city and move to the suburbs.
Gary leaders and residents were absolutely livid. Not only was the city disrespected by being left out of the decision-making process, but there was also no plan announced for the brick-and-mortar headquarters, located at 1065 Broadway.
In addition, Gary was in the middle of a redevelopment revamp. The baseball stadium plan was still being flushed out, and all of the pieces were finally being placed.
TGPT did not consult with anybody from Gary’s redevelopment circle. Aside from the embarrassment of losing yet another long-established institution, redevelopment planners now had to deal with another soon-to-be-abandoned business block. High hopes got placed on the prospect of an economic development renaissance that would retain or attract more business to downtown Gary, not repel them away.
However, black leaders in the city saw the move coming a mile away. Though not ever said publicly, behind closed doors, enlightened leadership had already counted down the days until TGPT uprooted.
Since black political leadership rose with the election of Richard G. Hatcher as mayor, TGPT got perceived as antagonistic to Gary in general and the black experience in the Region, especially in the city.
At one time, the paper was praised for its coverage of race, poverty, corruption, and big enterprise. Its journalists and reporters constantly gave lessons on civics, politics, and their implications on our daily lives. Unfortunately, Chicago news only glanced at Northwest Indiana now and then.
However, The Gary Post-Tribune officially dropped “Gary” from its name in 1974, when Knight-Ridder purchased it. Then, it began to “zone” its editions by geographical location in an attempt to reach the white, rural outskirts of Lake County. But isn’t south Lake County still Lake County? Why zone it?
Unfortunately, by 1999, TGPT was a villain, in the same manner The Times is considered in Gary today.
“The way The Gary Post-Tribune has been treating the people of the city of Gary lately, people will probably be glad if they go,” said Lake County Councilman Troy Montgomery. “I understand that everything is moving south’ that’s the general trend. We need to keep some things up north, and the daily newspaper is one of them.”
Though thousands shared his sentiment, Montgomery would be indicted on racketeering and bribery charges three years later.
BONI FINE
That was not the only switch-up alleged. TGPT started laying off employees. The editor at the time, Boni L.Fine, new to Gary, refused to comment on any part of this controversy. Instead, TGPT actions were given to the press by the president of the Gary Newspaper Guild.
In fact, for nearly an entire decade, Boni Fine would never publicly speak about what she did with TGPT. She never returned phone calls or answered inquiries.
Fine was a complete shill for the Chicago Sun-Times, working for them since 1994, according to her LinkedIn. She is as corporate and cold as they come. She became the Sun-Times’ vice-president of advertising in 2006 but only held it for a year. Nevertheless, Boni Fine has done well for herself. Good on her.
In 2011, Fine got recognized by Congressman Pete Visclosky for “her service to the community” and her “outstanding commitment to the residents of the First Congressional District by the YWCA of Northwest Indiana.” While what she did at the YWCA cannot be spoken for by us, we can speak on her plunging treatment of the rest of Gary and her unwavering, steady depletion of Gary’s media institution.
The Congressional Record stated that Fine mobilized a diverse community to “provide vibrant opportunities and experiences that strive to diminish racial and gender disparities in health , education, and wealth attainment…”.
This would be a completely different world if an ounce of this got applied to saving TGPT.
TOXIC CULTURE
There was turmoil during 1999. Disputes between employees and management were common. There were verbal arguments, sudden “firings,” work stoppages, union disputes, and other woes. This chaos was just fine with the higher-ups. To them, this was an opportunity to weed out those who could not adapt.
Secondly, this period was when many classic-era journalists were retiring or just flat-out dying in droves. One could imagine the same applying to the grunt workers. Lastly, having the chance to be corporate as hell in a new city would serve to avoid the political (racial) turmoil doing the same inside Gary itself and maybe save a buck at the same time.
The TGPT building was not that old, nearing 40. However, its printing equipment was antiquated. Parts were increasingly hard to find. Night printing ceased. Other operations were local distribution, a small Gary news office, and a small Gary business office. As time passed, machines broke down, costing the company lots of money they did not want to spend anymore.
It seems keeping printing in Gary was just a courtesy. The plan was to move it out of Gary, and with new printing plants in Illinois, shut down could happen at any time, which came in March of 2007. Funny how Boni Fine retired from her job three months before this occurred.
The Times and TGPT were always rivals. The Times beat TGPT in sales this year and would subtly jab their rival every chance they got. The jabs still did not cease when Sun-Times Media Group shut down printing operations in Gary and scattered its other duties elsewhere. Thirty employees lost their jobs or were offered positions in Chicago.
In 2009, the owner of The Chicago Sun-Times filed for bankruptcy. It had no debt but did not pay taxes or monitor its operating losses. The new Merrillville (closed 2013) and Crown Point buildings were put up for sale. Staff got laid off or moved to Chicago. Nonunion workers had to be assigned unpaid leave, severance pay was terminated, and insurance plans got canceled.
In response to this, The Gary Newspaper Guild attempted to buy TGPT through a majority stake with their Employee Stock Ownership Plan. This also happened in 1989 when the Guild offered to purchase TGPT from Knight-Ridder. But, of course, it did not go through.
However, the 1999 bid got blocked when a Chicago banker named James Tyree bought Sun-Times Media for $20 million. Tyree’s company, Sun-Times Media Group Holdings, LLC, negotiated with the Guild about concessions (pay cuts and seniority rule changes).
The Guild hated that they were now at the mercy of an investment group. When the Guild voted 17–1 to reject the concessions, STMG stated that it was “tantamount to voting for the company’s extinction.” They also stated they wanted to “save jobs and a great Chicago institution” but did not want to foot the bill. However, both parties did eventually come to an agreement.
Unfortunately, The Gary Newspaper Guild suffered an embarrassing and damaging controversy. Its treasurer, TGPT reporter Karen Snelling of Chicago, was indicted and pleaded guilty in 2009 to embezzling nearly $18,000 from its members. But, really, how low can one go?
The Guild, founded in 1947, was eliminated in 2011 when it voted to merge with the Chicago Newspaper Guild. It is now known as the “Gary unit.” So the last lingering Gary media vestige was gone.
Mission accomplished.
