Changes at Chicago Tribune

Change continues at the Chicago Tribune.

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Bruce Dold will leave the Tribune April 30, the paper announced last week. He’s been in those roles since early spring 2016 and counts a Pulitzer Prize among his accomplishments in his more than 40 years at the paper.

Colin McMahon has taken over as editor-in-chief. He was Tribune Publishing’s chief content officer. The paper hasn’t appointed a publisher.

Peter Kendall, one of two managing editors at the paper, is gone as of the end of February. His position won’t be filled, the paper said. Chrissy Taylor will continue to serve as managing editor.

Also among recent changes, former chief financial officer Terry Jimenez took over as CEO after Tim Knight left in February. Knight has been named president and CEO at McCormick Foundation, established in 1955 after Col. Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, died.

The shakeups come on the heels of New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital’s taking a 32% stake in Tribune Publishing last fall. Tribune Publishing then added two Alden representatives to the company’s board, making it eight members. Alden is barred from boosting its stake in the company to more than 33 percent until the end of June.

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is the second-largest shareholder at Tribune Publishing, with a 24 percent stake.

Tribune also publishes the New York Daily News, the Baltimore Sun and other publications.

“The Trib folks are pretty shaken up. They are interpreting this as very bad news,” a Tribune Publishing inside source told The New York Post.

The concern is that “metrics drives decisions on story coverage,” the source said, according to the Post. “We will be using more syndicated copy. There will likely be staff cuts.”

Tribune Publishing also recently announced that Robert York, editor of the Daily News, would be in charge of the Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Post reported.

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