No more editorials at the Sun-Times

..but you can find lots of silly visual jokes in our annual tournament of champions

To read this issue in your browser, click on the headline above.

Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

The Sun-Times’ editorial voice has been silenced

In “No more editorials at the Sun-Times, but letters, op-eds and columns will continue” published Monday, Tracy Brown, chief content officer of Chicago Public Media, wrote:

We are grateful to Lorraine Forte for serving as editorial board editor since 2018. Forte, along with longtime board member Tom Frisbie and editor/writer Marlen Garcia, have strengthened Chicago with their collective positions on some of our most pressing issues. All recently accepted voluntary buyouts.

As a nonprofit media company, this is an important opportunity for the people of Chicago to become the voice of Chicago. Beginning today, the Sun-Times will no longer offer editorials — pieces expressing a stance on news topics, written by our editorial board.

I’ve long given the side-eye to the whole idea of a newspaper having an institutional voice — whose opinion is being expressed, anyway? Not the reporters or news editors, despite what many readers think. Not necessarily the majority of the members of the editorial board or the opinion editor. Not even necessarily the publisher or owner.

Brown wrote:

Editorials are traditionally unsigned, and when trust in journalism is so precarious, we believe it is essential for our readers to understand exactly who is speaking to them.

I agree, but at the same time I can’t deny that the illusion that the newspaper itself is proclaiming a view lends that view significant heft. For instance, it’s widely thought that the Sun-Times endorsement of Lori Lightfoot for mayor in 2019 was key to her victory. Had that endorsement come from one of the columnists or even two or three columnists, it would have passed with little notice.

And though the Sun-Times is no longer permitted to endorse candidates due to its status as a not-for-profit organization, the paper is ceding a certain amount of power and influence in silencing the editorial voice.

“This change does not mean we are retreating from public dialogue or silencing debate,” Brown wrote, referencing the continuation of letters to the editor and guest columns. “Rather, we’re acknowledging that the voices we need to uplift in Chicago are the voices of the people.”

Newspapers still have a key role in advancing civil public debate by publishing responsible opinions on various sides of important issues. If the Sun-Times continues to do that, it will continue to fulfill its mission.

Quip Madness: The visual jokes, round one, part two

Below are five brackets pitting the winners of the weekly poll from the past year against one another. Select your favorite in each bracket. There were five other brackets last Tuesday and you can still vote there. All of the winners will advance to the next round, which I will post a week from today.

Bracket 6

Bracket 7

Bracket 8

Bracket 9

Bracket 10

Again, check back next Tuesday for the next round.

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

Schumer made the difficult but right call

Mark K. — I agree with you and Chuck Schumer that as bad as the funding bill was, a government shutdown would have been far worse. It would have played right into Trump's hand, allowing him to be the sole determinant of what is considered "essential" and continued to be funded. We can be sure he would be even more draconian than the bill. I don't accept the "the worse the better" argument, saying it would speed a revolt against the GOP, because it would mean so much more suffering by the people who have no impact on the process and the revolt would not at all be guaranteed. For that side, cruelty is the point and the worse really is the better.

Thinking about Teslas in the DOGE era

C. Pittman — I appreciated your defense of most Tesla owners. My husband bought his Tesla in 2015 and I bought mine in 2020. It was good for the environment then and still is. The constantly improving self driving is amazing and makes it an incredibly safe way to drive and will surely be the technology of the future. I got my Tesla keyed in rural Indiana in 2022, and now I am worried about that happening in Chicago. My husband really wants a new Tesla because of the improvements in self-driving technology, but as of now will not be getting one.

I am not sure why Musk completely flipped to the dark side but President Joe Biden honoring other car companies for electrifying the automobile industry and snubbing Musk because his plant is non-union was a horrible mistake and enraged me at the time. I

Skeptic — I bought a Tesla one year ago, and I would buy one now if I needed a new car. For my current transportation needs it is a perfect fit. It’s a good value for the money. Since it does not have an engine, maintenance is much less. The cost to charge is much cheaper than the cost of gas on a regular car. Over the past year I saved $3500 in fuel costs. Many people consider a car to be an expression of themselves, and I can understand why they would not buy the Tesla brand. A boycott makes sense if you want to change the behavior of a company. But the Tesla company is not doing anything objectionable as far as I know. There is an important difference between that and what its largest individual shareholder does with his own money.

Ken Bissett — It’s ironic that Trump, who has been so anti EV now wants to promote EVs by buying more Teslas as a means of political expression.

Marc Martinez — Trump is opposed to government dictates on EVs and government funding of EV programs like the entirely useless and wasteful charger program. Tesla offered to share its charging technology, at no cost, with the rest of the US automakers about a decade ago. They all refused and developed their own devices/standards, but then realized in 2023 that they were wrong and switched to the Tesla standard.

Tesla's troubles are partially a result of Musk's egoistic efforts to tie his name tightly to the brand and his role as CEO. But Musk only owns 14% of shares (potentially 20% when options are included). The remaining shares are owned by mutual funds, pension funds, and other individuals.

The economic damage to shareholders that are innocent bystanders is much greater than the damage to Musk. Not to mention the effect on the employees of Tesla and their suppliers.

Rick Weiland — I have no doubt that EVs will eventually prevail, but I sometimes think their owners believe that the electricity comes from the Electricity Fairy and not the power grid that still relies mainly on fossil fuels. And nobody seems to count the environmental cost of making and eventually disposing of the batteries. This will no doubt get better, but at present it’s pretty significant.

I have no doubt that someday (and I look forward to the day) automated vehicles will prevail. But they are not yet competent except in the simplest environments and I hope the folks relying on Tesla’s self-driving capabilities are still keeping a very careful eye on traffic.

John Houck — Speaking of Tesla's self-driving capabilities, check out “Tesla Fans Furious at Video of Tesla Crashing Into Wall Painted Like Road.”

David Leitschuh — The biggest drawback with EV's at present is the lithium batteries which do not have the necessary range for most people, take a relatively long time to recharge and are desecrating our planet in their mineral production to say nothing of enriching China. The next generation battery will be solid state and experts predict EVs will then have a far greater range and will recharge in 15 minutes or less. Toyota is projecting they will have solid-state batteries in passenger vehicle production in the next 3 years or so, and when that does come to pass I believe it will be a breakthrough.

Zorn — I’m convinced that EVs are the future even though they are far from environmentally neutral. Electricity is a renewable resource — at least in some ways — and once the range/charging/price point issues are better resolved I can see them capturing huge market shares.

Tesla gained attention, credibility and badly needed seed money when Musk was an early investor, and he’s paying the public-relations price these days as the face of the company even though he owns just 14% of the company, as noted and, as this Elektrek article notes, he’s not quite the Henry Ford of the EV:

Tesla’s core idea was to create an electric vehicle without compromise by leveraging improvements in lithium-ion battery cell technology. However, all evidence points toward Musk not being involved with this core idea.

With that said, we need to give credit where credit is due. He recognized it as a good idea and put more money into making it happen than any was willing to do at the time.

Therefore, you could make the argument that Tesla wouldn’t have happened without Musk — making the founder argument moot.

C. Pittman’s experience getting her Tesla keyed in rural Indiana in 2022 may have reflected Red State hostility to all things green at the time, particularly the gas-sipping Toyota Prius and those who drive them (“Rated No. 1 in customer self-satisfaction,” as the joke has it). Now that Musk has gone full MAGA, my guess is her Tesla will be safe if not celebrated in rural Indiana.

Was Mayor Johnson’s bond deal similar to the dreaded parking-meter deal?

Cate Plys — Regarding Little Bear’s critique of the idea that Mayor Brandon Johnson's $830 million bond deal is very similar to Mayor Richard M. Daley’s infamous 2008 sell-off of the parking meter concession in Chicago. I do think it's absolutely fair to compare the bond deal with the parking meters, though bonds are so amorphous in daily life that the bond deal is unlikely to live in infamy the way the parking meters do.

When it comes to both bonds and parking meters, we lose gigantic amounts of money long-term for a short-term budget fix that benefits a mayor who probably won't pay for it at the ballot box. (Daley was leaving office, Johnson is using a crazy debt structure that won't require the city to make payments until he's long out of office.)

Make no mistake, Johnson's bonds are a short-term quick fix dressed up to sound legit by saying they're for "capital" projects. But these are mostly projects like street paving and "streetscapes" that should be paid with current revenue and will need redoing soon, not bridges that last 50 years. He stuck us with long term debt rather than responsibly trimming his budget or making government work better.

I see Little Bear's point in noting that the opinion he was challenging came from Austin Berg of the Illinois Policy Institute, and that this should make us highly skeptical.

We should always consider the potential biases of any information source and adjust accordingly with skepticism or more research. After that, I go by a great quote I saw once from some free speech group, by Maimonides: "Accept the truth from whatever source it comes."

I'm not affiliated with any party, I'm almost more disgusted with Democrats right now than Republicans though I've always ended up feeling forced to vote Democrat.

Still, if Donald Trump says the sky is blue I won't deny it simply because he said it.

I'm cautious of IPI generally for all the reasons Little Bear cited. That said, the questions in my mind remain the same with IPI or any other group or person --whether facts and figures are correct, whether I believe policy prescriptions will perform as claimed, and whether I think the claimed result would be a good one. I've yet to hear Austin quote incorrect facts. There are policies where we'd disagree or I'm not sure — I really can't make up my mind who's right about charter schools and vouchers — but I've never seen Austin Berg, who wrote that post for “The Last Ward,” his Substack, give any indication of disingenuous motives. Bottom line, there are plenty of places for people across the political spectrum to agree, and we should look for those places rather than not talking to people according to their perceived place on the spectrum.

Zorn — Cate Plys and I are both on “The Mincing Rascals” podcast team with Austin Berg, who is the vice president for marketing at the Illinois Policy Institute and a co-founder of Iron Light, a marketing agency

Service journalism

MTFA — Can you once again publish the contact phone number for Chicago Tribune customer service where I can talk to someone about our subscription rate? We are really trying to keep the paper, and have gone digital except for Sunday delivery. It's still very expensive.

Zorn — Yes, it’s 312-546-7900. A reminder that, if you don’t want to be charged $14 extra a month for “premium issues” delivered with your Sunday paper, you have to call the operator with this request at least once every six months.

Unpopular opinions?

Close/consolidate under-enrolled public schools

Barbara V. -- Public schools with less than half the enrollment that they were designed for should be closed/consolidated. It’s more affordable for fully enrolled schools to offer a wide variety of classes, staffing and extracurriculars, and it makes no sense to pay to heat and maintain big buildings for small enrollments, and to pay for all the “have-tos” teachers want like nurses and librarians.

Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, amplified this view in “The case for closing under-enrolled, low-performing schools.”

Do students suffer when their schools are closed? …. This is a question that has been studied extensively over the past few decades, and the somewhat exasperating answer is: It depends. Specifically, it depends on whether the affected students land in higher-performing schools. If so, they tend to do better, at least in the long run. If not, they do worse. (That’s the case for charter school closures, as well.)

There’s also better-than-expected news for affected communities. While local residents understandably worry that a shuttered school will signal (continued) decline in their neighborhood, at least one study in Philadelphia found that crime, especially violent crime, declined significantly when high schools with high rates of student misbehavior and low academic performance were closed.

But schools, even when under-enrolled, are often integral parts of communities, and The National Education Policy Center makes the case for keeping them open.

Closing schools in the name of improving student achievement is a “high-risk/low-gain strategy” that fails to increase students’ achievement or their overall well-being. … Students struggle academically, socially and emotionally after their school is closed. ... And the evidence is clear that school closures disproportionately impact low-income communities and communities of color.

Education Week also throws shade on the idea:

Closing schools generally doesn’t save districts a lot of money, so shuttering campuses isn’t the best move if the goal is to save a buck. … Closing 1 of every 15 campuses saves only about 4 percent of a district’s budget, with most of the savings coming from reductions in labor costs. … And even when a school building is closed and students and staff move elsewhere, the building itself still costs money. A district has to pay for some maintenance on shuttered buildings so they don’t become neighborhood eyesores. And the process of closing a building costs money.

Your view:

332 votes

Last week’s result

I submitted “The baseball season is too damn long.” Here is what the click-lectorate said:

365 votes

The indifference to the National Pastime seen in this unscientific poll ought to be troubling to the MLB brass, especially since most of my readers are in the older demographic that tends to favor baseball the most, as this 2023 Gallup poll result reveals.

Gallup poll, Dec. 1-20, 2023

MLB will never shorten the season as long as each game makes money, that’s clear. But officials need to think harder about why less than 10% of Americans under retirement age consider baseball their favorite sport and what they can do about that.

Tom Krish — Baseball’s regular season is a good length. It’s the postseason that’s too long. They keep adding rounds, which lets more mediocre teams in. Every so often an 85-win team will go on a run and an 100-win team will lose early, and it will make the regular season feel like a waste of time.

Rick Weiland — I would be more OK with the 162-game season if the April games were all scheduled for cities where it's warm or that have domed stadiums. I've got tickets for two Cubs games in April and my fingers are crossed. Some Aprils (e.g., 2023) are balmy. Some (e.g., 2024) are miserable.

This occasional Tuesday feature is intended to highlight opinions that are defensible but may well be unpopular. If you have one to add, leave it in comments or send me an email, but be sure to offer at least a paragraph in defense of your view.

NewsWheel

Inspired by the WordWheel puzzle in the Monday-Friday Chicago Tribune and other papers, this puzzle asks you to identify the missing letter that will make a word or words — possibly proper noun; reading either clockwise or counterclockwise — related to a story in the news. The answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

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Info

Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

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Answer to the NewsWheel puzzle

SUNTIMES