When Maudlyne Ihejirika, an award-winning journalist, asked me to meet her at her office recently for our interview, I was surprised. Hadn’t she retired from the Chicago Sun-Times? What was she doing at a high-rise office in downtown Chicago? Ihejirika was in the lobby, waiting for me so she could escort me to the third…
Although reporter Jim DeRogatis could have been forced to testify in the recent R. Kelly trial in Chicago, a federal judge declined to make him, deciding that defense attorneys had not made their case. It was a surprise–and a relief–for DeRogatis, who broke the R. Kelly sexual-abuse story in 2000 and has reported on it…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to grant one-on-one interviews to journalists of color conjures my own thoughts about the unbearable whiteness of Chicago news media. Her decision reminded me of spring 2019 when I hurriedly left a Manhattan classroom to board a plane to Chicago for the highly anticipated Chicago Headline Club annual Lisagor awards.…