Chicago Reader co-owner Len Goodman and three board members stepped down Tuesday amid protests from employees, freeing the embattled alternative newspaper to transition to a nonprofit organization.
The Reader has been stuck in limbo since December, when a planned transition to a nonprofit model was delayed over concerns about alleged censorship of an opinion piece written by Goodman, who pushed for an investigation into the matter and more representation on the successor board.
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Goodman announced Tuesday he was stepping away from the Reader immediately over “an unresolvable impasse” with fellow co-owner, Chicago real estate developer Elzie Higginbottom, who wanted to move forward with the planned transition to a nonprofit newspaper.
“We cannot continue the fight without destroying the Reader,” Goodman said in a statement. “I am stepping aside. I will sign off on the sale so that the Reader can transition immediately to NFP status.”
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Board members Dorothy Leavell, Sladjana Vuckovic and Carol Bell, who were aligned with Goodman’s concerns, announced they were also stepping down immediately
Frustrated Reader editorial employees organized a rally last week in front of Goodman’s Lakeview East home and planned another one for Thursday morning in an effort to get the Chicago criminal defense attorney to relinquish control and let the newspaper move forward as a nonprofit. Goodman blamed Reader management for not addressing his concerns.
In 2018, Goodman and Higginbottom bought the Reader from the Chicago Sun-Times for $1 and the assumption of debt. Since then, they have invested more than $1 million each to keep it afloat, weathering the pandemic and supporting the money-losing publication as it planned to transition to a more sustainable nonprofit model.
That plan was delayed after editors pushed back on a November opinion piece by Goodman expressing concerns about vaccinating his 6-year-old daughter against COVID-19, which created backlash on social media for some disputed scientific claims.
More to come.
