Chicago Reader New Publisher & CEO

Solomon Lieberman has been hired as the new CEO & publisher of the Chicago Reader taking the reins later this month from Tracy Baim who announced her departure last summer. The 51-year-old Chicago Reader is operated by the Reader Institute for Community Journalism (RICJ). Eileen Rhodes RICJ Board Chair stated, “We are very excited about the media savvy, passion & business-development acumen that Solomon brings to this job. He has worked in nonprofit Chicago journalism & built a successful nonpartisan organization with national reach. Our hope is that he continues to grow the RICJ nonprofit, strengthening the infrastructure needed to lead this legacy newspaper for the next fifty years.” Tracy Baim added, “The past four years have been more than challenging. When it became independent from the Sun-Times, we first had to rebuild the business side of the organization. The next challenge was surviving during the early phase of the COVID pandemic & most recently, in May 2022, we were finally able to obtain full nonprofit independence. Now it’s time for the next phase, bringing in more resources to stabilize & thrive. I am excited for what Solomon will bring to this equation. I am also very confident in the incredible team we have built at RICJ & our Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA) project. I am proud of the work I have done to build both the Reader & our local media ecosystem & I plan to continue to advocate for community media.” Lieberman concluded, “I keep pinching myself. I get to follow Tracy Baim’s lead, serve a beautiful, interdependent community of makers, members, readers, leaders, business owners & donors & support community journalism at its finest.”

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