New Chicago Reader Editor Fired Over Controversial Pritzker Cover

CHICAGO — The top editor of the Chicago Reader was fired after cover art on his very first issue elicited a barrage of criticism and condemnation for its symbolic use of a lawn jockey. Mark Konkol promised to "take risks and make waves" when he was named the Reader's executive editor on Jan. 31. But to many, including the alt-weekly's ownership, the cover satirizing Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker was beyond the pale.

Entitled "J.B. Pritzker's 'African-American Thing'" the Reader's Feb. 15 issue included several pieces about racially-tinged wire-tapped conversations between Pritzker and now-imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

"Sometimes things don't work out as planned," said Sun-Times Media Group CEO Edwin Eisendrath in a statement Saturday announcing Konkol's departure. Eisendrath apologized to anyone offended by the cover, which featured a cartoon portraying Pritzker sitting on a black lawn jockey and blowing smoke as an FBI agent takes notes while listening in.

The image references a covertly recorded conversation during which Pritzker suggests the then-governor nominate Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. Pritzker described him as the "least offensive" candidate, then went on to describe other black politicians. He called former State Senate President Emil Jones "crass."

Eisendrath, a former Chicago aldermen, led a union-backed investment group that purchased the parent company of the Sun-Times and the Reader last July. The unions are backing Pritzker's candidacy for governor.

The published cover, Eisendrath said, "distracted from the publication as a whole."

Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle, Chicago Treasurer Kurt Summers and Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th Ward, who have also endorsed Pritzker, called the cartoon racist in a joint statement soon after the paper hit the streets.

Sawyer, chair of the City Council Black Caucus, demanded an apology from the Reader for "race-baiting," which was "just stirring things up about race.” Sawyer said J.B.'s remarks on the wiretap were inappropriate and the billionaire Democratic front-runner had already apologized and been "rightfully chastised," the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“But I think it’s time to move on to talking about something substantial,” Sawyer said. “We’re getting away from the real issues here. It’s a waste.”

Criticism of the cover was not limited to Pritzker's supporters.

The freelance writer who wrote two featured pieces critical of Pritzker, Adeshina Emmanuel, wrote an article strongly opposing the choice of cover art for the Columbia Journalism Review. In it, Emmanuel said Konkol initially suggested they include a full spelling of the N-word in the headline.

A week prior, at Konkol's invitation, Emmanuel wrote a commentary for the Reader about the wiretap comments, titled "Pritzker the sneak disser might as well have said the N-word". Emmanuel and Konkol had worked together at DNAinfo Chicago, and Konkol was a fan of the young writer's work. In the piece, Emmanuel described Pritzker's comments as "subtle racism."

The cover art, however, was not subtle.

Konkol commissioned illustrator Greg Houston, whose work has appeared in the Village Voice, the Utne Reader, LA New Times, and other publications, and Houston came up with a few takes on the issue. According to people familiar with the deliberations, Houston's first idea for the cover included Pritzker in black face with white-gloved jazz hands.

Eisendrath balked at the black-face illustration, media columnist Robert Feder wrote. Konkol and Eisendrath went back and forth over issues of editorial control in the days leading up to publication. Ultimately, Konkol selected the artwork with Pritzker perched atop a lawn jockey.

“There was a time in America when certain things were socially acceptable without any thought to how dehumanizing they were to someone else," Houston said in the paper's editor's note, describing his search for a visual metaphor. "The image of the lawn jockey symbolizes the wink-and-a-nudge ignorance that puts racism into context historically and in this contemporary situation. As a Democrat, Pritzker indeed needs the black vote, and he puts all his weight on it in a most disrespectful manner.”

The joint statement from Preckwinkle, Summer and Sawyer disagreed:

“The Chicago Reader says its cover art featuring the image of a lawn jockey is a ‘wink and a nudge’ that provides historical context for racism," they wrote. “A ‘wink’ infers subtlety. This cartoon is not subtle and cannot do the work of contextualizing racism because it is in itself racist. At a time when we are having a debate as a state and as a nation about who we are and how insidious racism infects our politics, this image does not advance the thoughtful debate we need and is therefore disappointing.”

In his account of the of events in the Columbia Journalism Review, Emmanuel wrote that if he had known what the cover art was going to be he would have pulled his article from the issue.

Several members of the Reader's staff publicly celebrated Konkol's departure after what Eisendrath described in his statement as a "tumultuous ten days."

"Ding dong the witch is dead," read a now-deleted tweet from the Reader's account. Others accused him of being mean to some Reader staff members. The Reader's story about Konkol's departure from the Reader included tags that read "bigot" and "racist." Those tags were later deleted.

Konkol justified the cover art in a statement before he left the paper.

“Today’s Reader included a variety of opinions about J.B. Pritzker’s wire-tapped interaction with former Governor Rod Blagojevich, including the candidate’s own statements in his defense. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We stand by our decision to engage readers on important issues of the day by producing journalism and social commentary that gets people talking about uncomfortable topics.”

Konkol, 44, a former Chicago Sun-Times and DNAinfo columnist, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and produced the 2014 CNN series Chicagoland. He was nominated for an Emmy last year. He declined to comment for this story. Before the Reader gig, Konkol consulted for and contributed to Patch.

When hired last month to take over the money-losing Reader, Konkol said the paper always had been "a stick-in-the-eye to the status quo." A veteran Chicago area reporter, this was Konkol's first job as an editor.

“This is a once-in-forever opportunity for me," he said in a news release. "I’m thankful to Sun-Times CEO Edwin Eisendrath and his team, and even more excited to start kicking ass."

Former DNAinfo senior editor Dave Newbart has been tapped as interim executive editor to "stabilize the ship," Eisendrath told the Chicago Tribune.

Read Eisendrath's complete statement:

I am announcing today the departure of Mark Konkol from the Reader. Mark came to the publication bringing great hope for a new direction and a new life to a storied brand. Sometimes things don’t work out as planned. A tumultuous ten days culminated in the publication of a Reader cover that we believe was not in line with either our vision for the Reader or that storied history. We wish Mark well.

While controversy is sometimes seen as part and parcel of the alternative weekly world, we believe it’s necessary in this instance to apologize to anyone who was offended by this week’s cover. The published cover in my view distracted from the publication as a whole.

The reporters at the Reader work hard to be great journalists. They can and will take on the toughest stories — including issues of race, injustice and people struggling to be heard.
We will put in place interim leadership and plan for the future.

Konkol interviewed Pritzker for the issue:

Top photo: Cover art of the Chicago Reader's Feb. 15, 2018 issue | via Youtube