Editor, Staffers Abandon Ship at Chicago Free Press

By Joseph Erbentraut in News on Dec 23, 2009 9:30PM

One of the city's two LGBT weeklies, the Chicago Free Press, and its publisher David Constanzo have become the center of scrutiny as the paper's top editor, art director, graphic designer and the majority of its writers walked out Monday. According to reports from the Chicago Tribune, editorial contributors had not been paid since mid-November, while staff members were still awaiting paychecks due last week.

Amy Wooten, formerly the paper's senior writer, confirmed to Chicagoist that she and other editorial staffers have left and been forced to file for unemployment. She and others' attempts to get in contact with Constanzo have been unsuccessful for weeks, with the publisher's cell phone apparently set to block all incoming calls.

In the Tribune story, updated last evening, Constanzo came out of hiding. He claims issues "from a cash-flow standpoint" had forced him to choose between laying off people or asking them to wait for their paychecks and that checks were on the way as of Tuesday. The next issue of the paper will be reportedly be out, on schedule, tomorrow and he plans to hire replacements for the departed staffers.

The whole mess has painted an uncertain future for the Free Press, particularly as a number of other prominent LGBT-geared publications, including those of Window Media and Unite Media, have shuttered over the course of the past year. But, judging by comments by former Free Press employees on a Facebook group, it certainly looks like the paper's struggles have deeper roots than simply the rocky economic climate:

"Remember that time we didn't get paid, and that other time, and that other time, and that other time, and that other time, That WAS Funny," said one former staffer. Another, former editor Matt Simonette, said: "I will say that today is the first day in six months I woke up without having to take 2 or 3 ibuprofen. I think my liver is going to thank me for [leaving]."