Chicago Sun-Times Chairman Developing Midwest Tabloid

By Soyoung Kwak in News on Feb 26, 2012 8:00PM

We thought this day would never come, but it's finally happening: Crain's Chicago Business reports that Chicago and the rest of the Midwest region will soon be featured on Page Six in its very own tabloid. The Midwest-focused tabloid concept is very real, and very much in process. Chicago Sun-Times chairman Michael Ferro (who became chairman last December) is serious about turning his tabloid dreams into reality.

The proposed tabloid sounds like any other, with a focus on the goings-on of "important" people in the Midwest social scene, but with at least some mention of hard news:

A native of New York's Long Island, Mr. Ferro wants to create a splashier tabloid—a New York Post of the Midwest—with more coverage of Chicago celebs, sports and even business, according to people familiar with his thinking. He's also intent on an upgraded tablet application, they say. At the chain's 40 suburban dailies and weeklies, Mr. Ferro is focusing on hyperlocal news on real estate, crime and high-school sports, these people say.

Ferro released in a statement that says he envisions a “credible, colorful and charitable paper that homes in on the good, the bad and the beautiful of Chicago." We are definitely interested in how a tabloid and its contents could be "charitable" to the general public, but will this tabloid have a genuine audience?