Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 11, 2009 at 15:24:24:
Sun-Times Editor in Chief Michael Cooke resigns
February 11, 2009
BY DAVID ROEDER | Chicago Sun-Times
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Chicago Sun-Times Editor in Chief Michael Cooke announced his resignation today and said he will become editor of Canada's largest newspaper, the Toronto Star.
Cooke, 56, will leave the Sun-Times at the end of this month.
On Tuesday, the paper's owner, Sun-Times Media Group Inc., named a new board chairman and interim chief executive while realigning the duties of other top managers.
No successor for Cooke was immediately named.
In Toronto, Cooke will rejoin a longtime friend, former Sun-Times publisher John Cruickshank, who is now publisher of the Star.
"The opportunity is irresistible," Cooke said in a memo to the Sun-Times' news staff.
Cooke said he believes the Sun-Times and its parent company will survive its current financial trouble. He suggested that several "accomplished businessmen" in Chicago could step into ownership.
"The financial problems are no secret," Cooke wrote, "and while I believe this year and next will be difficult and painful for the newsroom, there is a road to recovery. This is not based on hope alone."
Cooke has been the Sun-Times' editor since September 2006. He also had a prior tour of duty as the paper's editor from 2000 to early 2005, leaving then for a stint at the New York Daily News.