Stung Ray
On November 1 Hanania was called in by Dennis Britton, editor of the Sun-Times, and Steve Huntley, the metro editor. They questioned his relationship with city treasurer Miriam Santos, a relationship once torrid and even now disconcertingly chummy. Hanania was a political reporter, assigned to the county beat; Santos was in pitched battle against Mayor Daley over control of city pension funds.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The Sun-Times insists that Hanania voluntarily resigned, leaving nothing more to talk about. Untrue, responds Hanania. “Hanania was effectively given a choice of submitting his resignation or being fired,” avers his lawsuit, which seeks $2 million in punitive damages. “Hanania, under this pressure, was coerced into offering his resignation.”
Hanania quickly recovered from this fever of generosity. He contacted the Guild, which filed a grievance and has formally requested his reinstatement. Hanania also went looking for a lawyer. “I had to find an attorney who’s not afraid of the media and who doesn’t care what they write about him, because the Sun-Times can be pretty vindictive.”
Britton, who may wish he’d said less than he did to the Tribune, wouldn’t say anything to us. We wanted to ask him if a shrewder course might have been to talk Hanania into resigning, refuse to accept the resignation–thus asserting the paper’s disdain for City Hall–and then reassign Hanania to the waterworks or coverage of new video releases. A defamation suit by a prominent former reporter is a headache the Sun-Times doesn’t need.
“That would always raise my profile a lot,” Hanania told us morosely. “Now all that’s down the tubes.”
When Fuller was given a chance to “rather dramatically” expand his staff last year, he decided to split the difference. “A certain number [of the hires] I wanted to get would be very young. We’d have a look and keep the very best.” Hence, the resident program–for journalists who knew more than college interns but weren’t yet fully seasoned. “It’s too early to say how successful it will be for us and the youngsters who come in on it,” Fuller said. But he’s enthusiastic. “When we bring young kids in here, they refresh us. Also, they learn our ways, our institutions, very deeply. And if they find it comfortable, they become very loyal employees and very adroit employees. Because they know how we operate.”
