Black & White & Red Faces All Over: Chicago Law Hurts Free Papers

BLACK & WHITE & RED FACES ALL OVER: CHICAGO LAW HURTS FREE PAPERS
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher, AUTHOR: Mark Fitzgerald]
A Chicago law passed unanimously last winter to bar the indiscriminate door-to-door distribution of menus, brochures, and other advertising flyers also bans many circulation practices for free newspapers. The provision applying the ban to newspapers was discovered by Ron Roenigk, the publisher of two free community papers on the city's Northwest Side, Inside, and Inside Lincoln Park. "It passed 50 to nothing -- and I'm sure 49 of (the aldermen) didn't even read the legislation," he said. Roenigk did read the law, however -- and became alarmed at its implications. Chicago is awash in free papers, including dailies published by the city's biggest newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. Ironically, the clauses extending the litter bill to newspapers were added by an alderman in the distribution area for one of Roenigk's papers. Ald. Manuel "Manny" Flores of the First Ward now wants to rewrite the section, and has invited Roenigk and other publishers to advise him on better language. In another irony, Roenigk changed the 20,000-distribution Inside Lincoln Park newspaper to home delivery when an anti-litter ordinance that was limited to certain neighborhoods took effect two years ago. "It's our answer to a TMC (total market coverage) product," he said. "We figured we could use it as the delivery vehicle for the pizza menus, flyers, etc." that could no longer be slipped under doors or left on stoops.
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