RedEye

---

title: "RedEye" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["free-daily-newspapers", "chicago-tribune", "newspapers-published-in-chicago", "newspapers-established-in-2002", "2002-establishments-in-illinois"] description: "Daily newspaper in Chicago" topic_path: "general/free-daily-newspapers" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RedEye" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Daily newspaper in Chicago ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox newspaper"]

Field	Value
name	RedEye
image	[[Image:RedEye front page.jpg
caption	The December 6, 2010 front page
of RedEye
type	Weekly newspaper
format	Tabloid
founded
owners	Tribune Publishing
editor	Lauren Chval
circulation	250,000
title	Chicago Tribune's RedEye to increase distribution
first	Phil
newspaper	Chicago Tribune
date	December 2, 2009
url	http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/12/chicago-tribunes-redeye-to-increase-distribution.html
access-date	August 12, 2010
}}<ref name	"circulation-redeye"
title	You asked, we deliver -- Coming soon: More RedEye, more places
first	Scott
newspaper	RedEye
date	December 2, 2009
url	http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/2009/12/you-asked-we-deliver----coming-soon-more-redeye-more-places.html
access-date	August 12, 2010}}
ceased_publication
headquarters	Chicago, Illinois,
United States
website
::

| name = RedEye | image = [[Image:RedEye front page.jpg|225px|border]] | caption = The December 6, 2010 front page of RedEye | type = Weekly newspaper | format = Tabloid | founded = | owners = Tribune Publishing | editor = Lauren Chval | circulation = 250,000 |title=Chicago Tribune's RedEye to increase distribution |first=Phil |last=Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 2, 2009 |url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/12/chicago-tribunes-redeye-to-increase-distribution.html |access-date=August 12, 2010 |title=You asked, we deliver -- Coming soon: More RedEye, more places |first=Scott |last=Kleinberg |newspaper=RedEye |date=December 2, 2009 |url=http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/2009/12/you-asked-we-deliver----coming-soon-more-redeye-more-places.html |access-date=August 12, 2010}} | ceased_publication = | headquarters = Chicago, Illinois, United States | ISSN = | website = RedEye was a publication put out by the Chicago Tribune geared toward 18 to 34-year-olds. It was published every weekday since its inception in 2002 until February 3, 2017. Publication was reduced to weekly starting February 9, 2017. Daily circulation was 250,000 as of December 2, 2009. |quote=The last daily print issue of RedEye will be Feb. 3, with the first weekly issue published on Feb. 9. |author=Channick, Robert |title=RedEye reboots as weekly entertainment publication |date=January 10, 2017 |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-redeye-restructure-0111-biz-20170110-story.html |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=June 1, 2017

Competition

RedEye was created because of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers' loss of readership among young people. Tribune Company began publishing the RedEye in an effort to pull readers back into readership and eventually migrate them into the big edition (Tribune).

When RedEye appeared, it was in direct competition with another paper Red Streak, which the Tribune's Chicago competitor the Sun-Times began publishing at the same time. Initially, both papers were handed out for free by "hawkers" on street corners, usually with one vendor from each paper directly next to each other. After about six months of the free papers, both companies placed vending boxes throughout the city with the papers thereafter costing 25 cents. At the end of 2005, the Sun-Times discontinued Red Streak. According to Sun-Times publisher John Cruickshank, Red Streak was only launched "to stop [the Tribune] from gaining a foothold in the paid tabloid market". Its only purpose was to undermine *RedEye'''s attempt at drawing commuters, customers which have historically belonged to the Sun-Times. At the beginning of 2006, *RedEye'' became a free paper once again, with vending boxes being unlocked and coin slots covered over.

In February 2007, after NewsCorp launched a late-night talk television program on Fox News entitled Red Eye, the Tribune Company filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit.

Content

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Redeye_Sailboat.jpg" caption="A ''RedEye'' sailboat on [[Labor Day]] 2007 viewed from North Avenue Beach"] ::

As compared with mainstream newspapers, RedEye strongly emphasized pop culture and entertainment news, humorous or lighthearted rather than serious columns, and flashy graphics and large pictures. Like the Chicago Sun-Times, RedEye is a tabloid-format newspaper, oriented vertically rather than horizontally and with a front page consisting only of a large picture and a banner headline.

Publication changes

After 15 years of daily distribution, RedEye shifted to a weekly format in 2017 before it stopped publishing in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. Mullman, Jeremy. (October 4, 2005). "Sun-Times may end Red Streak tabloid". [[Crain's Chicago Business]].
2. "Chicago Red Eye".
3. (August 2010). "Tribune Sues Fox News Over 'Red Eye'". The News Tribune}}{{Dead link.
4. Armentrout, Mitchell. (January 10, 2017). "RedEye cutting down to weekly format". [[Chicago Sun-Times]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::