Feder: Board stalemate imperils Chicago Reader

A stalemate among board members of the Chicago Reader threatens to derail its move to a nonprofit business model and undermine the editorial independence of the alternative biweekly after more than 50 years.

It can all be traced to Leonard C. Goodman's column, "Vaxxing our kids: Why I'm not rushing to get my six-year-old the COVID-19 vaccine," published on November 24.

The column triggered calls for fact checking, a move Goodman, a Chicago criminal defense attorney and co-owner of the Reader since 2018, framed as a First Amendment issue and decried as censorship.

Although his column still appears online as written, the pushback led Goodman and his allies to demand control of nonprofit Reader Institute for Community Journalism and dump co-publisher Tracy Baim as president and co-treasurer of the newly formed nonprofit.

Insiders say the matter could be resolved this week when Goodman meets with co-owner Elzie Higginbottom to mediate the dispute.

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